Full suspension overhaul illustrated

[Jim Jamieson]

It's been a busy week for me on the refurb so here's an update.

This was the parts I got sand blasted courtesy of my son Chris.



And here they are after several coats of primer.



I had a bit of trouble removing one of the bolts from the suspension arm. It had seized solid and I had to grind the nut and the bolt head just to get it out of the sub frame. I really thought I would have to replace it, but not being one to give up I spent almost three hours drilling a hole through the length of the stud then hammering it out.

It really was a pain to remove and would have been impossible to do with the subframe still on the car.

Here is the offending arm and the remains of the stud.




I had to get the subframe sand blasted by a local firm as it was just too big for Chris to do and here it is before priming.



And after spraying it with almost 1 litre of primer. I adjusted the spray gun to a spot spray to get inside the box sections and layed on several coats.



This could be a cause for concern for the future on our 75's namely the fuel tank support bracket. I noticed a few years back it was quite rusty so I cleaned and painted it a bit, but with the exhaust now off it was easy to remove from the car.
I sanded all the rust off using the angle grinder then primed it. If you look closely you can just make out some perforations on the metal.



I am now working on the remaining small parts, nuts and bolts etc and I have removed the brackets off the aerofoil for the FBH radiator as they were also very rusty. They will be pop rivetted back on then it will be re assembling all the bits back onto the car.

I am replacing the studs on the outer arms where they attach onto the hub assembly and also the small 6mm studs (if I can source some) as they are just too rusty to bother cleaning up.

I hope to have the rear suspension completed by the middle of next week then it will be onto the front.

JYJ

[dmacdou1]

Originally Posted by Jim Jamieson

I'm now back home and junior has come up trumps with the sand blasting as most of the parts are now ready. Unfortunately he couldn't do the sub frame as it was just too big for the cabinet, so today I have dropped it off at a local company I have used in the past but it's now under new ownership and the new guy says it will be the end of next week before it's ready. Pity as I could have dropped it off before the hols.

Meantime here are some shots of the repairs to the under trays on both cars which are both now ready to be re fitted.

This one shows the under tray from the diesel which had suffered some damage as shown circled, due to it bottoming out.



And this shows them after repairs were carried out using several layers of fibreglass matting. I then painted them with a plastic primer before giving them a finish gloss coat as in the following photo.





I even stripped the rust off the securing studs and nuts and dipped them in a yellow oxide primer several times before giving them a finish coat.


JYJ

Someones been watching wheeler dealers . Seriously though excellent work

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by Jim Jamieson

I am now working on the remaining small parts, nuts and bolts etc and I have removed the brackets off the aerofoil for the FBH radiator as they were also very rusty. They will be pop rivetted back on then it will be re assembling all the bits back onto the car.

JYJ

There is no such thing as an 'FBH radiator', I think you meant the 'diesel cooler unit', the radiator thingummy located at the back of the O/S/R wheel.

[Jim Jamieson]

Originally Posted by HarryM1BYT

There is no such thing as an 'FBH radiator', I think you meant the 'diesel cooler unit', the radiator thingummy located at the back of the O/S/R wheel.

My mistake I wrongly assumed it was linked to the FBH but then I can't be right all the time

I will still have to remove the radiator as there is a bracket corroded right through, the same bracket I reported to the main dealer when the car was new.

JYJ

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by Jim Jamieson

My mistake I wrongly assumed it was linked to the FBH but then I can't be right all the time

I will still have to remove the radiator as there is a bracket corroded right through, the same bracket I reported to the main dealer when the car was new.

JYJ

Might it not be wise to change the entire fuel tank bracket for something fabricated from stainless steel strip? It looks like it would be fairly easy to make, the saddle shaped part could be simply bolted to the main brackets.

[rover54]

The undertrays really take a battering on these pesky speed humps and councils say they are not too high. The claimed maximum height of these humps is 100mm and the minimum height under a car is meant to be 100mm and that is with nobody in the car. I wish my cars had a raise switch that increased the ride height when I go over these thing.

It is really quite worrying that the subframes are rusting, yet when you look at the carbody underfloor they are generally quite rust free. Looks like something we will all need to do if we want to keep these cars on the road longterm.

What finish are you going to use, how about marine epoxy paint followed by overpaintable sill underseal, good for stone chips so it should good protection from water and road dirt.

[Jim Jamieson]

It's been a long haul but I'm now about half way, well on the rear anyway.
Today a got most of the parts into black gloss and for this I used Hammerite smooth thinned down for spraying. This was on top of about 3 coats of sealer primer with 2 coats of gloss.
I will leave them a few days to cure 100% and in the meantime I can clean up the underside of the car and paint the trailing arms etc but being outside this will be done by brush.

Here is the sub frame looking a lot better than it was when removed so it should last for a few years now.



and here are most of the other bits for the rear suspension, showing the aerofoil with newly painted brackets pop riveted back on. Note the odd parts out being the front subrame brace bars.



and finally tonight the tank support bracket which will be fitted back in first before re assembly of the rear suspension.



I ordered some parts from Rimmers, mainly new studs etc and some parts for the front suspension which I know will need replacing like the assist springs and rubber gaiters on the front struts. Pity they couldn't offer a discount like some other companies for forum members.

I hope the weather is better next week as I will be back outside again to continue with rest of the refurb, but if it's too cold I'm afraid my old joints will be staying indoors.

JYJ

[Dragrad]

How to updated

[Jim Jamieson]

Thanks Andrew

The Missus was out on her retirement do last night, so I spent some time in the workshop planning the re build and checking everything out, then I realised something was missing.

I'm surprised no one spotted it but both lower arms were missing. I searched the workshop but no they were deffinately not there then I checked on the photos I took immediately after returning home and they were not in them.
After some frantic phone calls to my son who assured me I must have them and reminding me that I mislaid a speaker in my workshop for three days just recently I began to wonder if I was losing my marbles.
This morning the phone rang, it was my son who had just found them in his locker at work.
I was just so busy with getting the rest of the parts into paint and getting my V6 duplex exhaust done I just hadn't noticed them missing but they're now back home safely and already in primer.
On another point you will remember me noting about the rusty bracket adjacent to the fuel cooler at the back. I had complained to the Main Dealer about this when the car was new so today I set about removing it.

I have never seen a bracket so rusty in all my life, it simply crumbled up into little pieces. I will post a photo next week showing just how bad it was and in the meantime I've got a new L bracket made which is much simpler in design and I will give this a few coats of paint to prevent any further corrosion.

JYJ

[Dragrad]

Originally Posted by Jim Jamieson

Thanks AndrewJYJ

No problem OB just keep me updated and I will add to the How to