What Have You Done to Your Cougar Today?

Did a bit of fiddling to the Zetec today. I'd noticed on the drive back from Wales on Saturday that the headlights leave a lot to be desired - I know this is generally true of C1 lights, but these seemed particularly poor. So, armed with some new bulbs, in I went.

Remember the interior light and airbox bodges that Sam found when he first bought this car? It seems that the previous owner didn't stop there - after tackling the nut & bolt that was securing one end of the grill (I can forgive that one, to be fair) I then found that the whole nearside headlight was only held in by the top bolt. The lower bolt (the one you need to use a long extension for) was present but not engaged with the bracket on the bottom of the light. Also, whilst the inboard end of the light was bolted to the bracket, the bracket was bolted to.... nothing. Just flapping around.

Once inside I found the headlight bulb wrongly installed and on the wonk, and the sidelight bulb holder has at some point been removed and replaced:
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to fit one of these:
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despite LED bulbs of the correct fitment being readily available :oops: That's something I'll have to fix another time.

Oh, and I found a mystery wire:
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which seems to come from the mystery switch on the dash - looks like it might head down to the front fogs.

The offside light all seemed normal enough, properly secured and correct sidelight bulb holder and bulb (not an LED this side though :)), but again the headlight bulb hadn't been installed right.

So, new bulbs in and correctly fitted and loose brackets secured on the nearside, hopefully I should see some improvement (y)
 
I managed to get the rear end up on stands and had a poke about. Hoping to resolve the handbrke fail tomorrow, so need to read up on removing calipers and the Thread To End All Threads© on handbrake adjustment. I expect to log on sometime around lunch in a mad panic.... :whistle:
 
dandamano said:
If you need any help mate you know where we are (y)

Ironically ill be doing the same tomorrow to get ready for the MOT!
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Case number one of handbrake checking in :LOL:

Adjusted both sides up and it feels good to me and holds on a steep hill perfect, but the drivers side I can feel let go if I try to pull away with the handbrake on

Going to have a go with the recon kit that Mart kindly gave me on one of my many calipers and see if that is any better.

If all elses fails Ill just ask the garage to sort it if it fails, I guess they will put a new caliper and cable on that side and should be about £100ish..but if thats what it costs to get me another year I cant complain
 
Case number 2 here.

Never got the job completed, I was doing alright until I got to one instruction on Top cat's guide which baffled me a bit, so I checked some Plusgas and various bits and gave up for the day. Oh I did try and swap. Speakers around but the plugs are different so I need to wire those up tomorrow too.

Anyone know off the top of their heads the difference between brown and white relays in the drivers door? Mines brown, breaker's is white?

Beers now though and round two tomorrow.

Sent from my Swift 2 Plus using Tapatalk
 
dandamano said:
What did you get stuck on Sam?
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That'd be #1 'Remove caliper'.

Sounds easy when you know what your doing right?!

Being serious though, I've read enough on here over the years browsing to know the hazard of those sodding torx bolts so wanted to be extra cautious hence the Plusgas. I did remove the cable from the bracket though and get under the car, they all seem good (except the handbrake cables aren't staying seated in their guides along the chassis rail), so I'm pleased enough with that side of things.

Now I need to figure out how to remove the excess brake fluid from the reservoir should I be able to remove the calipers.
 
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Today I managed to expose both sets of rear pads by unseizing various bits and peices and getting the calipers raised. Quick assessment is nearside piston is utterly borked and needs replacing / rebuilding, along with a warped disc. Offside is better except the retaining pin (?) is corroded badly and the disc isn't secure on the hub. Basically I'm looking at stripping down the things and fitting new discs and refirbing / replacing calipers. Worringly all the pads have loads of life on them, whihc coupled with the severity and breadth of damage to other components makes me conclude they've been on a long time and in effective haven't been getting any action.

Keep posted for the request of help in populating my shopping list...

The good news is I managed to swap the front speakers which was nice as the driver's door split apart somewhere in Germany. :)
 
Today's Cougar adventure started on the way to work this morning. A couple of miles from destination the coolant warning light came on, pulled over to take a look, level was still pretty good although there was signs of a fine spray of coolant on the RHS of the engine bay. Had a good look at lunchtime and it appears to be coming from a split in the large hose directly below the air intake.
Managed to make a temporary repair using a strip of rubber and some cable ties.
I believe the hose in question is number 1 in the pic below, 1079358. About £140 if available!!
I don't suppose anyone has a spare? or knows of a more permanent way to repair it? :cry:

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hose.png

edit - I think this is the correct hose.
 
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