April 2008

One of my front shock absorbers had been leaking and had finally given up.  I contacted AVO and they said if I send the shocks back to them (minus the springs), they would try and fit new seals etc.  This would cost about £30 to £40 for each shock (which is much cheaper than buying new ones).  As my father has now sold his Lotus Cortina, he very kindly let me use his garage (the first time in 18 years!!)  Which is making the job a lot easier!! (Thanks Dad)

  First job was to jack the car up and put it on axle stands and making sure it was safe ready for overhaul (as a Scimitar on your head is bad for your health!). 

I set about removing the shocks and then removed the springs.....which was great fun! 

With the shocks removed and stripped, I took a trip to AVO in Northampton to deliver my old shocks for repair.

   The following day I was told that my old shocks were beyond economical repair and would offer me a new set for a very good price indeed, so I took them up on the offer.  The shocks would take about a week for delivery, so meanwhile I had plenty of time to do some other jobs on the suspension.

Looking at the anti-roll bar drop links, I guess they had seen better days!  So a quick phone call to Graham Walkers and I oreder all the parts I needed to overhaul my suspension.

When the new drop links arrived the next day (amongst other parts), I noticed that there were no cup washers or sleeves, as per my old set of drop links.  I rang Graham Walkers and they said they can no longer get the cup washers and I won't need the sleeve as the new bushes fit tighter to the actual drop link. 

Old drop link with cup washers between rubber bushes.

Old drop link Removed (Note: three cup washers and sleeve).

New drop links from Graham Walkers.  I would have to use my old cup washers.

Cup washers after a quick clean and paint job.

    Next job was to remove the top and bottom wishbones ready for cleaning and inspection.

I received a phone call from AVO to say my new shocks were ready to collect, so another trip to Northampton was in order:

    My new shocks!  (My old springs were quite soft, So I decided to get new uprated springs from Graham Walkers)

Other parts from Graham Walkers were drop links, ball joints, track rod ends, trunnions, trunnion kits: 

    Shiny stuff

New ball joints

New Track rod ends

        New Trunnions (Note, the trunnions are marked L & R, they won't fit if you try and fit the left hand trunnion to the right hand side as the threads are different!

Apparently there is a risk that the end cap can come out and can possibly let water in, so as per recommendations from various people I soldered the end caps.

Before

  After

Once the wishbones etc has been degreased and cleaned, they were ready for a repaint:

      After inspection and cleaning, the parts were ready for a re-paint.  The red springs were a bit bright for me, so I decided to re-paint them black.

    A few hours later, the parts are looking good in satin black.

Special Thanks to the staff at AVO for their advice and support:

http://www.avouk.com/

and to the staff at Graham Walkers:

http://www.grahamwalker.co.uk/