Rebuilding a P10 front end

[Cpt.Fred]

most people tell me i own a brown car, but i say no, it's just a grey car that is a little rusty.

the original color i am referring to as "battle ship grey".

 

anyway.

 

a buddy snug these out of the US and into the EU in his suit case on the flight back home:

 

 

whoohoo!

that means i can finally move on with reassembly!

i'll clean the frame and undercarriage in the next days and start putting things back into place.

finally!

the new shocks and the truck shock mounts didn't fit into the suit case, so i'll have to wait for them a little more,

but i have a feeling that i'll be having fun with the steering linkage until then, soooo....

[Andydodge]

Fred....couldn't you get the bearings in Germany?..........andyd

[Cpt.Fred]

Oh Andy, we've been over this...   T'was a price thing, i got them real cheap on the dealer's account of a friend.

Had to wait for the other stuff, anyway.

 

Will start cleaning for reassembly this evening!

[Andydodge]

Stop picking on me............when you get to my age you forget things.......now what did I forget?............got an email from someone looks a lot like you about the same thing.....what was it again?.........will go now and annoy some customers at the shop...........lol.........andyd

[Cpt.Fred]

hehehe, and you forgot to answer that mail, too...

but alright, i'll stop now... forgiveness for my impatience.

 

here's a few pics of the wheelhousings before and after...

scraped and brushed them clean yesterday night and painted them with Owatrol.

 

 

while i scraped the crud off i found these puppies,

stuck to the frame at the rear mount of the passenger side lower control arm:

 

 

anybody seen anything like that before?

maybe they slid them under the pivot bar to compensate slight frame warpage?

i looked everywhere, but that was the only place where i found those.

the car rode dead straight and i didn't have any issues regarding tire wear,

so i guess i just put them back in there, right?

waht do you guys think?

Edited April 15, 2015 by Cpt.Fred

[DonaldSmith]

The washers look like homemade horseshoe shims, that can be slipped onto a bolt without removing anything.  They look like something that I would make.  Excellent workmanship.  

[Cpt.Fred]

alright then, back in they go!

 

since i have grown accustomed to this thread as the "Fred'n Andy Show"

i decided to give them names before i put them back on.

 

 

please note that the younger looking one is Andy.

 

and here they are, back on their mysterious duty:

 

 

no one can foresee what wonders they shall come across on their journeys...

 

*orchestral music*

[greg g]

As long as you are having fun, and you seem to be.   Good luck finishing up.  How is the other project coming along?

[Cpt.Fred]

greg, forgive me for being childish here

but i gotta keep my good humor while putting in repop parts...

classic example, this critter here is 15$ a piece plus shipping at Andy B's:

 

 

not only does the thread lack the square base that keeps it from rotating while being tightened,

not to mention it comes without new nut and lock washer...

it's a metric thread, and of course it comes loose inside the rubber piece after the slightest touch.

the upper bumper has imperial thread, by the way, but everything else is the same.

 

but i don't care, because i'm in a good mood today and they'll fall off after 20miles anyway.

 

the other project, if you mean the flathead harley, is running strong and is back on the road since last week. great fun!

Edited April 15, 2015 by Cpt.Fred

[Cpt.Fred]

but back to the front end.

 

i put in the upper arms:

 

 

then i got this nice fat ring of rubber from the auto shop down the street, it's from some mercedes model and fits very well,

so i'm going to get me 3 more of those tomorrow. they're 2 EUR a piece. That's about 2$ right now, damn it!

this hobby is getting expensive because of world finance, honey, i'm innocent.

 

 

the lower end of the steering knuckle support will go in like this:

 

 

note position of the bushing's head, it's screwed in from the back.

and don't forget the rubber seals before screwing that long bolt all the way in!

 

 

but first, i have to attach the top end of the upright to the excentric bushing on the upper control arm:

 

 

screw it on there (mind the rubber seal):

 

and put the bolt back in it's place. i don't tighten it yet because i'll need to adjust everything later on.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Cpt.Fred

[Cpt.Fred]

afterwards put the coils in and connect lower a-arm and steering knuckle support with proper seals

and connect the sway bar to the upright at the other side of the lower shock mount.

 

 

since i'm going to shorten the coils first and don't have enough seals now i'll do that tomorrow.

 

last one is just for kicks.

the whole thing can get a little tricky with the left-and-right thing...

 

find the error in this picture:

 

 

[Andydodge]

All the parts are clean and shiney..........must be Freds new SHOW CAR..........even the washers are clean...........looking good mate...andyd

[greg g]

Not childish.  I admire your enthusiasm.  Wonder if the snubbers Roberts Motor Parts has are any better.  China  Arrrrrrrgh.

[Cpt.Fred]

nobody found the error in the pictured assembly? tststs...

 

everything is back in, springs are shortened 1/2 coil, which should move the nose down about 1".

 

 

bearings and hubs are next, followed by the backing plates with the stupid felt rings and rivets...

[Andydodge]

Fred, I noticed that the lower outer pin/bolt has a standard type nut with a split pin.......would be better to use a castellated nut with the split pin, the split pin will not be of much use against a normal nut, better than nothing but not really kosher if you know what I mean............do you have any spare castle nuts?........also what was the error in the previous pic?............andyd

[DJ194950]

Spindle appears to be pointed pretty well straight ahead and the stop nut/bolt is already against the stop?

 

Spindles on the wrong side of car?

[Andydodge]

DJ......you might be on the right track.......tho' I don't think the spindles are handed unless the lower shock pin is already inserted then the spindles become handed due to this......but I think the stub axles are handed with the steering stop being correctly mounted behind the axle centreline, ie, on the back not front.......I think Fred has the stub axles on the wrong side as the steering stop is on the front...........but it just could be the downunder thing.......lol(don't think so tho').........com'on Fred whats the answer?........andyd

[Cpt.Fred]

DJ is right, i was stupid enough to put the spindle in on the wrong side in the first round.

the steering knuckle support is the same part for both sides, the spindles are not.

steering stop bolts have to be on the rear side of the king pin.

i had to laugh when i noticed what i did and then took it apart again and took new pics.

 

Andy: my manual seems to show the normal nut as the original part?

I don't have any spare castle nuts that could fit, but i think you might be right about this,

so i guess i will put on some locktite tomorrow and maybe go for a bigger safety pin...

 

edit: i just went back in the thread an found, that the normal nut is shown in the drawing i stole from Don's

pictures, see post #28.

in my manual, see post #37, it is actually a castle nut... hmmmm. confused...

Edited April 18, 2015 by Cpt.Fred

[Andydodge]

I might have some spare castle nuts.......how many do you need?.............andyd

[Cpt.Fred]

weeeeellll.... maybe four? 

just tell me how much the shipping is

i should really consider inserting your name into my last will, just in case.

but how are we going to get the car over there?

let me try to get some here, i'll send you a mail if i don't succeed.

 

bearings and seals are back in:

 

[Andydodge]

O/k....andyd

[40plyrod]

Really good useful thread here Fred. You've done a good job, I can't imagine how much more challenging and expensive it must be to build a 75 year old americian car outside of North America. I'm sure it'll be very much worth it in the end though.  

[Bmartin]

Fred,

 

I am at work now and have not had time to go through the entire thread, plus they block the pics.  But just a note on relocating the shocks if you have not done that yet.  I put the new mounts on and tried the monroes everyone recommends.  It is extremely stiff, too stiff in my opinion.  I still have them in because I have tire clearance issues and they limit the rubbing.  Once I get that figured out, I'm going to try something else.  I have my fatory shocks still and will try them first.  Just something to consider, especially when checking shock travel vs mount location.

Edited April 22, 2015 by Bmartin

[Cpt.Fred]

Thanks, 40plyrod!

 

Bmartin, thanks for pointing that out.

i got a pair of these:

http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/gab-81676/overview/

 

Gabriel Guardian Shock Absorbers 81676

 

they're dirt cheap so i'll just try them out...

Edited April 23, 2015 by Cpt.Fred

[greg g]

I put new shocks, monroes on the rear of my cars last summer along with new spring eye bushings.  Made a big difference in how the car corners and handles bumps and corners.