Q91CMV - Dutton Legerra ZS Series 2

[Adrian Southgate]

So, MOT sorted by the skin of its teeth, loads to do before tomorrow morning, panic has set it due to a little mishap with the pedal box...

How many of you fitted metal spreader plates between the pedal box and the bulkhead? Here is something for those of you with pinto engines to think about.

I didn't see this coming 8 years ago when I re built it... The holes are supposed to be there... the crack around the edge is not.

Seems the proximity to the manifold has weakened the fibreglass of the tub a little

Well a lot actually :)

A metal spreader plate on the inside would have eased the load on the area and this may not have been quite so severe. This is going to be a fun evening..

[Steve Kerswell]

My only concern is the tapered hole that the bolt passes through. Yes, it is m14x2 thread. That does seem expensive.

[Adrian Southgate]

I can get away with the metal track rod end, there is enough clearance all the way from top to bottom on both locks, problem arises when you fit a rubber cover to the track rod end, it hits the disc and will just get worn away in a couple of miles.

So spherical rod end it will have to be... found some on ebay only £80 the pair (sigh) 

I'm using mk2 stubs, all the bolts are metric. The rack is a very coarse pitch thread, could be M14 x 2mm which is the thread on the metric rod ends. The existing rod ends are a little corroded as is the rack so it could probably do with a tidy up anyway. The replacement rod ends look like a normal rose joint with a big socket head bolt through it so the question is can I replicate them for less than £80 a pair?

[Adrian Southgate]

@ Daryl - IF i'd have known about all these 'little issues' i'd not have bothered, saved more than a few pennies by just replacing the single thickness discs. Using Capri struts would mean chopping and welding those silly tubes on, I doubt if there were many made using anything other than standard escort struts.

@ Steve -  Didn't think that could be done to cast parts. They are one piece stubs so the whole lot would have to come off again, stripped down, bent, rebuilt. Not enough time and I don't have a torch.

I suppose I could 'trim' a little off the track rod end outer casing with a flap disc, just clean it up a little and see if that helps, it's only just making contact after all. The other alternative is some form of rose joint track rod end if they make them. I've got an old track rod end somewhere, i'm going to play with the angle grinder, i'll let you know what happens.

[Steve Kerswell]

Stupid tablet, oxy torch.

[Steve Kerswell]

Are the track rod end arm cast in or bolted in,  if bolted, spacer, if one piece, um, body torch and move them slightly, just an idea, thinking on my feet like.

[Adrian Southgate]

Small update, just about to throw the towel in on the vented disc project as now the track rod ends are hitting the disc.... 

[Dave Adams]

i would do a news letter but since no one is interested in talking to me to give any thing to write into one i feel somewhat disinclined.....i also have been covering many of the jobs not being done by the various DOC committee so again feel ignored and depressed.....i really do wonder what is the point when the membership sec is being harrased for a news letter but not one single member has approached me for one..(well one and he knows who he is)

[Adrian Southgate]

As the deadline for our spring tour approaches I wonder how many more hours this front end is going to take, every nut I tried to undo got stuck on the thread before coming off including the trackrod end, lower ball joint and the maxi ball joints, a right pain in the arse. Now I need a set of coil spring compressors to change the front springs on the spare shocks and new bushes for them too. Thats providing the old shocks come off.

 

[Adrian Southgate]

Anyone got a mk2 escort steering column surround in brown going cheap?

[Adrian Southgate]

I think I'll make a datasheet up for all these parts and where to get them, I got stainless bleed nipples too, no more struggling with rusty crap.