So having realised that I had left this baby out of my suspension build I set about sorting that out.

It was easier to remove having done it a few times, frustrating none the less.

I then got on with putting the master cylinder together, this went very well and it was soon complete and painted.

Next was the idler.  I put it together and it had a rough spot when I rotated it so I striped it, cleaned out the grease and then hunted for the culprit which turned out to be a foreign object that had embedded itself into the main shaft where it sits on the casing.  So I spent a while cleaning it all up before making a new gasket and putting it back together again.  Success this time.

Onto the steering box.  I cleaned out the shaft and refitted the felt bush at the top of the column.  I then set about cleaning up the shims and all the other components.

One of the threads need a clean out, BSF.

I then laid out all the parts and decided I would grease the bearing cup at the top of the worm drive and fit it complete.

Like a blithering idiot I dropped it on route to the housing.  I spent an hour or more on my hands and knees looking for the ball bearings and only managed to find 11 or the 14.  Damn.  I grew frustrated and gave up and headed for a hot bath.  Tomorrow's task.

I missed a weekend.  Well actually I worked in the garage for the last two weekends and never got round to writing about it.  I put the second side of the suspension together which was much easier than the first because I knew what I was doing.

Then I turned my attention to the anti-roll bar which was very enjoyable to fit even though it took me ages to work out what thread the mounting bolts were.  I thought they'd be UNF but I couldn't quite get the guts to just plug a tap into it and clear out the paint.  In the end I did and it worked out well.

The day day I put the brake back plates on and instantly knew something wasn't right.  When I tightened up the bolts I lost smoothness in the kingpin.  Not sure why and a bit confused at the thought of the stub axel being bent out of line by the back plate I took a pause and caught advice from others.

That was last weekend.   This weekend I took off the plates and instantly saw the culprit, the kingpin was rubbing on the backplate.  a fresh metal gauge shows in the photo below.

I got the angle grinder out and modified the backplate, painted it and installed it on the car.  Hey presto, a perfectly smooth kingpin, phew.

I then turned my attention to the steering.  I stripped down the steering box and noticed that there were some ball bearings loose in it.  Now I hadn't planned on actually stripping this but now it was apparent that I would need to so apart it came.  Quite glad I did as I will replace the felt washer at the top of the column.

I cleaned out the box itself and then ground down the shaft before painting it and the idler box and a few other bits and pieces.

Whilst I was looking for the clamp at the top of the column that sits off the support for the steering wheel I discovered a bag with amongst other things a rubber for the front suspension and thought that it was odd that I had one as I wasn't aware of it.  Only then did I realise that I hadn't fitted it to the pan it was supposed to be attached to before I installed the suspension.  Damn, I have to take it all apart again.  Oh well.

I started early this morning having dropped my wife off for a run at 6:45 (On a Sunday).  It went well from the off, I found the missing cotter pins that I couldn't find yesterday and realised, during the night, that the Dremel would be a good way of removing paint and it was.

I followed the service manual and was very grateful for the step by step instructions.  So much of what I have done to date hasn't really had that so it felt quite safe, and enjoyable.


Here it is starting to come together.

I was a little worried about the movement of the swivel pin in the suspension arms as it is supposed to be easy, in reality it is smooth but it is not easy.  I was also a little troubled by the number of washers needed for the swivel pin and found that I went for a repeat of the original set up.  Everything else went well.

Then I got to the spring, gulp.  I remember as a kid working at my Dad's yard that removing springs was a very tricky project unless you have really good quality spring clamps and here am I looking at the service manual which says that one should use two 3/8 x 4" bolts.  I didn't have 4" bolts but I did have a length of 8mm studding which I cut up into three  6" pieces.  I took a photo before I started as I wasn't at all convinced that this would work.

But, you know, it did work.  And it worked very well.  I am really pleased about this.

Here is the finished suspension.  However, I realise that I have the wrong anti-roll bar mount on, it should have been the one from the other side, donut.  I couldn't actually find a photo of it in the service manual and I couldn't be bothered to come in from the garage and go through my photos on the computer to check so I had a punt, and got it wrong.  However, when I was planning this stage of the rebuild I was also not sure how long the bolts should be and ordered 2.25" 3/8 UNF bolts and matching locking nuts but when it was all done up there isn't quiet enough thread pocking through on the side with the roll- bar mount so I need to remove them and replace them with longer ones.

I feel very happy with it though.  I appreciate that I need to fit the brakes up but it still feels like a visible step has been taken.

Having cleared the snow from the path to the garage and turned the heater on I got the parts out for the first side of the front suspension.  I thought, stupidly, that this would be a quick job.  However, I hadn't catered for the amount of time I would need to give to cleaning out the POR15 paint so that the cotter pins would fit.  Wasn't helped by a leak in the house plumbing which took priority or the desire to see Tottenham Hotspurs play this afternoon.  Anyway, I didn't get very far.

It feels like I've been away from the garage for a long time but I just haven't been about so there you have it.

I spent the weekend in the garage and got a few things much further on.

Whilst prepping for fitting the axel I had an uneasy feeling about the position of the rubber that stops it hitting the chassis.  This was mounted in two pre-existing threaded holes but seemed out of place.  Once I had installed the leaf spring I became more convinced of an issue.

Curiosity got the better of me and I opened up the original chassis up from its resting place and made some measurements which confirmed that the rubbers were indeed in the wrong place.










































With all that done I set about sorting out the garage.  The good thing about a hard winter is that on some days the sky is blue and there is no chance of rain.  Today was such a day and I cleared out the garage in preparation of the axel going in.

JP, an old Healey owner offered to lend a hand and help me get the axel in, thanks JP.

I now have the car turned round and ready for me to fit up the front suspension.  Great stuff.