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What is the 2B
[Or, dietary tips for Sierras]

The Build Diary
['99 - Aug. '00]
[ Aug - Nov. '00]
[December '00]
[Early Jan '01]
[January '01]
[February '01]
[March '01]
[April '01]
[May '01]
[June '01]
[July '01]

The SVA
[Did my 2B pass?]

On The Road
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[Suspension Mods]

New for 2002
[Engine Mods]
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The Build Diary... DC - During Car
How?

January 2001

I obtained some 1 1/4" wheel spacers and extension studs which have sorted the problems of wheel to suspension clearance. These seem quite nifty but the ext. studs only have 20mm of thread so I need to get some longer ones still, with about 30mm of thread in order to use the infamous RHE supplied alloys.

Came now to the latest attempt at assembling the front susp. All of the various spacers/ washers etc were ready. Had to modify the spring compressors as the front springs are small (but perfectly formed!) and once compressed it would be a bugger to get them out again. Started winding the springs down, I don't like doing this as a well loaded spring can damn near reach escape velocity if it err, well, escapes.

In order to, get all the components on the shaft, it is necessary to compress the spring to about 5". I have to say that this stage of the job went quite well and I was becoming worried because fear of the unknown is a constant worry when building a Robin Hood. Did the nearside one first, then the offside went in even quicker. However, when I tightened up the 12mm nuts at either end of the shafts, I found that while the offside worked fine, the nearside top swivel refused to do as its name suggests.

Decided to leave things for that day, as I was becoming somewhat frustrated (as that dent in the floor can testify- only kidding, I am a model of calm. No, really, I am…). The next day, I stripped down the assembly again and found that the lower spacer underneath the swivel bearing, (which sits inside the top swivel and on top of the chrome shaft.) had managed to get trapped at an angle because it has an internal dia. of about 19mm and sits over a 12mm shaft. This means it can wobble around until tightly assembled, risking the previous problem. Made up a new spacer, and also put a sleeve inside this one to prevent it happening again. Another session of fearfully winding down spring compressors resulted in operational nearside front suspension.

Could now lower car down onto its 13" front wheels. It seemed to go a long way down, so I thought I'd measure the ground clearance out of curiosity. Eeek!! 3 1/2" sump to floor anyone! I don't know if this is typical, I suppose it is, but at this rate it's going to have problems getting over the bump at the front of my garage, I dare say that a shortened sump will be the order of the day very soon.

As a short term measure whilst the car has its 1600 engine, I intend to put some spacers under the engine mountings to improve this by half an inch or so, this wouldnt be suitable for a 2 litre engine because of the taller cylinder block so that will get a shortened sump when I fit it.

Next job was to install the steering rack. It is important to get the height correct in order to minimise bump steer. The track rods need to be level with the car sat on the ground. RHE recommend putting the ball joints in from the top, but this means that A) you have to make a new taper in the arm and B) space the rack up about 35mm, At least it does on mine, the chassis on which seems to be at variance with most of the others! I have decided therefore to put mine in from the bottom and mount the rack as low as possible. In this position, the track rods are just slightly sloping down, which given the very minimal suspension movement should be ok. If it proves to be a problem then I'll sort it once the car's had time to settle on it's springs.

One more word here, RHE say to trap the bits of 10mm steel they give you as rack spacers under said rack and tighten it down on them. To me it makes sense to drill through them and bolt them in, as if they do slip you're suddenly likely to develop some interesting steering characteristics.

Going back to the heat protector, the holes are best drilled with a step drill as this gives a round hole unlike a drill bit which tends to go various shapes none of which are very pretty.

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