Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

It was even easier than I hoped it would be.

Anything would have to better than this.

First of all, a lot of the prep work that I had done wasn't necessary. There was no need for spring compressors, no need to disconnect sway bar links, and especially no need to disconnect the steering rack.

The car was already lifted up on ramps

There was a lot of concern on the Jaguar forum that I was going to injure myself (or worse) when one of the springs  would somehow break free and hit me upside the head. That was not a frivolous concern. Coils springs store a huge quantity of energy. Mishandling them can result in death or  damage to an important body part. Like any of them!

In my plan, I was never going to completely release the spring. Originally I thought I could drop the lower inner pivot only. The wheels would be supported on ramps. The use of coil spring compressors were a safety back up. The lower arm assembly was always going to be supported by a jack. In fact I had one under the front cross member.

I started on the left side.

A handy tool. I've used it a few times but didn't need it now.

I used another floor jack to support and position the arm to align the pivot bolt. I had a small trolley floor jack supporting the back of the arm.Then I drove the pivot back using a long socket extension as a punch. I was prepared to use my cool slide hammer/vise grip puller to yank the old bushing out, but it wasn't needed.  I easily removed the old bushing using a pair of locking needle nose pliers. I cleared out any shredded rubber, wiped the interior surface clean, and was now ready to insert the new bushing.

Just as I hoped, it came out easily.

I fiddled with the jack until I had the pivot in the center of the opening.

I dipped the new bushing in some dish washing liquid for lubrication.

I dipped the new bushing in dish washing liquid then just shoved it in with my hand. It went almost all the way in. I used a large socket with an extension to drive it in the rest of the way. I manipulated the suspension arm with the floor jack centering the bolt as best as I could. I drove the bolt forward striking it from the back side. Once it was all the way forward I installed the washer and nut on the pivot and snugged it down.

Moving to the right side was even easier.

I just used a single floor jack to support and position the suspension arm.  I removed the cotter pin and was surprised to find I could unscrew the nut with my fingers!

It's safe to say that this part may be worn out.

I went through the process of driving the pivot back and removed the old bushing. Boy, were those old bushings really chewed up! I again dipped the new bushing in the dish washing liquid and pushed it in with my hand. This time it only went in about two thirds in. I used the socket and extension to drive it in a bit more, then drove the pivot back into place,  I used a very thick washer left over from a harmonic balancer replacement I had done years ago behind the nut. I manipulated the suspension arm with the jack as I tightened the nut which helped line up the bushing and it slid home. I snugged it up but would wait to tighten it up completely.

This thick washer that I saved came in handy.

Replacing the right side bushing only took me an hour and fifteen minutes, Not bad.

Reattaching the rack and pinion turned out to be a much bigger hassle. Even using a floor jack, fighting with the bushings was a real pain. I had to force the assembly into alignment to put the mounting bolts in place. I also kind of forgot how the thing was supposed to go back together, with some heat shields and stuff providing me with a bit of mystery. Putting the whole thing back together consumed several hours. I dropped the nuts several times and lost them among the clutter. I even dropped a socket extension onto my face giving me a small laceration above my eyebrow. I couldn't find the last nut and I had to search through my bolt/ nut stash to find a suitable replacement. Good thing that I save all that stuff!

I first started posting about this repair in March of this year. The car was already up on ramps since February. It had been sitting for about four months. It's not like I wasn't busy with other things, I was. It's not like I hated lying on my back, working under a greasy car, because I certainly do. A non running, non driving car is a dangerous car. It's dangerous because it's very likely it might never move under it's own power again.  A partially disassembled car is even more dangerous because it may stay that way and it is very hard to sell for a fair price in that condition. Many are the projects that have stalled and ended their days in the scrapyard.

So what did I accomplish?

First of all, I was determined that the car was going to be put back together again. It was a running and driving car before this. Smogged even. Even if I didn't replace the bushings it was going back together.


Second, I actually made an improvement in the car's condition. The front lower bushings take the hardest beating. They were really chewed up it was apparent that they weren't doing the front end geometry any favors! Replacing one out of four bushings can be seen as making a 25% improvement!

I would imagine that I will notice an improvement in the steering feel. While this was not a textbook repair I kind of wonder if the factory had anticipated the front lower bushings were going to be a high wear item and made an allowance to make their replacement fairly easy. I'd like to think so.

The main thing is that the car is back together and will be back on the road again. I can still make other repairs and improvements as I endeavor to hold onto the car. That's what really counts. 

I can't be like those lucky guys in Octane magazine if I don't hold onto my car. I know that I'll have more time and a little bit more money to invest sometime in the future.

I'd like to close with an admonishment on DIY car repairs and safety. Working on cars can be dangerous,  even deadly. Some things are more hazardous than others. Working on the springs and suspension is obviously more dangerous than changing a fan belt. Unless you forget to turn off the motor first!  Working on the suspension, under a raised car can go bad very quickly, if you are not careful and do not have the proper safety equipment in place.

And for the record, I did the final tightening of the pivot bolts and installed new cotter pins.

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As in any Jaguar venture it is very easy to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. In this case since the car hadn't been started in months  I thought that it might be a good idea to "prime" it, before trying to start it. I turned the key to the run position and counted to five to allow the system to build up a little pressure before I tried to start it up. I did this three times.

I turned the key and when it didn't start initially I held the accelerator down and the engine caught and started running rough. I held the throttle down and the  engine began to increase revs while smoke began pouring out of the exhaust. I held it at four thousand rpms for about fifteen seconds and then tried to let it drop down to around a thousand rpm. That was a mistake as the engine died. I should have just held it at four grand but I wanted to back the car out of the garage as smoke was building up inside.

Usually I will just keep the revs up until it clears itself out.

I managed to restart it enough to get it to crawl out of the garage into the driveway where it died again. I added a couple of gallons of fresh gas but I must have flooded the engine enough that I couldn't get it to fire up again. I had it push it back into the garage by myself.

I put that starter motor through it's paces mercilessly. I thought that it would be better to quit while I was behind. I didn't need to burn that thing out.

I just need to pull the plugs and change them out, if they are fouled. I think it might be wise to pull a few of them that more easily accessible to aid my diagnosis. That shouldn't take long, Who am I kidding!