Suspension reassembled; engine being prepared

With the delivery of all the suspension ball joints I was able to start putting the front end back together. This should have been a relatively simple job, not made easier by finding that the lower suspension arms were effectively handed because the locating lugs were in different positions on each side of the chassis. The offside lugs were 7 mm further part than the nearside. A quick removal of the already-fitted nearside suspension arm and a quick check found that one lower arm was slightly narrower than the other so a bit of force was applied to fit this one in the lugs that were closer together. From then on it was plain sailing to complete the job. However, I have been slightly concerned about the tracking and the camber not being to specification so I've left the upper ball joints finger tight at the moment before making sure the camber is closer to that required. I'll have to wait for the tracking to be done prefessionally once the car is running again. ~

Having painted the pedal box and pedals, a quick clean up of the pedal shaft and a bit of lubrication, and the box was remounted - looking somewhat better for its coat of paint.

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I had spent much of Saturday afternoon cleaning the remainder of the paint from the engine. Not sure what paint it was but it certainly stuck to the casing - even after a dose of Nitromors stripper. In the end a wire brush on the drill removed the remainder and a quick spray with etching primer made the engine look a tad tidier. I've ordered a can of satin black engine casing paint so will finish the job off during the week when it arrives, and then refit the engine.

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Sam Day arrived on Sunday having decided that the engine should be turned over to circulate the oil while he was here. We whipped off the rocker covers and took out the plugs, and then suitably armed with a large battery and leads Sam turned the engine over until oil appeared on the rocker shafts. The process was repeated again with the plugs back in place. All seemed fine.

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The principal reason for Sam coming over was to review the wiring of the car. That didn't take long because there wasn't much wiring left! We did agree where the CDI unit should be located, together with the regulator/rectifier, and the coils. As for the coils, Sam announced that the two sets I had were of no use as they were both only suitable for the turbo engine. Looks like another hunt on Ebay tonight. The other bit of buying I need to do is for the brake lines. Following suggestions from various sources I will be getting flexible hoses made up to avoid the problems of the copper pipes fracturing that have been reported on some cars. This will take in the master cylinder to T piece, and the connection between the nearside and offside T pieces.

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The weekends jobs were completed by the application of a final coat of chassis black on the front hubs and new ball joints, and a clean up of the shock absorber bolts which had been painted the original red colour of the chassis. As the bolts are stainless, a quick clean with the coarser polishing mop had them back to their natural state within minutes. Unfortunately, the springs are painted red and the shock absorbers they surround are painted yellow, so I need to dismantle them and repaint them - not exactly sure on the colour scheme yet. Trouble is that we moved to this house around three months ago and not everything has found a proper home yet. Hunt as I did, I could only find one spring compressor in the garage so another more concerted attempt is required during the week.

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As I have very little wiring left in the car now, I need to rewire everything. Most of the basics are in place with the wiring and the connectors for the engine, CDI unit, and regulator / rectifier, but the lighting, horn, neutral light, stop switch and so on need to be sorted so I've bought a kit of motorcycle connectors and a crimping tool (Ebay again). Much careful studying of the wiring diagram is called for I think!

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Roger