RedRooster Posted December 17, 2024 Posted December 17, 2024 1 hour ago, Nick Jones said: Ah…. Plenty of work there it seems. Not the most trouble-free of RRs efforts unfortunately. Denso tape, love the stuff, I get half rolls for free 😀
Steve 13-60 Posted December 23, 2024 Author Posted December 23, 2024 Rear suspension back together. If course, I gave no thought to a spring compressor before starting to put the shafts back in. Fortunately a length of 4"*3" and some ratchet straps worked a treat. To try and get it level I used some bits of dexion to make some dummy shoxs. Mind you, there was a slight problem when refuting the wheels. I have replaced the standard wheels studs with M12*1.5 Freelander ones.....but ordered M12*1.25 nuts ...DOH!!! Currently on by half a thread, but will do til the proper ones arrive. It took 5* 25kg bags cement plus one wife to get it level!
Steve 13-60 Posted December 23, 2024 Author Posted December 23, 2024 But... found when putting the hub on the passenger side that the thread on the shaft is mullered. Fortunately got those pairs of spitfire shafts coming so will replace it.....BUT ...spring compressor ....what do you folks use? Not gonna fook about with the 4*3 again. Thinking of getting some 300mm lengths of 7/16" studding to replace 2 of the main spring/diff studs so can slowly wind the spring up and down into place. Must be a nightmare of a job to do with the body on....e.g. when fitting spacers.
Steve 13-60 Posted December 23, 2024 Author Posted December 23, 2024 Good job I just measured....they are 3/8"!
Nick Jones Posted December 23, 2024 Posted December 23, 2024 They are 3/8”…… Just be careful with that stud method. It certainly can work but you need to be careful to keep the load spread fairly evenly between at least 4 of the studs as otherwise you may pull a chunk of the diff casing off….. No prizes for guessing how I know this. This job is actually hardest on Heralds/Vitesses (the strongest, highest arched springs) with the body off and thus with nothing to hold the chassis down against your lifting of the spring. The correct tool is a spring lifter lever but even they don’t work very well on the lighter cars as unless you add weight to the cars (quite a lot of weight) you may pick the car of the axle stands before getting to the point you need…… Messing around with fat timbers, long bars and ropes/ratchet straps is not especially unusual.
TimBancroft Posted December 24, 2024 Posted December 24, 2024 I have always used a spring lifting tool, always with the body attached and on GT6/Spits, so as the number of leaves is less than a Herald/Vitesse, its always been very easy. If I remember correctly, the old Haynes GT6 manual shows the dimensions for the tool?
Escadrille Ecosse Posted December 24, 2024 Posted December 24, 2024 (edited) 20 hours ago, Nick Jones said: Messing around with fat timbers, long bars and ropes/ratchet straps is not especially unusual. This ^^^^ I made myself the tool in the GT6 manual. As pointed out, with the lighter cars and lighter spring it is possible to lift the car off axle stands which isn't very safe. Pulling the top out of the diff with long studs is not difficult to do. With the body off the easiest/safest way is to fit the spring to the uprights and then pull it down onto the diff with ratchet straps. In my experience anyway. Body on you can bolt up the spring to the diff. Fit the spring lifter/wood beam or preferably one each side then lift the car off the axle stands with a jack just enough to prop the ends of the lifters on tall axle stands. You can then lower the whole car on the jack to just the right height to bolt up the uprights. Edited December 24, 2024 by Escadrille Ecosse 1
Steve 13-60 Posted January 3 Author Posted January 3 Well that's bloody annoying, I ordered the above shaft assys, which never turned up. Apparently they were returned to the seller with no reason why. He then sent them on 24hr service with parcelforce.... 4 days later they are still stuck in their hub....not even out for delivery yet. Meanwhile, bored and can't move forward til it's on 4 legs again. Also annoying are printer makers, I dug out the old Epson photo printer, which was reet good .....but they don't do a driver for windows 11..... All printers seem to be a right ripoff.
Nick Jones Posted January 3 Posted January 3 Flippin’ couriers! Parcel Farce are the pits, in this area at least.
Steve 13-60 Posted January 8 Author Posted January 8 Front bulkhead moved back so work can commence on the front chassis 3
Steve 13-60 Posted January 12 Author Posted January 12 A good weekend, if somewhat cold but the front chassis all welded up and stone chipped ready for painting tomorrow. I continued and welded in plates to fully box section the front and sides. No doubt it's not needed otherwise would have been done at the factory. But I like to play. And it does seem a lot stronger, can just up on the front corner and nothing moves. Sections also sprayed with Dinitrol so shouldn't rust again. 1
Steve 13-60 Posted January 12 Author Posted January 12 Underside of the front tub isn't too bad, it's had new footwells in at sometime in it's past. Just needs a couple of patches around the body mounts as probably no access when done as the body was still on. 2
Steve 13-60 Posted January 12 Author Posted January 12 By the end of next week I should be ready to start refiti g the tubs. Always nice to be moving forward again eh? 1
Steve 13-60 Posted January 12 Author Posted January 12 1 hour ago, RedRooster said: Nice thread I've enjoyed reading though it. Thankyou, stay tuned for the next exciting post!
Escadrille Ecosse Posted January 12 Posted January 12 1 hour ago, Steve 13-60 said: stay tuned for the next exciting post! Looking forward to it. Doing a nice job
andymcp Posted January 13 Posted January 13 I'd love to get the body off mine to give the chassis some attention. Unfortunately I don't have the time or space at the moment. Do you intend to do anything with the open seam on the N/S footwell? Asking for future reference. Keep up the good work!
Steve 13-60 Posted January 13 Author Posted January 13 Morning Andy, yes, pity that side wasnt a full footwell. I'm going to cut the overhang back to the weld then give it a coat of seam sealer. Whilst it is easy enough to take the bodywork off you do get to the stage where you start wondering if it'll ever get back together! 1
Steve 13-60 Posted January 15 Author Posted January 15 What a lovely balmy day to play outside. Welded up a couple of small places on the front tub, then gave it a nice thick coat of grey primer. Fingers crossed it will dry overnight so I can paint it red in the morning. 1
Steve 13-60 Posted January 21 Author Posted January 21 It's beginning to look a lot like.....a Herald!!! Trying to get everything aligned is fun though. 2
Steve 13-60 Posted January 21 Author Posted January 21 I'm using M8 studding with back-to-back nuts so can easily adjust the heights.....so far so good . I left the bonnet untouched as the fit before was OK. So adjusted the front tub to mate with the bonnet then the doors to the tub ...last will be the rear tub to the doors....no doubt followed by some tweaking. 1
Nick Jones Posted January 21 Posted January 21 3 hours ago, Steve 13-60 said: Trying to get everything aligned is fun though. Fun….? 1
andymcp Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Have you ever seen this. It sounds so simple... bodynotes.pdf
Steve 13-60 Posted January 22 Author Posted January 22 Thanks for posting that Andy, I did have a copy yonks ago but couldn't find it again. It probably was fairly simple when bits were straight off the production line, but after 50 years of aging getting stuff aligned ain't easy. Todays task is to align the rear tub with the doors. Front is as good as I'm gonna get it, and there's only a tiny gap at the back! 1
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