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!!!!!

Odds and Sods - Dissapointment

A pointless update from me really, only because I feel the need.  Hardly anything done in roughly 3 months - purely down to funds (or lack of!) and not enough free time, its not all work related though so that's a positive.  I wont mention the amount of work done trying to fix the wifes mini one....  Had a spare Sunday afternoon today so managed to get a small amount of work done, the garage really is a tip but I just don't have the motivation to get it tidied.

I really want to get to the rolling chassis stage because it will be a good milestone to achieve but it will also make cleaning the garage much easier.  We've got rid of the wifes mini as I finally gave up trying to get the coolant problem fixed, tried everything and it just wouldn't give in losing fluid.  So, a shiny new (10 reg) Astra will be picked up tomorrow night.

Anyway, I digress, back to the kit car.  Not many pictures as its quite boring stuff, torqued up the remaining bolts at the rear (UNC) - bought myself a new toy, a Dremmel 3000.  Sick of cutting bolts with a hacksaw, this thing eats through them with ease and its fun whilst at it.  Sounds obvious but if you do buy one, buy safety glasses too!

Front steering rack is on, not really a big deal.  One side of the front wishbones are on but I've ran out of penny washers - need to get some more.  I think I need to spend about £500 to get myself back on track and get to the rolling chassis stage.  More to follow...

Passenger Side Panel

Over a month and nothing done on the car, not because of lack of want, more because I have been so damn busy at work.  I've almost finished a major project and I am feeling pretty run down, need a few days rest but decided to put the passenger side panel on today.  It didn't go on as easily as the drivers side, I can only thing because of the way I have stored it - the panel seems to have bowed slightly.

It didn't take much to sort out but was more fiddly this time, you will note the re-use of my trusty hoover cable :)

 

That's it for now.  Next project is to try and fix the wifes mini one, finally, but I am fairly certain I have just worked out the head gasket has failed - again - and I am ready to give up on the damn thing.  Waiting on a second opinion.

Busy few weeks..

Unfortunately not car related...had loads on with work and next weekend I am away at a 30th birthday party (seems to be lots of those recently!).

I've had nothing but hassle with the wife's mini one - I've spent 8 hours today on another fix.  Its leaking coolant, this time I think its the oil filter housing gasket.  I hope so, because if not I am out of ideas.  Looking at the old gasket it was "melted" flat and very brittle, evidence of coolant leak all around but that could simply be from the work I have previously done with the thermostat housing.

Anyway - kit car related, short on funds.  The drivers side panel is on, I've removed the clamps and all looks good but a fair bit of overspill from the "black tar of death" needs cleaning off the chassis.  I may see if I can get the other panel glued up before the end of the week....

The Kit Spares wish list is a good addition to their website, although it is dangerous.  A new wiring harness + fuel tank means I could potentially finish the rear end.....hmm.

Meanwhile, Jess is still helping every now and again:

Drivers Side Panel

After discovering that the inside crescents aren't part of the standard kit (seems a little daft - what does the carpet attach to?) I decided to crack on with the Drivers Side Panel.  People say different things, but for me I am going to put both panels on now.  I am not too bothered about how difficult it makes the rest of the build, apparently it makes it fiddlier to put the engine in - more of a challenge!.   Anyway, decided to put some selective rivets at the front, rear, underneath and on the top:

The panel fits perfectly already apart from a small piece I needed to file down at the top because I have already fitted the pedal box, easy enough with my new files:

The glue is horrible stuff, its easy enough to work with but impossible to get off your hands and clothes (although Coke seems to work well).  Once on I used lots of clamps, a ratchet clamp as well as some ingenious use of electic cable, screwdriver and a old hover cable - that's right, organised as ever.  Did the job though:

There's enough pressure all over to ensure the panel touches the chassis and its now sat for 24 hours till it goes off.  I will need to clean up the chassis where some of the glue has squeezed out, that should be easier to do once dry (I hope!).

Fuel Lines, Tidy Up and Diagram

Following on from the last post, I purchased a small sheet of Aluminium after deciding I was going to make my own bracket for the swirl pot as it looked too messy and I wasn't happy.

First I made a template out of cardboard and then transferred onto the aluminium, the template doesnt look like much but what you can't see is it folds over to give me something to attach to the next panel with. Cutting was easy as my father in law lent me some huge scissors which cut through with ease without too much distortion:

 

Photos are a little blurry I am afraid, not sure why.  You can see my new Clecos on the right, not really needed on such a small panel but any excuse to try a new toy!  They will definitely come in handy when I do some of the larger panels.  I also stuck the panel down with sikaflex to seal it up, I think its probably overkill but the end result is much better:

 Next was the fuel pipes, I decided to put some flexi-pipe wherever the lines crossed the chassis.  Looking at a few other blogs and the GBS recommendations, it was a little confusing exactly where I needed to put flex-pipe to meet the IVA requirements but I figure more is better.  I definitely need it at the rear around the handbrake cable and out towards the diff, but I wasn't entirely sure about the front so put a small piece where the pipes could potentially rub against the chassis.  Everything is secured with cable ties either side of each P clip:

Finally I mounted the high pressure fuel pump with two 60mm exhaust brackets, that seems to be the norm.  I was going to put a small piece of rubber between the pump and brackets but that doesn't seem necessary.  

 

You'll notice that I have riveted the swirl pot panel on, but rivnutted the actual swirl pot into the new bracket so it can be removed if needed later on.  Much neater I am sure you will agree and lots of progress made today.

Finally here is a diagram of how I think the fuel system is cabled, most of this comes from research on other peoples blogs and research - its starting to make more sense to me now, I still need to research more on how the swirl pot works but I think I have the cabling correct:

Next I am going to do the rear passenger crescent and side panels.  I have one more tube of sikaflex, should be enough but will likely need to order another tube afterwards.

Fuel System - Rear

After a long weekend away at the Silverstone grand prix (awesome!) I came back itching to do some work on the car.  I've been busy buying lots for the fuel system, thats what I am going to do next to get more of the rear finished off.

I am not 100% happy with two things, the first is the height of the low pressure filter- its probably me being too much of a perfectionist, but it didnt come with any kind of adapter or mount so its a different level than the pump.  I'm sure its not a problem:

 

 Jubliee clips came with the pump, but Ive purchased a load along with some 7.6mm and 10mm (not sure if thats right - need to check) R9 fuel pipe.  Next was to mount my new swirl pot, the second thing I am not happy with.

I had to change the bracket to the opposite side to fit - the issue with this is one of the rivnuts seems to have threaded, its not the end of the world (rock solid) but I will take anoher look after I have recovered from my weekend away:

Finally I need to sort out some piping to cover the fuel lines near the handbrake cable and out the rear, as per GBS instructions.  Not done a great deal today, too tired so giving it a miss till tomorrow.

Oh and one thing I want to do is some research on the fuel system.  I am trying to make sure I dont simply bolt things together - I want to understand as much as possible as I go through.  For example, I know what a swirl pot is for, but I dont understand how it works.