June 7, 2020

6. Front suspension

Seam sealer is taking a little longer than I thought to cure so started a few other jobs.

I had already welded the PMS bearing kit and stiffening plates a couple months back but time to push the bearings in. Cleaned the paint out of the bearing housing with a flap disc. Had to make a press tool to fit round the spherical bearing as the kit I have doesn’t go down that small. So drilled out a M16 washer and it was a good fit. So M16 nut and bolt pulled the bearings in perfectly and clipped the circlips in. Will give the control arms a coat of gloss black spray paint when I have a few parts to do.
Time to sort the uprights. These had been dipped in citric acid to remove all the rust and painted with Jotun 87A and Hardtop AX. The Sealey adjustable press support made pushing the wheel bearings in a doddle.

I then removed the paint from the mating surfaces.

Sticking with the front wheel package, I rebuilt the front brake calipers using a refurb kit from Bigg Red. The calipers, like the uprights, were dipped in citric acid, the stuff really does an amazing job. Picture was after a couple of days in the bucket, but after another 2 days the rest of the rust came off. I left the main piston seals and bleed nipples in and blocked off the brake pipe holes so no citric acid got into the inside of the caliper. Parts painted with high temp spray paint.