I have brakes! (and finally some new wheel studs)

Oh hindsight is a wonderful thing! First, I have been busy working on the car.  No blog update for a while, but not because I haven't done anything - I struggled for weeks with my wheel studs.   Its a long story but I leaned the hard way the studs I had were simply not going to go in without some serious persuasion, meet my new 6 ton press:

 

I couldn't resist giving it a quick try in the Kitchen, don't worry the rest were completed in the Garage like so (well earned biscuit break included):

Before I purchased the press I ended up snapping a couple of studs, threading a couple, wrecking two wheel nuts, bending my vice (!!), pulling my back and eventually deciding that something definitely wasn't right.  I still don't know if for some bizarre reason the studs I had were the wrong size, because they were immensely difficult to get in.  I checked the default size (they weren't oversize, 13.1mm) and even purchased a micrometre to double check.  A small amount of copper grease helped each as well as a little heat with a blow torch and the correct length studs are set to go:

Moving on now to the brakes.  After having to dismantle them completely to replace the studs, I was keen to finally get the system bled and that was made easy with this little bargain from Halfords:

It has a none return valve at the top (black pipe) which slips over the bleed nipple.  I was a little sceptical at first because everyone seems to go for the EasyBleed system, but at 6 times the price I was willing to give it a go, after some patience it worked perfectly and my system is bled.  I did have an accident, after a few hours I lost a lot of fluid from the reservoir and traced it back to the pressure sensor above the diff - apparently a common problem, it needed PTFE tape to seal properly.  Looking more like a car each day:

Glad I went for Yellow in the end - they are the same colour, its darker at the rear of the garage:

I did some tidying up of the rear suspension, cutting the bolts down to size with the dremmel and smoothing with a file they look much neater and "factory finish" now.   Small job but pedal box now assembled fully, only finger tight as it will need to come off later on:

That's me done for today - I may tackle the scuttle tomorrow, but that looks in depth and requires some thought.  I need to tidy the garage.  Steering column is on order, along with new barrel fitted at GBS along with a new set of keys.  A guy on the rhocar forum is also sending me a Sierra steering wheel (IVA) for postage which is very kind of him.

Replacement Wheel Studs

After putting the disks on I remembered that there is a possibility I will need to change the wheel studs, after measuring it turns out there isn't enough length.   I've ordered a set of 16 new studs, 47mm, but annoyingly it means I need to take everything off as I am not prepared to start smacking them with a hammer whilst on the car; I don't think the bearings will like that.

I've removed 12 studs already, I tried with a bearing puller tool from ebay but that was all but useless - I had to remove the marked red bit so I could get the correct angle:

After failing miserably I bit the bullet.  The rears were easy to get off as I hadn't yet tightened the hub nut (will do that last thing), the hubs came straight off.  The front is more difficult, I ended up removing the whole dummy strut, I need to get a bearing puller because the top ball joint is still connected.   After a couple of days of penetration fluid the rear studs came out quite easily, swift blow with the hammer.

The front was slightly harder so a change of tactic needed:

22mm socket behind the hub, tightened the vice and each one popped out with relative ease.  Apart from one, which took me three hours to remove.  I won in the end:

 

 After cutting the stud out and griding as close as I could to the hub, it finally gave up!  One more to do tomorrow and then I can wind the new ones in.  I suspect they too are going to be difficult, I will have to be careful as I really don't want to damage the threads.  I'll do some research but planning on both freezing the studs and heating up the hub with a blow torch before winding them in with nut + washers.  We shall see, Ill check rhocar forum.

Front Callipers - Complete

Well, I've been waiting to post this for a while.  Bit of a mammoth task to get these all painted up, lots of patience to make sure I didn't put the paint on too thin but got there in the end.  I went for Hammorite smooth yellow - that meant lots of coats, yellow isn't the best at covering.

At least I managed to do all this in the warmth inside as its been too damn cold outside for the paint, you can see the progress below.  After stripping my donor parts down and giving them a good clean:

And on the car, looking nice:

The bad news is I have now dismantled my rear callipers to prep for painting, which I spent ages fitting.  Oh well, it will look good when finished. :)

Fuel Tank Fixing & Fuel Lines

Fixed the fuel tank today, the norm seems to be sikaflex so I made sure I used plenty.  Not the neatest of jobs but thought it was better to use too much glue than not enough, this part isn't going to be seen and better safe than sorry:

Not really much to say.  Used my rathchet strap to clamp down and then a couple of bits of tubing either side to stop it sliding back.

I guessed where to put the fuel lines but I've noticed there is a guide on the KitSpares site, I am not far off to be honest I just routed both pipes down the right hand side of the diff and split from there, rather than top of diff.  I was worried about some kind of weird gravity affect for the top pipe (back from swirl pot), I ran the pipe along the bottom of the fuel tank and then back up to the top, which is exactly the same as KitSpares.

 I have the two inside crescent panels now.  I plan on fitting them, finishing my callipers off and then I am going to have to purchase the wiring loom as I don't see how I can get the rear end on without fitting the wiring as it will be a squeeze.

Front Suspension - Almost Complete

Well, its as good as complete....I need to purchase a spacer to fill the gap between the spring and chassis.  Originally I was going to use washers but my 1/2inch bolts are slightly too wide.  Oh well, only a couple of bolts left and its looking more like a car now:

I've torqued everything up and marked it all with bolt paint, I need to update my torque settings page to include this and the rear suspension which I will do later on.  You can see I have put the IVA boots on, I've also put the caps on top of the nuts - need to check IVA requirements, I may just cover them all up anyway as it looks far neater :) 

(I've cleaned the garage as well, need to invest in a bin so I refrain from chucking everything on the floor when done!)

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...