Another body off!
Discussion
Saturday got the upper coilover mounts seam welded and the top plates welded on.
Then spend rest of the day painting. I'm using rustbuster epoxy mastic 121 which seems to cover well but dries a little rippled, however I'm more bothered about ensuring the chassis is well protected, possibly a bit more thinner and two coats may be a better option.. should have started at the back where it's not seen.
Then spend rest of the day painting. I'm using rustbuster epoxy mastic 121 which seems to cover well but dries a little rippled, however I'm more bothered about ensuring the chassis is well protected, possibly a bit more thinner and two coats may be a better option.. should have started at the back where it's not seen.
Thanks for the feedback, I have added some extra bracing to the shock mounts to keep the steel in tension and not allow any sideways bending so they shouldn't be going anywhere, but time and potholes will tell...
I actually live in a two bedroom ground floor flat with a single outdoor parking space. It's lucky my dad is an ex petrolhead and built a big garage which comes with heating, lighting, running water, tea & coffee plus father who likes making brackets and painting things, I just turn up once a week and weld it all together !
Can I ask what length shocks you are using, assuming your mounts are similar ?
I actually live in a two bedroom ground floor flat with a single outdoor parking space. It's lucky my dad is an ex petrolhead and built a big garage which comes with heating, lighting, running water, tea & coffee plus father who likes making brackets and painting things, I just turn up once a week and weld it all together !
Can I ask what length shocks you are using, assuming your mounts are similar ?
adam quantrill said:
All good work... on coilovers is it necessary for the spring to be mounted on the shock at both ends? I am thinking if the top end is "as-is" with the spring onto the existing mount and at the bottom have modified wishbones like yours, then installation becomes much simpler, and it's returnable to original, to boot.
Just had a look at the coilover kit I have in the garage, and it would appear that I could indeed take this approach, with shorter than stock springs and a wider adjuster platform on the bottom of the shock. The only difference from a compliance point of view is that the shock top mount bush would form part of the damping "circuit", as it does now.
So I think I'll go this route - mod the bottom as per the lovely pics in this thread, and at the top use the stock mount with original diameter springs.
P.S. Any chance I can borrow your wishbone jig to aid drilling and assembly? Assuming yours goes together OK when you assemble it on the car of course!
Hi Adam,Just had a look at the coilover kit I have in the garage, and it would appear that I could indeed take this approach, with shorter than stock springs and a wider adjuster platform on the bottom of the shock. The only difference from a compliance point of view is that the shock top mount bush would form part of the damping "circuit", as it does now.
So I think I'll go this route - mod the bottom as per the lovely pics in this thread, and at the top use the stock mount with original diameter springs.
P.S. Any chance I can borrow your wishbone jig to aid drilling and assembly? Assuming yours goes together OK when you assemble it on the car of course!
Edited by adam quantrill on Thursday 9th October 20:55
Yes you are welcome to borrow the jig, after it took 6 hours to fabricate I'm not in a hurry to cut it up again, I may even get around to welding the drill guides on...
Maybe you could use the upper spring mount, the back end of mine was like that already a sort of half coilover, the only problem I can see is that the spring / shock would end up even shorter than it is already which may make the situation worse not better. After BBWF 2013 fosse way white knuckle ride I was told to sort it out and I hope that this is the way forward !
OK so we have had a few developments...
First off I tried to fit the refurbed steering rack and found that the various pipes fouled the chassis which was solved with some gentle persuasion. As I had to take the rack in and out several times to get everything to clear I found to my horror it had knocked far too much paint off, leaving bare steel in several places. I'm not sure if I didn't mix the epoxy correctly or if there was still some contamination on chassis that wasn't removed by degreasing but what is certain is if the paint won't survive the rebuild it won't last another 25 years.
So I'm back to my original plan and phoned Power & paint near York, having paid £300 to get the chassis collected, blasted and returned I expected a silly price for blasting again and powder coating... I was therefore pleasantly surprised with a quote of £150 - £200 if I can get do the drop off and collection...
So now I have to complete ALL the welding which is much more fun than painting...
Onto the rear shock upper mounts...
First off I tried to fit the refurbed steering rack and found that the various pipes fouled the chassis which was solved with some gentle persuasion. As I had to take the rack in and out several times to get everything to clear I found to my horror it had knocked far too much paint off, leaving bare steel in several places. I'm not sure if I didn't mix the epoxy correctly or if there was still some contamination on chassis that wasn't removed by degreasing but what is certain is if the paint won't survive the rebuild it won't last another 25 years.
So I'm back to my original plan and phoned Power & paint near York, having paid £300 to get the chassis collected, blasted and returned I expected a silly price for blasting again and powder coating... I was therefore pleasantly surprised with a quote of £150 - £200 if I can get do the drop off and collection...
So now I have to complete ALL the welding which is much more fun than painting...
Onto the rear shock upper mounts...
Been a while since I updated this thread, luckily while I was away mainly chewing on bits of bone (thankfully Chinese food in the UK isn't all that authentic..) my dad had been busy copying the top rear shock mounting meaning by the time I stopped being a grumpy arse due to jet lag I just had to weld everything together.
Upper spring pan gone, new mounts similar to the front ones now in place, even remembered to include an earth stud on both sides !
"Rear End"
Original fuel pump bracket refitted (hopefully in approximately the right place) and two platforms built to take the inner rose joints for the new leading links.
A little more tidying up needed and it's off to be blasted (again) and powdercoated on Wednesday and I should have it back on Xmas eve, what a present how santa is going to get that down my chimney I'm not sure
Upper spring pan gone, new mounts similar to the front ones now in place, even remembered to include an earth stud on both sides !
"Rear End"
Original fuel pump bracket refitted (hopefully in approximately the right place) and two platforms built to take the inner rose joints for the new leading links.
A little more tidying up needed and it's off to be blasted (again) and powdercoated on Wednesday and I should have it back on Xmas eve, what a present how santa is going to get that down my chimney I'm not sure
After the cover blew off the body during the week I've found this... microblisters, further inspection has found them both under the damp cover, bootlid and the tops of both rear wings and all over the rear of the car around the numberplate, if it had any petrol in it I would have had a BBQ this afternoon.
For now we have taken the cover off to let the air get at it...
For now we have taken the cover off to let the air get at it...
Thanks, to be fair the paint was never great, the drivers door is damaged and whoever painted it following an excursion into the greenery did a pretty poor job as the "in memory of peter wheeler" sticker I put on for BBWF09 pulled a load of paint off with it so I knew bodyshop attention would be needed at some point, just not now. So unfortunately when it does get back on the road the nice chassis is going to be hidden by a pretty poor body I suspect with a bit of a touch up here and there and union jack bootlid, the rest will be next winters job.
I have to have her running for the summer look at the price of go juice it's v8 heaven !!
Came down with flu on Saturday so finding this was not well timed.
I have to have her running for the summer look at the price of go juice it's v8 heaven !!
Came down with flu on Saturday so finding this was not well timed.
Hmmm 
Nah I'd miss the flares....
Had a good sort out of suspension bolts today, ordered a full set of the upper wishbone washers from oldfordparts before Xmas and I've now found that both front lower wishbone / chassis bolts have a bloody great step worn in them ?? The step is also worn on the top of the bolt at the "nut" end and the bottom of the bolt at the "head" end !!
I suspect it's these
solid bushes it's had fitted, if you think about it the front suspension has to work in a arc as it's following the tie bar, if you replace the rubber bush with nylon there is no "give" at all which wears the bolts out instead. One thing I can do with the flipping flu is spend money....
Nah I'd miss the flares....Had a good sort out of suspension bolts today, ordered a full set of the upper wishbone washers from oldfordparts before Xmas and I've now found that both front lower wishbone / chassis bolts have a bloody great step worn in them ?? The step is also worn on the top of the bolt at the "nut" end and the bottom of the bolt at the "head" end !!
I suspect it's these
solid bushes it's had fitted, if you think about it the front suspension has to work in a arc as it's following the tie bar, if you replace the rubber bush with nylon there is no "give" at all which wears the bolts out instead. One thing I can do with the flipping flu is spend money....
Cheers Rich,
I think my paint is a lot worse than yours the bootlid is like 80 grit sandpaper now ! I've got a fellow TVR owner looking into options to cover the damaged paint with something as a temporary fix !
I'm still doing battle with the diff but found out last night that the seal kit didn't come with new oil seal dust covers which got trashed removing the old seals....
We then had much fun with more low flying polybushes - the Tina inner wishbone one's are a 'kin nightmare to get in but we got there in the end.
Whoohoo - Something is fitted to the chassis !
I think my paint is a lot worse than yours the bootlid is like 80 grit sandpaper now ! I've got a fellow TVR owner looking into options to cover the damaged paint with something as a temporary fix !
I'm still doing battle with the diff but found out last night that the seal kit didn't come with new oil seal dust covers which got trashed removing the old seals....
We then had much fun with more low flying polybushes - the Tina inner wishbone one's are a 'kin nightmare to get in but we got there in the end.
Whoohoo - Something is fitted to the chassis !
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