Type49

Cleaned out caliper halves and fitted new seals and pistons

Had some parts come back that I had plated. Pretty happy with the results.  Now to start reassembling the calipers with new seal kits and pistons. 

Half an hour later ...

So about 1 year ago I bought a load of wheels and tyres.  The tyres are all rally tyres, some second hand and some new.  Most of the alloys had been painted with a rattle can white.  So last night I thought I'd have a go at cleaning one of them up with some thinners.. 

These are from a late 60's Vw Beetle/ Kombi. Because I'll be running the speedo from the front wheel,  the speedo cable runs through the centre of the axle there is nowhere for the split pin / castle but combo to go ... so the works cars ( and mine )  use these split nuts.  Even tho the struts are 5/8 unf and the nuts are M16 x1.5 the thread pitch is so close you can just chase the nuts with a 5/8 unf tap and they are good to go.  

For those of you eagle eyed followers that may have spotted the strange nut on the stub axle.....

Have reassembled the struts and are just waiting for all the zinc plating parts to come back. 

I sent the Bilstein inserts to Anthony at Alignment Specalists in Penrose for him to rebuild and re-valve them.  If anybody needs shocks rebuilding then Anthony is the man.  Awesome to deal with and a very reasonable price.  

Time to rebuild the front brake calipers.  Split the caliper and found it needs new pistons and caliper kits.  Sandblasted the two halves in prep for the zinc plating .

My paint drying rack looks like some sort of automotive wind chime ...

Painted one strut in the ( almost ) correct colour.  It's a British Leyland colour called Tahiti Blue.  The closest to the factory Bilstein blue there is.  

Have finished both hubs. New bearings etc etc. Have ordered a crack testing kit and have crack tested one strut.  So far so good. 

One done.  

While I was working in the Uk i collected various parts for the rebuild.  So I stripped the discs from the hub and have some alloy group 4 hubs to go on.  As well as being about half a kg lighter they give the front a wider track.  

Stripped and sandblasted the strut. 

Morning peeps. Have got the front struts out of storage and will start on rebuilding them. They are genuine Bilstein / Ford units that you could buy from Ford Motorsport dealers. Complete with roller top mounts,  vented discs and standard M16 calipers with spacer kits. 

6 minutes ago, Type49 said:

 

Also I dummied up the pedal box to check for clearances and pedal position.  As the car is all masked up I had to offer it up in my Mk1 van for a test fit .

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