Patrick Taylor

The lever won't move into the fourth gear position: it feels as if the gate has been welded over!

Sometimes our cars seem to do it on purpose. So, after many 50th birthday presents have been fitted, Bertie the Bond is ready for action again, having been laid up during lockdown. So today I gave her a wash and went to fill her with petrol in advance of tomorrow's NYD meet in Stony Stratford. Then, on the way home, I couldn't select fourth gear: all others were available and the gearbox has been trouble free up till now. I'm guessing this is a remote selector problem rather than something awry in the gearbox? So, no New Year's Day car gathering for me: I really don't fancy an eighty mile round trip in overdrive third!

I'm not sure why the instructions suggest applying the PVA glue and then leaving it to go tacky. Unless it is a paper-backed veneer -which will tolerate moisture rather better- applying PVA (which is water-based adhesive) to a veneer will cause the wood fibres to expand on the glued side, while those on the other side remain dry; the wood will curl up and be pretty difficult to get onto the dash flat. I would always advise working quickly when veneering, precisely to avoid this. If it is paper-backed, then there's no reason why this method wouldn't work. If you are after the same depth of finish as the original (which was, or pretended to be, French Polished) then Rustin's 'Plasticote' is the stuff to go for. Mind you, it takes time (as in days and days and days) to apply each coat, let it cure, flat it back and then go again; but the results speak for themselves.

Black walnut is a good alternative; I used one with a PVA glue backing, so it could be ironed on which avoided the need for a veneering press.

Right: I finally got to tinker. The rear brakes were a few clicks out of adjustment and setting them correctly has improved matters considerably; it all feels much better. I hope to use the car more -she has been standing idle since the run to Stony Stratford on New Year's Day 2020- so here's hoping the Sarratt (Boxing Day) and Stony Stratford gatherings are back on...and the pads bed in!

Phosphoric Acid, mentioned by @PeteH is an ingredient in Coca Cola. The classic trick is to put a penny on and it comes out shiny: not sure what will happen with ally.

The rears were working perfectly well before, so I have no reason to suspect them. I can't clamp off the hoses as they are braided stainless. I've bled so much fluid from the rears I would think any air that might have got in when the fronts were off will have been purged by now, too. The received wisdom seems to be that repro calipers can be suspect. If I recon the old ones then at least I'll have something to compare the repros to.

I think so. I'll try removing the pads and applying the pedal as suggested here, but given I already have the seals and now 'only' need two new pistons, I have a Plan B if the new calipers don't settle down. I had hoped that replacement would be the easy option, but as @Colin Lindsay said many posts ago, a rebuild may be better. I trust myself to do a decent job but was a bit wary of something so critical to the safety of pedestrians, passengers, other drivers and me -in that order! If the repro calipers turn out to be OK then I will have gained a little experience for little outlay.

It was drier in the garage than outdoors today, so I thought I'd have a look at the old calipers. One I knew was still working, and once the seals were off it was simple to remove the pistons. They have light staining on the pistons, no obvious wear, and I'm pretty certain a rub with a clean soft cloth will have them good as new; I already have a couple of seal kits so no further expense needed on that one. The seized caliper took a bit more work: I had to split the two halves to allow access, but eventually got both pistons out. They only have a step for the seal and not a groove and as a result are quite severely rusted. Both calipers had a grey sludge in them and will need cleaning out. The bores look to be fine. Given that I may rebuild both calipers and return the repro ones for refund, I need to know if all replacement pistons the same? Are any suppliers better than others? There's no point in rebuilding them if I end up in the same position...

Nylon bristle brush in a drill or grinder, followed by finer and finer grades of wet and dry, then a bit of buffing chalk on a large diameter buffing wheel. Alternatively, if a job's worth doing, pay someone to do it for you: look up metal refinishers in the Yellow Pages...

@johny is right: the Bond has Type 14s. Although I get the impression the problem may be the same/similar...

Just returned from a run: the brakes work, but are better with a preliminary shove on the pedal. The travel seems less when the handbrake is on; is that because I've just braked, or could it point to the rear brakes being out of adjustment?

Not for my garage: it requires an air line, which I don't have. The Gunson system uses a tyre at 20 psi.

An interesting read. I may try a short run to see if things improve, but if the suggested hack is as effective as it sounds it must be worth a try.

Perhaps I need to go for a run while the roads are quiet. Trouble is, my last outing in the car was total, foot-to-the-floor brake failure, with the handbrake applied to avoid rear-ending the car in front , so I've lost a bit of confidence in her...

OK, so the front brake replacement is done -has been for a couple of weeks, but the results aren't perfect. There is no air when I bleed the brakes (using a Gunson Easibleed, i.e. pressurised bleeding), but the pedal travels further than expected when I apply them. They do stop the car, though. If I pump the brakes, the pedal firms up and there is less travel on the pedal. So my question is this: is this a case of needing to bed the brakes in (new calipers pads and discs have been fitted), or do I go back to bleeding the offside rear and work forwards again (I have done so several times in the past fortnight), even though there is no sign of air? I am not keen on using the car on the Queen's Highway in its current state, although if it is just a case of bedding the brakes in, where I can expect to see an improvement, I would do so. I think I should have a solid pedal right from the off, but is this not the case?

Bond Equipes seem to have been a brother-in-law's car, as in -'Aw, my brother-in-law had one of those!'. Second most-used phrase after 'Worrisitmate?'!

I bought one of the cheap'n'cheerful fan heaters you plug into a cigarette lighter several years ago when the flap servos packed up on my daily driver. It was rubbish! I've thought of using it for the rear screen, but question if it is worth the (or any) effort.

And leave the handbrake off, if you can...

I had Green Stuff pads fitted many years ago, and found there was a significant improvement in the braking -which is why I have gone with them again. As Pete mentions, the fact that they leave less dirty residue is a plus, especially with OEW alloys! Less impressive is that on removing calipers and pads for this rebuild, one side had Green Stuff pads and the other had bog standard black pads. I hadn't noticed the brakes being out of balance or pulling to one side, which you'd expect if GS were better than the standard material. Who changed the pads on one side only is a mystery: I have not (until now) touched the front brakes, but have had the car for 27 years, so sadly whoever did it, got paid to do it .

The fumes from the rocker box can be a bit oily/dirty, which makes the engine run more lumpily but protects the environment. Disconnecting it reverses both these things, I believe.

I was recently driving behind someone who clearly knew they needed to use a hand signal, but couldn't remember which one to pick: so I got the full repertoire of 'right turn', 'I am slowing down' and 'I am turning left', one after the other. After all that, I have no recollection of what the manoeuvre finally was.

I was thinking the same -anti-squeal shims are as old as the hills and I know they work, so I'll stick with a known formula. I've not worked on front brakes before, so will go easy on the copper grease. The old ones looked to have had a blob of the stuff on the back.

I know many of you are Mintex people, but has anyone used the stick-on 3M pad that comes with Green Stuff pads? I assume it is used instead of the anti-rattle shims (which I retrieved from the depths of the wheelie bin this afternoon)? But do I put a dob of copper grease on the back, same as usual? Or stay old school with shims'n'grease?

You could Google it, but I suspect the websites will be quite, erm, specialist, if you get my drift...