Silverbullets' resto: Engine, gearbox, suspension

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Fri May 01, 2015 11:34 pm

Never noticed that before, thanks Tony!

Got home just now and I'm so excited to announce the custom chromoly adjustable radius rods are in!

Ready to test fit tomorrow, and the windscreen is going in tomorrow morning as well.

Pics and documentation to follow

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat May 02, 2015 2:40 pm

And she's down on all fours

Radius rods went in with a fair bit of effort, man-handling and swearing required as these put tension on the control arms and struts. They could do with being shorter (funnily enough

) But then again I don't remember the stock radius rods being any easier to install. Wheel is still too far forward in the arch, struts are still too long which highlights the wheel arch thing. Still un-decided on what struts to go with, but I think the L series strut idea is in the toilet because they are so much longer, and the springs are ridiculously stiff at the moment.

Also the new glass got put in this morning with a genuine NOS windscreen rubber, the guy said it fitted perfectly first time, really tight and neat. And my repair to the front windscreen corner was un-noticeable as far as sealing goes in that area. Re-used my old chrome strips as they were in pretty good condition. I guess this bit belongs in the bodywork thread but while I'm here...

For anyone who might be interested in buying a pair of these rods, I think there will be about 3 pairs available from the material that is left. Price will be $300+GST/pair. Pricey I know but there is a LOT of work in these things (even a custom die was made to press the dished washers out of 3mm solid) And they are professionally made, absolutely beautiful components. The material is aircraft grade 4130 chrome molybdenum round bar. This stuff is ridiculously strong. Even they guy who was making them said it was the toughest chromoly he's ever come across (in more than 30 years) absolute top of the range A grade steel. The car will fold up before these flex. The remaining ones haven't been fully made yet, if I get enough interest from anyone in here to buy them I'll go ahead and get them all fully made up.

Time for some pics.

Difference between stock rod and the new adjustable ones (50mm longer roughly)

The business end; there is a good length of large dia. thread cut in the rod, with double nuts at the inside end. Then a sleeve is slipped over the thread for the bushing to mount onto, the sleeve being the same length as the stock mounting point for the bushing. With 2 big washers at either end to clamp the bushing and a nyloc at the far end to hold it tight.

Radius rod installed:

And this is really the wrong thread for this but what the hell. And those aren't dents in the chrome up the left hand side! just the corrugated roof reflecting off the chrome.

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat May 02, 2015 2:43 pm

Oh and one other thing; with the L series control arms (modified by me) and everything said and done, my camber looks a bit like this:

I'm amazed the tyres aren't sticking outside the guards, and in this photo the camber even looks a little bit negative!

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu May 21, 2015 9:53 pm

Looking good mate!

You've come a long way - I love the shine on that paint!

Can't wait to see the compete package

Cheers

Bennie

Post by **Bantum** » Thu May 21, 2015 11:40 pm

Hmm ... I like it so far, but one thing - The front wheel from side on, it does look too far forward in the wheel arch ( not centered ? ) - but has no weight in front, so will have to wait & see how it goes ...

Cheers, Bantum ...

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri May 22, 2015 8:37 am

Looking real nice ...don't suppose you have an L Series radius rod to add to the comparo pics ? And a question on the sleeve ...I think I can see over time the sleeve wearing into the thread - would a threaded sleeve be better to save the thread ?

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Fri May 22, 2015 6:52 pm

You are right Bantum; they are too far forward still. And that's with the radius rods at their shortest adjustment. I'm going to get the thread cut further down the rod a bit to get them shorter. Plus it's still 30mm too high (L series struts) my hope is when the right struts are in there with more weight the wheel will scribe a sloped line up and back into the wheel well...hope

It kind of makes sense if you see the angle the strut is leaning back.

Jonno; no L series rods to compare with. I can't really see the sleeve wearing the thread down since when it's all bolted up tight there is no movement of the sleeve up and down the threads. If anything the sleeve would wear out first as it's only mild steel. Threaded sleeve would give a tighter fit...harder to adjust though

Little update; don't expect to see any more progress from me for the next 6 weeks. Heading over to the UK on Tuesday for a hard earned break and to catch up with family. Realized it's been 5 years since my last visit so decided to tag along with Dad on his almost annual trip.

Once I get back though I will be tackling the wiring head on and I can't wait to get stuck in to finishing the car off ready for it's X-mas debut

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed May 27, 2015 9:18 pm

Going to meet up with Giles while you're over there?

Safe travels!

Cheers

Bennie

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu May 28, 2015 8:58 am

meet up with Halifax Giles ??? Prepare yourself to be going out every night for beer and curries

Paul has some stuff that need to be going Giles way ....

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Wed Oct 07, 2015 5:56 pm

Re-fitted all the brake stuff today; tidied up the original booster, brand new (NOS) master cylinder which I had to completely disassemble to clean all the dried up old assembly lube out (picture 30 year old ear wax) plus cleaned up all the old brake lines and clips to re-fit them. Only need 2 plastic clips to replace old broken ones.

I swear brake lines and their fine threaded nuts are designed specifically to cross thread themselves and piss you right off.

Now I can finally install those braided brake lines! been sitting new in bag over a year now

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 5:04 pm

It's been a while since I posted in this thread, mainly because I've been working on the wiring mostly for the last month and a bit. All the while I've been thinking about front strut options for this car. The L series strut idea went out the window because they are 30mm longer than MY, something I failed to notice before I made my lift blocks at 50mm giving me about 80mm of front lift

Which is why the car looks so jacked up in my sig pic below. Also they rubbed inside the strut towers.

I've since found out my original MY struts are the re-buildable kind, and thought about cutting them up to add 50mm of tube, get a 50mm longer strut insert from a different car and get custom longer springs made. Would retain the original top mount (not an issue with P/steering) for a stock look and gain lots more suspension travel. I haven't found a strut insert that would be suitable yet, and would have to think very carefully about how I could cut and shut the original strut tubes accurately.

Then today I had a kind of a brain wave. While playing with my new spring compressor I took an L series strut apart and found it is the shock which makes it longer, not the top bearing assembly like I thought. Interestingly the spring is exactly the same too. Anway, holding the L series top mount up to an MY strut, the threaded part that takes the nut is a smaller dia. then L series, but with a very simple turned bushing could be very easily made to work

So I could then use original MY struts and springs with just the L series top mount and would then be able to use my lift blocks

I might go with this idea to see if it would work. Because 2 turned spacer bushings are easier to find/make than cutting up strut tubes. Other option is forget everything about L series and try and find some regular MY lift blocks, and use stock struts.

Also, I found out Vortex rear struts won't work on the rear of my wagon. I got 2wd ones from a wreck thinking I could make it work but they're just too long, the top threaded part+nut would hit the inside of the wheel arch. Back to the drawing board there

L series spring on left, MY on the right

vincentvega · Post by **vincentvega** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 9:21 pm

steve at rising sun motors built some brumby's with custom long travel front struts. give them a call and ask how he did it.

edit: tried to find their site for you - they dont seem to exist anymore.

vincentvega · Post by **vincentvega** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 9:40 pm

this may help

That buggy looks like the ones that Oriental 4WD at Gepps Cross make. Can't wait for the Peake Trip

Yep, thats the ones. Although they are called rising sun car service. The business has Recently been sold but Steve is still making the buggy's from different premises.

http://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum/sho ... 004&page=8

mattw · Post by **mattw** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 9:56 am

Steve has sold the workshop and retired to the country. The new owner is a new gen suby guy, wrx's and the like.

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 6:09 pm

Yeah Rising Sun has been gone for nearly a year now...or is it over a year? can't remember

All Drive has taken the spot but not really into the old gen stuff like Steve used to be. I was aware he did make/sell those long travel struts. They would be absolutely perfect for my situation, I'm only a few years too late.

But this is interesting:

The business has Recently been sold but Steve is still making the buggy's from different premises.

Wonder if he could be tracked down, so I can pick his brains about his patented long travel struts

Or maybe he don't want to be asked

That quote is nearly 2 years old as it is.

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Nov 28, 2015 4:13 pm

Update time! I haven't made any progress on the car in the last couple of weeks, my weekends have been tied up elsewhere. But I did manage to organize a few little bits so I could do something on the front struts this weekend:

I got some little spacers made so I could in theory put the L series top mount with bearing on a std MY front strut, and keep the stock MY strut length (shorter than L) while still being able to use the lift blocks I made. The difference in L and MY struts up the top there is the top of the L series shock has a machined spot that locates and sits inside the bearing, with thread above that for the nut to lock it all up. The MY shock only has thread which doesn't sit snug inside the bearing. With a little bushing to make the MY thread snug inside the bearing I hoped I could make it work. Problem then is there is not much thread sticking out the top when all is said and done for the nut to go on. I ended up getting 1 or 2 turns away from the entire depth of the nut.

So today I rebuilt my rebuildable Showa front struts and got to work:

MY shock above, L below

Spacer bushing tube and washer to adapt the MY shock. The washer ended up being too thick so I didn't use it, used a sheet metal ring that came out of the MY top mount instead. This washer is so that when the strut turns, the top spring perch doesn't rub on the bearing.

This is how it will work, yes there's not much thread left. There's almost enough for the whole depth of the nut, if only I had 5 more mm I would be more happy, will it explode and let go? dunno yet

Mocked up on the MY shock, this might actually work!

The parts in order of assembly and an original MY strut from 1981 with some fresh oil in it. I'm also using the L series dust cover because it looks better.

Now this is where I had trouble, assembling the whole thing with the MY spring. I could just barely get the spring compressed enough to get everything on there. I had to put thick rubber bits in the jaws of my spring compressor to shim the spring up and get that extra 5mm of compression to get the nut on, I think there may be more pre-tension on the original spring now. But it did eventually go together

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Nov 28, 2015 4:22 pm

Success! I was pretty chuffed it went together pretty much how I'd hoped. Some little things I'm not totally happy with though: the retaining nut up top and the extra pre-tension on the spring (maybe)

I whacked a lift block on it and put one wheel side back together on the car, with the radius rods having been shortened since the last time it was together I was excited to see how it looked. What's better is the strut didn't even rub inside the tower! The L series struts certainly did.

On the ground there was a marked improvement on how far forward the wheel was sitting, it's now closer to the middle of the wheel arch which is better than before. The gap between the wheel arch and the top of the wheel seems slightly smaller which is good too, but still too big (no weight in the engine bay and too much spring tension?)

What's not so good though is the camber!

Holy smokes! that is ridiculous! I'm not sure how doing what I've done has suddenly made it this much positive when before it was neutral or even negative. With L series LCA's and all, I'm scratching my head a bit. All I can think of is maybe I've got a strut top mixed up? Or a LH strut on the RH side? I'm pretty sure I put the right lift block in there

Anyway, I was too fed up after all this to take it apart again. I'll have to take it out and double check the lift block, or maybe put this strut on the other side of the car and see what it looks like.

*Edit* I went and put the strut on the other side, with the wheel on the ground the camber is much better, maybe I've got the wrong top on the wrong strut.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Nov 29, 2015 7:15 am

and did you fit the top mount with the three holes in facing correct way ? Not that it is the cause of the camber. Surely all this work neds be done with engine and gearbox in to get correct stance ?

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sun Nov 29, 2015 8:56 am

steptoe wrote:and did you fit the top mount with the three holes in facing correct way ? Not that it is the cause of the camber. Surely all this work neds be done with engine and gearbox in to get correct stance ?

Yes, and yes

It is sort of silly to judge the stance with no weight in the front, I estimate there might be another 200kg or less? over the front x-member when all is said and done. The gearbox is in there currently. I think I'm just going to leave the front struts like this now for a while, just so I can put the engine in and get on with other jobs. It's holding me up now, I need the engine in to start making progress again. Plus if and when I re-visit the front strut problem I'll have the proper weight.

Anyway, comparing the front wheel in my sig pic below, the way the wheel is now is a marked improvement.

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 1:29 pm

Progress!

Finally got one day on a weekend free and it wasn't 43 degrees in the shade (like yesterday) Instead I got the other front wheel on and was able to roll the car outside for a photo, just long enough to sweep out the car port before it started pissing with rain

So here it is, the front end will stay like this now for the foreseeable future while I put the engine in, finish everything I need to in the engine bay/gearbox area and then take another look at how the car sits. Now I'm free to put the engine in over the week after christmas!

:D I'll be able to do all the work necessary now to get the engine running before I have to touch the suspension again. That makes me very happy

I'm also pleased that the wheels don't hang outside the guards front or back, even with my L series front end conversion. I'm a little worried to see if my tie rod ends hit the rims at full lock, haven't been able to test that yet.

I tried to duplicate the photo I took last time it was out on the drive, to compare with how it used to be. You can see the difference in my sig pic, I think it is an improvement and thankfully I don't think I'll need to do any trimming on the guards. It's strange, this car looks small to me now! Going to have to start calling it my little wagon, when you compare it to what a modern "station wagon" is today.

And another photo from the back because I couldn't resist