The Safrane.Info Forum!

Coming summer inspired me to start working on the ABS unit again.

After 2 days of flooding it with penetration oil I managed to get 2 of the pipes off. The pipes are situated in a way that they need to be removed in the right order if you use a tool bigger than a spanner.
One of the already opened pipes now has a completely round connector but the pipe seems intact. For the rest of them i need to get a gas burner if i ever want to get them out without breaking them.

Cutting the pipes (or at least the ones that won't budge otherwise) is the next option, but then i'd need to get a flaring tool for steel pipes.

I also bought a set of Laguna 16" wheels as the original 15" look a little small. The new ones are like these:


whoa, after posting that pic i realised that i didn't notice one of them is missing a centre cap! Damn!
But then i remembered that's just a pic i found on Google :D

Damnit, I just did it!

... or at least i changed the abs unit and the light went out but i don't know yet if all the pipes hold. I heated them red hot with acetylene torch and they were still hard to get loose. The unit is in so difficult spot to get straight force to the connectors...

Too bad i don't have brake fluid at hand so i'll have to wait.
At least i've deserved this beer! Cheers! :D

Well done!

Yes it is in a bad position but French cars are known for strange things!

Guess which one is the new one :)

I started bleeding the brakes and found out that one ir two pipes in the abs unit didn't hold. I managed to tighten them some more and now they seem to hold. Then i started wondering where the front caliper bleed screws might be... Wtf? No nipples? After some cleaning of rust from the place i supposed they should be i found them broken to the level of the caliper and rusted solid.

Well, gotta bleed from the hose connections then but that's a job for another day...

I snapped two bleed nipples (annoyingly on the same position) and had to get my local garage to drill it out and fit another. I can't remember how much it cost vs a new caliper but I needed it done by next day as we were moving. They got it done but it has a much smaller nipple on it that is imperial and a pain to use lol. I will replace it with another caliper in the future but at least this allows the brakes to work.

I managed to bleed it well enough to get to the MOT test to see if there's hope or not :)
At least i'll know what i need to do...

I took it for a little spin and mechanically it works as a clock, i'm just worried about the rust...

That's what paint is for!

That's not the kind of rust i'm worried about :) On the topside the car looks really good, there are only a few rust spots on the bonnet which i already have repair paint for.

The bottomside doesn't look that good. Finnish winter conditions are really harsh for cars with road salt and all...
I'll go to the check to see how bad they think it is before i'll do anything more...

When i pass the MOT i'll give it a good wash and wax and get new tires for the 16" wheels.

In Finland every car has a MOT expiry date and you can get it checked 4 months prior. My Safrane is due on November so if it passes now, next July i can get a valid MOT until November 2018.

MOT almost passed, one and only fault was right side tie rod end. New one already ordered, to get the MOT passed...

The car works like a clock :) the only thing that bugs me is that the indicators won't go off when i turn the wheel back straight. It's because the bumps on the steering wheel center that disengage the stalk are too worn. Gotta take the wheel off sometime and figure out a fix...