Bilbo's mk1 Cavalier

[Bilbo]

2 hours ago, Jessopia74 said:

Good stuff, not looked myself, but you might be able to pattern up the inners with some other car. Lots are very similar. Used the Febi online catalogue to find some outer rod ends to fit my Monza from the K11 rack conversion. 

https://partsfinder.bilsteingroup.com/en/search?group=Steering&subgroup=Inner+Tie+Rods&sortby=rel&sortdir=asc

Nice one, thanks for the link. I was just being impatient 😂

25 minutes ago, cam.in.head said:

there are plenty of cav/manta ones on ebay from various suppliers ( or are the quick rack ones different ?)

Yeah there are, it was just a case of wanting it done same day, so I wanted to see what ones local suppliers had might work. I'll be ordering some Manta ones today that will be here by next weekend.

[cam.in.head]

if you have a loose one on your new rack would one from your old rack be useable . they rarely wear in my experience and should be the same fitment

[Bilbo]

Just now, cam.in.head said:

if you have a loose one on your new rack would one from your old rack be useable . they rarely wear in my experience and should be the same fitment

Sadly I only have the ones from my old rack, we re-used them. And yeah they are the same fitment between the 2 racks.

I think either one of the steering boots wasn't tight enough or the grease in the original rack was so deteriorated and full of crap (I never touched the original rack since getting the car), that it's basically gone everywhere, including all over the joints of the inner tie rods. It looked like sludge/mud, it was terrible. No wonder the old rack was dying 😂

[®evo03]

If not done already, might be wise to change wheel bearings. 

Hub to disc surface also clean flat and unpainted.

Maybe EPS next 👍

[Bilbo]

8 hours ago, ®evo03 said:

If not done already, might be wise to change wheel bearings. 

Hub to disc surface also clean flat and unpainted.

Maybe EPS next 👍

Yeah I did those when I first got it on the road, but they're so cheap I may just do them again soon. I'll see how everything feels after the new tie rods and tyres/balancing is done. If I still have vibration I'll get some new wheel bearings and sort them.

EPAS is definitely an option I wouldn't be against, but I think I would need to have a re-work of my current wiring loom as it wouldn't currently fit under the dash with everything else going on under there as it currently sits.

[Jessopia74]

6 hours ago, Bilbo said:

Yeah I did those when I first got it on the road, but they're so cheap I may just do them again soon. I'll see how everything feels after the new tie rods and tyres/balancing is done. If I still have vibration I'll get some new wheel bearings and sort them.

EPAS is definitely an option I wouldn't be against, but I think I would need to have a re-work of my current wiring loom as it wouldn't currently fit under the dash with everything else going on under there as it currently sits.

Definitely basics first 👍

 

[cam.in.head]

are you on alloys or rostyles . not many places know how to balance rostyles . they think the centre is the actual centre and try to mount it with the cone  whereas they should be mounted lugcentric.

[Bilbo]

3 minutes ago, cam.in.head said:

are you on alloys or rostyles . not many places know how to balance rostyles . they think the centre is the actual centre and try to mount it with the cone  whereas they should be mounted lugcentric.

Just on some good old JBW Superlites, so should be fairly simple. There's a Merc garage next door to our unit, and he'll get it sorted for me in exchange for a rotisserie chicken (he's a bodybuilder, so donuts or beer won't sway him) 😂

[Bilbo]

So after a bit of a fiasco with AutoDoc and Evri I finally got my new inner tie rods and track rod end delivered. In the meantime I found someone selling a single NOS QH inner tie rod on eBay, so I grabbed that last week.

When I pulled it all apart and really looked at the inner tie rods and track rod ends it's clear there were some issues. Overlooking the old grease in my original rack had cause the mud brown gritty grease to go all over my inner tie rods, and the driver's side one had developed a very noticeable amount of in and out play (this was brand new when the car was put on the road last January). This was the main source of my 9 and 3 play in the wheels, as well as the old rack having a little itself.

The track rod ends themselves had also developed an issue. I can't recall what brand they were, but it appears the clips/ties for the rubber boot had come away on both sides at some point, leading to the joints becoming dry and dirt getting into them, despite both boots still looking perfectly fine on the car.

Anyway all of these have now been replaced, with new MOOG inner tie rods and track rod ends fitted this evening.

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The gaiters were both in perfectly good condition, so I just cleaned the inside of them an re-used. As you can see I did add a thick cable tie both sides in the grooves on the inner tie rods though. These boots are a harder plastic type boot, and I noticed even with clamps on the outer side, when compressed they would sometimes slide a bit over the tie rod as they resist compressing much more than a soft rubber boot. The cable ties stop this from happening, so the boots stay exactly where I want them, meaning they can't collect dirt inside them by dragging over the exposed tie rod over time.

 

The steering is so much better now, there is no wheel play, and absolutely zero free movement in the centre of the steering at all like before. The rack feels tight and it is much nicer to drive. Its heavier, but the decreased turns lock to lock is very noticeable, especially when needing to go to full lock when parking etc. Also got some new Toyos fitted to the front, and I did put on my new cam cover a while ago but forgot to show it:

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Engine bay is looking a bit grotty, I should probably give it a clean soon. I'm a little disappointed with the cam cover, while the red lettering came out well the metallic black high temp paint I used is more of a matt grey, But it's still better than the oil covered original one I guess.

 

Next up I have a brand new Hella handbrake cable to fit, a couple of little rust areas to attend to, as well as a couple of bodywork issues that have been bugging me. The car has also had a couple of minor running issues, I think this is potentially related to my wideband sensor reading, perhaps an intermittent earthing issue somewhere. I'm also going to check the exhaust pre-sensor for any blows, as sometimes the AFR readings the last few days have looked oddly lean at idle sometimes, so maybe some fresh air being drawn in. Will get the laptop plugged in and see what's going on.

[Jessopia74]

Good stuff, don't forget to get that tracking & balancing done.

Can you share the part number for the inner rods?

[Bilbo]

2 hours ago, Jessopia74 said:

Good stuff, don't forget to get that tracking & balancing done.

Can you share the part number for the inner rods?

Yeah I'll get the toe plates out this weekend, and take the fronts to be balanced next door.

Inner tie rods: MOOG OP-AX-3175

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/moog/2044303?search=MOOG+Inner+tie+rod+(OP-AX-3175)&_gl=1*1dted37*_up*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9Km3BhDjARIsAGUb4nzbZNQuzOhEUQruBJgZxnbB7Yd9foCv9et_HVvHT8JqrEA9yM7yJSQaAvH8EALw_wcB

 

Track rod ends: MOOG OP-ES-3163

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/moog/2044378?search=MOOG+Track+rod+end+(OP-ES-3163)&_gl=1*1dted37*_up*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9Km3BhDjARIsAGUb4nzbZNQuzOhEUQruBJgZxnbB7Yd9foCv9et_HVvHT8JqrEA9yM7yJSQaAvH8EALw_wcB

Can confirm that both of these parts fit, the inners screw on to the rack, and the outers go on fine as well. Decent amount of thread from the inners inside the track rod end when fitted. Unlike my MX-5 racks in the past, due to the design of the rack/inner tie rods there's no locking tab on them, so I used some loctite on the threads when fitting for peace of mind. They had a small rubber piece on the inners which I assume is for an OE rack boot, but this wasn't suitable for the type of boots I have, so I just cut those off.

Edited September 18 by Bilbo

[Jessopia74]

That's great info mate, thanks for sharing. 

Regarding Toe plates, definitely consider paying for a good laser alignment. One that has castor etc is best.

Did you ever change your top arm ball joints orientation ? (rotate 180degrees)

[Bilbo]

23 hours ago, Jessopia74 said:

That's great info mate, thanks for sharing. 

Regarding Toe plates, definitely consider paying for a good laser alignment. One that has castor etc is best.

Did you ever change your top arm ball joints orientation ? (rotate 180degrees)

No worries.

Yeah I will at some point, I quite like that the rear isn't in any way adjustable so I can't possibly get it wrong 😂 I remember briefly looking at the book and the caster is set with shims on the upper arm? I assume these shims have to be changed if you wish to change the caster? I've really not looked into it more than that, but it does self-steer quite nicely coming out of corners so I have to assume it isn't miles off as it is.

I have read about flipping the ball joints but I have never done so, from my understanding it just adds a degree or 2 of front camber?

[Jessopia74]

2 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

No worries.

Yeah I will at some point, I quite like that the rear isn't in any way adjustable so I can't possibly get it wrong 😂 I remember briefly looking at the book and the caster is set with shims on the upper arm? I assume these shims have to be changed if you wish to change the caster? I've really not looked into it more than that, but it does self-steer quite nicely coming out of corners so I have to assume it isn't miles off as it is.

I have read about flipping the ball joints but I have never done so, from my understanding it just adds a degree or 2 of front camber?

as its lowered so far, it might be that your already as far negative Camber as you need. Only reason to measure castor is to make sure that there has never been an assembly errors on the front arms. As you say, if its feeling nice, then its usually about right.
Top ball joints can be flipped, but TBH what I have done in the past is slot them slightly, set and then use a washer tacked into position to set. 

[Bilbo]

On 19/09/2024 at 11:30, Jessopia74 said:

as its lowered so far, it might be that your already as far negative Camber as you need. Only reason to measure castor is to make sure that there has never been an assembly errors on the front arms. As you say, if its feeling nice, then its usually about right.
Top ball joints can be flipped, but TBH what I have done in the past is slot them slightly, set and then use a washer tacked into position to set. 

Thanks for the tip, it is interesting that it can be changed just by adjusting the top ball joint. 

[Bilbo]

So I had been planning a new exhaust manifold. Bought various bits over a week ago, booked a day off work to do it. DHL lost the parcel with the pipework (it was eventually found days later), and then my mum snapped the driveshaft on her Corolla clean in half. Not ideal, so that holiday day was gone sorting that.

Fast forward to this Friday, I had booked another day off, all the bits had arrived, and I was excited to get on with it. On my way to the unit I was on the duals, just about to overtake a lorry. Saw some mud on the road from tractors crossing over. Lorry hit the mud, out came a perfectly aimed stone from the back wheel and Voilà:

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Direct hit and instant kaleidoscope windscreen. Now at 70mph this is less than ideal. Luckily I managed to overtake the lorry and stick my hazards on and he slowed enough for me to drop into a layby just a few hundred metres up the road.

A mate luckily happened to be driving by and stopped, and took me to the unit. Met up with another mate and used yet another mate's recovery truck to go rescue the car. It was way too far to even attempt to drive with such ridiculous screen damage.

The screen was very delicate and was making the constant noise of Rice Krispies as tiny little pieces of glass popped off and into the car. Closing the door caused the centre to bow outwards, so I decided to tape the screen up to at least protect other people on the road from any glass, which worked quite well.

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Sadly the interior didn't fare so well, and all the bumps on the journey caused the centre to break away into the car, sending a fair bit of glass everywhere. Once we got back to the unit I used a bedsheet to catch the vast majority of the remaining screen, and broke enough of it away so I could pull the rubber seal away and out.

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The glass went into such tiny pieces, it is honestly an absolutely miserable job. Luckily most of the pieces apart from the tiny specks were not sharp and easily removed by hand. I then carefully dug the edge of the window out of the rubber seal bit by bit with a small flathead, and am happy to say not a single bit of damage or even a tear was done to the seal, and almost all glass is completely removed now. The seal is also still incredibly supple and flexible despite its age, which is remarkable to be honest, perfectly reusable. The filler strips and corner pieces are also all intact and perfectly reusable, which is something at least.

 

Anyway, it's just as well this happened really because underneath the seal is very much in need of some restoration and work. Luckily nothing truly hideous, most areas just had localised corrosion and some discolouration.

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The only bad area really is down on the driver's bottom corner where there are a couple of holes:

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After scraping more of the grime and whatnot away it really isn't too bad, and the vast majority of the frame will be perfect after a wire wheel, a bit of rust converter, and a little bit of paint. The holes I will weld up tomorrow, in total there are 3 or 4 and the one in the photo is the worst of the lot.

 

Also just want to say thank you to @Paul Barrettwho very quickly replied about a screen and was preparing to bring his bronze tinted one out of his storage for me to collect. Sadly the screen was damaged and cracked right down the centre, so it was no good to sell, really sorry that happened mate, gutted.

I have since sourced an Ascona screen from another member of the Manta page on Facebook. By a stroke of luck he is coming down to the AMEX to watch Brighton on Sunday, and all being well he will deliver it to my parent's for me to pick up some time in the week.

Not exactly the weekend I had planned, but it is what it is. At least I have caught the rust early enough to fix it without it needing an entire new A pillar, so that's something at least, plus the new screen is a more modern laminated one, which should help stop this happening again in the future hopefully.

[Sutty2006]

Gutted for the windscreen, but at least you’re able to sort the rust while it’s out and fit a potentially better laminated screen. I’m beginning to think that the screen in my 76 probably isn’t laminated either so I might invest in a new one later down the line. 
 

You’ll be finding bits of glass for years now. That stuff goes EVERYWHERE. I’m still finding glass shards in my coupe and it didn’t have any broken windows when I bought it back in 08 🤣

[TheRealExile]

Yeah had a side window done parking up for the football, just out and out mindless vandalism no attempt at theft. I was finding bits years later despite multiple brushouts and hoovers 🙄

[Jessopia74]

The amount of times you pull the seats of a car and glass bits are present is still shocking. 

[®evo03]

That's bad luck, luckily all ok. 

In case you don't know, there is a heater laminated screen available, think is TJM Motorsport. 

Once you get sorted, an airline compressor and hoover will lift most of the shards.

Have you looked at the compensation from the tractors crossing, as there is something in how they are meant to leave road as they found it. 

[Bilbo]

On 05/10/2024 at 09:20, Sutty2006 said:

Gutted for the windscreen, but at least you’re able to sort the rust while it’s out and fit a potentially better laminated screen. I’m beginning to think that the screen in my 76 probably isn’t laminated either so I might invest in a new one later down the line. 
 

You’ll be finding bits of glass for years now. That stuff goes EVERYWHERE. I’m still finding glass shards in my coupe and it didn’t have any broken windows when I bought it back in 08 🤣

On 05/10/2024 at 11:52, TheRealExile said:

Yeah had a side window done parking up for the football, just out and out mindless vandalism no attempt at theft. I was finding bits years later despite multiple brushouts and hoovers 🙄

On 05/10/2024 at 15:42, Jessopia74 said:

The amount of times you pull the seats of a car and glass bits are present is still shocking. 

Hahaha, everyone is on the same page with this then, and yes I am already seeing it 😂 Spent ages cleaning out interior of glass. Shut the door. Got back in, more glass on the floor. So it begins! 😂

On 06/10/2024 at 07:51, ®evo03 said:

That's bad luck, luckily all ok. 

In case you don't know, there is a heater laminated screen available, think is TJM Motorsport. 

Once you get sorted, an airline compressor and hoover will lift most of the shards.

Have you looked at the compensation from the tractors crossing, as there is something in how they are meant to leave road as they found it. 

I did see the heated one you mention, advertised as an Ascona screen by a rally parts company, however have found another now much much cheaper (and laminated). I will look into it, but I honestly doubt there will be any liability accepted, as other vehicles use that side road, they could easily brush it off as "it wasn't us" I'm sure.

[Bilbo]

So, what a crappy weekend that was 😂 However I have been chipping about in my girlfriend's Alto, I do quite like the 50+ MPG I won't lie 😂

So I turned my attention to the windscreen aperture. A few holes, but in terms of the actual rubber mounting lip, zero issues at all. Most of the aperture was ok after a wire wheel. Mainly just discolouration. Around 4 areas with actual holes. This one got a little bit bigger after a wire wheel:

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However most of it wasn't that bad. Scraped off the sealant in the 4 corners, and overall it could have been way way worse.

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However, and there is always a "however" with these kinds of things, welding the holes up was absolute, complete and utter misery. Leaning over, back hurt, metal very thin and loved to blow holes, what a total pain. It's now done good enough for me and ground flat enough for the rubber to go back in fine, but honestly a hateful experience.

Part way through sorting the 2 areas at the top:

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And all done:

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I also lifted back the front parts of headlining and painted rust converter on the inner edges which had some minor discolouration, but thankfully nothing more than that.

Cleaned all the dirt, swarf and whatnot away and got it painted in acid etch primer:

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Then I remembered I had this lying around, used this paint in the past to paint my old steering wheel. The colour was close-ish (by eye) to my old MX-5 so I had used it to paint my steering wheel. I recall it being really tough paint, and that steering wheel never chipped or anything. So I thought while it is basically hidden (apart from very thin slivers next to the rubber that were still red from before the respray), it's closer than red, so it'll do.

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And it did do, almost frighteningly well actually. It's a pretty damn close match to the Toyota Ivory 😂 I added a couple of small bits of sealant over a few areas. Places that looked thin, but not actually holes. I was paranoid, and 2 layers of decent paint I thought just for my peace of mind, lets just layer these little spots with a bit of sealant.

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Looks a bit ugly like that, but it'll be hidden, so I don't care. I will blade the sealant down to almost flat now it is set, so it won't interfere with the windscreen rubber.

 

Oh yeah, the interior was absolutely covered in glass 😂 this was before I removed the screen fully:

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I'd say there was 3 times as much glass by the time I was done, despite using a bed sheet to catch everything I could.

It took a couple of hours with a decent hoover and by hand (the hoover was a godsend for those dusty little shards!), but I'd say 98% of the glass is now removed. The other 2% will periodically appear as and when it wants for the next few years I'm sure. Also hoovered a load out of the demist vents, but I think I will need to get into the heater exchange box at some point as some definitely made it's way all the way into there sadly.

 

As for the screen, the Ascona screen has been acquired, and it is a laminated one. Currently at my parent's house, I'll go and grab it tomorrow evening, planning to fit Wednesday eve.

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My mate at the unit has a load of experience fitting windscreens with string, so he'll be helping me to fit it. Going to buy some 3M Windscreen sealant, and just run the thinnest possible bead around the screen aperture, and also a thin bead in the glass to rubber slot all the way around the rubber seal. I noticed there was some moisture between the rubber and the frame when I removed it, so I want to prevent this occurring again. The 3M stuff is a proper windscreen sealant, not an adhesive/screen bonding product. Non-setting, and permanently flexible, which is exactly what I need for this.

 

Hopefully all goes well, we will see!

[Jessopia74]

Bottom 2 corners are known water trap spots and are usually full of the semi setting stuff to keep the water out, so don’t be too sparing in those areas.  Nice repair though, suppose it’s the silver lining to this problem 😎

[cam.in.head]

yeah the lower areas are bad especially as they angle inwards . the official gm manual says put a bead in the aperture as you are doing but yes i agree with the inner-to-glass area and then i usually fit the window, add more right into the corner recesses ,then fit the trim strip (thats a job and a half even with the proper tool and a lot of the aftermarket trim doesnt fit well into the corner pieces !)

then i mask up and run another bead just under the outer lip all around . this cleans up eith the masking tape and some panel wipe .

some people say you shouldnt need ANY sealer at all but in practise you definately do !

actually fitting and removing the window is easy enough on your own and they usually centralise themselves quite well its the sealing and trim fitting that takes the time 

[Jonathan Pounsett]

Totally agree with @Jessopia74and @cam.in.head’s comments. AutoWindcreens replaced my screen and were adamant that no additional sealing was required as the rubber was in good order. The first time it rained water was getting in everywhere! I was really pissed off because the car had been 100% dry throughout its refurb. The second fitter from AutoWindscreens was “old school” - he knew it needed sealant and pumped it full. He agreed to come back a few weeks later to remove the excess that had oozed out and cleaned everything up. Not had any leaks since.

…and

If you’ve not already done so, remover the flexi ventilation pipes under the dash and vacuum them out and the blower box - you don’t want to blind yourself the first time you demist your screen.