On the underside, the flange plate I removed appeared to be one piece, and to contain the lower relay's oil seal. After refitting this it struck me as so wrong to have the seal on the outside (i.e. underside) that I couldn't think about much else for a couple of days. The 2/2A workshop manual and parts catalogue didn't help much either, in fact they even showed the seal on the outside. I couldn't accept this though. To me, it looked like something should retain the oil seal up against the bottom of the relay.
Eventually I realised the flange plate was in fact two parts, and someone had inserted the middle part upside down some years ago. Weather and corrosion had then fused them together. I managed to separate them with a hammer and screwdriver, clean them up, and get the lower seal fitted the right way up and now concealed and retained in place. This also meant the lower few mm of the relay shaft was no longer exposed.. something that had led to it getting a little corroded where the lower seal runs against it.
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| Refit as I found it with the seal and end of the relay shaft exposed.. and I couldn't sleep! |
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| A-ha! Not one, but two pieces.. flipping the middle around.. |
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| And following the brainwave.. with the lower seal and shaft now enclosed. |
The top seal is on the outside against the base of the upper relay lever, and there's no similar way to reverse the piece it's contained by. I can accept this though, since it's at the top, and not the way the oil will leak out under gravity.
The relay was completely empty when I went to drain it. I scraped most of the old oil from underneath the relay and off the lower lever.. evidence of how poorly that outside seal was performing in the end (it was in pieces when I picked it out).
So.. that's new gaskets and seals on the relay, and new bolts for that upper housing. I'm waiting for a hand-pumped oil can with small flexible hose to be delivered before I can top the relay up with oil. The filler hole is about 6mm!
I also changed the steering box oil today, and replaced the painted battery cage and air filter, along with new rubber pads for the battery tray.
This completes all the steering work I should need for an MOT.
The next job is to make a start on the welding.
