| 11th January 2008 | |
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Another year gone. I forgot to note in my previous entry that the car has been on the road for 5 years now, which I find quite
amazing, time flies...
Anyway, just a quick entry to update things for 2008, and to say that I'm on the cusp of actually doing something to the car! I am intending to get the rear suspension stripped off to sort out the wheel bearings, just as soon as I can find a 41mm socket to undo the hub nuts, that will fit through the centres of my wheels - I don't much fancy leaning on it that much when it is up in the air. Also, in a rash moment, I have finally ordered some half doors! Having internally debated it for a long time, and having looked at them fitted to a car in the flesh, I have ordered the MOG/Fluke half door. As much as I may have liked the carbon fibre option, it is rather expensive, so have gone for plain black Alutex skin. I would prefer the look of a door without or with less of an elbow bulge, but when I made a template I found that despite the car being way big for me, I do need that little bit of elbow room. They are made to order, so will take a couple of weeks to get to me. |
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| 17th January 2008 | ||||
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I managed to get hold of the elusive 41mm socket from Tim, which has a whole 1mm smaller outer diameter, but that's enough
to clear the wheel centres. With a lean on the breaker bar, the hubnuts slowly came loosened. I should be easily able to
the rest with the wheels off, so the socket OD is not an issue then.
Also, the new half doors arrived yesterday. So I spent a few minutes trying one on the car to see how well they fit. They are quite nicely made, and do seem to fit pretty well, all things considered, there is just a small gap at the rear bottom corner. I now need to think of a good way to secure them to the car... |
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| 21st January 2008 | |
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I spent a couple of hours on Sunday in the garage, even though I didn't actually achieve much to the car, I did get the
place tidied up to enable work to start, and get the car up on the axle stands. Another hour in there this evening saw me starting to dismantle the nearside rear suspension to get the upright off to get bearings changed. Some research seems to suggest that the bearings need to be pressed in and out, so it may be that I take all the bits to the local friendly garage and get them to do it. Before I get that far I need to work out what bearings I actually need, as there are some potential subtle differences between cars. I didn't quite get as far as removing the upright, mainly because my 5/8" spanner was in the house and I couldn't quite muster the energy, but also because I needed to slacken the handbrake to get the calipers off I had to dismantle various other bits of car to get at the fiddly adjuster. While I've got your attention, if anyone has any genius ideas for attaching half doors to the car, do let me know... |
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| 22th January 2008 | ||
| A further brief encounter with the garage this evening to finish off the removal of the uprights. All pretty straight forward really. With them on the bench there is a big circlip keeping the bearings in the upright, which is too meaty for my pliers, so I'm stuck already! I'll try to work out what part they are, and arrange to acquire some, in the next couple of days. |
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| 31st January 2008 |
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Nothing much to report, except that I have ordered the new bearings from Westfield, then I need to find someone with
a hydraulic press to fit them - I'm not overly keen on the idea of drifting them, as I can see that ending up in
upright damage. Also I have been thinking more about how I will attach the half doors to the car, and have been searching around the internet looking for suppliers of press studs, shock cord, etc. I also got some samples of some potential seals for around the inside edge of the doors, which will prevent them scratching and hopefully help keep the water out. |
| ©2002-2009 David Hackett |
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