Suspension bush options - old style, damper programme ?

[Mightymetro]

7 hours ago, sailorbob said:

On the later wishbone the rear bush is a single parallel item (standard part no. A075C6000Z, polyurethane part no. LOTAC05454) and the front bush is a split, two piece, conical item (standard part no. A082C4250F, polyurethane part no. LOTAC05458).

Hi sailorbob, these are the rear lower links on the back of the car, not the wishbone

[Barrykearley]

Thanks I was starting to get confused here 🤪

[Barrykearley]

here you go @Mightymetro

[Mightymetro]

That’s Fab Barry, I’ll have a measure when I get home and see where I’m at 

[sailorbob]

4 hours ago, Mightymetro said:

Hi sailorbob, these are the rear lower links on the back of the car, not the wishbone

Sorry, calling them 'rear stabiliser bars' was getting me confused and I thought you were meaning part of the wishbone.

The bushing ends of the rear lower links are CDS tubes having an outside diameter of 38.1 mm and a 3.25 mm wall thickness.

[Mightymetro]

So, I’ve hopefully got to the bottom of this and it seems Lotus maybe considered using conical bushes on all the rear suspension at some point in time for the facelift in 1997 and used my car for his.  All my rear suspension components that should use parallel bushes have taper bushes and sleeves.  The measurements all match the conical type that you can fit in the front wishbones.  The bad thing is now that I have to buy all new suspension links etc as I already have the bushes and there must be a reason Lotus didn’t stick with this design.  Grrrrrrrrrr

 

 

[Barrykearley]

Ooh that’s a new one......

[Mightymetro]

Any idea how to remove the lower spring perch?  I’m guessing it slides up to the top of the shock?  Don’t want to damage it 🙈 with big hammers 🔨

[sailorbob]

It should just slide off upwards so there is probably a little corrosion making it stick. Try rotating it to free it off before resorting to drifting it off.

[Mightymetro]

Next question (but I’m definitely  getting there even though nearly everyone I have used to do any jobs have let me down which is extremely frustrating!!!!)

just wanting to order a few final assembly washers etc and wondered what the difference is between c level and d level radius arms 

[sailorbob]

I believe it is just a change of the radius arm to chassis bolt tube to allow the change from a 7/16" bolt to a larger M12 bolt.

[Barrykearley]

Ahh yes @sailorbob - the V8s should be M12 as standard shouldn’t they

[sailorbob]

Early V8's had the 7/16" bolts, I am not sure when the change was made but it was after the the lower wishbone change.

[Mightymetro]

So with mine that could be a mismatch of anything 😂.  I’ll get the bolt out and have a measure 

 

thanks for the help guys

[Mightymetro]

Bits back from the 3rd place I’ve tried For blasting.  All blasted clean and they all look in good condition.  Tomorrow I’m taking them to Lancaster for Zinc Nickel plating and then hopefully get them back on in the new year.  Nice to see some movement.

[Jacques]

Nice!

Jacques

[cweeden]

On 19/12/2019 at 18:58, Mightymetro said:

Bits back from the 3rd place I’ve tried For blasting.  All blasted clean and they all look in good condition.  Tomorrow I’m taking them to Lancaster for Zinc Nickel plating and then hopefully get them back on in the new year.  Nice to see some movement.

Hi @Mightymetro what finishes have you chosen for the various bits and pieces? All powder coated or any metal plating going on? When do you expect to get it back? Hopefully that is not a sore point, I know you had suffered some delays in this department.

cheers

-Chris

[Mightymetro]

Ha no problems Chris, I’m hoping the next 12 weeks will see some serious progress once I get back from holiday which I am using to pacify the other half!!!!  If only lotus parts were this cheap 😂

 

none of it is going to be powder coated after concerns about longevity with stone chips etc and I can attest to this have to restoring my old Daytona 955i

 

i decided on zinc nickel plating which is a modern take on zinc plating which is what I think most of the bits were to start with.  I think it’s a 80/20 split between zinc and nickel and has much better corrosion resistance than just zinc.  The downside is that the finish will not be as ‘bright’ as pure zinc but the parts aren’t seen anyway.  The nearest places to me were 100 miles away to have this done !!!!!!!all the local and semi local firms, including some big names locally said they had never heard of it. 
 

also I had to buy new stabiliser and top arms from SJ Due to my ‘experimental’ parts which come zinc plated but I’ve sent them for zinc nickel plating too 
 

im due to collect on the 13th so will update then.  Hopefully it’s January..........

[Mightymetro]

Suspension parts back from the platers.  I was told that it wouldn’t be a good finish like just Zinc and they might not be to everyone’s taste but I just told them I wanted them as corrosion resistant as possible so these are zinc nickel with passivate.  New Lotac bushes fitted (I got a local motorsports company to remove and fit them and they turned up some sleeves to help fit to avoid damage).  
 

picking up the rear upper and lower links today as they had to make a tapered sleeve to get the Lotac bushes in and ran out of time yesterday
 

new SKF wheel bearings all round

every Nut, bolt and washer is new and new split bushes for the rear aluminium uprights. 

[Escape]

I actually prefer the look to the more shiny zinc plated. 👍

[Mightymetro]

So, let down again by another ‘professional’
 

fitted the front Lotac bushes and pressed in and all seem ok (apart from one of the circlips) not seared correctly but I’ve sorted that

left him the bushes to fit and he said that he was struggling with the rear bushes So give him a day or two and he will knock up a sleeve and sort it.

got a message to say he hasn’t really got time to sort them so I said I’ll do them myself.  My wife picked them up in a box and brought them home.  I opened the box today and he seems to have completed one of the upper tie rods but on inspection it looks destroyed as one side has the metal insert on an angle, I’m not sure if you can see the photos.  One on the left is the one I did this morning, one on the right is his effort.  Sparky has very kindly lent me his bush tool and I’ve started fitting them at home.  The tool is fantastic and  I started putting the bushes in which takes about 5 minutes a side and I come to the last one and it looks like he has been trying to fit it..........with grease........and it’s absolutely knackered and split.  Absolutely fuming .  So, that’s two new bushes I need.......

[Sparky]

Bugger.  Yup, likely they're the ones he tried without the tool.

[cweeden]

Ah man, that sucks, I do feel for you. Can you be bothered to let him know the mess he's made and present the bill for two new bushes?

cheers

-Chris

[Mightymetro]

It’s me that’s using the tool.  He said he was going to make one !!!!and then clearly wrecked those and though fuck it and told me he didn’t have time.  He has a lathe so it’s not like he couldn’t make one.

 

tool is fab Gary 👌🏻.  I’m only in my home garage with a vice, some threaded bars and washers etc and they are really easy to get it 👍🏻
 

hoping to get 2 new ones for tomorrow so I’ll get them in tomorrow night and send it straight back t you if that’s ok

[Sparky]

No worries at all mate, take your time!