Having stripped the driver side suspension and fitted the bushes to the stub axel last week all I had to do this week was finish cleaning the pieces up, ream the bushes and then paint the lot.  It took two days.  I don't think I am very fast these days.  Reaming the bushes was very hard work as well.  Need to get a move on as I am beginning to think that I am too old to finish the car.

I soaked the metal with metal prep from POR15 and left it to do it's thing.

Then the paint, 2 coats.

I have been collecting wheels for some time now with a degree of success.  I set up a search on eBay for 48 spoke wire wheels and every now and then it pops up with something suitable.  I bought 4 initially for £60 but they are probably a bit too far gone to use which is a shame, I think I'll sell those on again.  I have bought 3 separate wheels since then and they are all very good, one is brand new and all were pretty cheap.  I decided some time ago that I will use the Michelin XAS 180 tyre which Longstone tyres recommend as they are a similar diameter to the original and I want as much ground clearance as possible.  The main issue is that they are about £250 each which is going to cripple me.  It occurred to me over the Christmas holiday that I should put a search on eBay for these as well as the wheels.  Last week I came up trumps, a brand new tyre for £35 delivered.  It came yesterday and it is perfect.  One down, four to go.

In the garage today I started to to fit the bushes for the king pin.  It was really difficult, in fact it took all day.  Next weekend I will ream the bushes and paint the parts.  Then I think it must be time to get the engine out and paint that.  At this rate I will end up installing the drive train in the coming months which will be exciting.

It's Saturday and I love Saturday.  In the garage after a small egg on toast and a few cups of coffee, heater on and bikes out side getting cold.

I decided that I will work on the drivers side suspension.

First job is to strip it down, great fun.  I notice that this side doesn't have a cap to hold the grease in in the hub so that is something I need to get ordered.  Some of the bolts are a little difficult to get un done and strip or  damage their threads; this is odd as the lot is somewhat less corroded than the other side.

I enjoyed the strip down.  Next job was to remove the bushes from the stub axel which went well.  Then I started to clean the pieces up with the angle grinder and a wire brush, great fun.

Having finished the clean up of the shock I painted it today with POR15 matte black paint.

Needed to get on with some work on the cycles so unable to do any more today.

Spent the last day of the Christmas holidays in the garage doing very little but liking it a lot.  I got the sandblast cabinet out and blasted the shock that I had previously worked on but it didn't work very well so all I actually did was make a lot of noise and dust and very little else.  Still, I was happy enough.

I established that the side of the car that I have exposed is not the same as the side whose front suspension I have renovated, rather typically.  So I need to turn the car round which means taking it our of the garage and that is not easy in January when it is raining, oh well.

A little bit of rubbing down and painting today on a few more of the steering components, lazy day.

I visited John yesterday and borrowed his reamers along with gaining a new backplate, phew.  Reaming the bushes was an enjoyable activity although not a fast one.  The kingpin now fits well and so I proceeded to give the suspension components another clean before coating them in metal ready and painting them with POR15.  An enjoyable day.

In-between coats of paint I got out the bearings for the hub and realise that they are not symmetrical meaning they need to go in a certain way, naturally I don't know which way.  The annoying thing is that I could have asked John had I realised before today, oh well.  Edit: having just read the manual I realise that the bearings are marked; must read the manual, must read the manual, must re,......