New Bx first inspection

[demag]

I've been giving the new motor a checkover these past few days. Here's what I've found so far:

Front brake pads need replacing not much left on them. Handbrake hits me under the chin but does hold the car. Will this "re-adjust" with the new pads in or will it need looking at?

Suspension appears to be working after many Citaerobics but I have new spheres to go on. My ebay tool wouldn't fit the front spheres so haven't changed them yet There is reasonable travel on these spheres actually. The fronts are dated 2001. The backs look rusty but the travel seems ok as well. Hopefully I will do the lot anyway. Amazingly it stands up overnight and a firm push next day is met with suspension movement!

LHM leak at rear of front subframe driver's side. (Octopus? Any ideas?) It only seems to leak after doing full travel Citaerobics, at normal ride height there doesn't appear to be a leak.

Newish exhaust but rattle. Haven't looked at this yet.

Had to top the rad up but I seem to remember my old 1400 Leader always used to run at a low level. Can anyone confirm? It didn't take an awful lot to top up, about 1/2 pint or for you young wipper snappers approx 3/8 litre (ish) Cooling fan cutting in and out nicely.

The LHM reservoir filler cap has a tee piece fitted with two small plastic return pipes entering. Is this standard or a mod? I don't remember it on the Leader.

Replaced o/s front indicator unit. That was fun. What a fiddle, I'm not sure if its on right it doesn't look it.

Sunroof cables u/s. Are these available or does anyone have any? Obviously I don't expect them for nothing.

I tried a bit of Mer polish on the front wing and bonnet corner, came up lovely

[MULLEY]

I can hopefully answer a couple of your questions:

1) T-piece with 2 pipes coming out of it, this is correct, perhaps fitted to
later cars? all 3 of mine have it fitted.

2) Indicator - remove headlight so that you can access the indicator
easily & access the screw/bolt which holds it in place.

The indicator should have some prongs on the outside edges, top &
bottom, they should be carefully pushed into the bodywork where the
indicator fits. There is a metal flange which screws to the indicator
holding it in place, along with the prongs, this can be gently bent to
make the indicator line up better, but make sure you dont bust the
prongs.

[DLM]

Handbrake will adjust properly on new pads if:

(1) There's enough meat left on the discs

(2) 1mm clearance between the brake pads & disc is obtained when winding back the caliper pistons to fit the new pads (as per the manuals - even Haynes has this right).

(3) You follow the self-adjust procedure as outlined in a recent reply to Ed4ferrets query about handbrake adjustment.

LHM leak at rear of front subframe driver's side. (Octopus? Any ideas?) It only seems to leak after doing full travel Citaerobics, at normal ride height there doesn't appear to be a leak.

Suggests there may be an octopus problem - almost certainly the height corrector or strut part of the circuit .I suspect you're only seeing it when the car comes down from high.

The problem could be something waiting to get worse, or just a partially popped-off plastic pipe - trace the two plastic pipes which run along the r/h underside of the car up to the point where they push into the octopus at its most tentacle-like. Also, have you checked the front strut return pipes on that side? They can send lhm spraying a long way if broken/perished.