Strut brace and brake servo

I've installed a new up rated break servo; a straightforward job.

I’ve got the torsion bar clamps back from the workshop

were they adapted them to fit the up rated front torsion bar;

next thing is fitting the front and the rear up rated torsion bars.

Forgot to take some pictures of the struggle when

fitting the front bar but all went well in the end.

The rear torsion bar was a lot easier to change.

Problem; because of the strut brace there is not enough

space for the air induct pipes this way the air filters are

pointing towards the exhaust pipes and the incoming air

will be to hot. (see first picture)

So I took the fresh air induct out of the shed and installed

it into place.

I then turned the strut brace 180° so it would point backwards

and it showed out that sometimes you can be lucky;

Fresh air induct, stut brace and engine air inducts;

it all fits perfectly together.

Fitting the headlamps

Surrounds ready.

Before I fitted the headlamps I first cleaned the connections;

looking at the picture you can see a big difference;

the top connector is almost black, underneath the cleaned one.

Then the connectors received a protective spray for

electric contacts.

The surround in place and very well fixed.

Spend a lot of time outlining the headlamps

but I’m pleased with the result.

The clamps for the torsion bar have to be

machined at the shop,

once there back it will be installed.

reparing the headlamp surround

Before mounting the headlamp surrounds they need

some special attention.

A well-known problem is the fixing of the surrounds;

the washers are often rusted and not longer in there lodging.

To cope with this problem I tried something out

and it worked out very well.

Step 1: use the original washer or replace it by a new washer

Step 2: drill two small wholes in the washer

Step 3: enlarge the wholes with a cone drill

Step 4: fix the washer with two little cone head screws

Step 5: grind off the heads of the screws to make them

even with the surface of the washer

Step 6: put some paint on the washer to prevent further rust.

Front and rear lights

An other thing that needed some attention are the lights;

the car still had the old bulb type lights (right pair) so to get

some more and better night vision I’m installing

halogen lights (left pair).

When I tried to install the first halogen bulb in to the

brand new light unit the retaining lip just broke off.

My first impression is that these units are poor quality

they feel like cheap plastic but perhaps something happened

during the transport and the units are not bad at all?

I’ve bought these units several months ago so I don’t

know if Rimmer would replace the unit under guaranty.

This is why I tried to repair the thing myself and I think

it looks quite good; this wont break off as quickly as

the original lip.

I also cleaned the rear lights and gave them a fresh

chrome spray.

Before and after.

Heater assembly

A lot of the stuff that goes on the car was still lying in

the shed being untouched since last autumn; the

heater assembly is one of those things.

I couldn’t find the courage to take care of it as long as

the car wasn’t back from the body shop; it would

attract dust whilst lying there waiting and winter was

far to cold to work in the shed.

All the parts are been sand blasted and re-painted

so now it only needs some new foams and rivets and

a little bit of grease to finish the job.

Hand made foam gaskets.

This is why I need the computer; I’ve forgotten how

most of the things are put together and the pictures are

a great help in reassembling the heater.

Ready to go back in the car.

New shock absorbers

After the installation of the springs (forgot to mention
I painted them for MOT reasons; in Belgium if you
install other springs or modify anything else on a car
you have to pay extra MOT even when you install an other
steering wheel so by painting the springs black I hope
they won’t notice the change) it is now time for the
new Gaz shocks.

One of the old shocks (first on the picture) was leaking

and I also prefer to have stiffer shocks to prevent the

wheels touching the arches when driving on bumpy roads.

A view of the broken Spax front shock absorber,

a pity; never been used and now it goes in the garbage bin.

Rear spring upper retainers

I made a little bridge so I can fix the upper spring retainers;

the bridge is weld on to the inside of the spring seat.

After this I put a new coat of protection on the

inner wheel arches and chassis.

When all dried I re-installed the rear axle and fixed

the springs with the retainers.

Fixing the retainers took some time because it’s very

narrow and this is definitely not the way to do it if you

need to do this regularly like for race or rally for instance

but I’m only doing this once (I hope).

Rear spring lower retainers

After cleaning and repainting the rear axle I installed
the rear spring retainers.

I’m not planning to make any jumps with the car but

these retainers will help me pass the MOT.

When the guys at the MOT lift the car to check the

rear wheels or bearings and the springs fall on

the floor I don’t think it would pass.

The way I’m installing the retainers is not so easy but

once finished it looks quite nice.

The rear axle is ready to go back underneath the car,

the torsion bar will be replaced by an up rated one

when the axle is on the car so I can check if it needs spacers.

Strut needle bearing

To make the steering a little bit easier I’m installing a

strut needle bearing set.

I would love to have a PAS-rack but these are hard to

find and far more expensive but if I ever manage to

find one I will not hesitate.

The old bump stop rubbers are completely gone and

I bought some new ones and shortened them

1” because of the shortened springs.

Front strut finished.

New spring insulators

The other strut leg came apart quite easy,

the old insulators have had there best time and need

replacement the same goes for the strut gaiter.

I couldn’t find a complete set at Rimmer or at Revington

so I mixed the blue poly’s from Rev with the yellow ones from Rimmer.

The old gaiter felt apart in four pieces and didn’t serve at anything