CV CONVERSION - THE GAME BEGINS !!

[Guest]

Hello.

 

As of this morning I have started to replace the Rotoflex system on my Mk2 Vitesse and will be replacing it with the "Nick Jones" CV Conversion.

 

At the conclusion and hopefully successful result, I will construct a new thread from start to finish to show how it progressed from sourcing the parts through to testing on the road. 

 

This particular thread, however, will be about flagging little snags along the way - so to get the show on the road and get a taste, here we go !!

 

Snag 1

 

With the wheels off, brake pipes disconnected and the pressure  taken off the transverse spring (currently working on the nearside section) I now need to unbolt the pivot arm and keep that to one side away from the driveshaft.

 

It appears that the pivot bolt passes through a bush, the nut has been removed but the bolt will not shift despite plenty of rust breaking Plus Gas. I can turn the head of the nut back & forth but of course that is occurring due to the rubber bush twisting slightly. It's quite a confined space at this point, so what are my options ?? Plenty more Plus Gas and then some determined hits with a club hammer using a pin to drift it out OR are "we" looking at something else such as heating the area ??

 

All observations / advice welcome.

 

Thanks.

 

Richard     

[Pete Lewis]

Do you have a 3ft breaker bar ?? And strong shoes , to stand on it

[Guest]

Pete.

 

I get the impression that trying to turn the bolt will just be absorbed by the rubber bush twisting. Drifting it out is my favoured option at the moment unless you think there is a better method ??

 

Regards.

 

Richard.

[Gary Flinn]

The Bolt will be rusted solid to the steel sleeve in the bush!!

 

An angle grinder with a thin cutting blade is best (If you can get it in?)

 

Alternatively carefully hacksaw the bolt either side the bush.

 

Gary 

[Clive]

I second Gary's points.

The angry grinder is your friend. Although I quite fancy an air hacksaw,reckon that could be handy!

[TomL]

Hi Richard,

 

If the bolt is rusted to the sleeve, which is what I suspect has happened, and is suggested also by others above, a bit of heat will help.  It might be that getting the grinder onto it may be the way forward (I don't much like blow-torches) and the heat from that might just do the trick (as long as you leave enough of the bolt/nut intact such that you can get  spanner onto it - obviously).

 

Incidentally, I did the same (Nick Jones) conversion on my car this time last year.  I haven't done many miles with it but I can vouch for the quality of the engineering.  And Nick was very helpful with advice during the process.

 

I'll be interested to hear how you get on.

 

Tom

[Guest]

No room for a grinder, so it's a slow hacksaw job   - first part of the bolt cut and should have the other part cut tomorrow.

 

Can the pivot bar be separated at the mid way point where the adjusting nuts are or is it best to leave those alone as I presume that have been specifically set ??

 

Tom, I agree - Nick Jones top bloke and very helpful.

 

Regards.

 

Richard.

[Clive]

The radius arm setting should be specific to the car. 

Changing to another upright may put the rear toe out a very small amount.But being pragmatic, if you mark the threads you can put it back to where it is easily enough.

However, be aware these are tricky little blighters, and are often seized. A good go with a blow torch is always a good idea, you don't want to shear anything. But the individual parts are available from Canleys, and possibly others.

[JohnD]

First of all, unbolt the UJ from the diff and take out the half-axle, to gain best access.

Then thin cutting disc.

John

[Guest]

Hello.

 

So new day and taking everything in to considertaion that had been suggested I decided to unbolt the lower wishbone and drop that down out of the way; not sure why I did not think of it yesterday !! By doing this I could get a better cutting angle on the seized bolt, it was the way forward.

 

John - even if I had removed the driveshaft it would not have given the angle I needed, but a good call and I certainly looked at that.

 

Clive - after the bolt was cut and the pivot arm moved out of the way, I noticed it unscrewed very easily which is a result as I will need to replace the bush.

 

The rest of the dismantling was pretty straight forward and I now have the L/H side Rotoflex unit removed from the car. Needless to say Pete's sound advice of plenty of tea works wonders !!

 

Checking the Rotoflex unit over, it looks in very decent condition albeit there are a couple of minor cracks on the rubber coupling.

 

With regard to the bolt going through the spring / vertical link I was able to get a socket and a 2' foot breaker bar on the bolt whilst placing a ring spanner on the nut jamming it against the brake drum. Having given it plenty of Plus Gas last night and this morning the bolt freed up easily and I then drifted it fully out. I think the initial shock tactic with the breaker bar + rust loosening fluid has to give you a fighting chance. For a surprising change the car owner won !!

 

As you can see from the one of the photos, the spring lift is still in position. I know this is probably a daft question, but can I now lower that and remove it whilst letting the spring settle at its own level OR should I in some way provide some support even if slight to take the tension off the spring slightly ?? 

 

R/H side next, but certainly less daunting now that I have done one side.

 

Some photos to browse.

 

Regards.

 

Richard.

 

  

[Guest]

Hello.

 

The L/H d/shaft is now stripped and all that remains is the hub within the vertical lnk.

 

I supoose the quickest way to eject the hub from the VL is to drop it in at the local garage and get them to pop them both out using a hydraulic press, when the R/H side has been tackled and in a similar position to do so ??

 

Would you agree and is there anything I should be aware of ??

 

The VL's will be machined in due course to take MGF hubs.

 

Many thanks.

 

Richard.

[KevinR]

The hub should pull out of the bearings quite easily.

 

As the bearings are scrap as you are about to get the VL machined, just put a socket on the back of the hub and hit it with a soft faced hammer, and the hub should pop out.

[Guest]

Thanks Kevin, much appreciated.

 

Regards.

 

Richard.

[Steve P]

I have the Nick Jones setup on my MK 1 2.5 Vitesse,i went this route after snapping a drive shaft on the 2012 RBRR in Cornwall, which resulted in me being overtaken by my own rear wheel.

 

Obviously being MK 1 i had to weld the wishbone brackets on the chassis and source the wishbones and tie bars etc.

The car has done about 10,000 since then and it gives me much more confidence knowing i shouldn`t lose a wheel.

 

Nick was helpful all the way through.I wish he still did them as i would do my Herald.

 

Steve

[Guest]

 

 

As you can see from the one of the photos, the spring lift is still in position. I know this is probably a daft question, but can I now lower that and remove it whilst letting the spring settle at its own level OR should I in some way provide some support even if slight to take the tension off the spring slightly ?? 

 

 

Hello.

 

On Reply #10 I asked bout the above quote, as no views were forthcoming I went ahead & lowered the transverse spring to its full natural curve - no problems occurred doing this and it appears to be more than happy to be in the unsupported position.

 

Having now stripped the R/H Rotoflex d/shaft assembly out completely this morning, the above applies and the spring is resting unsupported on each side whilst still secured to the 6x rear diff studs.

 

Regards.

 

Richard.