It’s been a while but I have been making some progress. The bushes have turned up but to my surprise the kit had fewer bushes than I was expecting. Compared to the original kit the gear box bushes and steering bushes are not in the kit. I’m not too worried because those bushes are in good condition.
Next job is to remove the bushes from the suspension arms. Having got permission to use the 25 tonne press in the fab shop at work I took a few pieces each day and pressed them out. I used a piece to 12mm stud bar and some nuts and a small stack of washers to press the smaller bushes out. I used and pipe fitting to press out the larger bushes on the trailing arms.
I took the pipe fitting home with the stud bar and with a piece of plate managed to remove the trailing arm bushes in the Rear hubs.
The front arms I knew would be a bit trickier. They are Aluminium and the outer ring of the bush is a steel casing. I managed to press the inner sections of the bush at work without issue. I couldn’t find anything the right size to press the outer case so I had to apply a different technique I found online. First you make a cut in the steel case with a hacksaw without cutting into the aluminium (that’s the tricky bit).
Once I had cut as close to the aluminium as I dare I used a thin pointed chisel and a hammer to bend one side in toward the centre. This removes the tension on the aluminium and the steel shell can be tapped out easily. The smaller front bushes were the hardest to do and took twice as long.
In hindsight if I had made two or three similar cuts instead of just the one within say 15-20 degrees either side of the first cut. Releasing the tension would be easier and less risk of damage to the aluminium.
Whilst I was sawing away at the bushes outside on the workmate I got this eerie feeling like I was being watched by someone. I looked around at all the neighbours windows looking on to my garden but couldn’t see anyone and there wasn’t anyone on the other side of the fence. It seemed eerily quiet too. I stopped sawing again and looked around there were no sounds of birds. There is a family of sparrows usually calling to one another or squabbling in a bush in next doors garden, but it was totally quiet. Then I saw them. Magpies, seven of them all sat evenly in a row on my TV aerial, all completely engrossed in what I was doing. I stood there watching them watching me. They didn’t move, or even make a sound, just watching, waiting...... There’s a film reference in there somewhere and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Hitchcock really was on to something. They didn’t leave until the light started failing and I moved into the garage to finish off the bushes.
Kim has been in touch, even though she has been off college with back problems that have left her bed ridden. She called a friend who works at a local garage to remove the springs from the dampers. I popped round and picked them up. I only need the tops to mount on the new coils. When it warms up I will be able to clean them up and paint them. I am getting the parts together ready for a warm enough day to do a big cleanings and painting session.
I called a mate who gave me some contacts for shot blasting, dry powder coating and spraying. I took some photos of the parts and emailed them to MCS and asked what the cost would be to restore the sub-frames and Inlet manifold. I was quoted £160 to have the lot blasted and dry powder coated, but would not be able to have the crackle finish on the manifold. I do have some concerns about the Rear diff mounting bushes, which are very hard to get hold of if I’m forced to replace them and they are £25 each, and the dry powder coating process bakes the pieces at temperatures of 200 deg C. The many machined faces on the inlet manifold are also a concern. I left the fixings for the many parts in the manifold. The parts should be back next week so hopefully I can start putting the engine back together.
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