1984 Van Diemen Formula Ford Restoration
Discussion
To start off with, I'd best warn you that there will be another update soon after this post, then no activity until 2013. This is due to my garage and my time being taken up with building an Ultima GTR. 
The object of today was to create some more room in my garage. I thought that the best way to accomplish this was to move the car along the garage door line, then take the wheels and suspension off the car. This means that I'll gain 2 foot or so which will allow me to concrete and level the other half of the garage.
Van Diemen 617 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
After I jacked the car up and put it on blocks (due to the garage refurb and moving house, I don't have all my kit to hand, so please excuse the chunks of wood it's put on) and took the wheels off.
As you can see, the suspension is rust pitted and needs crack testing and if it's ok, it can be replated. if it's cracked it will be replaced with new components. The car has sat outside for a year and it's really deteriorated.
Van Diemen 618 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
This is the back end of the car with the bodywork removed.
Van Diemen 619 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
And here's the front of the car sans body.
Van Diemen 620 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
This is looking at the rear left of the car.
Van Diemen 621 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
This is looking down in to the pedal box of the car.
Van Diemen 622 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
These are the master cylinders. Left to right is; Front brakes, rear brakes and clutch.
Van Diemen 624 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Starting to disassemble the front left suspension. First to come off is the brake caliper. note the spacing washer between the caliper and the upright.
Van Diemen 625 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Again, the spacer washer. In the background you can see the other bolt still in the caliper with the spacer washer in position. If this isn't there the caliper could rub on the brake disc.
Van Diemen 626 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
And now (after cutting the cable ties holding the brakeline on the the lower wishbone) the caliper can be moved out of the way and cable tied to stop it falling anywhere.
Van Diemen 627 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
This is the upright with the caliper removed.
Van Diemen 629 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Removing the trackrod bolt from the steering rack. Note that a smaller bolt has been used and there is a spacing tube that sits in the rod end to bring the effective bolt thickness up to size.
Van Diemen 630 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
This is the front, right wishbone's rear joint.
Van Diemen 631 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
After removing the front joint and the bottom wishbone joints, it was only the outer end of the pullrod to undo and i could take the whole corner off and put it in a box. (I knew those recycling boxes would come in useful one day.
Van Diemen 632 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
20 minutes later (it's easy when you've done it already) and the other side is in the same state. the other corner is in the box too.
Van Diemen 633 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Front end minus the suspension. Note the brake calipers out of the way, allowing the bodywork to go back on. The pull rods are still attached at the bottom (the bits stuck up in the air either side) as there is other stuff that hangs off the same bracket and they aren't really in the way like that.
Van Diemen 634 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Box o' suspension.
Van Diemen 635 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
On to the rear suspension now. The front was pullrod actuated, but the rear is a rocker system.
Van Diemen 637 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
First job was to remove the silencer, which gives a lot of access to the rear suspension.
Van Diemen 638 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
The right rear corner. The ratchet is undoing the bolt that holds the rocking shaft between the ally plates. The rocker rotates on a roller bearing and is held in at either end by roller bearings. The bolt holding the spring/damper unit to the rocker is already undone and the weight of the corner is taken up on a trolley jack.
Van Diemen 639 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
The order that this end is held in, is bolt, locator, ally plate, bearing surface, bearing, bearing surface, rocker.
Van Diemen 640 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Once the other side is undone the rocker can be folded over the top out of the way so I can access the driveshaft bolts.
Van Diemen 641 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Oh. Not impressed! These bolts should have schnorr washers behind them. :/
Van Diemen 643 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
All the bolts out and we can see the grease in the CV joint. It's dry and hard so will need replacing in the rebuild.
Van Diemen 644 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Only two bolts holding the bottom wishbone on and the corner can come away.
Van Diemen 645 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Box o' rear suspension
Van Diemen 647 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Driveshaft nuts removed and the driveshaft can come out. Again, no washers. :/
Van Diemen 648 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Driveshaft marked which side it's from and which end is the outside end. This means that it can go back on the same side so that it won't be twisted both ways around in it's lifespan.
Van Diemen 649 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
That's it for today. I don't have time to do this corner today, so the body is back on and the garage is tidied. I collect a trolley on saturday to put the car on so it can get wheeled around the garage and kept out of the way.
The object of today was to create some more room in my garage. I thought that the best way to accomplish this was to move the car along the garage door line, then take the wheels and suspension off the car. This means that I'll gain 2 foot or so which will allow me to concrete and level the other half of the garage.
Van Diemen 617 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
After I jacked the car up and put it on blocks (due to the garage refurb and moving house, I don't have all my kit to hand, so please excuse the chunks of wood it's put on) and took the wheels off.
As you can see, the suspension is rust pitted and needs crack testing and if it's ok, it can be replated. if it's cracked it will be replaced with new components. The car has sat outside for a year and it's really deteriorated.
Van Diemen 618 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
This is the back end of the car with the bodywork removed.
Van Diemen 619 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
And here's the front of the car sans body.
Van Diemen 620 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
This is looking at the rear left of the car.
Van Diemen 621 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
This is looking down in to the pedal box of the car.
Van Diemen 622 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
These are the master cylinders. Left to right is; Front brakes, rear brakes and clutch.
Van Diemen 624 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Starting to disassemble the front left suspension. First to come off is the brake caliper. note the spacing washer between the caliper and the upright.
Van Diemen 625 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Again, the spacer washer. In the background you can see the other bolt still in the caliper with the spacer washer in position. If this isn't there the caliper could rub on the brake disc.
Van Diemen 626 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
And now (after cutting the cable ties holding the brakeline on the the lower wishbone) the caliper can be moved out of the way and cable tied to stop it falling anywhere.
Van Diemen 627 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
This is the upright with the caliper removed.
Van Diemen 629 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Removing the trackrod bolt from the steering rack. Note that a smaller bolt has been used and there is a spacing tube that sits in the rod end to bring the effective bolt thickness up to size.
Van Diemen 630 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
This is the front, right wishbone's rear joint.
Van Diemen 631 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
After removing the front joint and the bottom wishbone joints, it was only the outer end of the pullrod to undo and i could take the whole corner off and put it in a box. (I knew those recycling boxes would come in useful one day.
Van Diemen 632 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
20 minutes later (it's easy when you've done it already) and the other side is in the same state. the other corner is in the box too.
Van Diemen 633 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Front end minus the suspension. Note the brake calipers out of the way, allowing the bodywork to go back on. The pull rods are still attached at the bottom (the bits stuck up in the air either side) as there is other stuff that hangs off the same bracket and they aren't really in the way like that.
Van Diemen 634 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Box o' suspension.
Van Diemen 635 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
On to the rear suspension now. The front was pullrod actuated, but the rear is a rocker system.
Van Diemen 637 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
First job was to remove the silencer, which gives a lot of access to the rear suspension.
Van Diemen 638 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
The right rear corner. The ratchet is undoing the bolt that holds the rocking shaft between the ally plates. The rocker rotates on a roller bearing and is held in at either end by roller bearings. The bolt holding the spring/damper unit to the rocker is already undone and the weight of the corner is taken up on a trolley jack.
Van Diemen 639 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
The order that this end is held in, is bolt, locator, ally plate, bearing surface, bearing, bearing surface, rocker.
Van Diemen 640 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Once the other side is undone the rocker can be folded over the top out of the way so I can access the driveshaft bolts.
Van Diemen 641 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Oh. Not impressed! These bolts should have schnorr washers behind them. :/
Van Diemen 643 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
All the bolts out and we can see the grease in the CV joint. It's dry and hard so will need replacing in the rebuild.
Van Diemen 644 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Only two bolts holding the bottom wishbone on and the corner can come away.
Van Diemen 645 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Box o' rear suspension
Van Diemen 647 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Driveshaft nuts removed and the driveshaft can come out. Again, no washers. :/
Van Diemen 648 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Driveshaft marked which side it's from and which end is the outside end. This means that it can go back on the same side so that it won't be twisted both ways around in it's lifespan.
Van Diemen 649 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
That's it for today. I don't have time to do this corner today, so the body is back on and the garage is tidied. I collect a trolley on saturday to put the car on so it can get wheeled around the garage and kept out of the way.
Edited by Life Saab Itch on Thursday 31st May 21:01
Another Fluffer said:
Amazing, look forward to more progress!
How did you acquire the car, if you don't mind me asking?
I saw an advert on the cork board in Merlin Motorsports at Castle Combe, phoned the number and it was a normal sale like a normal car. I didn't have a test drive, but I bought it on condition.How did you acquire the car, if you don't mind me asking?
I've had it 9 years now and only done one test day in it. These cars really need to be looked after and used otherwise they do deteriorate. The plating on the suspension is so thin that it used to get surface rust even when it was kept in a dehumidified garage. I'll be getting all the bits that need it replated with nickel. Chrome plating is banned on suspension components in Motorsport as it doesn't necessarily crack if the metal underneath it cracks, which is obviously a bad thing...
I had a spare half hour in the garage earlier and managed to remove the other corner whilst trying to persuade my little girl not to play with the CV grease...
Van Diemen 006 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Left rear suspension removed.
Van Diemen 007 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
It all looks rather empty in there now.
Van Diemen 008 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
The front pullrods have also been removed as they were stopping the bodywork sitting back down in position. It's fairly important with thin fiberglass bodywork that it's kept in place on the car otherwise it can distort and is a pain in the backside to fit it again.
*****FLESHY FINGERS ALERT*****
Van Diemen 010 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
The two pullrods are marked which side they're from and how many turns it took to undo them from the rod ends that are still attached to the car. This means that I'll have a baseline set up to work from when I reassemble the car. I'll make a spreadsheet with all these figures in at some point, when I come to refurb the suspension.
Van Diemen 011 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
I seem to have a boat in the garage.
Van Diemen 012 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Jobs list:
Van Diemen 006 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Left rear suspension removed.
Van Diemen 007 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
It all looks rather empty in there now.
Van Diemen 008 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
The front pullrods have also been removed as they were stopping the bodywork sitting back down in position. It's fairly important with thin fiberglass bodywork that it's kept in place on the car otherwise it can distort and is a pain in the backside to fit it again.
*****FLESHY FINGERS ALERT*****
Van Diemen 010 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
The two pullrods are marked which side they're from and how many turns it took to undo them from the rod ends that are still attached to the car. This means that I'll have a baseline set up to work from when I reassemble the car. I'll make a spreadsheet with all these figures in at some point, when I come to refurb the suspension.
Van Diemen 011 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
I seem to have a boat in the garage.
Van Diemen 012 by Ace Kit Cars, on Flickr
Jobs list:
- put in drainage channel at the front of the garage to tidy it up.
- finish the garage floor now that you have the space to.
captainzep said:
Anyone else feel warm inside when see those lovely fleshy fingers?
Anyway LSI what's the plan for after the car is rebuilt and running?
Sell or sprints/hillclimb/track tool for you?
To be honest I'm undecided.Anyway LSI what's the plan for after the car is rebuilt and running?
Sell or sprints/hillclimb/track tool for you?
I'll have to sell it eventually, but it would be a decent advertising tool for my new business...
I'll probably intend on keeping it until The Wife tells me to sell it.
/underthethumb.
supraboy said:
Interesting read. I work on the new ecoboost formula fords but have worked on the 88 van diemens, interesting to see see difference in 4 years!
What business are you going into if
You don't mind me asking?
Yep, the '84 car was the first of the low frontal area Van Diemens. was it '86 or '87 that they started using the LD200 gearbox? that was a game changer as it was designed to have brackets hung off it, rather than the ally plates arrangement on my car.What business are you going into if
You don't mind me asking?
The rear anti roll bar on my car is a wonderful idea, if they had thought it through properly they could have made it adjustable on the move from the cockpit. as it is, they couldn't even get the tolerances right to hold it in place. There is quite a lot of play. It's something that I'll be looking to improve on the rebuild.
The business that I'm in the process of setting up is building kit cars to motorsports standards and track prepping cars. If someone wanted me to rebuild their race car, I could do that too.
This is all very familiar because dad has a '72 Alexis 18B which is in a state of total disassembly in the garage. I keep pestering him to build it, or let me build it, because I can't wait to drive the damn thing! Hewland 4-speed (right hand shift!), 1600 kent crossflow and vintage crossply control tyres. Should be a hoot!
HustleRussell said:
This is all very familiar because dad has a '72 Alexis 18B which is in a state of total disassembly in the garage. I keep pestering him to build it, or let me build it, because I can't wait to drive the damn thing! Hewland 4-speed (right hand shift!), 1600 kent crossflow and vintage crossply control tyres. Should be a hoot!
Yep, you'll be on the Avon ACB9 tyres for the older cars, this is on ACB10s.That is one spot on thing on this car actually, the gearshift is the best I've ever used. Bear in mind I used to build race cars for a living, I've used quite a few dog 'boxes
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