Donor Front Hub Refurbishment & Front Suspension

Well I took the plunge and went eBay happy - I couldn't justify the expense of buying new already reconditioned hubs from KitSpares, especially as they don't come with callipers.  I managed to pick up a pair of hubs, drive flanges and callipers for half the price of refurbished hubs alone.  Plus, there's more fun in bringing life back into old parts right?

Well...kind of, it soon gets boring.  Today I managed to remove the inner and outer bearings, prep and paint the Hubs and Drive Flanges ready for re-assembly with new bearings tomorrow.   One thing that I am unsure of is the length of the existing wheel studs, they are 43mm and I think that's too short - I am going to risk that one and find out when I get the alloy wheels, at the moment I don't have any replacement studs and I have no idea how long they need to be.  Anyway enough words, here are some pics.

I had to purchase a large socket set, I thought I will probably need a load of different sizes at some point and besides - these will last me a life time:

Good job I bought the set, turns out I needed a 41mm socket rather than the 46 I thought, plus another size to get the bearings out....

In the vice she went, the callipers have been put to one side as I will be panting them yellow - I think - at a later date:

Notice the burned hub nut that's been blatantly beaten to death?  In my head I thought I would be able to crack on and remove the nut with brute force - wrong.  I spent two days doing it, my first error?  Not RTFM - the Haynes manual in one paragraph said there should be an "R" stamped on the outside of the flange to indicate right handed thread.  There wasn't and I wrongly assumed they were both right handed......the yellow coloured nut was left handed (which was explained in the next paragraph)  hence the abuse it took.   I borrowed a friends blow torch and it came off with ease once heated up and after I started unscrewing in the right direction!

Now off I went through the usual wire brush, electric wire brush attachment (life saver) and some rust removal gel.  After about three cycles on each of paint, wire brush, clean I was happy they were clean enough to paint (and yes, I put them in the oven to heat them up before painting - shhhh, don't tell the wife)

 









You cant really tell in the picture but I used brush on hamerite for the first coat and then a matt hamerite spray for top coat, makes them look a bit less shiny which I prefer.   I have both bearing sets ready to go but I cant do anything else before the paint dries so I moved onto the suspension.  I've already done a load of work getting the bolts and washers all put in but I have now torqued them up and marked them with bolt paint:

I am not totally sure about the IVA boot, I fear I may have cut it too short.  Its not a biggie but obviously if I have done and I need to replace it, I will have to take the top ball joint out.  It looks fine now and it covers the lock nut, I am unsure if that will still be the case when I get the geometry setup.   That's all for today, I should get more done tomorrow - I have my fuel tank now so potentially there is a fair bit I can be getting on with after the front is sorted, I will see a rolling chassis soon!!!!!