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.next i found the speedo was over reading by a large amount, interestingly i realised that the country has its own specific speedo. what had happened is whoever had fitted the replacement engine had fitted the speedo from that car, luckily i found that the original speedo was in a box in the boot. At this time i also saw that classic parts still sold the country speedo, and it was only 30 euro’s! So i bought one just in case.. Removing the dash pod i found that the speedo cable was broke where it attaches to the speedo, it worked but i cant leave things like that..
Thankfully the original speedo worked on refitting. the speedo cable seemed to take me ages to get right, just couldnt engage it in the gearbox correctly for some reason!
Also, what i found out to be a common problem is the dash lights on the heater panel and switches didnt work, a bit of searching found a guy who fits led’s to them. Sent mine off to him and i’m pretty happy with the result.
i also wanted a stereo, dab to be exact. i didnt want one that lit up like a christmas tree as i wanted to match the 80’s dash. Kienzle fitted the bill nicely
next up, i noticed the poor condition of the fuel lines.. On the edge of splitting in places. So i decided to replace them all along with the fuel filter and a new pump seal and screws. I used 100% ethanol hose as it really is fit and forget.
Sorry, lots of pics on this one! had one last drive out to the Thames to have a kayak then it was coming off the road for work to commence. Starting with the front end. One of the 1st bodges i found was two different length front brake flexis, to get the wrong one to fit the bracket for it on the chassis had been drilled out. This meant the proper one would not fit now! So i sourced a new bracket from a breaker and fitted it to mine.
I had noticed that both inner cv boots were leaking, and i was getting a click from the front. What i didnt expect was for both the caps in the drive flanges to be missing! That would explain the leak.. One inner and one outer joint was pitted were replaced with gkn joints, new boots all round.
i was invested in this now, so the following was replaced
hubs x2
bearings x2
vented discs, shields and pads
braided brake hoses and new hard lines made up
lower wishbones and ball joints
track rods
cv joints and boots
new springs and bushes for them
i then realised this was a opportune time to replace the V belts, coolant stat and water pump.
the main problem i had was the vertical bolt through the wishbone, this is super long on a country. The head snapped off π My only option was to carefully cut the wishbone away from the bush, cut the bush off, very carefully cut the inner metal part exposing the bolt. I could then get a set of stillsons on the bolt and undo, success!
Lastly i replaced the engine oil and filter, and changed the gearbox and angle drive oil.
Now pictures!!
next batch
quite possibly only me reading this, but onto the rear!
things immediately noticed is the front bearing for the prop is shot, it took me a few hours before realising that my mountings have been adapted to take bmw e30 bearing. Good in a sense as they are cheap and available, bad because i like things to be right..
Cv boots will be replaced and leak from front of rear diff fixed. both cv joint boots on the prop are torn too so will have to be swapped
rear diff protection off, back section of prop off and then vc. i didnt realise the vc held back the diff oil, so i lost a little bit π
i now noticed that i had a 22mm vc and a 25mm rear rubber disc, not good! i have another vc making its way to me, hopefully itll be a 25mm one otherwise ill have to decide what to do. The rubber disc was split, so i needed a new one of those, step in Chris who sent me a Rallye one π
new rear shocks and springs have been ordered, good job too, going by the state of them!
in the next day or so they will be delivered along with powerflex bushes for the complete rear end.
one thing i forgot to mention above, is the amount of dirt the rear chassis plate holds! Amazingly they are in good contition and will be able to be re-used. The rear arms came off ok, only had to cut one bolt out insitu.
A bit of a change in plan with the rear brakes, i managed to get myself some rallye caliper carriers! So that means taking off the drum backplates……. not meant to be a easy job, and i could believe that looking at how mankey they looked…
But i guess i was lucky, heat and a hammer got them all out with no issues! ARB/brake bias assembley was removed,cleaned,freed off and check for correct operation-all ok!
And thats me up to date now, i need to cut the two bolts that hold the rear beam on (the ones that have the bush) then a whole load of stuff can go to get blasted, for me to paint.
I’ve got some relatively cheaper prop cv boots to have a go with, they do fit but the spreader plates for the bolts foul the metal of the boot. so i’ll need to grind the plates a little bit. No big deal though.
thanks mate, starting to look forward to bolting clean stuff back on!
Now just as my mum to try in vain, i just cant stop picking at that scab….
I just can’t leave something rusty, not too sure what to call this part, but its the bit the centre diff mount bolts too. It’s looking a bit rusty, and the bolt heads certainly look knackered. So not one to shirk from a challenge, lets get these bolts out and get this part blasted. its a worthy part to treat as its country specific.
And it must be my lucky day as all 3 bolts undid without to much hassle, and its not rotten underneath! π
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congrats on the MOT \o/ one day π #sornlife
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