It’s funny how one day you can be idly thinking about something in a “maybe one day” kind of way, and then a couple of days later the planets align and a deal drops into your lap I’d been browsing an old copy of Custom Car from the late 70s, devouring the adverts as much as the editorial content if I’m honest, and in amongst the stick-on murals, nudgebars and…
Rather annoyingly, I’ve just realised I never measured the drop from the top of the wheelarch to the floor before I started all this, so I can only really say “a bit lower”. The front springs are quoted as two inches lower than standard, whilst the single leaf rears had almost three inches less unsprung curvature and have currently got one and a half inch blocks on too. Against the tired old…
After a couple of weeks away from everything, I managed to get some time over the last couple of days out in the garage I managed to resist the urge to drop the back axle off and spend some time tidying it up – mainly because I’m sick of the car being off the road on the odd occasion I get a couple of hours to go somewhere No point having it…
As I’ve got all of the rear suspension off, it makes sense to take a good look at the state of the chassis rails whilst I’ve got relatively good access. Underneath a layer of flaky rust they’re basically sound, but both sides will need a section chopping out and replacing at some point, where they’re flaking a little too much around the top drain hole It’s not too bad, but…
Bastard buggering monkey jugglers! Which incompetent fool designed the Deflex sterring rack bushes? Have they even seen a steering rack, or did they just guess what one might look like? They dont even fit inside the brackets on their own – never mind when they’re wrapped around the rack About the only way I could make them fit is if I unbolted the crossmember, put it on the bench and “finessed” everything together with a…
Originally Posted by DarthVader First fit the lower control arms to the x-member and then swing the ARB up to their mounts. . You’re not wrong there Darth I was trying to be clever by attaching the TCAs to the ARB first, then attaching the TCAs to the crossmember … but even though I’ve been “pumping iron” at the gym. there wasn’t a cat in hell’s chance of it coming together like that Maybe with…
Spent an enjoyable afternoon out in the garage – football on the radio, Liverpool winning , rain drumming down on the (now mostly leak free) roof and taking apart the rear suspension. For some reason, the driver’s side is rusted up more than the passenger’s I might have thought it’d be the other way round, using the logic that most puddles are on the passenger side … but then so is the…
OK, to recap – when you shear off the high-tensile bolts in the ARB brackets, I found you have to take the brackets off to get the remains out. Not having a suitable drill at home, I used one of the ones at college The thing is seven foot high and has a chunk of torque in the low gears, so eventually the remains of the bolt were out. Cleaned…
OK, first up – those pesky ARB chassis brackets. Each had one broken bolt stuck in them that had sheared off when removing the ARB and which was rusted in solid. No amount of Plusgas was freeing them up, but to be fair, it wouldn’t have done much good as there wasn’t really anything left to get hold of. In to college then and time for a play in the Mech.…
That last TCA nut didn’t want to give up without a fight, but in the end it couldn’t compete against the combined might of the angle grinder, cold chisel and lump hammer It’s definitely been changed since the car was built, so I’m guessing whoever did it chose to use salt water on the threads instead of copper grease for some bizarre reason As the ARB chassis brackets had to come…
Steering rack and both track rod ends now successfully off the car – the jacking-up tip worked a treat Replacements are being picked up from the nice people at General Traffic tomorrow at a mere twenty quid for the rack and four quid each for the TREs The other nut on the TCA rose joint isn’t shifting for love nor money. Getting the steering off enabled me to rotate the strut to…
Isn’t it amazing how doing nothing for years can sometimes be good, and sometimes be bad? Trees, for example – do nothing with ’em for a few million years and you get petrol Steel nuts and bolts, however, you can’t even leave for twenty seven years … This weekend has been spent stripping down the front suspension eager to put some shiny new bits on, but in total I’ve managed to…
Well, after a battle of Tolkeinesque proportions, the bushes and their sleeves are finally out of the rear springs Taking onboard everyone’s advice, I started by attacking the bushes themselves with a blowlamp. Whilst it was fun, the novelty wore off real quickly once it got smelly … and then the muesli-eating kids from a few doors down started taunting me about my environmental footprint Getting the sleeves out should have been nice…
Not a lot going on at the moment as I’ve been rather busy with work, but set to this morning to clean up a set of single leaf springs I picked up months back. Lots of surface rust removed with a flap disc in the grinder meant that the air in the garage was a little thick by the time I’d finished Glad I remembered to put the dustmask on first They’re obviously…
I managed to get a quick spray of blue onto the car when I got home last night and to allow suitable drying time we nipped out to the pub for a swift half When we got back at about 1am I got the mirrors on and adjusted, the doorcards fitted and gave the windows a quick clean. Changing the mirror mounts over to studs makes the job infinitely easier No pictures,…