Feels like a new car ..... for 30 quid!
Discussion
OK and a shed load of man hours....
Previously thought that the bumps and crashes through the steering wheel were all part of the fibreglass experience...
Fitted a new bulkhead bearing & surround to my S2 over the weekend -
what a massive difference this makes
the steering was vaugue and scared the shite out of me on the motorway by wandering - it is now tight, solid and trustworthy!
My issues:
- The 'captive nuts' in the plastic bush were nothing of the sort tried everything under the sun to try and remove them but there was nothing to grip from teh footwell so ended out (carefully) drilling them through.
I replace these with Allen bolts - much easier to stop them from turning....
The UJ had just one bold clamping the mechanism to the column (and a rivet through the other side of the clamp_- this was a little disconcerting but seemed secure when fastened back up.
Like a fool i ignored advice in the bible to mark the positions of everything (How wrong can you go with a triangular column I though to myself...) of course now my indicators dont cancel....
So the upshot - Time well spent, which I would thouroughly recommend to anyone having issues with the 'feel' of the steering on their S!
>>> Edited by BRGS2 on Monday 13th October 13:18
Previously thought that the bumps and crashes through the steering wheel were all part of the fibreglass experience...
Fitted a new bulkhead bearing & surround to my S2 over the weekend -
what a massive difference this makes
the steering was vaugue and scared the shite out of me on the motorway by wandering - it is now tight, solid and trustworthy!
My issues:
- The 'captive nuts' in the plastic bush were nothing of the sort tried everything under the sun to try and remove them but there was nothing to grip from teh footwell so ended out (carefully) drilling them through.
I replace these with Allen bolts - much easier to stop them from turning....
The UJ had just one bold clamping the mechanism to the column (and a rivet through the other side of the clamp_- this was a little disconcerting but seemed secure when fastened back up.
Like a fool i ignored advice in the bible to mark the positions of everything (How wrong can you go with a triangular column I though to myself...) of course now my indicators dont cancel....
So the upshot - Time well spent, which I would thouroughly recommend to anyone having issues with the 'feel' of the steering on their S!
>>> Edited by BRGS2 on Monday 13th October 13:18
WildfireS3 said:
How long/how difficult was it to do?
Depends entirely on the five nuts that attach the bush to the bulkhead - Mine were just
so I tried various combos of mole grips/adjustable spanners/flat head screwdrivers wedged in/brute force/dremel with a cutting disc - until finally just drilling the bolts through Once this is off you can inspect the bearing in it's mounting mine had about 1mm of play (imagine what that equalled at the wheel..) putting it back together was a breeze - column back in, UJ bolt - thats it really.
Probably could be done in a couple of hours if you could get those five bolts of in a reasonable period of time (unlike the 8 hours it took me...)
Hows you S3? - does it get the motorway judders too?
S3 is going well, especially as I now know roughly how much fuel I have in it. 
No Judders on the motorway, but the steering does tend to get a bit light at around 100 or so. Not that I regularly hit those sort of speeds, but did notice it a bit last time.
Handling is much improved with the addition of Bridgestone S02's all round.
Did you manage to sort out you scratch? And the other little problems that you had?
The only body work problems I have is a tiny bit of crazing and the fact that birds seem to aim at the "shiny green object" all the time"!
No Judders on the motorway, but the steering does tend to get a bit light at around 100 or so. Not that I regularly hit those sort of speeds, but did notice it a bit last time. Handling is much improved with the addition of Bridgestone S02's all round.
Did you manage to sort out you scratch? And the other little problems that you had?
The only body work problems I have is a tiny bit of crazing and the fact that birds seem to aim at the "shiny green object" all the time"!
WildfireS3 said:
S3 is going well, especially as I now know roughly how much fuel I have in it.
Handling is much improved with the addition of Bridgestone S02's all round.
Did you manage to sort out you scratch? And the other little problems that you had?
The only body work problems I have is a tiny bit of crazing and the fact that birds seem to aim at the "shiny green object" all the time"!
managed to polish it into looking respectable - but need to get hold of some 'brooklands racing green' touch up paint.
Fitted a gas strut for the boot lid over the weekend too - was a doddle and is now feather light. also done my bonnet cable so no longer have to grovel in the footwells just to release the thing!
still running sweet - 1000 miles in the first 6 weeks of ownership....
:runs to hide from the insurers:
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