Getting ready for the road again

[Anders Dinsen]

Thanks Anders. Original et is 28.
That looks like new...Great work. Must take some time.

Thank you... progress is  quite slow indeed, especially in all the little corners... but underneath the sand, dirt, and salt is ... beautiful galvanized steel! It's satisfying work

[roy4matra]

Discovered a small problem yesterday as the bellow around the lower joint has split. I think I've found one of the right size on eBay, but so far hasn't had success releasing the nut in order to split the arm from the ball joint and take a correct measure. For some reason, there's a plastic cover sitting around the nut so I can't get a perfect grip on the nut and has therefore not wanted to apply force. I guess I'll let it soak rust solvent a few days more and perhaps cut down the plastic. I wonder if anyone would know why it's there (the plastic)?

The white plastic washer/shield (if that is what you are talking about Anders) was there partly to protect the rubber gaiter from stones I believe.  Many cars have 'lost' them as they often get broken when taking the nut off the ball joint swivel.

You say the nut wont come off, but I have only had that problem if I tried to use a socket with a hand tool such as a ratchet or breaker bar.  The reason is they are too slow and the joint swivel normally separates from the wishbone on the taper before the Nyloc nut is undone, so then the whole thing simply rotates and the nut wont come all the way off the thread!  However, I have always undone them with my impact wrench which is 'too fast' for the joint, and the nut is zipped off before it can start rotating.  Never failed yet.

Roy.

[Anders Dinsen]

Discovered a small problem yesterday as the bellow around the lower joint has split. I think I've found one of the right size on eBay, but so far hasn't had success releasing the nut in order to split the arm from the ball joint and take a correct measure. For some reason, there's a plastic cover sitting around the nut so I can't get a perfect grip on the nut and has therefore not wanted to apply force. I guess I'll let it soak rust solvent a few days more and perhaps cut down the plastic. I wonder if anyone would know why it's there (the plastic)?

The white plastic washer/shield (if that is what you are talking about Anders) was there partly to protect the rubber gaiter from stones I believe.  Many cars have 'lost' them as they often get broken when taking the nut off the ball joint swivel.

You say the nut wont come off, but I have only had that problem if I tried to use a socket with a hand tool such as a ratchet or breaker bar.  The reason is they are too slow and the joint swivel normally separates from the wishbone on the taper before the Nyloc nut is undone, so then the whole thing simply rotates and the nut wont come all the way off the thread!  However, I have always undone them with my impact wrench which is 'too fast' for the joint, and the nut is zipped off before it can start rotating.  Never failed yet.

Roy.

Thanks Roy! The nut just came off! I don't have an impact wrench, so I cut down the edges of the washer/shield so that I could get a good grip, put my foot against the lower arm, and pulled strongly on my ratchet. The nut finally gave in and came off just as it should. The taper was well stuck but I got it loose using my ball joint splitter. TRIDAN 85013817 is the replacement part I've ordered now, it's a pack of five, it anyone else would need one.

[Anders Dinsen]

Update on the past couple of days:

• Brushing and zinga painting of the front beams completed
• Front beam and suspension components corrosion protected
• Radiator and new coolant pipe brackets ordered and on the way

Next up is refitting the wiring looms and connectors. Could be tomorrow's little job

[TELBOY]

Ace job. When you doing the rear?

[Anders Dinsen]

Ace job. When you doing the rear?

Thanks - from the expert on ace jobs, I feel proud:)

Well, when I've fitted the new bellow under the joint, renewed bellows on the steering rack, fitted the new brackets for the water pipes, refitted the steering rack, fitted the radiator, connected the plumbing, connected electrics (battery connections including), vacuum to the headlight mechanism, ground and painted the three cover panels for the wiper motor and blower, refitted the blower and the panels, refitted the horns, painted and refitted the headlight lifter bar, fitted new metal panels on the side and under the radiator, refitted the wheel arches and the battery tub.... I think that's it. Oh yes, before I start doing the chassis on the rear, I need to take the engine out to refit a new seal around the chaincase cover. It will also improve access to the rear. The coming weekends are going to be busy with Le Mans and a conference in New York coming up. Probably sometime over the summer?

[Anders Dinsen]

New steering rack boots arriving tomorrow. I wonder if fitting without dismantling the tie rod ends will really be possible?

 https://www.vsm.skf.com/mt/en/product-assortment/steering-boot

Video showing installation: https://youtu.be/nMoxlihaGD8

[sc1962]

let us know how you get on with the boot Anders.iv just done one of mine with replacements fron Matramagic..i had the same idea but had to remove the track rod end.the problem being that despite copious amounts of lube the small end of the boot is very small and  not very stretchy and I feared splitting it.great pics and looking forward to your progress.have you repaired the sills I notice that theyre off the car.and if so what weight fg  matt did you use ?? I need to do mine as well.great work,steve

[Anders Dinsen]

let us know how you get on with the boot Anders.iv just done one of mine with replacements fron Matramagic..i had the same idea but had to remove the track rod end.the problem being that despite copious amounts of lube the small end of the boot is very small and  not very stretchy and I feared splitting it.great pics and looking forward to your progress.have you repaired the sills I notice that theyre off the car.and if so what weight fg  matt did you use ?? I need to do mine as well.great work,steve

Thanks, I'll keep you posted, Steve I have had problems with the boots before which cracked after only a year or two. I think all Matra parts vendors are using the same part, and it has hopefully improved in quality since then, but I decided this time to try a universal one from SKF. The Simca track rod ends are quite large, though, so I'm trying to remove them. I have had them off before, and it wasn't a problem then, but they seem to be stuck now.

I haven't looked at the side sills yet, so haven't thought about matt weight yet. I'm doing the chassis first before attending to the body parts.

[sc1962]

yeah I had a sort of cone/funnel to slide the boot on but tbh I bottled it halfway thru.i did the drivers side and the track rod end was l/h thread if that helps when trying to work out which way the nut turns.as I said I ordered from matramagic but imo theyre no better than universal ones cos you have to cut them to size which was a bit disappointing as they were twice the price of universal ones.the only prob I found was that I had two universal qh boots.but the large end diameter was way too small.steve

[Anders Dinsen]

yeah I had a sort of cone/funnel to slide the boot on but tbh I bottled it halfway thru.i did the drivers side and the track rod end was l/h thread if that helps when trying to work out which way the nut turns.as I said I ordered from matramagic but imo theyre no better than universal ones cos you have to cut them to size which was a bit disappointing as they were twice the price of universal ones.the only prob I found was that I had two universal qh boots.but the large end diameter was way too small.steve

This is the SKF boot mostly fitted (needs strips). It looks nothing like the OEM part, but hopefully is of good quality. The fat end of this one fits perfectly when cut to the largest diameter.

Yeah, I did try turning the wrong way, thanks! but fitting the rack back on the car and inserting the rod end in the upright mount helped stabilize things so I could apply force and get it loose. Lubricating spray in the boot and a plastic bag over the end, and the boot slid in. Getting the remains of the plastic bag out was the last struggle.

Now to the other side :-)

[TELBOY]

Had exactly the same problem i  forgot that  .one must be a left hand thread. Once the locking nut was slack i sprayed white greese on the track rod end to mark how far it had to go back on and counted the complete turns to remove the end. Hope ive done it right!

[Anders Dinsen]

Had exactly the same problem i  forgot that  .one must be a left hand thread. Once the locking nut was slack i sprayed white greese on the track rod end to mark how far it had to go back on and counted the complete turns to remove the end. Hope ive done it right!

Both hare left hand... just saying

I'm going to have it professionally aligned when I'm done with everything, so I haven't worried too much about getting it exactly right.

It's election day, constitution day, and a day off, but really too hot here to do anything sensible. But while it was still a bit cool, I fitted this. Some free tips: The top clip is very tight. I pulled it out a bit on the middle and slid on one side of the groove, and then carefully plied it into the groove working both ends. It takes some fiddling. The lower clip should best be fitted on the boot before it's pulled up, I regretted I hadn't

If anyone wonders how I can remove the upright without releasing the torsion bar as the instructions say on both Roy's web site and the repair manual, I've suspended the lower control arm on my hydraulic jack. It's a large one with a large platform (the rubber mat on it is visible in the picture), and I find it is a realiable solution for small jobs.

[TELBOY]

Exactly how i did it. Great ninds and all that. Really bugging me. I could have sworn one was right hand and one left when I did mine. Will check the weekend

[TELBOY]

Oh....and thanks! Looking at your photo i realised when i replaced.my drop link rubbers i had the bolt through the other way....douh.