DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Now then........

Can I wait till mid Jan before waving spanners at it again? Decisions decisions

Great progress!

I’d just send the calipers off to http://www.classicarautomotive.co.uk and never worry about them again.

1st rate job, new pistons, plating etc and even for an avid diy fan like myself they are value for money.

Back into the garage this afternoon, and tackled the other front strut


I rechecked the inclination of the rear trailing arm swing plates and torqued everything up – well up to 220Nm as that’s as far as my biggest torque wrench goes. Not decided whether I will trailer to somewhere for geo set up or borrow a bigger torque wrench. Plenty of time to think that one through.

While I was down there, I fitted the flapper valves


With only an hour before Fergus the cat needs feeding, I decided to tackle the steering rack and fit the turbo track rods.

Wasn’t quite sure how the old inner ends came off, so I had a think, stuck it in the vice and hit it with a big hammer and drift.
Before


And after


New turbo track rods simply screwed on


Add the gaitors and another little job off the list

Going great guns there Peter. Great fun, keep it up.

Just realised that this is my 100th post on progress in this thread.

Still waiting for new nuts and bolts to refit the front suspension, so decided to strip the cam carriers off the cylinder heads, ready for checking valve guide wear. I'm assuming there will definitely be guide wear and therefore new guides needed - the unknown is more about whether I’ll need any new valves.

So, rocker shafts & bolts out (bolts first, obviously)


I’m keeping the orientation of the shafts & bolts as per now, plus labelled so that each goes back onto the same cylinder head.

Remove cam, then the carrier plate.


Repeat for the other bank. I also removed the inlet and exhaust manifold studs. The old 2-nut trick worked on all bar one, with most coming out without too much fuss, and only 3 needing some heat persuasion. The last little bu$$er took ages, and only conceded defeat when I got the stud extractor on it.
Anyway, all then cleaned ready for inspection.



The day / night was still young, the steering column (the in-car bit) was nearest, so it got fitted with new shear bolts.
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They’re not torqued (sheered) for now – just in case I need to remove anything, such as if I find that I’ve routed the wiring incorrectly.


Then the painted and re-bushed pedal box went in




I also spent time cleaning the door lock assemblies (the in-door parts). I want to able able to latch the doors when I get around to block sanding / flatting the panels.

I also ran the wiring for the in-car hearing sensor up the A-pillar. What a pain in the ar5e that was. I also wired the rear sensor – no idea how the sensor itself is fitted into the ducting. It was just hanging in the breeze when I got the car.



I did manage to spend / waste a lot of time looking for things today. I had to remove the plastic part of the electrical plug off the end of the ducting sensor to get it out of the car. Parts were nicely in a plastic bag but still very oily. I pulled the sensor and wiring out of the bag to go and clean it, forgetting that the plastic part was no longer fitted. It, of course, took off across the garage and I must have spent almost 30 minutes on my knees before I found it. Having finally cleaned the wiring I managed to ‘misplace’ the plastic part of the connector again, followed by another (thankfully, shorter) search. This roque plastic part is now in a labelled plastic bag again, waiting for me to get the bit of paper that tells me which cable goes into which side of the connector.

SWMBO being away has certainly allowed some progress to be made on the SC, although more some steps forward and then some others backwards again.

Having got some chores out of the way this morning, and as a nice gentle lead into today's garage time, I refitted the door locks and strikers, ready for when I decide to flat the sides of the car, pre-painting. Then on to the dash again. I did mention that I had not torqued / sheered the bolts holding the steering column in - well, that was a good job, as I needed to remove the column again to glue in the dash soft coverings.

So, first clean off the residual glue


Glue vinyl and panels on


I planned to use the ignition switch cover plate to hold the panel on, but didn't need to with the contact adhesive I used. So I removed it after this photo ready to refit the steering column, fitted the column then realised that I needed to position the steering lock in before I bolted up the column. Remove column bolts yet again, loosely fit ignition switch /steering lock and yet again (hopefully for the final time), refit steering column.



I then started on the electricals, and have most of the switches loosely in place and the main cross-car looms set in the froot. I’ve realised that I don’t have any of my gauges to hand, so much time was spent (wasted ?) looking for them. I did find another box of switches and small loom parts in the shed, along with lots of wire and sheathing that I bought previously, but no gauges. I’ve clambered around the loft over the garage, but no joy with the gauges yet. I probably protected them with old material, but unfortunately, SWMBO has many boxes of old curtains, sewing scraps, etc., so I may well have looked into the top of the correct box and discounted it. Needed to eat and prepare for tomorrows journey (have to do some work for a change), so finished for tonight. Having made a mess in the loft shifting stuff, I will need to get loads of stuff out, sort through boxes more carefully and then put everything back more neatly than I’ve left it now (certainly before SWMBO returns from NZ).

Quick update before I get ready to go to the DDK Xmas meal at the Orange Tree.

Morning was spent getting daughter's Fiesta to & through it's MOT, then tracing a clunk to a loose strut nut - the one that holds the spring top plate on to the top of the damper, not those mounting the strut to the body. Probably important , so part ordered.


Downers first.
Still not sourced drop links for the rear ARB, so bought 2 male & 2 female rose joints. Shortened the one male rose joint and managed to reduce the centre to centre distance of the male & female pair to 80mm (target 70mm). Not concerned about that difference, and went to fit. That’s when I realised that I should have bought M12 rosejoints but had actually ordered M14. I’ve ordered replacements and can send the M14 bits back, but obviously not the M14 male that I had shortened. Note to self - should have checked before I ordered and again once they arrived and before I started cutting .


Onto better news.
Gauges found – had to empty most of the loft to find them, but success. Gratuitous shot of gauges paced loosely in the dash. Starting to very much look like a car again .


Also found the front cross member bolts (replacing all the bolts here anyway), the missing steering UJ and the last of the switches.

Spent a lot of time fitting the loom into place behind the dash – main time stealer was getting the through-dash connectors in place.


After this photo, I fitted the door connectors and also ran the looms from inside the car, through the bulkhead and into the froot. Some terminate at the back of the gauges and some at the fuse box. Almost time to fit Jonny’s fuse board here

Things like gauges are important motivation! Connecting them up isn’t fun though

I’ve got loads of scraps of paper with clues. These made total sense when I wrote them - time will tell whether they make sense when I need them


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I labelled every wire and it made sense when I took them off. Let’s see how that goes in another 6 months time

I also labelled every wire. Unfortunately, some of the labels are now in the bottom of the box while the wires are on the car !


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....way to go Peter, looking forward to seeing this car on the road soon!

PeterK wrote:Gratuitous shot of gauges paced loosely in the dash]

If I didn't know better and hadn't eyeballed it 100s of times I would have said it was a gratuitous shot of you on your Viffer at Brands


'Borrow' a bigger torque wrench my arse. It is pretty impressive though imo
#bigFOtoolretailtherapy

So, lots more time spent wiring. All of the gauges and most of the switches are now wired. The final front to rear connections need to be finished, the front fuse box needs wiring and I haven’t really started the engine bay wiring yet.

As a distraction, I fitted new sound insulation to the engine bay bulkhead (top tip - don't forget to put your gloves back on before picking up sound insulation covered in contact adhesive )


And refitted the original (gosh it’s not lightweight !) sound insulation to the seat area



That sounds like a quick effort, but the above took 2 days (yes, OK, I’m slow ). Moving right along, Alex, the Garage Bitch came a visiting again today, and front suspension was on the agenda. As is my wont, several steps forward had to be reversed at times, but front cross-member was fitted.


This was fitted, along with the rear tiebar & ARB / sway bar support. These latter items had to be removed from one side, of course, to allow the steering rack to be fitted. The main bolts holding the cross-member then had to be removed, as I felt load spreading washers were needed, even though not shown in the manual. The bolts had to be removed yet again, when I realised that the bolt actually passed through the rearmost A-frame / lower wishbone support.

Then followed the A-frame /lower wishbones


Then the ARB and finally, the struts, and repeat for the other side.



The steering wheel was temporarily fitted and it was great to see both the suspension finally refitted and the steering wheel actually turning the front wheels .

We did try to torque the lower ball joint castellated nuts (to 250Nm), but it was hard to pull the wrench at a constant angle of dangle, and the socket kept slipping off. Hopefully better when the car is back on its wheels. Also need to get a couple of locking washers for the top of the struts. Not yet torqued the track rod end nuts either, as much aligning will probably be needed.

So, with many thanks to Alex, the Garage Bitch, for his help, the car has once again, come on leaps and bounds . It’s great to have such obvious progress at the end of a day, unlike the hours spent on bodywork or wiring, all of which has to be done, but often doesn’t look like much progress is being made from day to day (or even week to week).

My pleasure mate. Besides, you really cannae beat a good voyage of discovery. Especially when you discover that one thingamajig should be bolted on before another thingamajig

Seriously though, the guide books were great for identifying the right components and the torque settings but they didn't give any indication of the best order to tackle bolting them together and/or on.

But, we got there in the end and it looks great. It really has come on in leaps and bounds. Seeing the dash and dials, the turny bits and F & R boingy bits bolted on definitely make it look more like a car again.