... but luckily for me, nowhere near as difficult to fix as Pooch's rear wheel arches. She only failed on the rear number plate lights - the bulb had gone in one, and the other had broken internally. The stupid thing is, I checked the lights before taking her in, but forgot all about those pesky ones, hidden away under the bumper. I managed to fix the broken one with some wire and araldite, so it'll be a quick retest tomorrow and then off to find some sunshine

I was ****ting bricks about the handbrake, but all that work over the winter stripping down the rear brake calipers and the handbrake mechanism seems to have paid off. I wonder if MOT testers in Lowestoft go easier on handbrakes because there are no hills around here?

Well I have a similar story.

I've never missed any light in pre MOT checks but got caught out one year by a headlamp bulb failure on the day of the test. 24 hours earlier all was well as verified by another person. I didn't get a fail because I had a spare and in those days one could be the second tester wobbling the steering wheel, applying brakes etc. so whilst my assistance was not needed I changed the bulb.

I now annually tease my MOT Station by leaving a packaged and unopened headlamp bulb on the passenger seat at every MOT. We all appreciate joke. They are good guys and I do my level best to ensure I deliver a quality, well maintained and pre test inspected to them for every MOT. I can tell you they really appreciate anybody who really loves, cherishes and looks after their car(s). I cringed at the real horror stories of the heaps of rubbish they have to fail and then get complained at by the owners.

I always go to an independent testing station in Lowestoft. They are lovely people - we usually share a joke about whether they should fail it straight off because the steering wheel's on the wrong side - and they waive the retest fee if the car fails for something simple. Today the tester was very complimentary about the state of mine underneath, but I explained that there's a simple explanation for that, which is that she never goes out in the wet! He then pointed to a big, black cloud heading in our direction, and advised me to scarper home sharpish before the heavens opened. Suffice to say that my B got her knickers wet today for the first time in 10 years

Hi gar074. As well documented on here my handbrake has always been cr*p despite everything replaced and hours spent investigating. (it still is). What did stripping your calipers reveal, did you make any internal adjustments that improved the HB?

I wish I had a sure-fire solution! Mine was just trial and error - taking it all apart, cleaning and lubricating, experimenting with the adjuster, etc. I didn't replace the cables, although that would have been the next thing on the list if it had failed. I did find that the new rear pads took a long time to bed in, and that the handbrake was next to useless until they did, so fitting new discs/pads and heading straight for the MOT centre is probably a bad idea.

gar074 - if you wouldn't mind clarifying. "experimenting with the adjuster" - do you mean inside the caliper? I'm not aware of any adjuster on the caliper externally.

No adjustment internally, I just carefully cleaned and lubricated everything, including the spring and lever mechanism. The adjustments I was referring to were my experiments with the adjuster at the handbrake end, using a variety of washers etc in an attempt to shorten the cable, which was at the limit of its adjustment - in which murky enterprise, I was guided by your excellent posts from a few years ago!

It does seem that the handbrake is not one of the best, mine included. But I have recently installed eibach anti roll bars front and rear, also lowering springs, in doing this work I removed from the anti roll bar the bracket that interacts with rear brake compensate valves, took them apart had them sandblasted and powder coated. this bracket allows a degree of adjustment for the valves, I took a guess at the settings and took it up to the garage to have a reading on the brake balance, my guess was within the tolerance needed for an MOT pass so I have left it at this setting. but I now have a much better handbrake than before, I don't know the interaction between the valves and the pistons on the rear calipers or if this does have some effect on the hand brake, but I can now rely on my handbrake to hold the car on fairly steep inclines

I've just been out for a post-MOT celebratory blast in the B to blow away the cobwebs (she's been laid up for 18 months). She's not as loud as she was, thanks to the new front downpipe, but the Novitec exhaust is still deliciously fruity. I had a stupid big grin on my face as I barrelled along the B roads around Southwold.

I was interested to read that you've stiffened and lowered yours, Dave-M, as mine understeers too much for my liking. What springs did you fit, and where did you source the parts?

I replaced all the suspension, wishbones, trailing arms, they were from europarts, Monro shocks and ebach springs of the internet, bought a few years ago, so can't remember the site. The ARB's was a group buy with the Punto group, As you can see I collected all the parts over a few years before fitting.
Try fitting a strut brace, I was suprised how it improved the steering.

I missed out on the ARB group buy - all available resources were being diverted to a money-pit house renovation at the time - but the strut brace sounds like a good starting point. I'm reluctant to lower her, because she has to navigate a long farm track to get to the main road. So stiffer but not lower is probably the direction I need to go in.

Each to their own but personally, I believe any car designer had a certain vision in mind when they first sketched their car. I was attracted to the Barchetta because of it's simple flowing lines and I don't think it needs to be lowered to improve it's looks or handling - everyone is entitled to their opinion though! Everything is relative and, as most of my miles are done in my Volvo XC70, I consider the Barchetta ride to already be quite hard when compared to the Volvo. In my younger days, I wanted a Ford Escort XR3i but when my son bought a new Fiesta ST (even quicker than the XR3i) I was amazed how incredibly hard the ride was! Again, personally, I strive for originality in my Barchetta but I respect anyone who does what they can to keep their cars on the road! Steve