Another evening of building and the summary of achieved tasks is:
- Front suspension finished off
- Front uprights attached
- Front brake callipers and brake pads on
- Cycle wing-stay on
Lessons of the day…
Upright top joint attachment
With the front damper attached, the lower wishbone is pushed downwards. In order to seat the top attachment correctly, the lower wishbone has to be pushed upwards to compress the spring a little. The master stroke was using the trolley jack to make the suspension take the weight of the corner of the car. My car sits very high on it’s axle stands and my trolley jack isn’t half big enough t o reach, but we positioned the jack on a handy folding ladder and it worked a treat. Make sure you use the gold bolt to compress the joint before using the nyloc nut – but if when you get to attaching the nyloc nut, the bolt just turns in its mounting, there is a handy allen key socket in the bottom of the bolt to hold it still. The realisation that the steering can move the upright to make more room for spanners etc was also a good one!
Deep sockets needed
In order to tighten some of the bolts to torque, deep sockets are needed due to the length of the overhanging threads. I don’t have deep sockets at the moment, so will need to go and pick some up.
Front Anti-Roll Bar
It took a lot of persuading to get the balls to seat in their sockets. It took a lot of pressure and actually went in much easier with both balls tucked into their sockets and the mounts correctly lined up with their mounts. Then it was firm pressure to each end and then a final gentle persuasion with the soft mallet to get the most reticent one to resign to its fate and slip into place.
I also found my first shortage whilst looking around for jobs to do this weekend. I can’t find the front brake hoses… Don’t think that’s going to cause a problem but it would have been nice to finish off that part of the build completely.
Likely next jobs are to get transmission in place this weekend. I’ve got my Dad and brother-in-law down, so having the extra hands and brains on hand will be useful.