The progress has been really slow, my boy is still quite unwell after his operation, so I am doing little bits here and there just to keep things moving. My first job I had was to remove the bolts that I cut off in the rear lower wishbones which connect to the hub. My bolts were seized solid and would not move, so I put a thin cutting disc in my angle grinder and cut between the wishbone and hub chopping the bolt leaving the stud in the hub. I have been putting this job off for ages due to being constantly attacked by my 12 ton hydraulic press & fearing for my life 
. To start off, I put a pilot hole in the centre of the stud to give the press tool something to bite into as if you don't, my tool keeps skidding out when under pressure.
This picture above caused my heart to sink when I looked back at it, it looks like the hub arm had cracked in this picture, so I ran out to the shed to check, & it was just the rust, it picked off easily. I pre drilled the stud with a 4mm bit, then I got an 8mm bit to create a dish for my press tool to dig into (a Haynes Roadster steering rack extension arm ! the failed project that just keeps giving, I also have an 8ft x 4ft sheet of 2mm aluminium which I was doing the floor out of).
I have not got a pressure gauge on my press, but to say it was making funny noises was an under statement, then finally a loud bang & the broken stud popped out !
Given the loud bang, I checked it against the other hub & wishbone to make sure that it had not bent, but we were all good.
Now I need to admit something, I honestly thought that the rear hub needed completely stripping down to fit the rear wing stays, but this is not the case. I rounded off the one hub nut, requiring me to drill the hub nut. Despite going careful, yes you guesed it, I screwed the thread. New cv joints are available that slide over the end of the half shaft going into the hub, but they are £45. The price you pay for not reading the build manual hey ? I tried to press the drive shaft out of the hub, it started moving a bit, then I blew the ram seal in my press, more bloody cost, so this is thrown in the corner for me to due when I have a load of patience.
I then fitted my steering rack to the front sub frame (keeping power steering). I gave it a good rub down, then some Hammerite. I put locktite on the threads & torqued them all down. I then pulled back the dust covers, checked for damaged steering rack boots, then filled them with grease as they were bone dry, then re sealed them. The tie rod & track rod ends will be replaced in the near future.
I then started to fit my Duraflex suspension bush kit to the wishbones & drop links. The kit fitted really nicely, the drop links are absolute cows to fit, don't try it unless you have a press to drive them in. My in experience once again comes into play. Duraflex say to use loads of copper slip & every other thread I have read says to use loads of grease, so I put the grease on the outside of the bush & made my first mistake. The grease was too thick to let the bush in, so a call to Duraflex confirmed that I am stupid (Mark Lord was very polite, but I knew that I was a cock !). Fairy liquid goes on the outside of the bush, loads of it, then the grease goes between the poly bush & the bush tube. Once I had the correct method, I was flying !
To locate the bushes, I used a piece of M10 threaded bar, with a couple of nuts & the washers off the front upper wishbone bolt. Basically the washers go either side of the bush and suspension arm, tighten them up & get ready for the bush to start squeezing into weird shapes... (yes you caught me, doing this in the living room, watching the footy, looking after my poor boy ).
The bush needs pushing down while you tighten the nuts to get the push to start pulling through the suspension arm. Keep the bush well lubricated & it slides in perfectly. Once this was done, I got the aluminium suspension tube, loaded it up with copper slip, then pushed it home with the press. The M10 bar method will work with the nuts. I have to be honest, 3 of the bushes mushroomed out on the oppsite side of the bush which I was pressing the insert, so I will push the insert out & start again to hopefully rectify this.
The drop links were hard to fit, I think that the smaller bushes are the hardest to fit. Once again, fairy liquid on the outside & they pushed in by hand. The inserts however were a different story, because they need a tight fit to eradicate play, the tubes wont push in by hand or the threaded bar method. I put them in the press, sat the inserts on the bush in the right place (I could not get them started by hand), then pressed them home. Very impressed. (I will use M10 bolts with an 8 on the head & a nyloc to fit them).
Last on the bush list was the diff. I used the Duraflex diff bushes once again, but un like the wishbone bushes, these are split bushes. The smaller one goes in the top & the large one goes in from under the diff. I used loads of fairy liquid again to install them, using just my hands to push them home.
Now the aluminium insert gets absolutely smot in copper slip, but you need to use a 3 leg bearing puller to drive the insert home, using a bit of steel to protect the part of the bush that you are pulling on.
Now there has been a bit of a debate on various youtube channels on what to do with these little diff mounts. They wont bolt up as is because they bolt up on a stupid angle, I knew that this was wrong given the fact that they were horizontal when mated to the standard diff bush. These diff mounts have wings and are bigger, so I followed the advice on a few videos & simply cut the points of the rubber mount down level with the upper edge of the steel mount. I used a cutting disc in a grinder, but this was bloody horrible ! I stunk badly, loads of smoke & loads of moulten rubber was getting fired up my arms and everywhere. Burt on the you tube channel Pixelarmoury simply set fire to his bushes to burn the rubber off leaving the plate, it worked fine for him, but I just felt that leaving the cut down rubber triangles on the mount offered more support for the outside of the diff bushes. It bolted in beautifully, I used thread lock on the main diff bolt & torqued it down, then replaced the two smaller nuts on each diff mount with nylocs, once again torqued them down.
The cage looks really nice now that its starting to look more like a skate again. I fitted the rear cross brace, using Loctite & torqued them down. The rear anti roll bar mounts which bolt to the rear of the subframe were wire brushed and coated with Hammerite. The four bushes that came in my pack from Duraflex do not come cut down the middle, & wont take the roll bar straight out of the packet, so I drew a line straight through the bush (the flat edge that faces the subframe) & used a Stanley knife to cut the bush. They then fitted the roll bar perfectly & I used new nylocs, torqued up to secure them.
One thing I have started doing, everytime I do a final torque on a nut or bolt, I use a yellow crayon to colour in the nut, this way I know exactly what has and has not been torqued.
Given the threads on clearance issues I have cut my wishbones per the book. Hammy marked out his wishbone using the banana as a template, then still required more trimming, as this left next to no metal, I completely removed the bar.
The holes in the banana & wishbone are 10mm, so I used some 10mm short bolts with nylocs to secure the banana. There are no torque specs for this, so I went with cave man tight. The bolts I used have an 8 on the head per the iva manual.
I trial fitted the front upper wishbone and it fits nicely. I would have liked to have welded the banana in properly, but my brother has broken my welder, so once its repaired, I may return to this job later. As you can see, my bright yellow suspension bushes are getting marked and dirty really quickly and it wont clean up. It was discoloured when I was installing the bushes. I will be using Moog front upper ball joints, I know they are expensive, but they are serviceable. I think MX5Parts have just started offering an equivalent with the grease nipple www.mx5parts.co.uk/front-upper-ball-joint-motorsport-mk1-p-4028.html /p]
(This picture was taken during tear down, since been blasted & powdercoated).
There was also concerns regarding subframe clearance with the front upper wishbone. I contacted Stuart Mills, & he recommends trimming 5mm off the outside edge. This seems very small, so I decided to basically cut the lip off the subframe. The lip is displayed in the picture above, just above my red line. I cut it off with a thin angle grinder cutting disc, then used a grinding disc to make the cut edge nice and smooth. As my parts were already powder coated, I used a bit of Hammerite to cover the now bare edges. If anyone is reading this thread prior to powder coating, do this now ! Yes there is a debate on whether this actually needs doing, but I would rather be proactive and do it while everything is easily accessible, rather than have to strip a complete car.
I pick up my kit on Thursday & I cant wait !
