c7trp

As a 7 Newbie I'm still getting to know the car... One of the radius arm bushes is knackered due to, I think, the bolt being loose 😳 I've pressed the old bush out and a new one (and bolt) is on its way. Should I refit the radius arms in the lower hole or back into the top hole (as it was built)? The car is a 2003 K-Series Roadsport. From past posts I believe I should go for the lower hole (!) for more predictable handling. However the build manual says upper hole So which hole, top or bottom?

Hi Jono, Just done this at the weekend. The nylon thing was stuck in the hole and took quite a lot of persuasion to get out. With it removed I packed as much moly grease in as I could get in. I also removed the gaiters and greased the exposed rack, by turning the rack onto full lock and greasing the exposed bar. On the drivers side, you can actually grease the teeth in on the bottom of the bar. Lots of steering from lock to lock distributed the grease nicely. Then refit the gaiters and the nylon bush thing. Finger tighten the adjuster nut, and carefully adjust with an allen key it until you feel the play come out of the steering. Then lock down the big locking nut. When I did mine, I found that the adjuster only needed very small tweeks. I did this with the front of the car off the ground. This has certainly improved my car. If you search this forum on stiff steering you'll find a shed load of info. This is where I found the above technique 😬

This evening I'm going to slacken the adjuster on my steering rack as the steering is quite tight. Whilst I'm doing this, is it worth taking the adjuster right out and pressing some grease in? I was going to take the gaiters off and grease the exposed bits of the rack (on lock) whilst I was at it. Is this a sensible plan, or is totally removing the adjuster a bad idea?

Sorry - hex bit sockets.

Cheers Nick, Was after a set - So I've emailed Gibb to see if they post out. Let you know - cheers for the offer!

Anyone know where I can get a set of imperial hex sockets? Metric ones are everywhere!

Cheers Stu! This is what I thought. However mine seems to have, working from the rear forward, 1 No. 5mm thick washer....rear bush...5mm thick washer (I think, it may be a plate on the chassis over wise with no washers the bush would run against the end of the tube welded into the chassis) The front leg has 5mm spacer...bush...thin (std) washer, spring washer and bolt. I'm not sure if these spacers are the correct thickness (I think they must be as it all fits), and I can't tell if the front spacer on the rear bush is actually a spacer or part of the chassis or not. Forecast is snow this weekend so, I'll take it apart at the weekend and find out! Edited by - Tim Pollard on 16 Mar 2007 09:12:20

Anyone got a photo of the rear bush of the front lower wishbone bolted into the chassis? I'd like a reference to see if mine is assembled correctly..... My car is an 03 Roadsport with standard suspension if that makes any difference

Yeah, current washer is approx 4mm thick. Are the 'proper' ones normal washers, or are they thicker?

G'day Anyone know how thick the standard washers are?twang>

Thanks all. I'll jack it up at the weekend and see how it feels with no load on it. I assume this will show any tightness in the rack or ball joints. Make sure everything is OK mechanically before I worry about the setup. Edited by - Tim Pollard on 15 Mar 2007 09:23:01

I'm a Newbie 7 owner, and so some this may be complete 🙆🏻, as I don't have experience of other 7's. (Sorry this goes on a bit) The car is very unstable at high speeds (>60mph)and the steering is heavy. If at you turn into a bend, at any speed, the steering lock stays at that angle until I turn it back straight again - it doesn't 'roll off' lock like a tin top does. I've adjusted the toe from 2deg toe out 😳 to 20' toe in and adjusted the camber to -1deg 20' This has made a vast improvement, you can now let go of the wheel to change gear on a bumpy road 😬 However the car is still twitchy, especially on bumpy roads. The track rods are about 6mm out of parallel with the lower wish bones, so I think I need to shim the rack as per the LF article for bump steer. But the lower wishbones don't have the washer configuration specified in the manual. There is only one, c4mm thick, washer on the rear side of the bushes - pushing the wishbone as far forward as it can go. I assume this is wrong, minimising the castor angle. Is this is what is making the steering heavy? Should the washers be 'normal' (1 mm thick ish) washers to suit the bolts? Or am I just being a wimp 😳 😬

😬

Cheers All The car is standard at the moment, so I can reasonably stay with the auto-tensioner. I can feel a upgrade coming on though...

According to my garden its spring - so time to service the 7 before the sun comes out properly. The engine is a standard 1.8, nearly 4 years old and has covered 41,000 miles. So I reckon it needs a timing belt change. I've seen past threads referring to the auto-tensioner as 'the devils spawn' 😳 So can I / should I replace the auto tensioner with a manual one? Can this be done easily? What's the considered opinion? Cheers

Torch 😬 Mobile phone

Tidy Yellow 7 Heading north out of Hawkshead towards Outgate - (the Lake District). About 3:30pm Today. Driver had flat cap on, passenger looked cold 😬 Didn't get the number.

Steve, Correct - soz - think the little grey cells are failing 😳 Caster is the next thing to check!

I've had this on my 1.8 Roadsport. Problems were: 1: Knackered rear damper. 😳 2: Adjusted tracking to 1 deg or so toe in from 2.5 toe out 3: Adjusted castor from > -2 deg negative -1 The car has been transformed. Caster was hard to adjust as the threads were seized in the top wishbones, so had to buy new wishbone 🙆🏻 Blat mail me if you want a copy of the settings from the build manual

Hi Nic, I'll have something kicking around in the office. Can't tell you for sure until new year though.

I fitted Xeon bulbs from Halfrauds. 2 for the price of 1 made the £15 each a bit easier to swallow Seems better, although not as good as they could be!

Thinking of upgrading from inertia 3 point seat belts to 4 point harness. Anyone got anything lurking in the garage after the Willans bulk buy?

Thanks All. Just been out for another swing on it. I've split be ball joint with the hub upright. I've got a pair of 18" shifters on the flat of the ball joint thread, and a 3 foot tube slid over the handle. With 2 of us swinging on it we've managed to bend the ball joint, but it still doesn't move. I was being a tart and avoiding heat as then I'll need to repaint the wishbone I am also worried about damaging the threads in the wishbones as re-tapping them could actually reduce the thread significantly, reducing its capacity. I assume the strength of the thread holding the ball joint is safety critical, and a damaged thread could be dangerous, under heavy cornering loads Looking like new one from CC ☹️

Think I've asked this before, but can't find it. The ball joint is seized in the top wishbone. Something is going to break/bend if we put much more load on the ball joint whilst trying to un-screw it. Assume best solution is new top wb's and make sure the new ball joint is copper slipped before assembly? Looks like an easy job, after the front spring is removed. Does anyone know of any other gotchas? Are there any other sources for wishbones, or is it back to CC? Looks like I've got a Christmas holiday project. Cheers

Cheers Steve, Snap - same damper on mine At least I'll have something to do in the cold winter evening's.