"Underneath", installment 15
Made some _real_ progress; the Garage Queen is starting to look
like a car again. The crisis with the rear shackle damage was over
quickly, although my irritation will remain. Two 15" adjustable wrenches
allowed me to pry open the shackle to _almost_ the spacing of the other
one. I had drilled out some Grade 8 washers to 1/64" over the 7/16" so
they'd be a snug fit and the spring-eye's bushing would have a bearing
surface. BTW, those washers tore up my drill bit, but _good_. On the
"undamaged" side, I used 6 washers; with the from spring eye bolts in
place but not tight, and the axle U-bolts in place and torqued down, I
really couldn't get the rear spring eye centered in the shackle; thus 4
washers on one side, and 2 on the other. The "damaged" shackle side got
4 washers, 3 & 1. Then I could tighten down everything. One exception
is the bolts on the traction bars where they clamp over the spring
leaves; I got the idea somehow that they shouldn't be tightened to death
but I don't know exactly how tight/loose. I certainly wouldn't want them
to rattle.
I had forgotten something. Remember I was asking about the
torque setting for the main bearing caps in the rear axle? Well, I
hadn't actually tightened them. Ugh. So, I took off the diff cover (that
finned alloy one, and it clears the body rather easily once in place,
which is something I hadn't thought about before), and reached in to
tighten them up; then I could replace the cover, this time with some
Permatex and snugged down all of the screws. The stainless steel
Allen-key bolts look really cool.
By this time I had both the front and rear ends tightened up and
the car resting on jackstands on the suspension, not the frame. Spaced
out much further, and I feel a lot better about the car not falling (on
me, perhaps). I had put the front stands, with a rag on top to protect
the finish, in the vicinity of the outboard side of the lower shock
bracket. The very next thing I tried to do was to install the front
swaybar, as I understand it's no-go until the suspension is under load.
Well, the jackstands covered the holes for the bolts of the outboard
swaybar brackets. As my big trolley jack was in the shop still, I had to
borrow a neighbor's again. With the jacks moved a bit further outboard,
the swaybar went right in. What I should have done with those two
outboard brackets was to get them both _loosely_ in place first, before
trying to tighten anything. Instead, I put one in, tightened it down,
then had a devil of a time getting the other one in place, especially as
the poly bushings don't have much "give".
Also, once the suspension was under load, I understood that it
was OK to tighten the bolts for the steering rack's attachment to the
crossmember. Remember how I pulled the suspension _out_ with the
radiator in place? Ha ha, no way to get it back _in_ in that condition,
as there's like 1/8" clearance between the lower bolts and the radiator.
I really didn't want to drain the system, so I thought I might leave the
hoses connected and raise the radiator and inch or so. I made up two 14"
x 1' dowels, stuck them like struts between the outboard ends of the
radiator and two smaller hydraulic jacks (thus vertical), and removed
the 4 bolts (thank goodness for stainless steel! came out easily) and
the two little screws at the top of the shroud. Then I started raising
the radiator. The tabs on the sides of the radiator for mounting to the
car soon fouled the bodywork, those diagonal parts where the horns would
be if I had any (!) and no amount of wiggling and repositioning would
help. AAAARRRGGGHH! So, I drained the system. Moral: Taking the easy way
out usually ends up being _more_ work; I should have pulled it out to
start with. Out? Well, not quite. With the shroud out and the hoses
loose, it wouldn't some out. I could have if I had a second person
around to lift the other end of the radiator (or if I had removed the
hood. No way!). Anyway, I got it up an inch or two and no further, then
remembered that's all I really needed to get to the bolts on the
steering rack. Ah! Yeah, got to the bolts although still not easy, then
dropped the radiator back down.
While I was at it, as long as the system was drained, I pulled
out the header tank, and reattaching the steering went a gazillion times
faster. BTW, remember the old story about the Ford V8 indy cars back in
the 1930's; where the heat from the exhaust manifold, so close to the
steering, cooked the grease right out of the steering and the cars had
to drop out of the race? Well, take a close look at the steering
U-joints on a Tiger, it's a wonder we don't have the same problem. The
U-joints are newish, I need to remember to give them a shot of grease.
Anyway, the steering and the cooling system is all back together now.
I resolved the wheel bearing issues I had last week. One hub
went right on, which should have told me something. the other one went
on, but it just didn't feel right. So then I installed the calipers.
Again one went on right away and one did not (same side). It felt like
the brake was fouling the rotor, so I popped out the pads. The caliper
was _still_ hitting the rotor. Huh? Yeah, it wasn't centered over the
rotor. I was beginning to wonder about the spacers for widening the
calipers to fit over the vented rotors, but, as the other side fit
fine, I looked further. An eyeball comparison soon revealed that the one
hub just wasn't on the spindle all the way. So I went to remove it, but
it wouldn't come off, either. So, I went to buy a gear puller (Some guy
having a worse day than me: in Home Depot's parking lot, it heavy
Dennisean rain, I look down and find keys. Just a couple, one is short
and 'oddly' cut, and the key fob has the Union Flag on one side and the
name of a local Britmobile repair center on the other. I figure there's
some guy who is missing the keys to his MG or Triumph that, in this
weather, would start anyway.); I ended up with a Sears unit that had a
three-arm option because I was worried about bending the wheel-mounting
surface. It turns out I shouldn't have been concerned, it popped off
with very little pressure.
It turns out that I had left a little bit of that powder coating
on the spindles (remember that when I had the suspension parts coated,
the guy didn't mask off the spindle when doing the stub-axle carrier). A
little emery cloth later, it was all cleaned up and it slid right on, as
did the caliper. The bearing end-float isn't set yet, I've been
digesting all of the different opinions about just how tight to make the
bearings. At least I don't have to look at those stuck-on Special
Distance Pieces any more; maybe by the time of the next rebuild I'll
have a solution for those.
I need to take more photos, the suspension is starting to look
really good.
PS: When I went to mount the calipers, I found I was having
trouble getting the bolts to go in; on both sides, one hole had burrs or
something that wouldn't let the bolts in. So, I found the correct drill
side to _barely_ admit the bolts, and cleaned out the holes. Really
should have checked before trying to reassemble.
Lawrence R. Wright
Purchasing Analyst
Andrews Office Products Div. of USOP
larry.wright@usop.com (new)
Ph. 301.386.7923 Fx. 301.386.5333
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