Front Struts
Whilst the car was away at the bodyshop I got on with a number of jobs that I could do separately. The old struts looked to be original so I wanted to replace them to a better standard. My old convertible has KYB dampers and uprated springs all round which gives a nice well controlled, but still comfortable ride, so I decided to get a new duplicate set from Steve Wilcox at S&S Preparations. I also added an uprated servo/master cylinder to my order.
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| A nice parcel arrived from S&S with this lot in. |
I already had a couple of old struts and the other front suspension parts in the garage so I was able to use these to rebuild.
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| Set of parts ready for front struts rebuild. |
Stripping the old struts had revealed two different inserts so someone needs a talking to, very bad idea to have odd dampers.
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| Odd pair of front strut damper inserts |
After cleaning and painting the strut casings the new inserts fitted fine so now it was time for the battle with springs. I always find it quite scary when you have springs compressed, there is a LOT of energy there just ready to do you some serious damage if they get loose so I treated this part of the job with great care. Those clamps need to be secure!
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| This could so easily go wrong. |
I found this part very awkward. You have to put the gaiter and the bump stop inside the spring before you fit the top mount. The problem is that the gaiter has to be stretched and fiddled to fit in its slot in the top mount at the same time as you try to assemble the top mount with its bearing and nut - but the clamps get in the way. You don't want to disturb the clamps and risk them coming off so its a delicate operation until that top nut goes on. Big sigh of relief when the nut is finally secure.
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| Its OK to breathe now. |
And then you will have a pair of rebuilt struts ready fit on the car.
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