S1 Rebuild(s)

[Dave Adams]

some pics of the rebuild process,

the top trailing arm bracket is broke......

the diff is sloping back a little (looking up) so that will need sorting.......

As you can see there isn't a lot of bracing in an S1 chassis, that will be sorted.

[Dave Adams]

Thanks Mike, i have checked the eyes and they seem fine....except that one shock has had an extra eye welded on to the bottom, not a problem i hope.

[James Doulton]

Is that one a little shorter, so someone welded an extra eye on to make it the same length?

[Dave Adams]

This year has just been awful for me finding time to work on the car, yesterday i set out to replace the rear trailing arm bushes on my wife's "new" fiat sciento sporting, ordered last week arrived Tuesday and they looked to be the right size so i set out to remove the rear arm. The brake pipe wasn't playing and had to be cut off, but apart from that it was a simple job to remove....the bush pressed out using a two leg gear puller and a large headed bolt....no matter where i looked in town no one had some bushes in stock, turns out the motor factors ordered the front bushes. So the whole lot had to go back together, and a new brake pipe made.

I am determined to spend some time on my car today and get it back on its wheels and assess the correct position for the rack. (mine was one of the early S1's with the bodged rack mounts and they weren't the best )

[Dave Adams]

last week i met with Pete Clayton and swapped a spoiler for a triumph top wishbone that i needed, Pete also brought a matching bottom wishbone.....just in case. To be honest i had checked the wishbone and mine looked fine.....looked fine.

When i came to put the O/S wishbones on it just wouldn't line up properly so off it all came again and the bottom wishbone was in fact twisted by a small amount.... about 3mm or so at the trunion joint. Not to be unexpected but it looked fine.

So it was a good job that Pete gave me the bottom wishbone as once it was swapped it all went together as it should.

so now all i have to do is align the rack properly...its being a real pain but its almost done the mounts are ready to be welded on to the chassis mounts

that didnt quite work as it should....

[Pete Clayton]

Can't see the pic for some reason Dave but glad its coming along. Offered up the spoiler earlier, looks just the job thanks.

[28ullkq4hau58]

rack mounts,, i,v had that bl##dy nightmare with ,EMILY,, my austin ten hotrod pro fitted ,rose jointed front suspension and steering fitted by yorkshire streetrods  took me age,s to find out why it ,,bump steered ,,so badly turned out the rack position was to high and to far back ,,plus the inner rack was to wide == utter nightmare,,

[Pete Clayton]

Going to try this on mine at some point, read it on another forum

Get a laser pointer, strap it to the wheel or disc and point at a wall. 

Lock the steering wheel 

Remove the road spring so you can easily lift the suspension through its full travel. 

As you lift the wheel/hub the point of light should only rise or lower with the hub, if it points in or out you have bump steer

[Dave Adams]

as you can see i have assembled the front end minus the shockers....well the more observant will spot that the top mounts are not in fact there :-)

Just getting the height worked out.....

[Pete Clayton]

Whats the plan with the top wishbone mounts? still welding them in place? at the moment looks like they are bolted to the side wall of tube

[Dave Adams]

The bottom wishbone mounts are now welded and the castor set as it should be..... 5-8 degrees. The top wish bones are adjustable for camber (by shims behind the wishbone brackets) currently it appears to be at about 1.7-1.9 degrees negative i am looking for some where between 0.75 and 1.25 degrees -ve, and the same both sides. so some shimming will be needed.

[Dave Adams]

The O/S top wishbone brackets are going to be remade (i also mounted them upside down) as the bottom wishbone brackets were made 1/8" closer to the chassis rail than the N/S to get the front axle equally spaced either side of the cars centre line and that makes the top wishbone brackets 1/8" too wide now.......

on reflection that 1/8" correction seems a little like pedantry, as i am not 100% the car or my measurements are that good.....but i am fairly confident, so i did it anyway.

[Dave Adams]

The tube wall thickness the top wishbones are bolted to is 2mm about the same as the brackets and its the same as the mod from last winter....it survived the accident better than the rest of the chassis so i figure its more than strong enough when i remade it this rebuild.