Getting the brakes back together has been the main priority and this process continued apace yesterday. Getting the shoes back on and seated correctly against the springs was fun, unlike the brakes on a Bedford which have one cylinder, all the wheels on the Commer have two wheel cylinders making them slightly more fiddly. With the rear shoes refurbished with new friction material owing to the oil / grease leaks from the failed seals and the fronts cleaned up, the hubs were eventually bolted back on and painted to keep the rust at bay.
In between times, I found time to replace the old wing mirrors - the long arms (because of the narrow cab) were rusted solid so took some time to tease apart. Once done, the new Spafax mirrors were fitted - modern, yes, but still 'in-keeping' and much better for modern traffic conditions!
With the brakes back together, time to bleed them. Thanks to Tony's pressure bleeding system, this is quite a quick and easy process. With the cab and system fitted to the master cylinder reservoir, it was pressurised. Master cylinder - done, rear nearside - fine, but then - fluid leaking from under eh cab? Yup, a fine pin hole in the original but 'refurbished' reservoir had shown itself under pressure and was firing brake fluid all over the cab! Once the flow had been stemmed, the offending reservoir was removed and after a short but testy call to Past Parts, Tony flew home to solder the hole. While he was away, I drained the coolant and flushed out the radiator - many buckets of brown, rusty water ensued, helped by blasting water through it. The system was then refilled with anti-freeze and fresh water:
I also unloaded the car and managed to pop the three collecting heads back in the locker which was designed to hold them with specially shaped batons to hold them in place - a simple but pleasurable task!
With the newly-repaired reservoir back in place, the bleeding continued but as the brake pedal was pumped - disaster... A split brake pipe! So, a quick trip across Suffolk to see Howard and an hour and half later, some new pipes were fitted:
Brakes bled, the brakes were tested - yup, working! Then the wheels were replaced and the axle stands removed leaving 519 back on its own wheels once again:
A little 'fettling' was done but it will need some more work as it doesn't want to run smoothly! It might be the carb, so certainly refurbishment of that will be required and perhaps electronic ignition too!
The last job before finish was to drop the three lengths on 6 inch hose back onto the back - at last, a hose layer with hose!
