We started off with breakfast for lunch at the usual catering van, and got back to the 'shed at around 11.30 and cracked on. This is a picture heavy thread!
First order of business (after @Shortie_gal made us another cuppa) was to push out the old beam bushes. We need a new blow lamp as our current one was struggling to do the job, but we eventually got the rubber hot enough to push them out!
Where once there was a bush, now is just air...
The old bush removed...
The old drop links which are as bad as we've seen.
Beam back on, and 15 minutes of cleaning and tidying up. You can see the new drop links are fitted, and the hand brake cables honestly look brand new. Wondering if they've actually been changed at some stage now.
Took some fighting to pull out the old diff bush as it was pretty solid, but while we were in there it would be rude not to change it. Out with the old rubber, and in with the standard PowerFlex poly bush. A fresh hacksaw blade made short work of the metal diff outer ring.
The sub frame dropped to the floor and balanced on the faithful trolley jack ready to slide back under the car.
Before we do that we had to apply thread lock to the chassis pin back in. It's not unusual for these to unscrew, but this is what they look like. Around 6 inches long, and the clean end is the part which screw in to the chassis.
Original rear shocks, but stamped with BOGE rather than the usual sticker with SACHS printed on it. First time we've seen these!
New Sachs rear shock assembled ready to go back on again. The dirt sleeves came up like they were brand new, a complete opposite to the front ones which you will see later on.
Gave the springs a spring clean (and it is actually spring time too!)
She's back in place again...
New rear discs and pads fitted
After this, it was a case of refitting the exhaust and some of the underneath heat shielding. @Shortie_gal joined us at this point with another cuppa (this is starting to sound like a different location
).
We kicked off a big tidy up as the piles of old Z3 parts was getting daft, so dumped most of it in the the 'bus. It was getting far too messy in there, but we still needed to strip the front shocks and brakes off so they could go to the dump as well.
Discs 'n pads off
...and then the shocks...
The shocks were then stripped down so we could dump them. I mentioned that the rear shock dirt sleeves were immaculate, the fronts were less so and both sides had fallen apart. Lee is going to source some new ones so we can reassemble the shocks at the weekend.
Front shocks, pads and gubbins all cleaned and ready for reassembly.
Next session on Saturday...
First order of business (after @Shortie_gal made us another cuppa) was to push out the old beam bushes. We need a new blow lamp as our current one was struggling to do the job, but we eventually got the rubber hot enough to push them out!
Where once there was a bush, now is just air...
The old bush removed...
The old drop links which are as bad as we've seen.
Beam back on, and 15 minutes of cleaning and tidying up. You can see the new drop links are fitted, and the hand brake cables honestly look brand new. Wondering if they've actually been changed at some stage now.
Took some fighting to pull out the old diff bush as it was pretty solid, but while we were in there it would be rude not to change it. Out with the old rubber, and in with the standard PowerFlex poly bush. A fresh hacksaw blade made short work of the metal diff outer ring.
The sub frame dropped to the floor and balanced on the faithful trolley jack ready to slide back under the car.
Before we do that we had to apply thread lock to the chassis pin back in. It's not unusual for these to unscrew, but this is what they look like. Around 6 inches long, and the clean end is the part which screw in to the chassis.
Original rear shocks, but stamped with BOGE rather than the usual sticker with SACHS printed on it. First time we've seen these!
New Sachs rear shock assembled ready to go back on again. The dirt sleeves came up like they were brand new, a complete opposite to the front ones which you will see later on.
Gave the springs a spring clean (and it is actually spring time too!)
She's back in place again...
New rear discs and pads fitted
After this, it was a case of refitting the exhaust and some of the underneath heat shielding. @Shortie_gal joined us at this point with another cuppa (this is starting to sound like a different location
). We kicked off a big tidy up as the piles of old Z3 parts was getting daft, so dumped most of it in the the 'bus. It was getting far too messy in there, but we still needed to strip the front shocks and brakes off so they could go to the dump as well.
Discs 'n pads off
...and then the shocks...
The shocks were then stripped down so we could dump them. I mentioned that the rear shock dirt sleeves were immaculate, the fronts were less so and both sides had fallen apart. Lee is going to source some new ones so we can reassemble the shocks at the weekend.
Front shocks, pads and gubbins all cleaned and ready for reassembly.
Next session on Saturday...
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