I'm Turning Japanese I Really Think So.

Progress on the A40 has been slow but sure. The suspension is all assembled on the drivers side now and by removing the wheel bearing spacer I have been able to set the bearing "correctly". I am not happy with the bearings as they are so will have to do something more permanent. If I haven't thrown out the old bearings I will measure them up and get tapper roller replacements and then machine a suitable spacer to set the preload on them. The brake hose and pipe needed modifying like the passenger side but I had the sense to make two brackets so had one to hand. All the bolts were torqued up and nylocs fitted (except to the top on the kingpin as I don't have one at the moment).

With that done it was time to sort out the wheel bearing on the passenger side as well. This was sorted swiftly (thanks Jon) and the new wishbone bolts were fitted. While the front was up in the air I fitted the pads as well. All I need to do now is fit the new mini Cooper S master cylinder (suitable for disc brakes with larger reservoir) and bleed the system through. I hope to do this allong with the last grinding off and painting on Tuesday. While the car is up in the air I will also remove the return fuel line and MG Metro Turbo fuel pump as they are no longer required. Oh yes need to sort out the battery clamp as well. The with luck MOT can be booked in for Thursday afternoon.

So you may still be wondering why I am turning Japanese. Well the wife has recently bought another car. To befair her last one did die of a head gasket failure and I was too busy to fix it besides the car owed us nothing so it was sold on. Anyway, she now has a Suzuki Vitara (again). This is her 4th one now so she must like them (or at least this week she does) and I know what goes wrong and where and how to fix them. So I should be able to spot a good one and hope for her to get a nice car rather than a heap of trouble.

Wrong. Be the most impatient person in the world (I blame the parents, Ok the mother) she simply had to buy the first one she found on ebay. It was bought unseen and purely on description. To cut a long story short its a pup. It is MOT'd and drives fine with a good engine, transmission and steering (a vitara week spot) but it is as rusty as you like. The front is not too bad (apart from the parking? damage to the front corner) but the rear arches and both sills are rotten. I hoped for her to get through summer before I had to do any work on it so I could finish my other projects. But one day when she got home from work I greeted her at the door only to be confronted with the smell of pertol. There were no obvious leaks but it would need further investigation. While looking for the leak I noticed the rear piece of trim on the passenger side sill was hanging off so I gave it a little help to remove it so it did not get lost if it fell off.

This revealed what should have been the sill and wheel arch return. All was missing and you could fit your arm up the sill. Time to order some more panels. Yes more panels. I thought the drivers side was the worst on initial inspection so ordered a full sill and arch repair panel from a company called Beaver. Fantastic service, quick delivery and good prices. Sods law I had panels but not the ones I needed.

Back to today. I had the passenger side sill now so it was time to make a start. The rest of the sill covers were removed to show the sill rotted along its whole length.

The next three photos show the extent of the rust and what had to be chopped out to get back to sound metal.

Pretty bad really but nothing I can't sort out. I have got to go out now so should give a further update in the morning before starting my second day on the car.