Bravo snoopy - my bravo 140 multiair

[gadge]

good job Gadge,

any idea how long it's been in there..??
looks like a while:yuck:

time to do my GP's I think..!!

Well it's only three years old so my guess is since it left Italy

 

[gadge]

its been a busy year with most weekends taken up with my project 126 but now that's more or less finished I thought I would turn my attention to my daily. For a few months now (I'm embarrased to say ) Snoopy DeBravo has had a niggling scraping sound coming from the front wheels, a kind of metallic jingling sound that only came on at slow speeds particularly on hard lock. Given that it was a rotational sound (it sped up and slowed down as the car did) I put it down to something fouling on the brake disc. At 21,000 miles I figured it could only be something minor like a back plate rubbing or maybe a loose pad retaining clip so I thought it's high time I have a look at what could be causing it. I started on the drivers side first and it didn't take long to find out the cause - paggered discs!



As I don't think I'm a heavy braker it seems that poor quality OEM parts has reared its ugly head once more. The discs have worn down very badly particularly on the rear of them resulting in a lot of scale and metal fatigue which also cut a score line into the pads which were otherwise fine with only minimal wear but completely unusable. Once removed they looked more like a discs that had been removed from a 120,000 mile car rather than one of only 21,000 which has had only steady driving miles on my watch

I phoned my local parkers motor factors up and they had a set of discs and pads in stock (Apec) and fitting them was a doddle. So just a word of warning - take time to check your brakes regardless of mileage. It was only that small jingle that alerted me to this as the brakes were actually tip top so it's worth taking the time to have a look.



Job done

 

[gadge]

Well yet again the 12 months that passed since my last post have been pretty uneventful. Snoopy has given faultless service even with the increased mileage from my new job however I feel 2018 is going to be a more active year (which of course means costly ). Last month it was the turn of the rear brakes to get replaced. Just like the fronts it seems that fiat fitted discs to the rear made from the same grade of cheese and at just over 30000 miles they were shot with one heck of a lip on both discs with grooves and scores on the face like an old vinyl record! at least I got 10000 miles more than the fronts new APEC ones were fitted with some new pads but that's when I found my second problem. The back box which was staring me in the face when I was working on the N/S is bursting at the seams - literally at the weld seam. It's not quite blowing yet (which is a miracle given how bad it has rotted away) but a new one will be needed soon enough. I've seen a lot of posts about the price of new exhausts for Bravos so I'm well versed on thier price but fortunately there's a powerflow exhaust agent literally a mile from my house, so there's an option.

The third problem revealed itself last week when I started to hear a rattle on the N/S which only happend when I went over a manhole or such. At first I thought it may be the drop links as they are a weak spot on the bravos but no I jacked the wheel up and removed it to find the problem staring me in my face....... :bang:



So I popped off to my well trusted motor factor only to find they don't have any coil springs in stock so at £33 each I ordered two (might aswell do both) and will pick them up in the week so for now he's off the road

It wasn't all bad news I fitted a new air filter which was well over due and stuck a pair of yellow fog bulbs in

 

[gadge]

So, today was the day to sort snoopys busted spring and it couldn't come soon as I've been driving the wife's fiesta for the last week :yuck: so over the last few days I've been collecting more than just the springs to be replaced. Seen as though I have to remove the drop links and the strut top cup and the bearings I thought I might as well stick new ones on as I refit them.





And the offending Spring..........



Test drive was a success so very happy. Not really a job I want to do again

 

[Thomaz27]

Nice job done! Did the same thing last year but I did do the struts also when I was at it.