Sprint Restoration in South Australia (pic heavy)

[Lee Flintoft]

Any progress Stu?

[straylight]

alas no Lee

back to work, temperatures between 36 and 46 degrees over the last two weeks, it sapped my will to work in a shed which will be blisterin'. I'm envious of your snow

Well, actually a small amount of progress, got the fuel tank back, welded up, stripped the paint off, brushed/sanded some small rust spots, hit it with rust converter and sprayed in Zinc Black. Then very carefully lowered it into the boot.

The small matter of finances has also taken its toll. Working around the house to restore some beer credits with my wife.

stu

[sprint95m]

I have a suggestion regarding connecting the petrol tank to the fuel pipe.
Normally a short piece of hose is used. My suggestion is that you use a longer piece, say 12 to 15cm. I do this because if you ever need to remove the petrol tank again it is now possible to do so without having to drain the tank providing you have two hose clamps.
The procedure would be to first clamp the hose close to the petrol pipe before disconnecting it. Once you then get to the stage of lifting the tank, you would then lift it sufficiently to get the other clamp onto the hose as close to the tank as possible. (This is inside the boot.) Now remove the first clamp and then you can lift the tank out, with the second clamp preventing fuel escaping. It is still better to have as little fuel as possible in the tank .


Those bush fires in Victoria and South Australia are really terrible. And we in the UK we complain about a little snow.......

[straylight]

thanks for the tip Ian.

the fires are horrific. We have been lucky in SA, but over the border in Victoria, about 200km away to the east, the country is ablaze. How SA got away with no serious incident over the last month has been a miracle, but unfortunately the same miracle passed Victoria by. Couple a wet spring with a long, extended dry spell over summer, put temperatures over 40 and add 40 knot winds, recipe for disaster. NSW is facing similar problems over the next few days. It is hard to conceive that all emergency services where we are, fire, ambulance, emergency rescue, are volunteer organisations. Everyone plays their part, but asking to contain and handle something of this magnitude is simply impossible.

stu

[straylight]

aye, well it has been a while, but some progress is better than no progress.

after the heady days following the return of the shell to my shed, nothing really happened. A sudden shortage of beer coupons and work was needed around the house, so the sprint only got the occassional gentle stoke and longing glance.

I got stuck in 2 weekends ago and jacked the car up, bracing myself for a few hard hours cleaning up the underside in preparation for some stoneguard spray. The handbrake and brakelines came out easily enough but I realised now was the time to drop the back axle.

the two offending lines in the workshop manual are:

11. Raise the axle and remove rearwards to clear the suspension arms
12. Withdraw the axle friom the car

no mention of a 6' crowbar in there anywhere.

after gently lowering <guffaw> the axle to the floor and removing the suspension arms, springs and shock absorbers I was pleasantly surprised to see the underside in quite good nick.







but then the reason for the strange angle of the rear upper shock absorber mounts became apparent.

right hand side


right hand side and the rear axle removal tool


left hand (near) side


the back axle was out and on a bench, bit of dirt scraped off it and hit with degreaser


on removal of the springs I found that the absorber spindle had worn quite a way through.

the mounting plate was also worn

and the bowled washer

the right side was also badly worn

so, a bit of a set back, I was hoping to reuse those shock absorbers, being decent Koni adjustable Ds. Now I need new shocks, plates and possibly springs.

So, a few questions:

is there anyway to save the shocks ?
new plates shouldn't be too hard to find yeah ?
would it have been a hamfisted mechanic (me) not seating the shocks into the springs properly that has caused this wear (I replaced the shocks in 1984-ish with the konis)
the springs have a noticeable bow in them, from prolonged (24 years) of being unevenly squashed. A new pair I guess ?
how much slack should be in the diff ? is a few degrees of turn okay, maybe 15 degrees ?

plenty to do now though, clean back the suspension arms, press on new poly bushes (as soon as finances allow, noting Jonners and a few others suggest the radius rod bushes can be left rubber to cut down on noise, I'm still not decided), rub back the underside and spray, clean up the back axle, renovate the drums. <sigh> mad mart will be on the emerald green sprint by the time I'm done !

stu

[Jon Tilson]

You may think it a shame the shocks are toast Stu but after sch a long period of indolence I doubt the seals would have lasted long after putting back into service anyway.

I expect the springs will recover okay when allowed a chance to relax.

I'm sure someone over her can find you some top mounts. They need to be angled and fitted corrrectly to stop that wearing
that you have experienced. I remember it being obvious if the top mount is fitted to the car wrongly. The shock bottom lines up nicely with the hole in the radius arm when fitted correctly.

If you cant find to mounts i'm sure your skilled welder will do the job for you. You can safely weld these but sadly not the shock rods...

Jonners

[straylight]

thanks jonners, I'm pretty sure vanguard triumph would have some mounts, so I'll need to shop around for some new shocks then. I've just seen the sprintparts prices on Gaz shocks....ouch

I'll do the front as well, 24 year old shock absorbers all round.

pity rimmers don't have a store in Australia, the spax or gaz shock kits (lowered) would be great and they seemed quite a reasonable price. I've learnt my lesson about postage costs though.

wire brushed back the radius rods and suspension arms, coated with killrust and I'll spray them black zinc tomorrow morning. Some headway.

stu

[sprint95m]

A bit of progress there Stu. It may not be obvious but you are on the downhill bit !

You are going to fit polybushes?
I fitted Superflex to my 1850. All was straightforward except for the upper arm bushes on the axle. There are two big flat washers per arm on the outside. When I tried to fit them only one washer would fit, it was almost a case of the threaded section not being long enough. What I did then was fit the one washer and tighten the nut fully, leave overnight and then remove. This compressed the bushes sufficiently to allow both washers to be fitted.
(This may be irrelevant to you as a Sprint has a different axle to other Dolomites.)


Keep going....... remember, each little job completed brings you a step closer to completion.

[straylight]

thanks ian, you are right !

thanks for the tip on the polybush fitting. I'm probably going to do polys on the rear, just up in the air about the radius arm bushes.

refitting the back axle looks like a royal pita

not that I'm really sad, it is all part of the rich experience. We have field days coming up this weekend, 25000 people invade our small town of 500 people as part of a bit agricultural expo. Yeee haaaa, cowboy boots and akubras all round.

stu

[Toledo Man]

I reckon fitting the axle will be a 2 hour job. I once did an axle swap and it took me 4 hours from start to finish. The worst part is the weight of the bloody thing. Having enough jacks and axle stands will help as I only had a trolley jack and a pair of axle stands. As Ian has said you're over the worst part. It's just a matter of putting it all back together.

[SPRINTPARTS]

Hi Stu,

I might have some second hand shocks and top spring caps for you if interested.

The diff should take no more than an 1 hour or you are being slack. I refitted the new Borg Warner assembly to my race car the other day in about 45 minutes, all arms and shocks already fitted to body, diff housing on BIG trolley jack, pump up, feed arms into/under diff housing, tap in bolts, hook up brake hose, hand brake cable, bleed brakes (oops forgot tailshaft) ready to go.

I am racing this weekend at Eastern Creek, will check what I have and let you know early next week.

Mark

[straylight]

thanks mark, appreciate it. The rush on the windscreen rubbers has reduced a bit miles off that task, as you probably gathered.

Good luck at the creek.

Looking for some konis preferably. But I think the plates might be harder to find, if you've got a pair lying around that would be great.

thanks for the encouragement Toledo man, Not sure if I need to look too closely at the diff, quick fill of oil and go from there I hope.

Big props to eightiesflamer as well, who has offered what will be invaluable assistance. Cheers mate.

stu

[straylight]

bit more progress.

still slaving away underneath the car, realising that the red paint on the underside is probably lead based so wire brushing it isn't the healthiest of jobs.

Got distracted today, after some good advice about fitting the weather strips and chrome, thought I'd polish up some metal and do a relaxing job.


they went on with a bit of fuss. I learnt that the new clips need breaking to seperate the pin from the clip, once that is done the pin can be pushed in easily and drifted home with a wooden block. It took some accurate hitting to break the pin and get it into the clip in one go.


I had to salvage 5 of the old clips to complete the job




the Jonners method of a brisk upward strike with the palm of the hand worked for a while, but the Rimmers clips for the top strip on the doors are longer than the old square type and need a lot more force when attaching the strip, so I made up a bit of wood to fit the strip and rubber malleted the strip home.

next serious job is the underside to finish. Next f4rt4rse around job is tackle the door furniture.

stu

[sprint95m]

bit more progress.

Next f4rt4rse around job is tackle the door furniture.

stu

Although it may not feel like it, you ARE making progress. Every job done takes you a step nearer completion.
I was going to say reassembling the door workings is easy until I remembered that you are going to fit central locking and electric window winders. Is that still the plan?

You drove a hard bargain for that T2500 engine . That car's shell doesn't look bad. Judging by the colour (which is from a Toyota?) it was Australian assembled.


Keep going,

[straylight]

school holidays started last easter weekend and after a few days earning "points" so I could get stuck back into the car, a bit more progress.

the underbody has been a saga. I really should have tackled this before George weaved his magic. It was a combination of degreaser, stainless steel scourers (I swear by them), wire brush on the drill, hand wire brush, paint scrapers and sandpaper that eventually got all the gunk off. I got back to the red oxide, which I realised, while happily attacking it with the electric drill, was lead based, so was a bit more cautious. I actually followed Lewis' lead and donned a face mask.


another "nice" job, refitting the door handles. made up some new gaskets to go between the handle and the bodywork.


door handles.


about 3/4 of the way through cleaning the underside in this series of shots. I found the wire brush just smeared the bituminous sealent everywhere, but the degreaser actually dissolved it and then it could be scoured off.

I left the main seams with sealant in them



the rear axle tunnel was a pain. Took off a few items to gain access. the bump stop. The dark spots are the rust converter at work. Some slight surface rust that I treated.


then it was busy with masking tape and newspaper to create a spray booth/chroming space underneath. I hit the underside with a prepwash/prepsol cleaner to remove the last bits of wax and grease.


with the car fully skirted I went in, employing the "hold breath" safety technique to spray. Black zinc spray to replace the oxide that I took off and to give the petrol tank/spare tyre bumps some added protection to start. Got a mighty buzz. Potent stuff the propellant. managed to spray my legs.


then with the stoneguard to give it the abrasion protection. First can of this was a disaster. Spraying at an angle clogged up the nozzle. In trying to keep it clear by shaking it, I dislodged the blob of epoxy around the nozzle and it flicked into my eye. Intense pain followed by a run to the laundry to get some water onto it. Took a long time to settle the eye down, but it is okay now. I then used safety glasses.



In between coats, the back axle received some love. The amount of caked on dirt and grease was amazing, scraped most of it off with a paint scraper.


the products (mainly for stew in NZ), black zinc I'm guessing is similar to the POR15 stuff you use in UK. At least I hope it is Stoneguard is an expoxy that leaves a textured finish, while the underbody is a sound deadener, bituminous, black and gunky. I used that after the stoneguard around the areas where vibration would cause noise, down the tunnel mainly. Not sure if it was the right thing to do.




this baby is a redback spider, named for obvious reasons. they are endemic around here. Under every scrap of wood, piece of iron, under every table top, tool box lid, vice, brake drum, door card and seat, they lurk.



the tell tale signs are the white nests the spiders leave. The female is large while the male is miniscule. The spider is venemous, but you'd be unlucky to die from a bite, hospitalisation is usually needed and the anti-venene is adminstered. Make you pretty sick, but they aren't killers these days, particularly if you have a large body mass. I'm safe . The pics are for eightiesflamer


shiny diff, I've still got the axles to do, then the drums, then the other side


wife caught me. I think I was still prepwashing at this stage.

poly bushes for the rear axle have been ordered. New weather strips/seals for the door windows have been ordered. Headlining is still being made, seats are being refurbished (only the rubber diagraphm) and thanks to MikeyB and eightiesflamer, a new vinyl roof should be arriving in May. My appreciation knows no bounds, thanks guys.

stu