2 door VAE 306H

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Sleeper
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by Sleeper »

Hmmmmm....contemplating....

John :wink:
kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

as said above it used to common practice particularly on luxury cars, keeping the spring greased makes for less friction and better ride, it also means the spring lasts for longer, you need the gaiters because the grease will get full of grit and dirt very quickly.
les
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by les »

Well maybe I've got it all wrong, because I thought greasing road springs was a no no!

don58van
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by don58van »

As I understand it, friction between the leaves contributes to damping of the suspension. However, if the car has very good dampers, then this would not be a major factor in the performance of the suspension.

Don
kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

basically it means the springs do the springing and the dampers the damping, I would imagine the advice not to grease them is when you don't subsequently wrap them, the grease attracts all the dirt and grit and acts like a grinding paste.

when they are new ungreased springs won't behave that different to the greased ones but they will soon deteriorate, I always has the springs on my series 2 landrover greased and wrapped with denso tape which vastly improved the ride.
The dampers on ours seem to be in good condition and the ride is well damped.
Myrtles Man
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by Myrtles Man »

This article makes some interesting points about leaf-springing. Don't know if moggies' springs qualify as 'modern' though but if so it seems that oil and grease are probably no-noes.

https://www.howacarworks.com/suspension ... af-springs
philthehill
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by philthehill »

Leaf springs should not be greased/lubricated retrospectively unless you are absolutely sure that the end of the leaf spring has not worn into the underside of the spring leaf above.
Lubricating the spring will allow the leaf to move further along the underside of the leaf above and when the end of the spring comes up against a wear lip there is a good chance that the spring will break.
If it is decided to lubricate the spring leaves the spring should be removed stripped, checked for wear lips; and if satisfactory - cleaned and reassembled with a suitable lubricant and bound/gaitered to stop the crud fouling the lubricant and wearing the spring leaves.
If the owner is not prepared to undertake the above it is best that the leaves are just wire brushed and left without lubricant.

kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

The problem is eventually they can seize up alltogether and you have no suspension left, probably not too much of an issue on a road car like a minor but it can become a major problem on landrovers. Modern vans tend to use a single tapered main leaf and helper leaves seperated by plastic or rubber pads, greasing can attack the pads.
fasthamster
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by fasthamster »

kevin s wrote: Mon Jul 10, 2017 9:59 pm steering wheel with cracks filled an rubbed down,

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primed, painted and fitted to the car.

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Also blasted and painted the rusty headlining hoops, found the clips for the front board so I have everything to fit this now.

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Also fitted an aerial to the hole which was already in the roof, the hole seemed to date back to the Bristol Omnibus days as it had green paint around it, power for the roof sign or a radio system aerial?


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I have also turned it around so I can build up the passenger door, fit the lhs disc brakes and start on stripping the front wings and bonnet for paint.
What grit of sandpaper did you use before the prime paint ?
What make/ type of paint did you use ?
Did you use a special brush to paint ?
Any last touches to get the smoothness ?

Thanks
kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

I filled the cracks with epoxy then sanded the whole wheel with 120 grit, brushed on a couple of coats of epoxy primer, flatted that back with 400 grit wet and dry, then top coated with 4 coats of black from an aerosol . (normal car paint ).
kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

Appart from driving it not done much to the minor lately, bought some floor mats to replace the carpets which kept bunching under the pedals.
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j

We have also bought some mirrors to fit to the doors, we bought some VW bus ones which are a bit large but will be ideal for a new driver next year when andrew is 17.
kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

Been spending more money, 4 165R13 tyres are on the way, also been working on the bumper valances, had them in my electrolysis dustbin for a couple of days, then started on repairing what was left, the front was not to bad, a few pits and a patch.
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Cleaned up and a light skim.
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Back is much worse
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I plan to make a new centre section and use most of the ends with repairs like the front.
Attachments
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kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

Rear bumper valance is now all repaired, new centre made in 2 sections and a couple of patches each end, these can be seen in the picture from the rear.

Front
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Rear
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Just need to try it on the car and finish the final shaping.
mattyb
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by mattyb »

Hello Kevin

Great work on the Minor and good to see a Bristol registration (for Bristol Buses !) - the city I was born in

Going back to your post of Sunday the 19th Feb 2017 regarding the Corsa disc brakes - can you advise on the measurements you initially put the plate ? " Firstly a mark was made for the centre of the spindle, then the 2 caliper mounting holes were marked and drilled, the spindle centre was then drilled to 5mm " can you give the distances ? I have a pair of Corsa c calipers and brackets and was looking to try your conversion - from memory, the caliper bracket mounting holes are 100mm apart but would be very helpful to know the distance from the spindle centre to these holes (the "V" pattern )

many thanks and keep up the brilliant work !

cheers

Matt
kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

Unfortunatelly I can't find my drawings, but I can remember how I did it:

I placed the caliper on the disc with the pads in so it sat squarely.

I then packed the caliper bridge so it was 1/8" clear of the disc

Measure the distance from the mounting hole to centre hole of the disc

Add the radius of each hole to get the centre distances.

I then centre punched a point which will be the centre of the spindle and scribed an arc of the radius above

Centre punch one point on the arc and then a second the pitch of the caliper bolts, drill these for the caliper mounting

I then drilled a 6mm hole at the spindle centre and used this to centre it on the lathe so I could machine the centre thinner to clear the hub and bore it out to be a snug fit over the spindle.

Finally I drilled the 4 holes to mount it to the upright through from the back of the upright and trimmed the outside shape using an angle grinder.

Rgds Kevin.
mattyb
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by mattyb »

Many thanks for the reply Kevin


I've obtained the metal plates from my local metal works (BlackBull in Bridgwater Somerset - very helpful ) and have opened the the disc centres (Had to use a friends Lathe as my little Portass Dreadnought isn't big enough !)


One more question - do you have any details on the bolt size etc for the calipers to suspension ? have had a look on the net - are they 19mm ? torx ? thread ? where did you get yours from ?

The Corsa calipers are very plentiful at the moment so a great source for a budget brake disc conversion

Thanks again for your reply and posts Kevin - Its been a great help
kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

The ones from the caliper to bracket were a grade 10.9 fine threaded metric, i'm pretty sure it was 12mm.
The nuts and bolts to hold it to the upright are 5/16 unf with nyloc nuts.
mattyb
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by mattyb »

many thanks Kevin

cheers

Matt
kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

Been busy over the last few weeks.

The wheels were stripped and de- rusted in my electrolysis tank then painted with epoxy primer.
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Then topcoated with old english white cellulose.
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With the trims on they will look like this.
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Also been working on the bumper valances, repaired and before electrolysis.
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After the 24hrs and a wire brushing.
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Painted.
kevin s
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Re: 2 door VAE 306H

Post by kevin s »

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Last weekend i changed the waterpump and tighted the loose alternator bolts, the "timing chain rattle" has now gone.

I have also fixed a couple of niggles like the exhaust clamp which hit the shackle and poor seal around the fuel cap, I have bought a 80mm tacho to fit, my list of things to do is very short now, basically fit the bumper valances, wax undereath and wire in the tacho and heated seats, oh and perhaps change the bushes to improve the gearshift.
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