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]

Gearbox after.....

[Dave Adams]

Just welded th hole over with 3mm plate and job done....it now fits...

[Brian (up north) Morris]

very neat dave. nice job.

[Dave Adams]

Handbrakes.....always a weak point on these cars......they are just so restricted for room......

so here is how i have done this cars handbrake linkage.....a little fabrication needed but it is easy. the cable is from a Vauxhall Corsa at about £10. they are only about 3 foot long so just about ideal for the phaetons.

so i cut a small section of tube to hold the cable outer......as it happens the circlip that holds the ford escort cable also fits the Corsa cable so i welded a washer to the end of the tube and poked the cable through and secured it with the clip.....

for the handbrake lever end, i made this barrel nut and cut a slot in it....the nipple of the cable will slide into it and then secure to the handbrake lever.

here it is secured to the lever......i have drilled the anchor point closer to the pivot point to increase the leverage ratio.

here fitted with the axle back in place......and loads of copper slip.....it needs to be removable at some time in the future.

here it is connected to the off side drum.....the cable just fouls the brake flexi so the flexi will need rerouting....

this bottle jack is how the handbrake is adjusted....... 

[James Doulton]

Nice work, Dave.

[Dave Adams]

cheers James.....i really have not got a great deal done since Xmas. the axle had to be dropped out so that i could get a little more clearance for the trailing arms to move up and down....only about 1/4 inch...but that allowed about 1 inch at the axle end....i may fit bump stops to the chassis later.

but it is all coming together now.....i hope i dont need to still modify the gear box to get it to fit.

[Dave Adams]

I do try.....☺☺

[Dave Adams]

Decided to fit the focus engine to my phaeton since the mondeo engine is on my engine stand...they are both 1.8 zetecs....no problems....er wrong...the coil pack is slightly bigger on the focus so it fouls the bulkhead....and  the lower engine mount is 5mm out....so next week I have an engine swap to do...

[James Doulton]

Yes, Dave, the words "it's the same engine" really mean "its approximately the same but different in most of the details that matter!"

[Dave Adams]

My hand brake linkage minus the cable. ...

And fitted to the car..axle to the left the panhard rod then the fuel tank....all snug..

[Dave Adams]

She sits low with the engine in.... a little tweak on the front springs it will be about right..

But here you can see how much wider the front track is...I need wheels with about 25mm off set to compensate.

[Dave Adams]

a little investigation....i was mistaken about the zetecs....i have done lots of measuring and it seems the problem is the gearbox....side by side the type 9 and MT75 looked the same on the mounts but it is clear that the box is about 5mm further back than it should be....since the MT 75 was all bolted in and finalised when i sorted the engine mounts i have to assume the issue is with the gearbox swap.....it will be a little bit of a hassle to modify, but the rear mount needs re-drilling.... whilst i am about it i will look to raising it a little as well....or not i will see.