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Author Topic: My jobs to do this winter/spring  (Read 12416 times)

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Doctor Gollum

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #60 on: 26 January 2018, 02:12:48 »

You'll presumably be removing #10 prior to fitting...
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LC0112G

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #61 on: 27 January 2018, 20:57:49 »

2) Steering/front end
2a) Re-furbed wishbones (I'll probably strip and powder coat some old ones).
2b) Poly front bushes - From?
2c) VX verticals
2d) New ball joints

For the Wishbones, I ended up with this:



1)   VX-90576788/789      STEERING ARM, (STRIPPED & POWDER COATED)
2)   VX-9156605      BUSH,DAMPER,REAR
3)   PFF80-902      (VX-90576775) POWERFLEX POLY FRONT SUSPENSION BUSH
4)   PFF80-902      POWERFLEX POLY FRONT SUSPENSION BUSH CENTRE TUBE
5)   VX-90538056 X2      NUT,HEX.,M14,CONTROL ARM TO CROSSMEMBER
6)   VX-90468501       SCREW,HEX.HD.,M14 X 1.5 X 77,CONTROL ARM TO CROSSMEMBER
7)   VX-90468500      SCREW,HEX.HD.,M14 X 1.5 X 88,CONTROL ARM TO CROSSMEMBER
8 )   VX-90468928      BUMPER,STOP,FRONT SUSPENSION ARM (NLS) (REUSED)
9)   VX-90542995      BALL JOINT,ASSY,FRONT SUSPENSION ARM (NLS) (REUSED)
10)   VX-11100041 X3       SCREW,HEX.HD.,M8 X 25 FLANGE      
11)   VX-11094436 X3      NUT, M8 X 25 FLANGE

Comments
1) I stripped down a used pair of genuine Vauxhall front wishbones and then got them powder coated. Removing the vertical bushes was straightforward, but I had to use a 10-Ton press to shift the horizontal bushes. When these finally let go they go with a bang.

Drilling off the rivets holding the ball joints was fairly easy - drill through first with a 4mm pilot drill, then repeat with an 8mm drill. Finally chizel off the now much weakened head, and clean out the holes. The genuine VX wishbones have flat topped rivets with a dimple in the middle which aides the centering of the drill. All the aftermarket wishbones I've got have dome topped rivets and these may be more of a challenge to remove. 

3&4) Come as part of the Powerflex Poly Bush Kit

8 ) Is the bumper bush which stops the track rods hitting the wishbone on steering full lock. These are NLS from VX, but are available from OCP. They are pressed into the wishbone, but there isn't enough room to get in behind them to press them out again. However, if you're careful you can chisel/tease them out without too much damage and then re-use them. They contain plastic/rubber parts so have to be removed to powder coat the arms.

9) The ball-joints all appear servicable to start with and I managed to remove them without wrecking anything. So I wire brushed down the metal parts and gave them a quick coat of black paint. They appear to be NLS from VX and I didn't try to source aftermarket ones, but they may be available.

10) The VX bolts hadn't arrived when I took the rest of the photos, so I just used some generic bolts at the time. The correct bolts turned up this morning so I swapped them over before fitting the wishbones to the car. This is what they look like.


Reassembly is fairly straightforward, and once it's all together you end up with this :



The Poly bushes are a very snug fit into the metal brackets on the car's front sub-frame, and need some 'persuasion' to get them in (aka a hammer and a block of wood). Hopefully that's the front suspension complete.
« Last Edit: 27 January 2018, 20:59:21 by LC0112G »
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Nick W

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #62 on: 27 January 2018, 21:13:41 »

10 ton press?


I use a bearing puller set, some 12mm studding, two 19mm spanners(one of them a ratchet):





This was about 30 seconds later:





This would allow easy bush changes without removing the wishbone from the car, or to install new non-poly bushes, but I think you have to be some sort of masochist to do either.
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LC0112G

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #63 on: 27 January 2018, 21:42:04 »

10 ton press?


I use a bearing puller set, some 12mm studding, two 19mm spanners(one of them a ratchet):





This was about 30 seconds later:





This would allow easy bush changes without removing the wishbone from the car, or to install new non-poly bushes, but I think you have to be some sort of masochist to do either.

Yes I saw your widget in another thread. I've got a 12 ton workshop hydraulic press, and a bearing press set like this:


I find it easier to use the hydraulic press, and use the bits from the bearing press set as mandrels, although obviously the thing you're pressing has to be off the car.

I practiced on a couple of old wishbones before attacking the ones I was intending to re-use. The verticals all come out relatively easily (less than 2 tons). The horizontals were much tougher. One let go at about 5 tons, the next at about 8 tons. The two arms I re-used took about 10 tons and let go with a bang.

I also attempted to get the bushes out of a brand new ATP arm I'd got as a £70 set from eBay - and failed - The gauge on the press read 15 tons when I chickened out. I also tried using the big G clamp thing from the bearing puller set. Couldn't get that to work -The G clamp was being held in a vice and the amount of torque I was applying to the screw was threatening to rip the vice off the work bench (three foot breaker bar and 18 stone of me swinging on the end of it).

So I'd say the force required to shift the horizontal bush sleeve is variable. 
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TheBoy

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #64 on: 28 January 2018, 10:30:14 »

Before fitting wishbone, remove poly, wipe of the grease powerflex supply, and smother the poly and centre metal insert with as much proper copperslip as you can.  Else in 6 months or less, it will have an annoying squeak.

(ie this is what you have already done, ignore me :y)


Proper copperslip = Molyslip Coppaslip, about £10 a tin.  This stuff is way superior to the usual junk that factors sell, which tends to wash away quickly.
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tunnie

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #65 on: 28 January 2018, 12:03:00 »

Before fitting wishbone, remove poly, wipe of the grease powerflex supply, and smother the poly and centre metal insert with as much proper copperslip as you can.  Else in 6 months or less, it will have an annoying squeak.

(ie this is what you have already done, ignore me :y)


Proper copperslip = Molyslip Coppaslip, about £10 a tin.  This stuff is way superior to the usual junk that factors sell, which tends to wash away quickly.

Surely the copper slip would eventually dry out then, so you would get the squeak regardless?
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TheBoy

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #66 on: 28 January 2018, 13:47:06 »

Before fitting wishbone, remove poly, wipe of the grease powerflex supply, and smother the poly and centre metal insert with as much proper copperslip as you can.  Else in 6 months or less, it will have an annoying squeak.

(ie this is what you have already done, ignore me :y)


Proper copperslip = Molyslip Coppaslip, about £10 a tin.  This stuff is way superior to the usual junk that factors sell, which tends to wash away quickly.

Surely the copper slip would eventually dry out then, so you would get the squeak regardless?
You clearly haven't used the proper stuff ;). You won't find it in Halfords or ECP ;)

Have you ever heard any of my Omegas with a poly squeak? Both of them only got greased on fitting, and TBE again following a wishbone change. They never even got regreased properly every time the vertical bush gets changed (about every 3yrs as a guess).
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LC0112G

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #67 on: 04 February 2018, 20:18:11 »

5) Windscreen wipers
5a) Replace wiper arm assembly - excessive travel and play in sweep. Scrapyard.

So, wiper blade assembly. Once I'd worked out there are actually 4 screws securing the assembly in (one squirreled away fixing it to the bulkhead :-[) It came out quite easily. The problem was then obvious :




Not sure how the arm can snap, but it has. So off to eBay for a replacement and I ended up with one of these from "omegaspareparts" (anyone here?).



Moved the motor and all the linkages over and jobs a good-un. Tick that box,
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LC0112G

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #68 on: 04 February 2018, 21:08:53 »

6) Engine : Would like to rebuild my old engine, but need a replacement crank so that can wait till summer. In the mean time, need to fix the misfire. Have got oil in the drivers side plug wells, so...
6a) New cam cover seals
6b) New spark plugs all round
6c) Possibly new ignition leads if 6a/6b don't cure it
6d) Possibly new ignition coil pack if 6a/6b/6c don't cure it.

First thing to do was strip down the inlet manifolds and remove the cam covers. Not difficult, just a PITA kind of job - particularly the passenger side. After removal I ended up with this :

Drivers side:


Passenger side :


Interesting that the design of my two cylinder heads is different - I guess one has been replaced at some stage. On the drivers side the spark plugs are isolated into their own compartments so that if one floods it doesn't sink the whole ship. The passenger side is sort of open. Anyhow, 5 of the 6 sparkplugs swimming in oil probably isn't a good thing :-(

I syringed out as much of the oil as I could, then removed the spark plugs and cleaned the whole lot as best I could with carb cleaner and isopropanol. New spark plugs and cam cover seals and throw it all back together.

I thoroughly cleaned all the ignition leads and continuity checked them. All good so reuse. Then next day (after waiting for the sealant to cure) fire it up again.

Cobblers - still running lumpy. Broke out the neon inline ignition checkers, and worked through the plugs one by one.  Good news was no oil on the ends of any of the spark plug leads, so even though the engine had only been run for perhaps 10 minutes I may have succeeded in sealing it up (for now).

Bad news was no spark on Cyl #1. So took it all apart again and re-checked lead #1 for continuity. Still Ok, so extracted the ignition coil pack (and yes whoever put it there still wants a good kicking). Ah-ha...



The Cyl #1/4 coil has split/burst and is rusting away nicely. So ordered a new one and fitted it over the weekend. Reassembly is the reverse process to removal, with exactly the same expletives issued in more or less the same places.

Turn the key...and...it's immediately obvious the misfire has gone. Wohoooo. So 6a, 6b and 6d achieved, and the car is now running properly again. Wonder how long the cam seals will last this time  ::)
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terry paget

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #69 on: 04 February 2018, 23:06:10 »

My heads are the similar in separating the plug holes; one of yours
 may indeed have been changed, unlikely as it seems.



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terry paget

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #70 on: 05 February 2018, 08:39:31 »

The first of my pics is of the passenger side head of my 2.5, and shows separated plug hole chambers, unlike the OP's head. Strange.
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Kevin Wood

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #71 on: 05 February 2018, 09:12:49 »

The head casting changed to provide mounting holes for the coil-per-plug coil packs as seen on the 2.6 / 3.2 somewhat before that style of coil pack was fitted universally. This is what blocks the passages between the plug wells.
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terry paget

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #72 on: 05 February 2018, 09:43:59 »

The head casting changed to provide mounting holes for the coil-per-plug coil packs as seen on the 2.6 / 3.2 somewhat before that style of coil pack was fitted universally. This is what blocks the passages between the plug wells.
Thank you. All is explained. And OP's car was assembled during the transition and got got a new style RH head and an old style LH head. The cam cover gasket did not need changing. The 2.6/3.2 heads also lack the secondary air injection plumbing, don't they? EGR too, I suppose.
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LC0112G

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Re: My jobs to do this winter/spring
« Reply #73 on: 05 February 2018, 09:56:20 »

The head casting changed to provide mounting holes for the coil-per-plug coil packs as seen on the 2.6 / 3.2 somewhat before that style of coil pack was fitted universally. This is what blocks the passages between the plug wells.
Thank you. All is explained. And OP's car was assembled during the transition and got got a new style RH head and an old style LH head. The cam cover gasket did not need changing. The 2.6/3.2 heads also lack the secondary air injection plumbing, don't they? EGR too, I suppose.

It's not the original engine. The original is under the bench in the man-cave awaiting a bottom end re-build after a blocked oil strainer about 5 years ago. It has both heads 'compartmentalised'.

This engine was purchased from someone on here as a temporary replacement (5 years ago  ;D) It's a much earlier engine number with zero history. I suspect it was originally fitted with two old style heads but has been rebuilt for some reason with one new style head.
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