Car is just about back in one piece, or it was until I started taking it to bits again, more on that in a minute!
Got the subframe back from my mate complete with pure motorsports wishbone mount repair/strengthening washers welded on, gave the bare metal bits a quick lick of satin black.
Also bought one of their sump guards too, firstly to protect the underside, linkages, exhaust and sump + also to stiffen up the subframe a bit.
The rest of the jobs were to refresh all the front suspension components, the rear beam has been gone through already with both beam bearings replaced and new rear arb fitted. I'm trying to keep as many (sensible/consumable) spares now as I can too.
At the front it's had
-X1 wishbone-subframe bearing + spares
-X1 wishbone-hub bearing + spares
-X2 new nyloc nuts for the above, these are machined to clear the bearing housing do had a spares done too.
-X2 steering rack rods + spares
-X2 steering rack rod ends
-X2 steering rack rod end to hub bolts and nyloc nuts + spares
-X4 brake disc retaining screws + spares
Old
New
It needs the geo doing obviously but tracked it 'by eye' so I don't think it's too bad, pic is with the steering wheel straight.
As for taking it to bits again, it's currently minus is exhaust manifold, the 182 one has been removed and the replacement is one its way, mostly to complement my new motor once built but makes sense to run it and have it mapped on this motor as this will be my backup motor in the future and don't want to swap manifolds.
More importantly something else is missing!
I'm sick to death of the pms gear linkage setup, it's never been right IMO so it's out of the car now and I'm going through it to improve it before I get rid of it completely!
For anyone interested, this is what the kit looks like totally stripped down.
The main bearing in the housing is just about totally seized and has been since it was new in 2013, it's never loosened up and tbh I think it's now stiffer than when I got it so that's not right, a new one is on order.
Taken time to connect all the linkages up with shims/washers at the pivot bearings and make sure it's as good as it can be, fingers crossed it's all fine once the bearing turns up and it goes back together!
So we're not far from being able to get out and test once I sort s few more jobs and change the fluids. Next job is to crack on with the Sprinter I've bought as a race van!
Russ