Front suspension revisited
Thanks to a photo supplied by JIG I found the 'special Bolts' they were helpfully in the bag with all the rear brake pads... should have realised.. Also got another set in the post from Caterham so now I have spares....
So set to work on the front. No real issues & everything went on as expected.
Only drama of any note was the front ARB... as per everyones instructions I soaked with rubber lubricant & got the 1st rubber halfway down the first straight & then it seized solid... refused to move in any direction. Had it in the workmate & I could see I was starting to damage the powder coat... time to stop & have a cup of tea... once the brain cells picked up I decided to have a go on the other mount & this time I heated it up in some boiling water & the good idea of the day was to use washing up liquid instead of rubber lubricant. It almost ran onto the tube on its own! Just had to get the other one off so I tried the washing up liquid trick & eventually got it moving. My theory is the rubber lubricant is so thin it gets wiped off the inside of the rubber as you push it down the tube & then everything gets solid... the washing up liquid is thicker & creates better lubrication, well it did in my case!
So filled with over confidence I rushed to insert the plastic balls into the cups (which in my head would be easy...). First issue was the ball didn't want to go in at all.. pushed & shoved to the extent I almost knocked the car of its axle stands.. right stop... think. It appeared once I (cleaned the cup of grease) there was some powder coat getting in the way & also the ball had a bit of a casting mark around it... so out with the dremmel to do away with the excess. Tried again & it slid in fairly easily (unexpectedly)... but I hadn't put much grease in so I decided to take it out again... I must have twisted it & the ball crumbled into two halves... great... I had assumed the ball would be made of some high tensile nylon, but no it seems to be made with a hard crumbly plastic. e-mail to Derek admitting my failure & asking for another one :-( Managed to get the unbroken one in once I had de painted (& greased up!). Not looking forward to putting the other one in tho. I hadn't taken on board how non compliant the ARB is, think I need to look at a few blogs before I try it...
So what else:
Horns... wow...
Dinotrolled most of the underneath of the car, few more cans required but the bulk has been done
Attached gearbox to engine, no issues
Attached engine to engine hoist & its apparent I need a couple of extra shackles for the engine leveler.
All in all a bit of progress made today & only one failure requiring Derek...
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