Posted 14 May 2008 - 12:30 PMOrdered the compensator and ball joints from GSF yesterday afternoon and they arrived this morning!! I am very impressed with their service. The prices are not bad too (although the compensator was £75).
See about trying to fit some of this later today if the weather is ok. Looking pretty miserable at the moment
Posted 14 May 2008 - 08:50 PMHad a look at my bits that arrived. Dead pleased with the new compensator. No pics today but will post tomorrow hopefully.
Had a go at replacing the damaged ball joint. It went very smoothly. That Dewalt impact wrench I bought is the best tool I have ever bought. Anyone that has ever tried to remove a ball joint when its on the car will testify to how difficult it can be. With the impact wrench it just popped off no problem. Probably helped that it was new though. I am liking working on the car more and more now that there are more new bits.
Whilst under the front had a look at the underside. Brake pipes front to rear look a little worse for wear as does the fuel pipes (which have also been patched in the middle with a bit of rubber hose I notice). They will all need replaced. Also had a look at how difficult it would be to drop the front subframe for refurbishment. Looks like it will be possibly more hassle than its worth as I will need to support the car on the sills with axle stands. Would be much easier if I had an inspection pit or ramps. So I think I may not do this and leave it for another day. Although I may change my mind.
If I get more good weather tomorrow night I think I will remove the rusted brake lines up to the old compensator so I can get that off for replacement. I see it sits on a bracket that could probably do with tarting up before going back on the car.
Till tomorrow
Posted 15 May 2008 - 08:59 PM
Did not have such a productive evening tonight. Wanted to turn the car around so it was facing the house to make working on the back end a bit easier. Unfortunately the engine would barely run for some odd reason. Started fine and ran fine for a few mins whilst I pumped up the flat tire. Then all of a sudden it started to run really rough to now where it barely starts.
I am wondering if it has perhaps run out of fuel and is running on the dregs in the tank. Will take off a fuel hose tomorrow and see.
Put some back to black on the trim outside. What a difference that has made to the look of the car. Looks almost as if it could drive again if it wasn't for the badly cracked tires. Intend on getting them replaced when the alloys get refurbished.
Posted 16 May 2008 - 09:42 PM
Time for today's update.
First the pictures of the new load compensator I promised.
Shiny new load compensator
Another view
Today I decided that the rear beam had to come off to inspect, help me get at the rust on the back end and get everything painted up. It will also make the compensator replacement easier.
So I proceeded. Here is a before pic for reference.
Rear beam on the car.
I jacked up the car and supported it using axle stands on the rear jacking points. Seems to be secure like that. The first sign of potential problems is the drivers side rear wheel. Does this look like a funny angle to you guys??
Funny angle or not??
The first thing in the way was the old spare wheel. Wheel carrier was seized (it was probably seized before it went odd the road. curse word design. This was removed.
Wheel carrier in the way.
And removed.
The actual carrier itself was seized at the hinges. I decided to take that off too. Got out my trusty can of WD40 and my impact wrench and set on to it. The first bolt came off fine but the other snapped. I sensed this was not going to go my way. Removed the carrier and then the rear silencer to give me a better look underneath. Not a pretty sight!!
Rusty bits
More rustybits.
Even more rust
Realise at this point that I had stupidly sat on my camera and cracked the screen!! curse word. Its my own fault though. Will have to see if I can get a screen of the internet to replace it.
After this I scrapped away some of the worst of the rust and it maybe is not quite as bad as it looks. I hope! I disconnected the handbrake cables and tried to remove the compensator brake pipes. Of course they were seized too. One is rounded the other came off but is twisted. I intended on replacing these anyway.
But this is as far as I got. You need a long reach torx bit to remove the axle holding on bolts and by long reach ones are too to get through the hole in the axle. I will need to see what halfords sell tomorrow.
I hope I don't regret taking this off !!
Posted 17 May 2008 - 11:42 PMToday was not as productive as I would have hoped. I was hampered by rain for most of the morning and early afternoon. I got lots of underseal, seam sealer, krust etc from Halfords with the intention of getting the beam off and wire brushing.
Sadly I was stopped in my tracks when I could get all but one holding bolt out. The last one is the front one on the passenger side. Its rounded. Its another poor design by pug. Why do they insist on using Torx bolts everywhere. On the bottom of the car they are the first things to go rusty!!! Grr.
So beaten by this I gave up and set about scrapping the worst of the rust off the underside. Good news is that although it looks bad it mostly just loose surface rust. Had the car been on the road most of it would have fallen off by now. Still it comes off easily.
So tomorrow its more scrapping and hopefully get the drill with the wire brush attachment out.
I might also take my dremel with the cutting tool to that last bolt and see how I get on.
No pics today as I left the camera in the car. Doh!!
Posted 18 May 2008 - 11:38 PM
I had an excellent days work today
Had a bit of a brainwave last night as to how to get the last axle holding on bolt off. If you remove the rear seat you can access the top of the bolts. I proceeded to hammer on a female torx socket and off the bolt came. Very pleased indeed. Some pics from today and yesterday.
Removing an axle rear bolt.
Tools used to remove front ones.
Axle off the car
If anyone is doing this I would suggest in investing in some nice long torx keys from Clarke. Got them as part of a set from Machine Mart. They made this job alot easier.
With the axle off it was time to survey the condition at the rear and of the axle.
Axle off
Rusty underneath
Some nasty looking rust
Set about it with a wire brush attached to a drill
Cleaning in progress
This revealed that most of it is just surface rust with a few bits that were abit worse but salvageable. Not obvious welding required. I can't weld so its just as well. If any of you are considering doing similar to your cars, I remind you that adequate protective equipment is a MUST.
Me looking like an idiot !!
Stripped the brakes etc of the axle again. Got all the brackets etc off it so I can clean and paint them. Managed to snap a couple of bolts in the process. Will have to get these out at a later date.
Bare axle
I think my plan next it to figure out how to strip the axle for inspection. Anyone ever done this?? Its not like to 205 one unfortunately. Also got more prep to do on the rear end before I can seal the seams, prime and underseal. May also need to drop the fuel tank. The holding bolts for it are badly corroded.
Progress may slow down a little now as I am probably going to be away for the next 2 weekends.