Well done so far. Takes me back 7 years to when I started my restoration of my S Type. I borrowed/rented 6 different workshops to complete mine over a 16 month period. Stip down in one, Body work and welding in the next, then another for painting, my single garage for mechanical rebuilds and refurbishments, an assembly workshop to a rolling chassis followed lastly by a workshop to finish the interior and add the bling to the outside.

 

Looking good!! I just finished the same jobs about a month ago. I used block of 4x4 lumber with a hole drilled through the center and several large washers in place of your metal plate and it worked great. Get some all-thread (5/16-24 I think?) and cut it into 12 to 18 inch pieces and thread it into the lower A-arm to guide the spring plate into place as you tighten the big "spring compressor" bolt. I used two at diagonal corners and it worked very well. Nuts on the all-thread will help to pull in in the last couple of inches. Once the other 4 bolts are in place you can remove the all-thread one at a time and replace it with the final two bolts. I think I got that trick somewhere on this forum.
It sure is satisfying seeing it all come together, all nice and pretty.
I went with the poly bushes for the thrust arms. No need to press them in. In fact, they are barely an interference fit. I think it will be ok and there will not be any movement but I would feel better if they went in a little tighter. Maybe when its back in the car and the bolts tightened, they will compress a little.
Keep up the good work!

 

Crikey Cass! It's a PITA having a remote garage, but having 6 garages, I'd never find anything. Although, better lots of space rather than none. I'm following a YouTube channel and some guy has just started restoring a MK1. He has the smallest garage I've seen, the car barely fits in there. So, hats off to him for effort, but for me I need to have some room.

cdg66mk2, thanks for the tip. I did consider this, but then I found a piece of old 5mm angle iron, and it seemed a shame not to use it. I did however use some all-thread, well, I say all-thread, it was a pair of knackered bolts. One was useful at about 5" in length, the other no so much at only 2" (stop making you own jokes up at the back!). But I was able to locate the spring plate onto those as I tightened up the 'spring compressor bolt'. It worked rather well, and I think 'comfortable' would not be the correct word to use, but it's the first time I haven't been absolutely shitting myself when compressing coil springs. Yes, that pretty much sums it up.

 

Yes six garages was a pain. The furthest from me was about 25 miles drive where I did all the body work. The main assembly was in a garage about 10 miles from me but the others were all within a couple of miles of my house where all the parts were stored in my single garage.

 

The last thing before not being able to flip the car over was to terminate the fuel line into the boot. I ordered 3 unions but none of them worked exactly, so it was a bit of a compromise. Anyhow, it's in now. The subframe is also now fitted along with the rear axle. I decided that I'd dispense with anything that wasn't absolutely essential on the subframe and add those things later. The subframe itself weighs a bloody ton, and I want to minimise the risk of damage to the new underseal/paint and make it easier to manhandle during the refit. I did manage to make a couple of scratches, but not too bad. Next, I've started to assemble the brake discs and hubs so I can get the wheels on. It's exciting to start to add the parts that make it look like a car again.













I now have a couple of questions, so hopefully you guys can help out.

1 - The key for the rear hubs. I've pictured it above which is the orientation I fitted it. It seemed the most logical, BUT, is this correct?

2 - I've converted from 5 stud to splined hubs and I'm unsure about the assembly of the front hubs. I bought new bearings which I've fitted along with a new oil seal at the upright end of the spindle. But at the outside end, there doesn't appear to be anything similar. On a 5 stud hub there's the cap which keeps the grease/bearing isolated, but on the splined hub there's the slotted washer and nut only. I've looked at all of the assembly diagrams, but to me it seems a bid shoddy to not isolate the outer bearing from debris and to retain the packed grease. I realise of course, that the spinner is also fitted which will help, but seems a little bit of an oversight to me and I'd prefer a proper seal for the outer bearing.

Anyhow, I'm really pleased she's taking shape, and with the wheels on she's starting to look more 'car like' again. I just need to sort the anti-roll bar and steering box/linkages and she can come off the rotisserie.

 

Front hubs depend on the inner & outer water flingers (not fitted to very early cars) and D shaped washer (9 & 12). Spinner acts as grease cap. Not great but grease provides a better seal than you might think from external debris.

Can't help with rear key. Never done a Mk2 rear. A darn side easier than setting hubs on the IRS. Your key orientation looks logical to me after looking at a number of diagrams.

Car looks great. Love the "Coombs" style rear arches.

 

Thank you for the reply and comments Glyn. Reassuring to know I haven't missed a necessary component. I may look at making a plastic insert, but if everyone is using as it is, it can't be too problematic.

 

I thought about making something up but then worried about disc temperature melting it. So I just overpacked the bearings slightly to ensure an outer seal formation.. I'm from the oil industry & one of the correct grease's functions is to seal. If it can seal the ball mill bearings in a cement plant then a Jags hubs should be a walk in the park. Most have a crude cover or labyrinth.

BTW ~ does your car have the grease nipple fitted? A shot of grease now & again will help.

 

Yeah, I guess I'm stressing over details which, if the whole car wasn't being rebuilt, I wouldn't give a second thought. It's also because I'm changing from 5 studs to splined hubs and obviously I've no reference to how they should be. They do have grease nipples fitted, but I've not yet packed them out. I'm putting all the suspension and running gear together loosely first, then when I'm happy and things don't need come apart again, I'll tighten and grease everything.

 

Good ~ some early cars had no provision for hub grease nipples. I have no idea when they started fitting them.

 

Very nice work! I have one suggestion to make, having observed too many of these cars with what is called in the Concours world an "incorrect stance" - often seen on even expensive, complete restorations. You are no doubt aware of this, but just in case: when the suspension bushes are renewed and the suspension is put back together, the car has to be allowed to "settle" with full weight (even with added weight in the boot) on the suspension. This means not fully tightening the bolts until the proper stance has been achieved.
When this is not done you end up with a car whose rear end is elevated. It isn't a good look😐

 

Hey Gregory,

Yes, a very good point indeed. I am intending to tighten everything when it's resting on it's wheels so as not to over extend the rubber bushes from the maximum low position to maximum high position. Far better to fix at the mid point and flex only half distance each way to ensure the longevity of these components. The stance of the car would be a side effect of that, but it's something I hadn't considered to be honest. As you say though, it's not a good look. I see many MK2 rear ends that have been rebuilt with new leaf springs that are clearly far too high.

 

I haven't been updating this thread for a long time, and someone reminded me a few weeks ago that it's way out of date, so here goes. Some of this may have already been seen by you guys, as I have posted in numerous Facebook groups and on my website. Actually, that's one of the reasons for not updating here, I have so many different places to update progress that it's getting a big job!

Front brakes. I did originally refurbish the existing Dunlop calipers/pistons and was quite happy with the result, but the bores of them were not 100%. So after a few sleepless nights, I decided to go with the Volvo conversion at the front, and I can then use the refurbished Dunlop piston at the rear where they are not quite as critical. If they do have any issues, I'll obviously replace them, but let's give them a try first. I managed to get some new Volvo calipers for £70 each on ebay, which I thought was very reasonable. Fitting them is well documented, so I won't go into depth. Basically grind the disk a few mm's, enlarge the mounting holes and shim to the correct offset.











Brake Master Cylinder/Servo. - Completed the installation of the master cylinder and also the new pipework runs to the front of the car. I decided that a front/rear dual circuit split was easiest, although I know there are pro's and con's of this configuration. At the end of the day, I'm after a safer system and this will provide some redundancy.











Engine. Hmm, lot's has been done here, but fortunately the bores and crank were good. So it was just a case of some new shells and rings and then reassembly. The head had suffered some frost damage and needed to be welded at a local shop, and the camshaft was toast, so I replaced that with a good used version. If you want all the gory details, then pop along to my BLOG. I'm currently refurbing the carbs and dizzy and hope to get the engine running on the test rig soon.

 

Just a few things to do, and I'm getting excited and shitting myself nervous in equal measures.

fill oil into pressure gauge outlet to prime pump/oilways
fit wet oil pressure gauge
construct some hot-wiring
fit some cobbled together exhausts, just to keep it quiet for the neighbours
fill carbs with oil
adjust carbs
fit distributor
fill with engine oil
fit radiator
fit thermostat
fit top/bottom hoses
fill with coolant (water for now)
fit carb bowl overflow pipes
fit jubilees on all remaining hoses

Start it!

 

Looking good!. Did you have to skim the heads?

 

Cheers Glyn,

No, the heads were good enough to pop back on after a clean-up with some fine grit. I checked with a couple of my 'straight edges', multiple times. Then left it a day and checked them again. I couldn't find anything to warrant a skim.

I crossed some more off today, the list is getting smaller!

 

That's great! If they are not skimmed equally it gives you inlet manifold & tuning issues. Lot's of hard work gone into this car!

 

Well, the big day finally arrived. Today I finished off the distributor wiring and fitted it back on the engine. That was the last thing before I was left with nothing else to do, no more procrastination, it was time to try to start it up. A few tuns first to prime the oil and get it up to pressure, then a drop of fuel, a squirt of 'Easy Start', and the jump leads off my car to help the old battery I was using. A few turns and a quick adjustment of the timing...and she was up and running. Talk about relieved. After just a few minutes warming her up, she was happy at a steady idle. So, that's one big step forward and there will be some celebrations tonight. Next is the gearbox and then it can be put back in the car.

You Tube

 

Nice and smooth !
Every guy that has rebuilt his own engine that carefully checks his work as he goes along, never has any problems.
It's the rush jobs that usually fail somewhere.

Another way to test an engine so one doesn't have to hook up the rad is just to use a 5 gallon pail of water.
It will keep the engine plenty cool for a test run.

 

Well Steve,,
Engine sounds great. Wish I had in my car.
DB.