Changing the spheres.

Day one. Remove the top nuts on the dampers. Stubborn at the front, Not happening at the back. ECU bracket and expansion tank removed. Need a big pair of grips to get the damper upper shroud held tightly. Tomorrow's job. Everything soaked in loosenin' juice. Next thing will be to lift the car on one side and depressurise the suspension. I shall first try to get the upper nuts and bolts out from the brackets and if that works, I shall attempt the same four bolts on the other side before releasing the pressure. I plan to replace the dampers so they will be coming off to do the work. Saturday I hope to get at least one side removed and refitted.

Day two.The target was to get the car up in the air, the dampers off and the system depressurised. A freshly squeezed Mole wrench around the damper bodies allowed the top nuts to be removed and then the engine cover was removed. Quick trip out to collect another pair of axle stands and the usual unholy hassle getting the wheelnuts off. Replacements are waiting to be fitted when the wheels go back on.
Once the wheels were off and stacked up. I removed the dampers and soaked the sphere mounting bolts. I reckon that raising the whole car will make removal of the spheres much easier as the load will be off the anti roll bar. Good stuff gravity. First though the plastic cover under the bonnet needs to be removed. No problem. The wheel arch liners have to come out and did so without a struggle, the left one being very full of mud at the sill edge. Fortunately there was not a trace of rust behind the mud so that was a good result.
The four bolts with free nuts at the top of the rear sphere mounts gave up without resort to drilling holes or designer violence. Two weeks of Plus Gas clearly did no harm. Six sided sockets and good spanners are the difference between mechanics and bodgers and save time out of all proportion to their cost. All sixteen mounting bolts were loosened without the slightest trouble so it was on with the zero loss connector and fizzy green blood sprayed out of the pump bleed port.
I couldn't resist just taking one sphere off and replacing it. It needs all the bolts tightened yet but that was enough for the afternoon. 3 3/4 hours and I am ahead of target. Tomorrow, I plan to fit the rest of the new spheres and dampers and as I'm in the area, tighten the chirping alternator belt which has now settled in. If it all goes according to plan, the car should be sitting on its bump stops ready for pumping up on Sunday.

Tightening the alternator belt is a thorough swine. It took about half an hour to get the alternator lower bolt free. In the end, a compination spanner was used with a ring spanner on the open jaw to get a bit more leverage. "Dink!" The joint broken, I managed to loosen it further before levering the alternator mounting ear through the hole on the adjusting bracket, tightening it up well and then doing the top bolt up.'

The rest of the spheres came off and were replaced with the reconditioned units, the dampers were all replaced with new ones and the new set of winter tyres were fitted together with good Christian wheel nuts. All back on the ground by one o'clock. Pumped the car to an indicated 400PSI each side and released the pressure a couple of times to release the air as far as possible. Ride height looks ridiculous, higher than Cheech and Chong but still only about 345mm. Jumped in and took the car round the block. Ride a bit stiff but mugh more fluid over bumps, brake feel much improved. Need to fine tune the fluid and get a vacuum on the system in order to get it absolutely right. Need to check the pressure gauge calibration which is at best, approximate. Need to check tyre pressures. Need to reconnect the engine bay temperature sensor which I suspect I have bashed with the header tank while shoving it out of the way. Need to clear up the garage.
That was the big job done. The summer wheels can be refurbed before the car gets a set of better boots, a few polybushes where I find a need for them and a four wheel set up once I can remove the fake allen bolts to make a good plane surface for my fiber lasers to be mounted to.

Lessons learned: You do not need to drill holes. You do not need to remove the main engine cover nor any pipe from the header tank. Watch the ambient temperature sensor though when you push it out of the way.

Tomorrow, bucket and sponge time then a shakedown run to a pub lunch to avoid the inevitable heavy defeat for Saints and the WWF1 parody of motor racing.

Given a couple of hours to settle, I pumped the height up to 368mm and went out to warm the car through. There is much less scuttle shake and the car is more controllable under acceleration. A little less quick on the helm, probably due to the tyres and the raised ride height but the car seems to be much improved, particularly around town.

Minimax, please excuse the thread hijack.

Did you buy a pump for the suspension or build your own?

Bought the generic Katsu one which works very well, It has done both mine and Gortour's car without bother.