Mission impossible

It's finally time to get started.

Now where does this bit go....

Airfix for grownups. Forget 1/32 scale, let’s make it 1/1!

If you find it difficult getting the wishbones to fit into the subframe try a little silicone grease, it will not attack the rubber. I didn't buy the whole kit just the oval washer to remove the bearings

I did find the driver side wishbone a bit difficult but that was partly due to trying to line up my home made spacer. 😅

I'm not sure if I followed any procedure but I started with the steering rack. (Note the colour coded clamp)

Wishbones next, the spacer was made from a old pointing trowel, it's the correct thickness and very hard. I cut it to size and drilled a hole with a hard plate bit. It was a p.i.a to lineup.

The upper arms were next, seals took a bit of fiddling to seat properly but nothing too bad.


The cans and new mounts were fitted.
Up she goes.


A huge thank you to everyone that has taken the time to write the how tos and the torque settings. It has saved me a lot of time.

Now can anyone spot the mistakes that I will be correcting tomorrow. :spank:

I had my subframes galvanised, it seemed a great idea but every threaded hole has to be re tapped, some of them require very long taps. If I was doing it again then I would have them blasted and either powder coated or epoxy primer and paint.

One of my biggest regrets doing the front is wasting so much time and effort grinding rust, treating, and painting with hammerite.

Lesson learnt, the rear is getting blasted and power coated.

I’ve just had a look at the picture of your front suspension rebuild. You mention a mistake & I think you might consider rerouting your rad pipes.
M

The radiator and hoses are going to be replaced so that isn't a problem.

The worst thing that I did was to reattach the subframe and steering before I fitted the hubs, I had locked the steering to straight ahead but when I put the hubs on I noticed that the rack was in a right turn! I also put the spheres in before I had them tested.

Today I have been getting things ready to remove the engine and subframe following CJjs excellent howto on here, I couldn't get the heater hoses off at the bottom though so I just disconnected everything at the top end.
It's about to get serious.. yuck.
Evicting the current tenants.

My biggest concern is accessing the subframe bolts when I have her down on the wheels because unlike the TF I don't have any suspension height to help.

With mine being a TF it may be slightly different however this is how I did it. First of all I disconnected all pipes and wires. I then jacked the whole rear end up so that I could get underneath to the subframe mounting bolts. At every stage I had the rear end propped as well as being on the Jack. I thoroughly soaked all the mounting bolt’s with Plusgas for a couple of days before I attempted to undo the bolts. I heated every bolt head with a MAP torch until it was glowing red, after they cooled down a bit I partially undid each one. If you have struggled as I did with the heater hoses then cut the hoses on the bulkhead side of the “ not so quick and easy” connectors:rant: , these hoses are cheap to replace. Once all the bolts were either loose or snapped off I was ready for the engine removal. I very highly recommend getting a cheap hand pallet truck, I got one off eBay for £35, this makes the whole removal and replacement a real doddle even if you are on your own. With a pallet on the trucks I lowered the car onto the pallet with packing pieces under the subframe. I then removed the subframe mounting bolts. With the subframe supported by the pallet and prevented from rocking with the packing pieces this is a very safe and easy operation, far safer than trying to roll it out on its wheels. You now have the whole subframe/engine/gearbox on a very manoeuvrable pallet, when you come to re install you will be very glad that you did it this way.
If you are interested I have a pair of new radiator hoses that I never used, you can have them at half price plus postage.
Don’t worry about any bolts that snap off, if you buy highest quality cobalt bits (not eBay ones) they drill out very easily.

There’s some good advice floating around at the moment. Obviously there’s a broad engineering base with skill sets throughout. It’s quite possibly the most productive cohort we’ve had on here for a good while. MGB28’s pallet truck is inspired, now we need an inspired idea for its storage
M