Mk1 fastback update

[Richard C]

Oooohhhh thats lovely.

[whitelion58]

This got left for a few weeks as real life got in the way and other tasks took priority..
Anyway found a little time yesterday and finally finished off the installation, so here are a few pics of the result, which I am rather pleased with. It also got treated to new calipers, discs and pads - all cheap wins on ebay.

[Richard C]

That looks the business

[whitelion58]

This has been riding around on springs and shocks from Vard's Vitesse Sport, and I did not like the ride too much..

However I picked these up at the weekend:



That is two front shocks, two front springs and two rear shocks - all brand new Unipart items and £100 the lot. The rear springs are the original ones that were on the car when I got it.

Just finished putting these on tonight, a very short test drive feels okay, but will know more about how it feels with a few more miles on the clock. Nice to have all new bits and pieces anyway..

Cheers
Tim

[CHR15E]

Definitely a better ride like that but mine felt like it was going to fall over after being on Konis and lowering springs

So they went back on.

[whitelion58]

More shiny bit to be going underneath the fastback in the next few weeks:





Took all this rusty old stuff to my local powder coater last week. Blasted it all and coated for just £70 cash and half an hours conversation about the lovely '64 Daimler V8 he is building. Really nice bloke, just running a business with his Mrs in the office taking care of the books. Not a bad way to live really.

Anyway, looking forward to getting all this stuff bolted on, then that will be all the removable stuff done and looking rather better than new.

Cheers
Tim

[John W]

£70 for all that? Bargain Tim !

[Richard C]

You certainly did well there it looks good too.

[TheOldMan]

Blasted it all and coated for just £70 cash and half an hours conversation about the lovely '64 Daimler V8 he is building. Really nice bloke, just running a business with his Mrs in the office taking care of the books. Not a bad way to live really.

£70!

Now remind me how far from Pembrokeshire to Shropshire...........
Does he like 1967 420s as well............

I'm both impressed and just a little jealous.

Before I forget, where did you source the dampers and springs at that price?

[whitelion58]

Hi - yes I am well pleased with the price and the quality -

http://www.awspowdercoating.com/ - Wrexham are the folks that I would unreservedly recommend.

The suspension bits are on ebay:

springs 400147028953 £38
front shocks 400167268002 £48
rear shocks 160486651948 £48


... but they are just down the road for me and got £28 off for collecting in person. Also note they are listing 827 racks. On the up side it is brand new, from Japan - not recon. On the down side - turned out to be Left Hand Drive! Found out when I got home, but was refunded without question.

oh - and he loves Jags - spent a few decades as mechanic and sprayer on them..

[TheOldMan]

Many thanks for the detail.

I'll get offspring onto the case - it'll be usual story - he provides the muscle, I provide the parts, tools, garage, food, accommodation.......

Wrexham is 150 mile trip for me and I never have a reason 'just to be passing', so logistics don't work for me.

[CHR15E]

That's a good price as said.

Is powder coating up to the job for this sort of stuff.

I've heard so many conflicting stories over it.

[rickt500]

I've always been warey of powder coating, seen loads of flakey stuff with rust developing underneath. However it is pretty tough, scratch resistant.

I would suggest applying plenty of waxoil / dinitrol to these parts once fitted as another line of defence.

[Richard Moss]

Powder coating can be brittle and susceptible to stone chips - the Waxoyl/Dinitrol coating can act like a cushion and soften the blow.

[whitelion58]

Well, I can't believe it is 18 months since I had anything to say about this! It has given much pleasure in the summer months, but does spend its winters sleeping in my barn. It is a bit of a rolling-restoration and I like to make it a little bit better each season. So, with temperatures above freezing and only four or five weeks till we can expect Spring, when the cars come out of hibernation, I felt motivated to finally tackle the front cross-members. If you scroll back a little you will see I had all the bits blasted and powder coated some time ago, and they have been sat on the shelves waiting their turn for attention ever since.

So, last weekend I selected a new rack and bolted it into the rear frame, and transferred all the plumbing from another spare I had laying around.

Yesterday afternoon I started dismantling to get the old one out from under the car, and finished off this morning. About five hours invested so far. I know I am privileged to work in a spacious work area with a flat floor and even a bit of shag-pile to lay on, but my hands are still cut to ribbons and shoulders scraped raw. The things we do for pleasure..

Quite a lot has to come off to get the frame out. Both lower arms and brake-reaction bars to start. The arms are virtually new and the bars are being replaced with freshly restored ones anyway. I unbolted the front pipe aft of the flexi section and bent it out of the way. Thankfully do not have to disturb the front manifold connections. The main obstacle is the gear selector cable. I really thought I was going to have to remove the center console and exhaust heat shield to disconnect that but eventually had just enough room to wiggle the old frame past. The UJ for the connection to the steering column had to be removed once the frame had been lowered, which was a bit of a fiddle.

Here are few pics, sorry they are rubbish phone snaps, main camera battery is dead at the mo..

The old one, finally out and on the floor:


Replacement with new rack and engine mount. It will get new Track-rod ends of course:


Work in progress:




The big hole to fill tomorrow:


Tomorrow I will wrestle the replacement in place. Connecting the engine mount and steering column whilst lifting it into place should be quite a challenge.

After that the front member will be a breeze

Cheers
Tim