Looking good Stephen, not sure I'm cut out for doing it outdoors though!!
Not as much progress this weekend as I'd have liked..
I used the Eliseparts wishbone bushes tool to remove all 16 bushes with no problems at all. Simply put the wishbone in my vice, and lots and lots of turning the bolt by hand, then wrench.
Cannot fault the tool at all, perfect for the job at hand.
I then moved onto the ball joints, similarly, using the Eliseparts tool. Not so lucky here though. The instructions say 15 full turns to remove 1 ball joint. The first issue was that the weld on the first wishbone I chose meant that there was little to no space between the bolts and the wishbone. I proceeded with caution, but with 15 full turns, I guess I stopped checking and started scraping the threads a little. Once loosened off, and realigned, the tool very easily removed ball joint number 1. The trick is to keep the 2 bolts equally tight, I was working on 1/2 turn per bolt all the way through.
Number 2 was a different story. I think I somehow ended up a turn or 2 wrong on 1 side, and mistaking my pressure bending the bolt for the ball joint being well seized, well, I need a new pair of M12 bolts
My advice to anyone else is take it slow and steady, don't try to rush through!
I've arranged use of a press tomorrow for the other 7...
That was all on Friday.
Saturday I only had a couple of hours as we had visitors. I spent the time removing the last of the cut off nuts, and started removing the driving lights as both are missing a nylon bolt or 2, and the springs are rusty, so I bought replacement items.
I also run some wire from the front compartment into the passenger cabin for the switch I'm planning to fit for my 2nd radiator fan. My plan is to have the fan connected via the same connector as the original, so I can simply switch over the thermostat controlled fan to the switch controlled on. The switched one will of course be controlled by a separate relay, a toggle switch, and the ignition. This is simple a precautionary measure since the clam / rad are out.
Today, I tidied the garage somewhat, and started preparing to remove the gearbox, something I wasn't going to do, but since the wishbone is off... well it seems to make sense!
I started by draining the gearbox. I used an old basin to collect the oil, also, luckily, I do like the smell of gearbox oil
As the box was draining, I jacked the car a little higher (1 pin higher on my axle stands) for a little more room under there.
Next I chopped the cable ties holding the loom to the roll over bar.
I then removed the 2 bolts holding the air filter bracket to the roll over bar (I have a K&N cone filter, so no air filter box)
I replaced the top bolt a few turns and suspended the bracket from it so it wasn't going anywhere as the fuel filter is still connected:
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From under the car, I removed the pin from the slave cylinder, then took out the 2 bolts that hold the cylinder down from the area now cleared by the air filter bracket.
DSC_0200
Whilst in there, I removed the earth strip.
Next was laying under the car to remove the gear change cables. 2 pins At this point, I gave the gearbox bolts a quick scoot with plus gas in preparation.
Finally, for today, the stater motor. The terminals were barely more than hand tight, and come off in no time. I used a small cable tie to hold the 3 leads together so I don't loose them, or miss one when I refit!
From sitting in the wheel arch, I could see the top bolt of the starter motor well, so I used a long extension bar with the 17mm socket on the end. I presumed it would be a bolt into a captive nut, but 10 minutes and 20 swear words later, I had managed to get myself (and a light) into the appropriate position to see that the incredibly tight bolt seems to have a nut on the other end!
At this point, I felt it best not to work through my frustration, and decided to revisit this at a later date, possibly from above.
to sort out the clam fixings.
