Dallas Herald Posted February 17, 2021 Report Share Posted February 17, 2021 I thought I’d start one of these threads as I’ve done quite a bit on old VB in the past 12 months. I’ll start by saying I’m enthusiastic amateur (much like most in the club, I suspect) and always happy to try my hand and learn new things in the joy that is keeping our cars on the road. Except electrics. I don’t like electrics 😬 I’ll start at the current jobs, the front suspension refurb but will update slowly about the other jobs and any little bits I learned along the way. Someone may find it useful... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Herald Posted February 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2021 Current job then is the front suspension. Pic 1 is the starting point and I think most will agree, long overdue! I stuck my head into the WSM and an old Haynes for a few nights before hand and a pre job ritual for a week became each night heading out to the garage and giving each nut or screw a blast of WD40. I did this for a week before picking up a single spanner and I think paid dividends as I had no issues with getting any off. Once it was all off, the job moved onto making good. Pic 2 is all the bits stripped of rust and muck before being getting 2 coats of primer, each drying for a minimum of 24 hours. I learned a lot taking these apart: what callipers I had (type 12 (and was unsure as they were added as an optional extra at build)) the inners of a Trunnion, and that I didn’t have a 7/16 deep drive socket (thank you eBay!). It was clear that with all my new parts arriving (TRE, Top ball joint, blue poly bushes and various nuts, bolts and washers) that the shock and spring just weren’t going to cut it! The shock and spring wasn’t on the initial list of jobs; mission creep! New ones ordered and I got to this stage (Pic 3). Clearly a ‘shocking’ sight with those rusty things 😬😊 With the wonderful assistance by way of a loan of a plate type spring compressor from Pete at Herts and Beds area, I’ve so far got the offside set apart and am awaiting the correct oversize polybushes from Rimmers. And there’s a thing. I ordered the shock, spring and bushes from Rimmers and yet I’m held up in progress as the catalogued and sold poly bush (part 119450) might indeed fit my old shock but the newly supplied shock has a far larger diameter at the lower bracket. A little annoyance that might have been avoided with a bit of info on the site. Big kudos to Rimmers, on discussing it with them the correct parts are winging there way to me as I type. One struggle currently is it appears the locking nut on the TRE has become one with the track rod. An attempt at locking a couple of nuts further up the thread and turning against hasn’t budged it (and it was included in the daily WD40 spray) and so I may have to try some heat. Now I need a heat gun... Right now I’m done for the day, letting the black satin paint dry on the top cover of the Shock and Spring and the bushes to arrive before I get the assembly rebuilt and back on the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted February 17, 2021 Report Share Posted February 17, 2021 1 hour ago, Dallas Herald said: catalogued and sold poly bush (part 119450) might indeed fit my old shock but the newly supplied shock has a far larger diameter at the lower bracket. I had nearly the opposite with my Vitesse a few years back. The bushes were shot so I bought new ones, from TRGB, intending to retain the existing shocks as they were OK, but there was a huge gap round the bottom bush. After some discussion we concluded that the shocks fitted were the wrong ones, of unknown origin, so I changed them for ones that fitted the standard bush. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Herald Posted February 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2021 It is interesting, isn’t it? The stock item from Rimmers is different to the original. I get that R&D moves on and things change (hopefully for the better) but I was flummoxed by the lack of info available when buying them. But then that doesn’t take much 😊😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted February 17, 2021 Report Share Posted February 17, 2021 Nice work! Keep us updated, it gives the rest of us a bit of incentive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Herald Posted February 18, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2021 Offside is DONE!! The new oversize bushes arrived today from Rimmers 😃 and so I jumped into the garage this evening. With the top plate painted and dry (pic 1) I rebuilt the shock/spring assembly. (Pic 5). This had a little bit of trial and error as the first attempt showed me that once off the compressor, there’s little chance of spinning the shock so that the lower bolt hole lines up 🤦🏼♂️ Once sussed, in she popped. Another job while under there was the new greasable TRE and new TRE lock nut. The old nut was seized onto the rod and purely by chance I watched a chap on Twitter who had the same issue on his Fiesta ST. I watched his video and knew that was the solution; grinding disc to about 3/4 (Pic 2) of the way through the nut, last bit of cut (making sure to avoid the thread of the rod) with a junior hacksaw and when I prized a flat screwdriver in and twisted, the nut gave way and actually snapped in half! A clean of the threads, some copper seal and the new TRE and lock nut (pic 3) were secured on (I don’t think I’ll ever forget it’s 21 spins on the thread, from the old coming off 😊). All in all, a brilliant evening and it’s into the nearside this weekend. To be fair, it’s not been a technically difficult job, it’s nuts and bolts and bit of care and the end result is quite delightful (Pic 4). Now I’ve conquered all the trials and tribulations of the offside, I’m hoping the nearside will go a bit smoother. Famous last words... For now, I’m off to find out how I can put the images in the right place of my updates 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted February 19, 2021 Report Share Posted February 19, 2021 Could I ask a favour? what is teh measurement from the bottom spring pan (underside) to the middle of the bottom bush. I ask as your new shocks look correct, the older versions had the spring pan too high (with lots of cars sitting high once new shocks fitted) and it would be good to know if that has now been corrected. (if you could include the measurement for the old shocks, maybe even a pic of an old and new side by side that would be even better!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted February 19, 2021 Report Share Posted February 19, 2021 Great work, well done! 9 hours ago, Dallas Herald said: I’m off to find out how I can put the images in the right place of my updates When you first attach the pictures, they kind of line up below the text. You can click on one of them to put it inline at the cursor. Once there, it's also possible to drag them up or down a bit before submitting; I think you need to select the picture first then drag, just as you would for a block of text that you wanted to move (because you've decided your point makes more sense if you swap sentences around, for example). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Herald Posted February 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2021 6 hours ago, clive said: Could I ask a favour? Yep, of course. If it helps in some way for someone, always worth it. probably be over the weekend and I’ll post up here 👍🏼 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Herald Posted February 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2021 Here is the old nearside set off the car: curiously the measurement is 9 1/2 inches but when I rolled I noticed it looked longer: This sits at 9 3/4 inches! Both measures are from bottom of lower pan to top of top plate. And a thought hit me that I won’t be able to take a side by side picture as I’m using the same top plates 🤦🏼♂️ When I assemble the new set, I’ll measure again for comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted February 19, 2021 Report Share Posted February 19, 2021 Apologies, I wasn't clear. Distance from the bottom spring plate to the middle of the bottom eye bush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Herald Posted February 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2021 Nope, my fault 🤦🏼♂️ You clearly said bottom of the plate to the middle of the bottom bush and I ‘heard’ bottom plate to top bush. *walks off to the garage* you’ll see but to confirm neither of these are under load of the spring but the plate is as low as it can go. The newer shock has a larger bush seat diameter but the centre point is not too far off the original Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted February 20, 2021 Report Share Posted February 20, 2021 13 hours ago, Dallas Herald said: Nope, my fault 🤦🏼♂️ You clearly said bottom of the plate to the middle of the bottom bush and I ‘heard’ bottom plate to top bush. *walks off to the garage* you’ll see but to confirm neither of these are under load of the spring but the plate is as low as it can go. The newer shock has a larger bush seat diameter but the centre point is not too far off the original Thanks, it seems they have now corrected the spring pan position. Goodness knows why they didn't copy the bush tube, maybe a penny or 2? I notice the eye isn't as wide. Why can't they just do it right? Anyway, the car should ride at the correct height, which is a relief! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Herald Posted February 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2021 The Nearside is stripped off the car. The TRE lock nut was far easier to remove as it was one of the first things I did so had the rest of the set up to turn against. Everything else came off nice and easy; again I can only put that done to the daily prep with WD40 before lifting a socket. getting through some bits cleaned, derusted and primed and progress is going well. however, I’ve come across an issue with the lower wishbone set up. I think this is a rhetorical question as I’m fairly confident of my next move! But, think this has seen the end of its useful life? seems there’s been quite a bit of significant movement for some time and the hole has almost doubled in size! This is in the leading face of the wishbone and then on the rearmost bush spacing, this: I wonder if they’re linked and the wear and movement has resulted in the spreading of the other end. I think it’s seen it’s time on the car, now I just need to find another (unless anyone thinks this is worth a salvage attempt as I’m always keen to repair rather then bin?). Work on the rest continues with primer on some parts last night. Will get through the rest this afternoon hopefully and I think I’ll clean up the suspension turret this time, too. I never done it on the offside, and I now regret it 🤦🏼♂️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted February 21, 2021 Report Share Posted February 21, 2021 james paddock list them if you dont wish to repair https://www.jamespaddock.co.uk/front-suspension-lower-wishbone-lh-2 a decent washer welded on or fill with weld and drill , same with the split bush tube weld and fettle it Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted February 21, 2021 Report Share Posted February 21, 2021 As Pete says, the elongated hole can be repaired with a washer - I've done that myself in the past - and the bush tube will probably respond to being squeezed back into shape and welded up. Getting it perfectly round is less critical with the bushes being plain rubber outers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Herald Posted February 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2021 Welding is currently beyond my skill set (and tool box) but I’ll gladly have it repaired rather than bin what can be fixed. I’ll have a local garage who can do the job, I think 😬 Thanks for tips, peeps. I’ll get it cleaned up and then find a repairer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Herald Posted February 25, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2021 Work continues on the car between actual work and now isolating as the lad has tested positive. Sadly this doesn’t mean more time for VB as WFH there’s not much change 🙄 However, all parts are cleaned, some are primed and some are ready to go back on the car. The second shock/spring unit is together and I’m so pleased I decided to include those in the refurb (seems silly not to have, really). sprayed the turret with some Signal Red and then noticed it’s Kia Signal red so has a rather hive shimmer to it 🤦🏼♂️ Still, better cleaned and painted to look Korean than not at all 😂 also got the tie rod cleaned up and painted, too. All in all, I’m very pleased with progress so far and have LOVED doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Herald Posted February 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2021 Hi all, hope you’ve all managed a weekend of tinkering or driving your Triumph in the nice weather? I got what I could rebuilt while await the lower wishbone. Really must get welding on my qualifications as some mobile welders wanted a small fortune for the job! The new TRE is on along with new shock and spring. The shiny engine bay shroud is back in (although I nearly took the radiator out so as not to scratch the new paint job 😬). Upper wishbones and too ball joint in place and I’ve rebuilt the vertical link, calliper bracket, trunnion and disc shield ready for mounting. Hopefully an hour or so to go and we’ll be off to the local garage (thankfully about 400yds away) to have the tracking done. I can’t wait 😀😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted February 28, 2021 Report Share Posted February 28, 2021 nah two planks and a tape measure look at Toe in the Simple way on here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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