GT6 MK 3 Suspension & Brakes Rebuild/Replace

[john2502]

Well thought i'd share some of the photos etc of my rebuild of the suspension and brakes on the emerald green GT6 I bought a few months ago.

Realized the brake calipers were a bit sticky and that the system could probably do with a refresh/update as much of it was original (including original 40 year old bushes it appears!). Also wanted to install the canleys trunnionless kit and some of the rubber on balljoint, trackrod ends etc were looking a bit worn.

So i decided to "cut my teeth" doing this as i am a bit of a beginner really.

So with the car in my parent's garage i started to take things apart with my brother (in the pictures).

note: I am keeping all the original bits etc if myself or a subsequent owner ever wants to return it to standard.

brake caliper removal:


Split pin out:


Hub off:


dust shield off:




Shock removed:


Wishbones and VL off:



So then onto the exciting bit, starting to get the new shiny bits to put on!

new bits!:


Koni dampers fitted onto springs (very easy with the safeshox compressors:


Painted Canley VLs:

[Freebird]

Wow, Father Christmas obviously thought you had been a good boy.

Good to see you got poly wishbone bushes, the rubber ones on the market today are totally rubbish.

[john2502]

Superflex bushes being installed, i found the easiest way was to cut the ends of the rubber bushes off with a stanley knife and then use the "socket method" of removing them.
I had to use a couple of nuts as the smaller socket to push on the bushes as my vice is only a small one and wouldnt quite go wide enough to fit the smaller socket in as well. Must say this was a pretty easy job to do, i got a pair of original lower wishbones as the arm on one of mine was a bit bent and wins intl is only 5mins down the road from me (great service).

ends of the bush cut off:




then the removal:


gets the bush about 2/3 of the way out so can then use the vice to clamp it and wiggle it the rest of the way:


et voila!:


Installing the new superflex bushes:

[RedRooster]

Did you get new hoses as well?
RR
ps
I'm begining to think the only money to be made in triumphs is selling bits for them!

[john2502]

Freebird wrote:

Wow, Father Christmas obviously thought you had been a good boy.

Good to see you got poly wishbone bushes, the rubber ones on the market today are totally rubbish.

He must have done yeah!

Yes had to be superflex after hearing so many great things! They look amazingly well made and were soooo easy ton install.

[john2502]

242 wrote:

Did you get new hoses as well?
RR
ps
I'm begining to think the only money to be made in triumphs is selling bits for them!

Yeah stainless braided hoses from canleys was the plan, need to order them still.

[Sheepy]

Looking good!
will be an improvement over the old set up.

Did you slip with the knife and cut your thumb?  :)

[john2502]

Yeah hope so.

Haha, good spot. I did it with the saw while cutting the bit of wood that I used for the super flex bushes (last pic) to avoid damaging the sleeve on the rough vice surface.

[CP72]

Koni dampers and Superflex bushes may be expensive, but they are worth the money. Excellent choice, you will not regret it. Good luck with your rebuild!

[john2502]

Cheers!

Should have some more pics/updates early next week as i should have a morning to work on the car saturday!

Time to start putting the new bits back on the car! (well, one side of it anyway)

[MikeTeesside]

Good man! I'm in the process of doing exactly the same and have also gone with superflex poly bushes and koni's. Also fixing a heck of a lot of oil leaks while I'm there and fixing my rear spring which has sagged quite a bit. Lots of work but totally worth it.

I stripped my wishbones to bare metal and coated them with Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black, ended up cheaper than powder coating in addition to being far more resilient and stone chip resistant. It makes a 'dent' in the paint rather than chipping it off because it's packed with resins. Fantastic stuff. Takes ages to cure though, two coats of primer and two coats of the actual paint with a full 24 hours between each coat.

I repaired my front calipers myself, they're the very early Type P. The previous owner had put the wrong pistons in them and they had no dust boots at all, which explains why they were sticking!

All good fun. ;)

[rotoflex]

Quote:

I remember using that spiral wiring wrap on lots of projects.  When the time comes that you must get in there again, I do not envy you all the uncurling & wrestling with that python skeleton!

The modern split corrugated auto loom shell is quite an improvement!  I've noticed that in factory applications, they usually close the ends to the wires with some friction tape or similar.

If you ever wish to go back to an OEM look, I think it was either junkuser or partsaver who tipped me off as to the original wire wrap tape width, which is available.  It's not electrical tape, but less-sticky vinyl.  

[john2502]

Cheers for the tip, never seen that stuff before, I'd probably just cut it, I assume that would be possible.
The rest of the wiring has the split correlated stuff.

[john2502]

Sounds like a lot of waiting Mike, but sounds like they'll be very well protected and it'll last a long time so worth it in the end.

Good luck with your project too!

[john2502]

Right, a bit more progress yesterday, although not a load, kept getting interrupted as we had family round at my parents.
I know I know, how anti-social of me!   :)

So firstly out with the old bearings/racers:



Then as suggested pushed the superflex sleeves in slightly so they're even each side, took about a second to do, so the new bits ready to go onto the car!:


Got the uppers in fine, had to take the front chassis mount off to get the lower one in, then realised the rear one we'd put a smaller bolt in (this one is a bugger to get lined up!), any suggestions? There's not enough room to even get my shortest screw drive in, and chassis mount bolt is difficult to get to due to sump. Hmm.



Doesn't feel like a lot got done but ah well. Here it is:


Finished by starting to install the new racers in the hub, how far in do they go? Should they be flush the with lip inside in this picture?
Or is this far enough?:

[JensH]

Bearing/racers as far in as possible; you can see the lip just down under the outer bearing surface - thats as far as they can go

[MikeTeesside]

You're lucky, I had to use a press to get some of my races in. Luckily the workshop next door to mine has a proper bearing press they let me use.

Here's something; I've not gone with new stub axles and it looks like you have. I've gone with new bearings though and hope this won't effect it. The old stub axles look perfectly fine and new ones are £40 a pop from Rimmers. Ouch.

[john2502]

£24.50 from canleys, and they look very well made!
Said they were made in Coventry. Like you say though I'd yours aren't worn or bent then they should be fine.

A few garages must have those race installer kits which look very easy to use so I was tempted to just take it there and give them a fiver to do it, but just ended up doing it myself.

Found this video useful to see how to do it for anyone learning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVtU6Q2-Z4g&sns=em

[john2502]

JensH wrote:

Bearing/racers as far in as possible; you can see the lip just down under the outer bearing surface - thats as far as they can go

So just to clarify, ideally they should go in about another 6-7mm so the red and blue arrows in this pic line up?
thanks

[MikeTeesside]

No, that looks about as far as they'll go. There's a lip inside which they sit against and that indentation that allows you to get a drift in, in order to drive them out.

[john2502]

Excellent, i did think they felt like they were seated properly where they were so all good then!

Next jobs
1. To somehow get a bolt through the rear lower wishbone bush (difficult to get perfectly lined up due to the chassis/brake lines in the way
2. tighten stub axle onto vertical link (didn't have a plain nut the right size on Saturday)
3. Bolt on the new shock and spring
3. Install the inner bearings and then bolt the disc onto the hub
4. Install the steering arm, track rod end, hub, caliper mounting bracket and caliper etc

[Peter McEvedy]

I did this last year - I took the mounting brackets off the chassis  as the bolt is supposed to go in with the head next to the column. I replaced the shims with stainless ones at that time. It also meant I could clean it all up at the same time!

[john2502]

Took the front one off but didnt have a socket that would get to the rear one without the sump getting in the way. Got it there in the end with some wiggling.

[john2502]

Right, couple of hours last night so a few progress photos

Koni shock and spring on and then the caliper mounting bracket, dust shield and steering arm on the back:


Then did the hub and disc:



Question, Doing the castle nut up finger tight doesn't go far enough to line up with the hole in the stub, I'm going to try refitting the hub on the weekend, bearings seem well seated and spins nicely, any tips for doing this? I don't want to over-tighten of course. I believe it's finger tight then back a flat or two to get the correct end float (cant remember the number off the top of my head).

Anyway, nearly there, just the brake caliper, pads and new stainless line to go!



....then the other side!

[MikeTeesside]

I'm not sure about the end float, I'll have to check my book(s) as I'll be doing this later today too. I'll have to post some pics for comparison.

Usually it's "tighten to very specific torque then back off 180 degrees" but the 60's Alfa Romeo hubs I did were a lot more unforgiving in this and would flop like a beached whale if you got it wrong.