Slow re-birth of a Sprint

[alexblack13]

The Epoxy mastic is reasonably robust Ian. I have my 'A' frames and chassis done with it and so far quite good. It is maintaining is nice satin black finish and cleans up very well. I am using it for everything I am finishing in Black now.

Nice job Ian....

AB...

[slowsprinter]

The Elan put up a fight today. Day to myself so I thought I would crack on and assemble rear suspension onto my chassis. I found out I was not happy with my spray job on my wishbones so i postponed the above in favour of stripping down my old front suspension to paint the front wishbones too. So half a day was spent preparing everything for spraying.

I had received new prop shaft uj bearings from Sue Miller so I thought I would strip the prop down clean it up and get it ready for spraying too.

I really hate service manuals! It simply says remove circlips and place the uj in hand and tap out the bearings. How hard can that be? Bloody impossible. Spent hours tapping and poking prodding and prising. Looked at my new uj's to understand how it all goes together. More pulling
and prising using progressively bigger artillery. Nothing budged, so I gave up. Did manage to spray my wishbones though. I live to fight another day. Does anyone have any pearls of wisdom for prop uj's? May have to get professional help already. I thought this would be an easy job and one even I could cope with

Alex, do you reckon epoxy mastic or hammerite for the prop? Mood is too bad for adding photos this time!!

Ian

[alexblack13]

Not sure what the pro's use, but epoxy should be fine. Remember to have the balance checked when you are finished.

Could you not get the prop shaft apart?

AB

[slowsprinter]

Epoxy it is! When I have got it apart that is. No Alex all 8 outer bearings seem to be binding on the outer housing that they have to pass through to come out. Probably not using the correct terminology but you get my drift. How do i get it balanced, is that done with it off the car, and with the prop in its 3 constituent parts? Sorry for being a bit simples!
Ian

[alexblack13]

Balancing need to be done after the rebuild. It's a must IMHO. Bad news if you need to have any reworking done when it's all fitted into the car . Esp' with a 5 speed. I think a shaft can be removed with a 4 speed box in situ' but a 5 speed prop shaft issue needs the engine & box removing to fix.

You only do that once! Make sure your prop is dead on before you fit it...

If you are having a struggle with it send it down and either I will do it or I will take it to prop shaft services who are about 25mils away.. Might be an idea as they (or some other company) will need it for balancing. There might be a local company close by? They would also paint finish it for you too and it's not too expensive for something which must be right 1st time.

Alex...

[slowsprinter]

Thank you for your very kind offer. Perhaps I will keep that in the bank for something much more technical than the prop!
I am all sorted now, Alex. A local garage are going to take on the prop dismantle and balance for me. Perhaps I underestimate how much these bearings can bind. Do you think a hydraulic press is needed just to free things up?

Ian

[Sea Ranch]

I remember using a cutting torch to cut apart the "spider" of the U joint. Then it comes out easily and you can tap the bearing caps through the yokes. Used to do this (often) on my Triumph GT-6 Plus, back in the day. Six U-joints on that car, I believe.

[alexblack13]

Sorry for the late reply to you question Ian.

Regarding a press. This is one of those tools which are hugely useful and a pain when you don't have one when you need one. If you have the money and the space and think you can make use of it,(can you justify buying in other words?) Then I would highly recommend.

It can be easily done with a good big and powerful vice with care and the correct tools etc, but if its something you have not done before then I do recommend you have this done professionally. They will get it right and balance and paint it. You can then fit with confidence.

I had the one I bought for the 5 speed done. Fully recond with new splines section and UJ's + balance and paint.. ?100 ....

Money well spent IMHO.. As I said you will only get this wrong once. Pain in the A**e to fix...

How's it coming along then?

AB......

[slowsprinter]

Alex
Had already taken your advice before you posted it! Prop is off to a local garage run by a friend of mine to sort, same guy that reconditioned my gearbox and diff.

Currently disassembling the front suspension to see what I can salvage and what needs to be bought. Only done the right hand side so far. Stub axle, brake caliper bracket, brake dust cover and vertical link look good and will need a blast and a paint. New trunnions, upper ball joints, wheel bearings will be purchased. Currently the upper ball joint is stuck in the vertical link and won't budge I have new brake discs, and steering arms ready to go on.
I also need to buy new front shocks and springs. I am currently favouring protech shocks that Spyder use. Do they come with springs already assembled onto them and do they have adjustable seats? Any other options that you guys rate?
This weekend tried to mount my refurbished rear suspension onto the chassis using your method, Alex, with ratchet straps. Initially things went well. I have Spyder 2.25 rear spring conversions and I had new lotocones from Sue Miller. However I could not get the top of the shocks through the lotocones enough to get more than a couple of threads of the castellated nut on, not enough to get a split pin in the hole. I took it all apart to investigate. Now I notice that my new lotocones are different to the old ones. The old ones are gently tapered in the centre, whereas the new ones are narrower in diameter and straight through but have a 45 chamfer on the bottom. I believe that my upper spring seat from Spyder does not fit far enough into the lotocone to allow me to get the castellated nut on fully. As I compress the springs it just pushes the shock down as it is stopped by the upper spring seat from coming through.
Has anyone else seen this problem? I will have to phone Spyder tomorrow to see if they have had this before. I may have to send my new lotocones back to Sue Miller and buy some new ones from Spyder.

Sorry to everyone about the lack of progress and lack of pictures, thats because I am taking one step forward and two back with everything I touch at the moment Hoping for a change of luck soon. I am away for a couple of weeks now but will order my front suspension components (after deciding what to buy!) to be here when I get back.
Ian.

[mark030358]

Interesting. Just found something similaron the S4 I'm restoring.

It turned out that the spring retaining cap was not drilled square and the damper would not fully seat in the cup. A short burst with a dremmel fixed it, got approx another 8mm. When you put the cup on the shock make sure it looks square and measure how far it goes in.

Also the older type lotoclones (with the steel outer body) are longer than the newer versions. ie the steel insert is approc 40mm long as compared to about 30mm long on the newer ones. This could also be the problem.

cheers

Mark

[slowsprinter]

Thanks Mark. That is interesting. I decided to burn midnight oil last night and finally got my suspension fitted by using my old Lotocones. (Alex's ratchet strap assembly worked fine). I have decided that these Lotos will probably be ok. They were new in 1991 and have sat in a partially completed chassis by PO. I may change for new ones later if you chaps reckon I should. Having said that my new ones will have to go back to Sue Miller as they do not allow my Spyder suspension top spring seat to sit at the correct depth. The old ones give me an extra 5mm or so needed to get the castellated nut on enough to get the split pin in.

Alex could you please outline your front suspension set up. I currently am favouring Protech shocks that Spyder sell. Are they adjustable and do they come with spring assembled onto them?. That would make this job easier than the rear suspension! Back to my right side vertical link that has the upper ball joint stubbornly stuck in it

My photos updated. Any advice always welcome
Ian

[alexblack13]

Spyder top n btm wishbones with TTR adjustable shock / spring units. Polybushes in the trunnions only. New std everywhere else. New discs and recon'ed calipers.

Been on Holiday for a week. off to bed for a few hours now... Zzzzzzzzzz...

AB

[Sea Ranch]

Alex,

I'm sure this has been talked about elsewhere, but . . . if it's not hyjacking the thread too much . . . can you explain your choice of bushings?

Why poly for the trunnions and stock-style rubber everywhere else? (If that's what "std" means)

Thanks so much . . .

Randy (new Plus 2 owner, needing some new bushings )

[elansprint71]

........ Polybushes in the trunnions only. ........

AB

Can you explain that Alex?

[alexblack13]

From my previous experience with the trunnions on my +2's! I was always replacing them. Kit comprised of bushes + inner and outer shields with rubber 'O' rings. Footery but easy(ish) to replace providing that the bolts had not corroded and stuck in the mild steel spacer tubes. Then they were a bugger. One had to always use loads of copperslip etc to prevent future problems, and they still gave issues..

So.... I fitted the 'new' tech' poly stuff as supplied by Sue Miller. Easier to fit and longer lasting and also a bit of 'give' for a slightly better ride.. Allegedly!! So far they have been great. I put new rubber bushes in the wishones because I think they will give a more supple ride there. TTR said fine too so thats what i fitted there.

I've also fitted Poly to the rear 'A' frames outer and inner and I'm going to put them on the diff' torque rods too. Later though as everything diff' wise is new too.. All of the rubber on the car was changed. It had to be! I had no choice. Apart from Rubber or Poly that is..

Still sleepy from the Hol's return trip... Sorry! Pissed off with the crap weather too.

AB