"Accidental" Front Suspension Rebuild

[marshman]

Gradually been sorting through the "niggles" on my recently purchased Sprint. Next on the list was to check the front suspension and wheel bearings - noticed a slight drone/rumble from the front near side and the odd "clonk". So jacked it up and looked underneath. Didn't look too bad but the off side drag strut (is that the correct term?) bushes where it joins the sub frame were well worn and the arm was literally rattling about. OK I thought replace the bushes, I'll do both sides at the same time. Got the pry bar out and there is a bit too much play for comfort in the top wishbone bushes so OK replace those. Then a quick spin of the wheels revealed a rough near side bearing, OK add that to the list! So started to take bits apart, removed the front wheels and immediately noticed the disc pad retaining pins half out, on not even in the inner pad, who ever replaced them hadn't fitted the little R clips to the pins. The roll bar end bushes were also shot. So stripped off the roll bar, hubs and drag struts. Was pondering cleaning and painting them, then thought what about the rest. The subframe was covered in oil where the oil pump PRV o ring had been leaking. So decided to drop the sub frame, strip and rebuild the lot.

Just finished stripping it all down and need to add subframe mounting bushes to the list as well as both lower ball joints - both are loose and floppy, seemed OK on the car! The near side wheel bearing had been grossly over tightened and they had reused the split pin which had already broken. The stub axle was well worn on the inner end, the off side was not much better, so 2 new stub axles required as well. As the previous owner had poly bushed the rear end (which I will be checking thoroughly) I have decided to replace - most - of the front end bushes with poly - modern repro rubber does not last!. The only ray of sunshine was the lower arm bushes - they were like new behind the shield washers.

So a quick check of drag strut and anti roll bar bushes and a wheel bearing has turned into quite an expensive shopping list:

Set of poly bushes inc sub frame.
2 x stub axles
2 x wheel bearings
2 x roll bar links
2 x lower ball joints
2 x brake pipes (short copper ones - the ones on the car have been badly made and have kinks instead of smooth bends)
Tin of chassis black paint!

Now have a couple of days cleaning and painting before I put it all back together

Funny how these little jobs grow on old cars - had to explain to my other half that the "quick look" had turned into a minor project! Still at least the underside is surprisingly good, only found one rust hole in the corner where the bulkhead joins the wheel arch under the servo. Also love how easy it is to drop the whole subframe - takes me nearly as long to remove the undertray on my daily driver Passat to change the oil!

Roger

[Galileo]

You see that's why I don't like touching anything on mine, it always without fail goes full on project scope creep! Not necessarily a bad thing of course, you know it's all done and good for a few years now.

[new to this]

Been doing the same thing

Dave

[xvivalve]

If the drag strut bushes have been that sloppy, check for two things: thinning of the drag struts where they may have been rubbing on the subframe, and elongation or keyholing of the holes where the struts pass through the subframe...

[new to this]

If the drag strut bushes have been that sloppy, check for two things: thinning of the drag struts where they may have been rubbing on the subframe, and elongation or keyholing of the holes where the struts pass through the subframe...

Didnt know about the drag struts thinning was common,had to reweld my

Dave

[cliftyhanger]

BUT this sort of thing can transform how a car feels to drive.
When I bout my Toledo 11 years ago it had lots of niggles, but the drag struts and ball joints made the car a joy to drive compared to the 220 mile drive home.

(Next you need to check the rear axle bushes....and really, do not bother with rubber of the "tie rods" mine fell apart in a year, poly is a wise investment.)

[trackerjack]

This is a familiar tale
When I obtained my Sprint all those years ago It wallowed and swerved about the road more like a boat than a car. Gradually I went through it bit by bit changing this and replacing that until it started to go where I pointed it and stop like a proper car.
The strangest thing was when I replaced all the rubber bushes in the rear suspension and after a couple of weeks the car would steer itself on the throttle The culprit was a bush that had disintergrated on the rear tie bars. Rimmers accepted that they had supplied some poor bushes and immediately replaced them with Polybushings FOC.
The other really bad fault my car had was rust in the petrol tank and I got burnt off by a diesel Peugeot 308 FFS
Of course my car responded to "treatment" and went very well after a bit of fettling

[marshman]

If the drag strut bushes have been that sloppy, check for two things: thinning of the drag struts where they may have been rubbing on the subframe, and elongation or keyholing of the holes where the struts pass through the subframe...

Good call, I had already looked at the struts and they are OK. Looked at the hole in the subframe and it needs a bit of work, slightly elongated and also thinned a bit by tin worm. I'm going to open the hole out and turn up a thin "stepped" washer to weld on to give it a bit more strength, will do the same to the other side. Should be straight forward as I have the subframe off the car.

Did a bit more work this afternoon, pressed out the stub axles - one was a bit stubborn and needed a bit of heat, percussion as well as the full 10 tons (or what ever the relief valve is set to) of my little bench press. The other one popped out at 8 tons. Also started cleaning up the various bits in the sand blaster (see pics). Need to press the old bushes out, clean the rest of the bits and I can start painting them to make it all look pretty Note to self need a bigger sand blasting cabinet to get the sub frame in !

Roger

[Toledo Man]

Roger, have you ordered your new bushes yet? I suggest that you get SuperFlex bushes. These are the best that money can buy and I believe that the Dolomite ones are not all that much harder than rubber so you get the best of everything. My 1850 has had the front end rebushed (with the exception of the front ARB) in SuperFlex and it felt so much better. Chris Witor gives TDC members a discount on SuperFlex bushes.

[new to this]

If the drag strut bushes have been that sloppy, check for two things: thinning of the drag struts where they may have been rubbing on the subframe, and elongation or keyholing of the holes where the struts pass through the subframe...

Good call, I had already looked at the struts and they are OK. Looked at the hole in the subframe and it needs a bit of work, slightly elongated and also thinned a bit by tin worm. I'm going to open the hole out and turn up a thin "stepped" washer to weld on to give it a bit more strength, will do the same to the other side. Should be straight forward as I have the subframe off the car.

Did a bit more work this afternoon, pressed out the stub axles - one was a bit stubborn and needed a bit of heat, percussion as well as the full 10 tons (or what ever the relief valve is set to) of my little bench press. The other one popped out at 8 tons. Also started cleaning up the various bits in the sand blaster (see pics). Need to press the old bushes out, clean the rest of the bits and I can start painting them to make it all look pretty Note to self need a bigger sand blasting cabinet to get the sub frame in !

Roger

Roger

Looks like the front disc you have there are drilled and groved

Dave

[marshman]

Roger, have you ordered your new bushes yet? I suggest that you get SuperFlex bushes. These are the best that money can buy and I believe that the Dolomite ones are not all that much harder than rubber so you get the best of everything. My 1850 has had the front end rebushed (with the exception of the front ARB) in SuperFlex and it felt so much better. Chris Witor gives TDC members a discount on SuperFlex bushes.

I did look at Superflex after reading a few comments on here but in the end I went for the Superpro ones from Robsport. I may yet regret that decision but they were a lot less than the Superflex ones - and with the additional cost of the other bits I wasn't expecting to have to replace funds were getting a bit limited.

Roger

[marshman]

Looks like the front disc you have there are drilled and groved

Dave[/color]

Yes, not had them on a car before, I usually stick with OEM stuff (says he who is fitting poly bushes ). Also has green stuff pads - well I assume they are as they are green They seemed to stop OK.

Roger

[Carledo]

Most owners go to some effort to make their Sprint brakes a little better than factory. They seem to stop OK is a pretty common description of stock brakes!

But in my opinion, drilled and grooved discs are just expensive snake oil for suckers as they don't address the biggest problem which is fade caused by overheated discs boiling the brake fluid.

This will continue to be a problem as long as you keep the original size single disc, holes and grooves notwithstanding, they are just dust factories. Very few people have seen major improvements from Greenstuff pads either!

The ONLY way to solve this is to modify for vented discs, invent it yourself or use the Trackerjack conversion, it's the only way to get the brakes to keep up with the engine! I don't like a car that seems to stop OK, I want one that stops on a sixpence and gives change!

Steve

[marshman]

Progress report. All cleaned up - blasted most of the bits to clean them, sprayed with etch primer. Welded up the elongated holes where the drag struts go into the subframe. Also repaired a bit of tin worm in one of the brake backplates/dust shields. Cleaned up the subframe and sprayed it shiny black, was going to use POR15 but its been too cold in the garage (-4 deg C this morning at 8am ). Hopefully tomorrow finish painting, fit the poly bushes and new wheel bearings. I want/need to replate some of the big washers and plates and the subframe mounting bits. I got a zinc plating kit a while back and haven't used it yet. Just waiting for delivery of a drum of distilled water to make the plating solution. Once that's done I can put it all back together.

Roger

[marshman]

Most owners go to some effort to make their Sprint brakes a little better than factory.

But in my opinion, drilled and grooved discs are just expensive snake oil for suckers as they don't address the biggest problem which is fade caused by overheated discs boiling the brake fluid.

This will continue to be a problem as long as you keep the original size single disc, holes and grooves notwithstanding, they are just dust factories. Very few people have seen major improvements from Greenstuff pads either!

The ONLY way to solve this is to modify for vented discs, invent it yourself or use the Trackerjack conversion, it's the only way to get the brakes to keep up with the engine!

Steve

Can't argue with any that Steve -they were on the car when I got it. I was surprised when I got the Sprint and started looking at parts that so much on the brakes, suspension and steering was the same as on the rest of the Dolomite range!

Will get it all back together and see how I get on, if I'm not happy with the brakes then I will sort something out.

Roger