Really struggling to fit front damper/spring

[pasmith73]

I'm building my 270S and just cannot fit the bolt through the top bush of the front dampers/springs. I know the holes are lined-up because a shorter M8 bolt goes in easily. But when I try the correct bolt I just can't get it in. Of course there's no clearance to get any type of tool on it. I've tried using pliers on the bolt shank to turn the bolt, and it does turn, but it's not going any further into the hole.

What am I doing wrong? Been trying for literally hours now :-(

Thanks.

[pasmith73]

Thanks for your reply.

The bolt goes in fine without the damper in place. And I know the holes are lined-up because a shorter M8 goes through easily. I can't get an allen key on the bolt because there's almost no clearance (I can only just fit the width of my finger between the top of the bolt head and the chassis part behind it).

I have tried pushing the bodywork outwards, but it only moves a tiny bit, and springs back to the original position when I let go.

I think my fingers are just not strong enough to turn the bolt by hand.

[pasmith73]

For the bending - do you mean pushing from inside the car so that you are pushing the panel outwards? I have tried this with my fingertips but there was hardly any movement in the panel, and it sprung back when i let go. I don't think my fingers are strong enough.

[pasmith73]

Thanks for your reply. I thought some other comments i had read were suggesting that the skin is pushed inwards too. I think I really haven't understood this correctly. If you push the skin inwards, what does this allow you to do? I would think that this is pushing the body panel even further onto the bolt?

[pasmith73]

In that photo the bolt head is already up to the shock absorber bush. I can't begin to insert the bolt into the first bracket and into the bush. My bolt head is way further back, behind the body panel.

[pasmith73]

Thanks very much. That's where I was going wrong. I was trying to present bolt from inside the car. I'll have another go tonight. Cheers.