PAL part 2

[Danish 294]

I hate doing front springs, its definitely the worst job on a Mk3.

 

I followed the instructions in the Hayne's manual, but they advise using generic spring compressors and they don't really work.

 

The new workbench got put to use:

 

Don't do it this way, get the proper tool (see the 'spring replacement' topic)

 

 

All done - both springs fitted:

 

Meanwhile it was pouring down outside... I have a day off work tomorrow, so I'm hoping its going to be dry, but the forecast is for more rain :(

 

Edited July 7, 2011 by jayney

[Danish 294]

Well, I was hoping for nice weather today, but what I got was this... :(

 

So, I stayed inside and progressed the subframe. Most of the nice parts were already on PAL, they'd just been stripped off when the subframe went for power coating. Here are all the bits laid out ready to start:

 

Tie rods and new lower wishbone bearing fitted:

 

Upper wishbone bearing and hub carrier:

 

Steering rack:

 

Track rod ends ??

 

Hub and vented disc:

 

The mighty Wilwood calipers:

 

End of play today:

[allan d 1]

verry nice janey oh yes i had a night mare too with the front springs i done mine on the car it was a nightmare ive managed to put prop on mine in the rain and turn it around to do the back end through the winter strip it oh well more work lol keep it up good work nice to see are you keeping the car the colour it is or are you going to change it .. allan

oh yeah by the way have some spray laquer and spray track rods cos they tend to rust quickly i masked up rubbers then gave them couple of coats

Edited July 8, 2011 by allan d

[cortina crazy 0]

, we do like new (ish) nutters to the fold, makes us feel a wee bit more normal,

 

 

I cant believe i missed out on this comment for so long...........

 

Rob, its knowing you that makes most of us feel normal :sofa:

[Danish 294]

I had a bit of trouble fitting the polybushes to the ARB as the bolts were a bit short. A couple of MTOC guys suggested shaving a bit off the bushes or using a spring compressor. I did both:

 

 

 

Next, the towing eye. As some joker said once, PAL looks strange in photos if there isn't an AA truck in front of him. I've been working on fixing a tow eye to the subframe, so it sticks out under the lower front valence. I got this VW/Audio one:

 

and welded it to some 25x25x3 box section with my trusty old stick welder.

 

 

Fitted to the subframe. We measured it on the Mk3 estate and although it looks long, it sits just under the front valence.

 

 

 

Degreased the type-9

 

I spent most of today planning the next phase of work - making sure I had the bolts, gaskets, seals etc. Im going to need. But I managed to paint the gearbox. I had a spare can of Gulf Orange so used that:

 

In primer:

 

In orange :)

[RLH487W 0]

Front subframe looks spot on.

 

Thats a cracking idea with the toeing eye - Surprised you didn't weld a nut in though so it was hidden till needed.

 

Are you any closer to installing the new axle and the super charger??? Very interested in both projects...

 

Ian

[Danish 294]

Both those jobs will have to wait until 2012. But both will happen!

 

The tow eye is an M18 x 3.0 reverse thread. Completely non-standard and other than cutting out a piece of scrap Audi, impossible to get anything to mate to it. So I just welded it.

[Danish 294]

This week's main task is fitting the various repair panels to the front of the car. I dashed home from work last night and was straight out in the garage to fit the nearside headlamp surround.

 

When I started:

 

New surround welded in, but not cleaned up. The green paint is just to stop corrosion until its painted properly.

 

 

 

Tonight I dashed home again and this time it was the turn of the upper front valence. The one I have is an Expressed Panels one, which I bought last year for my pre-facelift estate. so needed a bit of modifying.

 

I welded M8 nuts on the back ready to take the spot lamp brackets, and welded up the 4 slots which presumably are for a pre-facelift grille:

 

Thanks to Rob, I'm not bad at welding these days. Here is a close up of the welded-up slots:

 

 

All fitted! Note how the wings line up up properly and the bonnet is square too.

 

 

 

It occured to me today that I've owned PAL for four years now. I bought him whilst laid up and had to get my other half to drive him home as my leg was still in plaster.

 

Here's a photo of the front valence exactly 3 years ago:

[cortina crazy 0]

 

When I started:

 

 

Whats that in the front with the straps?

 

The towing eye's a good idea. I wanted to put one on a mk5 a few years ago but couldn't think of a simple way to do it. Cant believe i missed that idea :clown:

 

If anyone else fancies a towing eye i've got loads of ford ones at work reasonably priced :rofl:

[Danish 294]

The towing eye was Mr.Monkey's idea.

 

The mysterious object is a respirator - full face visor with filter to remove everything - dust, chemicals, metal gas, etc. I got it for painting as I'm allergic to paint, but I use it for grinding too.

[cortina crazy 0]

i only asked cos it looked like a prosthetic foot with a shin pad :ninja:

[Danish 294]

The upper front valence was for a pre-facelift. I've already welded up the 'slots' for the grille, but also had to weld on the 'tabs' that facelift grilles have. I cut these off the original valence:

 

All done:

 

I tacked the lower valence onto the nearside end of the crossmember:

 

I thought the offside classic leg needed 'a little patch' but after using the "pointy hammer" to check the rest of the metal was sound...

 

I made the repair panel for the o/s chassis leg:

 

Tacked it on:

 

Seamed around. Half way through I ran out of argon. I switched to carbon dioxide and found it was almost as good.

 

Then slapped some underseal on both sides:

 

 

While it was raining, I couldn't do any welding, so I tarted up the gearbox instead.

 

New rear seal, speedo drive seal, and mystery third seal. I found it under a plate at the front:

 

Then I fitted the bellhousing with a new gasket and hung it upside to drain

 

 

[allan d 1]

excellent jayney really getting there now ive not done anything with mine but got time off coming so hopefully ? can i ask was the car once gold before painted like a pink because i knew of a mk 3 2000 e in rhymney that was originally gold but painted pink the car was mint but that was a few years ago

[CortinaCat 1]

Really impressive progress there Jayney. I cant believe that this car was rebuilt already within the 3 years that you've had him. JFE had a full gearbox refurb including paint as she was leaking gear oil as well as a new clutch, pressure plate, bearing, cable and being a mk5 a new ratchet on the clutch pedal. Much tighter gear change now.

 

 

Like the towing eye idea. Great work keep the pics coming. :thumbup:

[Danish 294]

Allan - no it was originally Sunset red - in fact in the photos below you can see the transmission tunnel is that colour, where I've scraped the old bitumen off.

 

Cat - it wasn't really rebuilt last time - we stripped it, fixed the bodywork, painted it then re-assembled, not going through each part and sorting them out.

 

Anyway, I've been busy again...

 

I started yesterday sanding, wire-brushing and then degreasing the engine bay:

 

The engine bay is solid enough, but the repair patches are a bit rough in places. So I stone chipped the whole bay:

 

 

 

Apparently I should have left it a couple of days to harden before top-coating. But I didn't know that. In primer:

 

<cue drum roll> PAL's new colour! The enigmatically named RAL-3005, which is the sort of colour you get if you wander into a paint shop with a sample saying "can you match this?". As you can see, its pretty similar to the previous colour. The main difference it is a solid colour, but I'm seeing if the suppliers can make up a batch of the same colour with a metallic.