Front Wishbones

Session 3: 10th September 2020

<- Before and after ->

Let's make this easy - here are before and after shots. Apart from moving the chassis from the left wall to the right, the change is obvious, right?

Two hours work, eight very fiddly bolts of progress. And some washers. Actually, it was mostly the washers that were the issue. To understand the challenges, here's the relevant page from the manual...

The pictures make it look so easy

Everything was quite tight, and the wishbones threaded through the aluminium panelling, just to make life interesting. There was no guidance as to the sequence, so, after offering things up, I opted to do the fiddliest lower rear bolt first. Bolt, chassis, two washers, wishbone and ... no space left for the other two washers. Well, perhaps one of them but definitely not the other.

After a load of muttering, fitting, unfitting, refitting, etc, there was nothing for it but to break out a tool that was lying around from when I fitted the flooring - a rubber mallet. After some persuasion and a lot more muttering, the washers were in, lined up to the bolt, the bolt "persuaded" home and the nut added onto the end. Which then meant that the two washers on the front bolt were similarly tight and in need of similar persuasion, though at least this time without fragile aluminium panels in close proximity.

The upper wishbones were somewhat easier, in that there were fewer components. It's not completely clear from the drawing, but the front upper mount protrudes from the bodywork, whereas the rest are on the interior. The fit is quite close, to the extent that the nut is pressed against the bodywork and won't turn. That seems odd to , but I guess in the event of any conflict there will be only one winner - the engineered steel over the decorative aluminium.

Yes, it's not done up. That's deliberate. The wishbones are only done up when under load, with the engine in, the wheels on and the car on the ground.

That used up what was left of the light, so I headed home. Hey, at least the ice has been broken.

Got there in the end

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