In a message dated 10/2/2000 8:12:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
Toby@intri-plex.com writes:
<< I have heard stories of king pin (what
ever that is) reamer nightmares, all sorts of different exotic bushing
materials and the occasional shock discussion. And not to mention the sway
bar diameter controversies. >>
Toby:
I don't really think anything is facilitated in rebuilding the front
suspension by having the engine out. I don't think it makes any difference.
As far as rebuilding the suspension, it is a fairly straightforward thing to
do. Buy (probably) the major suspension kit--I got mine from Vicky Brit and
it is pretty good quality. Unless you want to get into a major pile of s**t,
I would suggest you purchase rebuilt A-arms instead of attempting to remove
the fulcrum pins and re-solder new fulcrum pin bushings into place. But you
can, if you want, tackle the A-arm rebuilding yourself. You will havae to
find a source for those fulcrum pin bushings--Maybe Apple.
The Swivel arm--the part that the bearings and wheel go directly onto, is the
part that has to be reamed for the kingpin (the part the swivel arm swivels
on). This takes a special and expensive reamer, so it is best to have that
done either at a British car repair shop that has the special reamer, or to
find a Spridget guy who has one. Maybe a club out there has members who have
a reamer.
Once you have the rebuilt A-arms and the swivel arms reamed, everything else
is pretty straightforward as far as assembly. Just be sure you get the
connector that slides over the top of the kingpin turned around the correct
way. If you don't your front wheels will be sloped at a severe and very
humorous angle.
The shocks, of course, are available at a good price for quality rebuild from
Peter C. I am sure the list will forward more ideas and how-to's but this
might get you started.
--David C.
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