Rally Design - A Thank You

In the post before last I mentioned that the Stylus failed MoT on a weeping rear calliper, that Rally Design answered my query inside 5 mins & although they were out of stock of the callipers needed for the disc brake conversion on my car - meaning I would be out of both Wheels Day & the RogueRunners Devon road trip - they looked around & came up with an alternative solution & got that dispatched.

It arrived at 11:00 ish today, fitted perfectly & within a couple of hours I was bleeding the brakes - which is where I'm currently stuck. I've got it to the point where I can get pressure after three pumps & my brother will come over after tea to help with bleeding the rest of the air out.

One of the e-mails from RD said the alternative was the same calliper with a different bracket, I looked at them & couldn't see a difference so initially when test fitting, used the new bracket (because "shiny"), but I soon noticed the disc was slightly offset in the groove, so the nice people at RD were absolutely correct, I swapped to the old bracket.

So - assuming I get them bled through OK - disaster averted & a BIG thank you to Rally Design for going the extra mile & getting me the parts.

I used many Rally Design parts on the Rickman Ranger all those years ago & was always pleased with the quality & price - not something I would normally say about "aftermarket" parts.

The Stylus on a previous road trip - there will be more!

Blackbushe May 25

 I & my girlfriend to the Stylus to Blackbushe on Sunday, we had breakfast in the café, saw my nephew & a couple of friends & wandered among the cars. Here is the Stylus among some esteemed company. It was chilly with a bit of a wind, but very sunny, which made photography difficult as my shadow seemed to be permanently in my photos.

Ford Model A - built in Canada, imported from South Africa, it's had quite a journey

Just lovely

I had a two door MkI in that colour....

...AND I had a MkIII in that colour.

We chatted to the owner of this Westfield XI for some time.

AC was very nice.

'33 Ford three window, MMMmmm!

This view doesn't show the orange flake paint, but it was stunning.

Soft top Interceptor

OH NO!

The Stylus went for its MoT today at the brilliant Silvesters in Guildford.

It does look pretty tired to be fair

BUT - it failed! one of the rear callipers was weeping hydraulic oil. Obviously I checked the fluid level before bringing it home, & it has two separate brake systems & it's traffic all the way, so there was no risk as the front brakes were perfectly OK. I knew the disc conversion kit was a Rally Design one, so I looked online - the calliper looked the same, but on the car they're handed & there was only one part number. I sent a message with a tick in the "URGENT" box & got a reply within 5 minutes saying if I ordered two (which I was) I'd get one left & one right.

I put the order in & got a confirmation, then DISASTER - an e-mail saying they were out of stock & it would be 4-5 weeks! That meant I was out of Wheels Day & the Devon road trip.

I e-mailed back explaining that I needed the car for a road trip & was there any alternative - could they supply a seal kit, or as I knew the calliper was a VAG part, could they tell me the vehicle so I could try somewhere else. About 15 mins later I got another e-mail saying there is another kit with the same calliper but different brackets, if I didn't mind swapping the brackets they could send that through. so as I write, the offending calliper is on the garage floor & the new ones are in the post, due tomorrow.

I think that's pretty good service, my only fear is that at some point since the car was built (24 years ago) Rally Design have changed the calliper type & the new ones won't fit.