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]

i added a brace to the N/S engine mount to the top of the chassis rail......and it has bent the top rail downward about 1/2 an inch......that will be a hassle to straighten out, but it is going to be braced even further, the pinto is one heavy lump....

[Tom Ger_Phaeton S2]

Hello Dave,
just say, you've broken your Phaeton ...
I thought you wanted to come to the meeting in May to Kevelaer?

Dear Greetings 
Tom

[Dave Adams]

True Tom..... i am confident. also i have a Dutton Sierra. :-)

[Dave Adams]

some progress today...but not as much as i hoped, the top trailing arm chassis mounts have been cut off and new ones welded into place. This has had the effect of turning the nose of the diff downwards, not quite enough but close wnough and a vast improvement on what it was.

much better i think.....

the new brackets are quite substantial,...one of the problems i had was that the arms are not spaced off the axle the same side to side but they are now parallel to each other . the top axle mount on the off side had been removed in the past and re-welded....too high and too far forward. thus turning the axle backwards. thus the reason why the easiest thing to do was alter the chassis mounts

My new shocks are on the left and the old ones to the right, as you can see they are about the same length but in practice the new ones will be about 1/2" longer when fitted to the car. also the new ones are 120lb/in with 2" preload (240lb)  where as  my old ones are 150lb/in but no preload to get the ride height the same i may have to alter the shocker top position

[Dave Adams]

oops just too late to edit my post....thinking on my shockers had about 1" of preload because of the way they fixed to the shocker top mount

[Dave Adams]

I am planning to leave the rear suspension as rubber mounted bushes to allow for slight misalignment.

[Dave Adams]

here is todays modest progress....

the shockers hang from the top mount and they dont hang on to the axle mounts.....they fall to the left, i think i may have to make new mounts.

i have started to fit some 1/2" square tube for the new interior to be fitted the transmission tunnel will be narrowed. the seating on each side is now 16 1/2" wide.

i jacked the axle up as high as i could to make sure it clears the rear of the cockpit (the last one didn't) tomorrow the axle will have to come out....the o/s top axle mount is still not right and some angle grinder surgery is needed....

[Dave Adams]

Ahh well i sort of had that problem yesterday.....apparently whilst she said that i can use my hollidays doing my car what she seems to have meant was if i do every thing she wants first.....plus not spend all day in the garage or on my laptop whilst she is watching soaps, “because that is ignorant“ nor can i talk to her because the hand cones up followed by shush.....oh i love xmas.....NOT.

[Tom Ger_Phaeton S2]

Hello Dave,
you're worrying way too much work!
Get hold of rod 4x adjustable pushrods, and an adjustable Panhard.
So you can adjust the axis behind the way you want it.
All race cars have such a rear axle.

[Dave Adams]

True Tom....but i have looked at doing exactly as you suggest, and may still do something along those lines later into the rebuild. However the cost of making 4 adjustable trailing arms with rose joints at either end as well as a panhard rod is surprisingly high at about £20-25 each rod and i just do not have that kind of spare cash at the moment. So i must, for the moment adjust what i have and make the best of it.

[Steve Kerswell]

I spy a battery, close to a test start Dave?? Some progress in a week, well done.

[Dave Adams]

here are some more pictures of where i have got to so far....

A little more bracing on the transmission tunnel is required (later today i think) and some tabs at various locations on the frames to support the panels, the hand brake lever has been fitted and the gearbox mount has been altered and refitted to the car.

the transmission tunnel is different lengths on either side, (much easier to panel out) and it gives me room to fit my battery to the n/s just in front of the foot well.

as you can see the transmission tunnel is almost symmetrical, and using 1/2" square tube has given me at least 1" more space that the larger tube would have done.......also on the bottom of the picture the difference of the lengths of the transmission tunnel can be seen. The seating area is just short of 17" either side (it used to be different (and less) either side) the prop shaft runs about 1/2" from the seat side at its closest. This will have steel reinforcing here, in case the prop ever lets go....

this is the 3" extension to the drivers foot well, i also now have slightly more pedal box area.......