And cleaning...

The cleaning is going well, although it's proper back breaking work!! This is the result of a weekends hard slog. Turns out the best stuff so far is the Deox-c that I had bought a while back. Whilst it doesn't seem to work immediately, what it does is loosen the rust so it can then be rubbed off with a green scouring pad (the washing up kind of pad). What was apparent though is that the bare metal very quickly gets a haze of rust almost as soon as it comes out of the solution. What I'll need to do is remove each part in turn, give it a scrub and dry then paint it.

In terms of other parts used, I've bought all new seals (£30 for all four corners), new bleed nipples (a fiver) but I'm going to reuse the sliders as they seem ok (apart from needing a clean as above). I also have new copper washers (no brainer for that one to be honest). I'll be reusing the various bolts as well, again they just need a good clean.

And the rears are a challenge. As I figured out, the pistons are screwed in, so it took the whole of two minutes to remove the pistons. Problem is, the bolt that screws them in also needs to come out (there's a seal that I think has perished on one), but it needs a circlip removing that is inside the caliper. I've ordered a pair of internal circlip pliers that I am hoping are narrow enough and long enough to get inside. Once they're out, I can replace the seal and check the handbrake mechanisms.

Apart from that, I seem to have lost a rear caliper bracket (but I still have three!), and I may have to replace the rear pistons as I'm not sure they are usable.

In other news, I am now the owner of an Escort Mark 2 steering rack, obtained for the princely sum of £40!! It looks almost brand new, it still has end caps on and protective paint on the threads, so I'm not even sure it's ever been mounted. I'm going to remove the bellows to peek inside, but if everything checks out I won't be doing much else to it. Oh, apart from finding some decent mounting brackets. I'm tempted to go for solid mounts, but I'm also thinking it might make the ride a bit harsh.