Tweet
Suspension, Brakes and Cleaning Up
Been a bit fed up with the crapness of the standard GMF calipers and also never had any real faith in the handling. A few months ago I picked up a bargain in the form of an AVO Chassis Dynamics -25mm full suspension kit, also a pair of later ATE (16V) calipers complete with pads and discs with less than 150 miles on. I set about buying bits here and there for the work, including braided brake lines from Rob@RSC.
So the last week in May I took off work and headed up north to my parents house to take advantage of the garage and facilities.
First a survey of the braking system to check that the new lines would fit revealed an oddity in the form of the passengers side line clamp/union being different to the drivers side and different from the braided kit.
We decided that we could make a little bracket to make the braided line fit so pressed ahead removing stuff.
With all the wheels off and wire brushing inside the arches I came across a rusty bit in the drivers wheelwell that I poked and prodded into this state.
Not to worry as the welding kit was at hand and that's a common place for the rot to attack. In fact it's not bad considering it's age. After a patch was fabricated this was the result.
If I'm ever doing a job on the car I like to do it well. And that means that whilst a component is off I like to clean up the area around it and check out for rust. With the rear suspension out of the way I set about with the wire brush along all the rear half of the car. After degreasing on goes the Jenolite to kill any signs of rust (not that there was anything much really, the odd little surface discolouration. The rear valance/boot floor joint was about the worst bit) followed by the No 1 Rust Beater primer. This is topped off with a rough match to the body colour in the form of Re-Paint Coach Enamel in Carnival Red. I didn't want to use Smoothrite because of the silicone it contains. So now it looks like this.
Then on covering the whole lot with the underseal after leaving time for the paint to dry.
Whilst all that paint was drying we had stripped and given similar treatment to the front struts and stone guards and all the other knick knacks. These were treated to a nice coat of black, but not before fitting new Vauxhall wheel bearings. Fit the bearings first so you don't damage the nice new paint
I also totally stripped and treated the fuel pump assembly.
The rear end was the first to be built back up as it was the easiest. I didn't touch the rear beam as I'm after a 16V rear beam so will give that similar loving pretty soon. Quick shot of the finished rear.
Whilst trial fitting things together we came across the possible problem that the damper didn't appear to have any means of being held central in the strut. I suppose most people would have just relied on the tightness of the strut retainer to keep it central, but that wasn't good enough for me. Luckily my dads mate has his own workshop so we got him to make up a pair of collars on the lathe. He blacked the collars to allow a measure of anti-rust.
I smeared them with copper grease for good measure before re-assembly as well. My philosophy is do it right to last first time and that will be the last time. I intend on keeping the car for a while yet. I also fitted all new rubbers for the strut. The top mount bearings seemed fine so we left them.
After putting the struts back together, cleaning up and re-lubricating the (new to me) calipers and fitting copper brake lines (to match the rest of the car that I had done previously) and the braided hoses and sensors, it seemed that the little bracket we made did the job nicely.
Unfortunately you can't see that I also treated around where the top of the strut sits.
After having had the car back for a few weeks now I can honestly say it was all worth it. The car is now driving the best it ever has and I'm lovin it
Lessons learnt:
1. An air driven impact tool made the job of undoing the strut top nuts at least 100x easier.
2. Air driven impact tools should not be given to the monkeys that work in garages because they tighten everything up with them. They had actually ruined the front suspension geometry on the struts I stripped for the new suspension because they had sheared off (by allowing to spin with the air tool) all the plastic tabs that hold the top of the spring in the correct position/angle.
3. Allow plenty of time for jobs. All this took from Saturday morning until Bank Holiday Monday morning which took in one full week inbetween. Take your time and do it right
So the last week in May I took off work and headed up north to my parents house to take advantage of the garage and facilities.
First a survey of the braking system to check that the new lines would fit revealed an oddity in the form of the passengers side line clamp/union being different to the drivers side and different from the braided kit.
We decided that we could make a little bracket to make the braided line fit so pressed ahead removing stuff.
With all the wheels off and wire brushing inside the arches I came across a rusty bit in the drivers wheelwell that I poked and prodded into this state.
Not to worry as the welding kit was at hand and that's a common place for the rot to attack. In fact it's not bad considering it's age. After a patch was fabricated this was the result.
If I'm ever doing a job on the car I like to do it well. And that means that whilst a component is off I like to clean up the area around it and check out for rust. With the rear suspension out of the way I set about with the wire brush along all the rear half of the car. After degreasing on goes the Jenolite to kill any signs of rust (not that there was anything much really, the odd little surface discolouration. The rear valance/boot floor joint was about the worst bit) followed by the No 1 Rust Beater primer. This is topped off with a rough match to the body colour in the form of Re-Paint Coach Enamel in Carnival Red. I didn't want to use Smoothrite because of the silicone it contains. So now it looks like this.
Then on covering the whole lot with the underseal after leaving time for the paint to dry.
Whilst all that paint was drying we had stripped and given similar treatment to the front struts and stone guards and all the other knick knacks. These were treated to a nice coat of black, but not before fitting new Vauxhall wheel bearings. Fit the bearings first so you don't damage the nice new paint
I also totally stripped and treated the fuel pump assembly.
The rear end was the first to be built back up as it was the easiest. I didn't touch the rear beam as I'm after a 16V rear beam so will give that similar loving pretty soon. Quick shot of the finished rear.
Whilst trial fitting things together we came across the possible problem that the damper didn't appear to have any means of being held central in the strut. I suppose most people would have just relied on the tightness of the strut retainer to keep it central, but that wasn't good enough for me. Luckily my dads mate has his own workshop so we got him to make up a pair of collars on the lathe. He blacked the collars to allow a measure of anti-rust.
I smeared them with copper grease for good measure before re-assembly as well. My philosophy is do it right to last first time and that will be the last time. I intend on keeping the car for a while yet. I also fitted all new rubbers for the strut. The top mount bearings seemed fine so we left them.
After putting the struts back together, cleaning up and re-lubricating the (new to me) calipers and fitting copper brake lines (to match the rest of the car that I had done previously) and the braided hoses and sensors, it seemed that the little bracket we made did the job nicely.
Unfortunately you can't see that I also treated around where the top of the strut sits.
After having had the car back for a few weeks now I can honestly say it was all worth it. The car is now driving the best it ever has and I'm lovin it
Lessons learnt:
1. An air driven impact tool made the job of undoing the strut top nuts at least 100x easier.
2. Air driven impact tools should not be given to the monkeys that work in garages because they tighten everything up with them. They had actually ruined the front suspension geometry on the struts I stripped for the new suspension because they had sheared off (by allowing to spin with the air tool) all the plastic tabs that hold the top of the spring in the correct position/angle.
3. Allow plenty of time for jobs. All this took from Saturday morning until Bank Holiday Monday morning which took in one full week inbetween. Take your time and do it right
Comment