Front hubs / steering rack

Now the Gaz shocks are in position on the front suspension, the front hubs can be positioned and connected to the upper and lower wishbones.

In turn the steering rack can also be connected to the hubs and as demonstrated by the video below, I now have steering!

Front suspension revisited

Back to the front suspension having taken delivery of the Gaz front shocks from GBS.

As all the body wrap on the side panels had been done and the trim finished around the apertures in the panel the suspension arms pass through I can start re-building the suspension. The suspension arms took some gentle persuasion to fit back into place plus I had to remember where the spacers / penny washers fitted but once in position it all bedded in nicely and bolted back up fine.

the shocks locate with a bolt top and bottom, not overly difficult just need an extra pair of hands getting the shock positioned whilst locating the bolts through the shock/suspension arms!

I also took the opportunity to put the steering rack back into position (should have taken some photos of this task). The best way to do this is to ensure the plenum is removed and the lower pipework to the radiator is also removed from the engine bay. 

Bend the LHS steering arm on the rack to an acute an angle as possible. Point it down into the engine bay from the driver side so it exits through the passenger panel - keep pushing through as far as it will go and then bend the RHS steering arm. This should give you enough room to lay the rack along the bottom of the chassis and bring the RHS back through the driver side panel.

Not sure that makes a whole lot of sense, but it does work and is more straight forward that the words suggest!

Front Suspension Prep

A job / task which is not, I am assured, a specific requirement for the IVA but I do feel finishes off the panels is to fix some rubber trim round the apertures the front suspension goes through when connecting to the chassis.

I did try a trim which has some glue already in the groove however it was not very pliable and the curves it goes round proved too acute for a good fit so i reverted back to the normal thin trim.

Nothing too difficult, just need some patience to work the trim onto the panel and get it seated round each aperture.

Looks nice, job done!

Front suspension initial fit

So, earlier posts highlighted the build and fitment of the front wishbones followed by hub cleanup and prep. Now the hubs have had a good coating of black hammerite paint they have come up quite well - I'm pleased with the finish which will be more than adequate considering how exposed they will be to the elements on the road.

I've still got the front hub nuts to replace but felt it better to do that job whilst the hubs are in situ to give me some support and leverage in releasing them. Realising how tight they were on the rear hubs, the solution I have works (using the ball joint splitter) but it does need alot of brute force and WD40.

So time to see how it all comes together.

The front hub is held in place by top and bottom ball joints. the top however has the cycle wing stays attached which will need some of the powder coating removed to fit into the top of the hub. that in turn is gripped by an M10 x 70mm bolt and nyloc nut.

fitting the upper ball joint through the cycle wing is a fiddle, you need a short socket extension bar plus a lot of patience to locate the nut onto the thread - or I am not doing it right and there is a more obvious way which has not registered with me!

So initial fit all good, just waiting on front shocks to be ordered.

I fitted some IVA cover over the top ball joint thread nut whilst further IVA trim / nut covers need to be applied to the exposed nuts and steering rack extensions.

Front suspension

Front suspension follows a similar process to the rear suspension, plenty of bushes to insert!

To recap, for those whom have not read the rear suspension post... 

1. Clean powder coat out of the holes where the plastic bushes locate
2. chamfer the lead edges to assist easing the bush into the suspension arm
3. apply some copper grease and squeeze in the bush
4. Follow up with the tubing inserted through the bush trimmed to size 

There are some photos of this process on the rear suspension post which hopefully illustrate this better than words describe!

The lower ball joint is next to fix into position. Reading other builds suggests locating the lower ball joint underneath the lower suspension arm and for the bolts to pass through top to bottom which I duly followed. Clearly something to do with suspension geometry as my logical head would have suggested fitting on top of the lower wishbone....

The upper suspension arm has the upper ball joint screwed into the threaded end. Ensure any powder coat has been cleaned out of the internal thread on the suspension arm, apply a small amount of WD40 to assist the screwing in - initially screw in to locate, fine tuning of the suspension geometry will come much later down the line after a few uninstalls and re-installs I anticipate.

Some IVA trim will need to be applied to the upper wishbone whilst the upper ball joint requires a final setup to achieve a 43mm distance between the middle of the upper ball joint and the outside edge of the lock nut.

Repeat above for both sides and then we can go about doing a test fit onto the chassis. This went well once powder cat has been cleaned from the chassis locating holes, the gaps between chassis mounting and the wishbone will require packing out with spacers and like the rear wishbone no hard and fast rule - just ensure enough spacers are packed in to pad out any gaps and remove any slackness in the fit.

So, all successfully installed, front shocks, hubs and cycle wing carriers await

 

Rear Shocks

During my visit to the open day at GBS I took the opportunity to collect some Gaz rear shocks so a a suitable opportunity presented itself to get the shocks fitted to the rear of the car.

To fit the shocks GBS do provide a fitting kit for both the front and rear shocks, so rather than source the necessary, bolts, nuts and spacers this is worth the additional cost knowing what you get in the kit will fit as necessary

All straight forward to fit, locate bolts through the top and bottom of the shock and in turn through the upper chassis mount point and top of the upper suspension.

The powder coat will need removing from the fixing points on the chassis with a reamer. The bolts will also require some cleaning with some emery paper to help locating through the shock mount / shock

nice half hour job the round off the weekend!

rear wishbones complete

Back on rear wishbones and focus turned to the lower wishbone units which are prepared exactly same in regards to inserting the plastic bushes followed by the steel collars.

Once all bushes have been fitted it was time to align the wishbones into the chassis frame locating in the U shape brackets and packing out with penny washers. One constant I found with this process was the quantity of penny washers needed to pack the wishbones varied from side to side, upper and lower. One side needed two, another side only needed one. Although the build tolerance has so far been excellent, I was rather wary of this seemingly inconsistent placement of penny washers. 

A quick check with GBS at their open day confirmed there is no hard and fast rule with the penny washer placement apart from ensuring you replicate their placement each side so for eg if you put two washers in on the top left, ensure you fit two top right so as to ensure equal spacing and a square suspension geometry.

Bolts then need to be inserted through the U-shaped bracket, penny washer(s), bush and secured with a nyloc nut - a reamer is an essential tool here, to clean out powder coat from the U-shaped brackets as is some emery paper to clean the bolts so they push through smoothly. the fit should be tight but allow for smooth upward/downward motion.

Uprights next, again you will need a reamer to clean the powder coat from the holes and you will also have to file away some of the powder coat on the bottom corners of the upright so it will fit between the lower wishbone bushes together with penny washer either side between the bush and the upright. The long bolt also needs some emery paper to polish /smooth it off

All the above was dry fitted and overall quite rewarding, all ready for the shocks to be fitted.

very pleased with the result so far!