Pettifordo

Thanks for the advice

Just purchased one from the club shop - thanks for the feedback - vitals hopefully safe for a while longer 🤣🤣🤣

Do you need the special spring compressor from the club to do the front shocks or can you use normal spring compressors like this one

Great day today - finally bought an Impact Driver - what a joy to use on those difficult nuts and bolts. I also had to remove 6 rubber bushes and on 3 of them I forced a larger nut into hole with the Impact Driver and it broke the seal between the centre and the rubber and they came out easily 😀 The others I drilled the rubber in 4 or 5 places and that seems to do the trick. Any tips on getting the new ones in ? Also another thing I noticed is that my front wheel bearing didn’t have the felt oil seal (or I could find it) - do they just rot away or could PO have forgotten to fit them ?

So I’m doing the UJ and I’ve decided to do the front wheel bearing as I’m putting on new discs. Stripped down one of the front vertical links and the hub today - must be 30 years since in hammered out bearings. Any tips on getting the new ones in ? I was thinking of tapping them in with the old bearing upside down so I get a snug fit - do you think that would work or a better method exists ?

I’m going to do them anyway as I have never done a UJ before. But now feeling guilty about not doing the wheel baring 🧐

Rimmer Bros have them for under £10.....should I avoid those - I'm not planning to increase the power of the car from standard (assuming I ever get to the engine !! Also Greased or Sealed - sealed sound better but a coupe of £ more

No I haven’t done those - doh They seem fine with no play - @AlanTis it a difficult job ?

Drive shafts, brakes and trunnions rebuilt today. It has been a long time since I did brake shoes so the first side took a while but managed not to trap my fingers 👍 The trunnions went back together well with copper grease so the next person who takes than apart shouldn’t have so much of a problems. My new brake pipe bender was great and the new hoses look smart. Hopefully I will have time to fit them to the car over the weekend 😬😬

So oil on the front ones but Zinc based grease on the back - right ? could copper grease work instead as I have some 🧐

I’m in the process of fitting the rear trunnions which were covered in grease ! Should these be filled with oil as well ?

Starting to build her back up now - diff in (after fitting the rear bolt first and then realising that it wouldn’t swing up to the front mounts so had to take it off again - doh) and lead spring on top - suspension this weekend 👍

And the other side done - was worse but sorted now with new hacksaw blade 👍

Man vs Trunnion update Plan - cut bolt First Method - Reciprocating Saw - Result : 3 blunt blades not much to show for it Second Method - Angle Grinder - Result : Fail couldn’t reach the bolt with my 110mm grinder Third Method - 12” hacksaw - Result : Sorted ! Then I got over confident and started on the other side but my hacksaw blade was toasted so more on order will sort it another day. I think I preferred my life before I knew the word TRUNNION !

Well that was a frustrating day - I had forgotten how hard taking things apart can be. Job number one today was to remove the bushes from the leaf spring and paint the spring - after much hack sawing the outer tube was showing no signs of moving - bought a new one from Rimmer Bros in frustration - probably not a bad idea anyway. Moved on to job number 2 - painting the front suspension towers - covered in much under seal, decided in the end they will need to be blasted - so gave up. Moved on to job number 3 - replacement of rear trunion bushes…to make access easier and because they need replacing anyway I started to remove the flexible brake hose - one side was ok - very stiff but it move….the other side was like pulling teeth…. Then I removed the nut on the trunion bolt and managed to turn the bolt after some effort…..but they nothing…..much hammering….but nothing. Finally search for how to remove the bolt and hack saw / angle grinder on cut it out seem to be the answer…..hopefully I can do that without damaging the trunion.

@PeteH My dealer had some - so on with the welding - this time some final touches to the chassis and then a lick of paint.

It’s a 1500 - but sounds like it would be the same

My car has a floor ! That sort of marks the end of the welding. I have left the front of the floors free to give me some wiggle room when I fit it back to the chassis. Also waiting until then to fit the cross members so I can get the holes in the right place 👍 3rd bottle of hobby weld gas !

So I can rub down the windscreen surround I I thinking of removing the silver trim that the roof clips into. Is the best way to remove it to drill out the rivets that appear to hold it on ? any tips on what is needed to refit them ? Pop rivets or something else ?

@Mathew and @Josef good point about keeping the metal for future project - I didn’t think about that - will find them a place !

Big pile of metal to take to the tip ! I think I’m finished cutting it out 👍

A-Post repair and sill strengthener in on drivers side 👍 Definitely getting the hang of this welding business !

I got mine on Amazon - YFaith T2 Purple Copper, 3mm x... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09127FZJP?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share Cost me £9.99 but I have also heard that copper pipe hammered flat works. I don’t this Alloy would work as the weld would “stick” to it, but it doesn’t stick to the copper

Good 4 hours work this weekend in between looking after Covid suffering wife and doing the shopping. I nearly cut a corner and was going to patch the end plate which had a couple of rust holes but in the end I cut out all of the bottom part and fitted the bottom of the closing panel (the right way round this time). I’ve prepared the inside of the outer sill for the new strengthener, bottom of the A-post, floor and inner sill….I have to patch in a couple of places where the outer sill lip was too thin for welding - I used my copper strip to back the weld so I could get good penetration without blowing a hole - I worked really well. next weekend the floor etc will go in, marking the “end” of the major welding. Im being much work careful with the surfaces I’m welding this time which is making much better welds - thanks for all the advice.

Drivers side floor mostly out now I’ve just bought a reciprocating saw to cut off the mounting bracket at the front and sort out the inner sill and sill strengthener at the back. Hope it is easier than the other side - it doesn’t seem so rotten - but only time will tell 😆😆