Update time:
I bought a brake bleeding kit as it was only a fiver, and bled the brakes again Wednesday evening. They're nice and firm now
Thursday morning I dropped the car down the body shop and it was welded up the same day, my phone was having a fit though so I didn't find out until Friday, and I collected it that evening. So far I've had the initial plate made up to the profile of the sill, and sealed. Going forward I've spoken to the owner of the shop with Laura, and we came to the conclusion that instead of just filling/painting the nearside sill when it goes back in, we're going to also have the awful plate cut out of the offside, a new plate made up to the correct profile then filled and painted as well. That should be the most cost effective way of getting both sills up to standard, rather than staggering the jobs. Needless to say I am pleased with this news
Here's the repair as it is though, to be honest unless you're looking for it you don't see it:
Yesterday I jumped in the Civic and took one of my Accord's alloys with me and got a replacement tyre fitted, so that's that sorted.
Then came the CV boot. I had a nightmare getting the spindle nut off the driveshaft! Even me standing on a 2 foot bar wouldn't budge it. Then yesterday I suddenly remembered a method a friend told me - I tried to tighten it instead of undo it... I felt the slightest bit of movement when I did this, and then when I put my weight back into it in the other direction it finally came undone. This was just as it got dark, so I left it for that day. Today I've been back out, I split the lower ball joint, removed the outboard end of the shaft, then pulled the inboard end out the intermediate shaft. I cut the old boot off, stuck on the new stretch boot and reassembled the shaft and ball joint. Here's the nice shiny boot:
Exciting stuff, eh? :lol: In hindsight I could have trimmed the boot down, but they're so cheap and I'm getting pretty quick at replacing them so I'm not too worried, I'll just keep an eye on it.
Last thing left to cross of my list then was the registration plate lights. I was at a bit of a loss here as the bulbs are working and the plate is lit up :huh: The wording on the refusal sheet said '(both) registration plate lamp not illuminating the registration plate', so the only things I can think of is either the tester was blind, or he was disputing the amount of light falling on the plate. So, with that in mind I removed the lenses from the lights, washed them and refitted them. I've also cleaned the registration plate. The bulbs are fine and everything is functioning in the way it was manufactured to, so if they fail it on this again I'm going to start throwing my toys out the pram with them :lol: fingers crossed it doesn't come to that.
Anyway, she's ready, so roll on tomorrow!
