My part built stylus.

[Schrodinger]

Having acquired this car earlier in the year I am slowly looking her over to see what needs to be done.
I have discovered a few issues some partly due to the fact that the kit was bought in 2003 and has just stood in a garage since.
Two things that have come to light are that the rockers on the front suspension have rubber seals at either end and these have perished, where can I get replacements and is there any "better" replacement for the bearings, I also seem to have a leak from the front dampers, are these serviceable?
One other question, istr that there was an issue with the rear trailing arms to the live axle had a tendency to break as they were straight and "bent" arms were then made available, mine are straight so is this likely to cause problems even though I am only planning to use this car on the road.
thanks in advance for any pointers.

Keith
Aviemore

[stylussprinter]

Having acquired this car earlier in the year I am slowly looking her over to see what needs to be done.
I have discovered a few issues some partly due to the fact that the kit was bought in 2003 and has just stood in a garage since.
Two things that have come to light are that the rockers on the front suspension have rubber seals at either end and these have perished, where can I get replacements and is there any "better" replacement for the bearings, I also seem to have a leak from the front dampers, are these serviceable?
One other question, istr that there was an issue with the rear trailing arms to the live axle had a tendency to break as they were straight and "bent" arms were then made available, mine are straight so is this likely to cause problems even though I am only planning to use this car on the road.
thanks in advance for any pointers.

Keith
Aviemore

Rubber seals ------------- none were supplied on my kit so when building I pushed a short piece of silicone hose over each end of the rocker central tube , pushed to the edges once the rocker was bolted up and cable tied them very tight. Also drilled and tapped the tube and fitted a grease nipple. Since then I've had the rockers out a few times during rebuilding the front end to modify etc ----- and never put the seals back on , just greased often then wiped away the excess.
Bearings ------------ bearings are fine , my car is 17yrs old and I've never changed the bearings , just grease often so you can see it come out the ends.
Shocks -------- are only rebuildable if adjustable type , so phone the shock manufacturer and ask .
Rear trailing links ----------- the only problem would be setting up the car with correct spring/shock lengths , so that when setting chassis height front/rear , the shock piston doesn't run out of travel in driving mode which will be dependant on your own body weight . If the piston runs out of travel , the shock and spring unit becomes a solid item/not a suspension unit = this would then bend the straight link arm. Road or track driving makes no difference to this happening .

If you want advice regarding set-up , I will give it FOC if you want my own design of trailing links which prevent any bending possible but you'll need specific lengths of springs/lbs along with shocks to suit . When I make new links I fit new poly bushes with stainless steel inner pivot tubes , painted ready to fit. Obviously I need to know your body weight

[Schrodinger]

Thanks for the information, I am intending to strip the suspension down to have a look and regrease the bearings and replace all of the rubber bushes with poly bushes in the next few months. I will need your assistance later when I am rebuilding. the shocks are adjustable so I will contact the manufacturer and see if they will give them the once over.
Thanks again

[Schrodinger]

I've taken the engine out, as the hydraulic clutch was leaking, it seems that a 12mm spacer is required as the slave cylinder piston has come out too far and nipped the o ring.
No have a spacer and repair kit on order.
A couple of queries i have, what uprights are used? I thought Escort but the more I look at mine they look like Sierra, I will get a photo and post it up. Also has anybody used a hydraulic throttle linkage?
It seems rather a complicated way of doing things.

The chassis is looking a bit rough where the powder coating is coming off so will need to be rubbed down and painted.

I have also been wondering how easy it would be to strip down the build back to a bear chassis again?

[stylussprinter]

Back to chassis will require cutting out any fibreglass sheet the builder has put in between dash and body . Not a problem , you can re-fit with new sheet etc later. Then the bottom screen area of the body may have been fibreglassed , hopefully just two bolts through the water gutter . The door areas will be riveted , some people may have glassed them too. The rear edge of the boot will have been glassed , so just cut it . Every builder will be slightly different regardless of original intructions . Others have done exactly what you've planned successfully though.

[Schrodinger]

The clutch spacer is now in place and from measurement looks as though it has now brought the release bearing up to the clutch so should work ok.
I have attached some photos, so do these uprights look seirra? if so should I think of changing to escort?
I have now removed the front suspension and you can see that there is a lot of rust, considering this car has never been on the road. Looks like it definitely needs a body off to get the chassis blasted to remove the rust and then primered and painted.

[stylussprinter]

Uprights are Sierra and a bottom wishbone is bent. Personally , I prefer either Escort or ALLY uprights from Andy Silman . Geometry on Andy's is great and they are billet ally not cast like RALLY DESIGN

[Schrodinger]

Both of the bottom wishbones are the same shape and look as though they were made like that.
I do have some other uprights that I think are Escort or possibly Cortina I will have to dig them out to have a look. I did think that the insert in the top of the upright looks a bit crude and has some odd characteristics when the steering is turned.
Do you have any idea of the price of the uprights you suggested? or contact details.

[stylussprinter]

Google SILTECH RACING and contact details are there . It's Dennis and Andy Silman , who I competed against right up till 2005/6 , usually coming 2nd but 1st in the ACSMC Sprint champ'p in 2004 . Try cash

[Schrodinger]

Just checked my garage and I have a pair of escort uprights, so I could use them but will need new brakes and top and bottom joints, what joints are used on the wishbones?

[Schrodinger]

I now have the RT bodywork attached and all painted. It's also now IVAed and registered also back in Aviemore.

[maddog]

I love that colour. How much did the paint cost?

[stylussprinter]

I now have the RT bodywork attached and all painted. It's also now IVAed and registered also back in Aviemore.
Stylus 7a.jpg

Which uprights did you decide on finally ? The car looks great . In the past I've designed various parts to replace standard suspension bits , not recently though . ARB , wishbones/rodended , rear links enabling 15in shocks and 8 to 10in springs to lower the car , adjustable panard .

[Schrodinger]

I love that colour. How much did the paint cost?

"Deep Breath" £5000 for the fibreglass work and the paint. The guy who did the work also put the bonnet bulge on and a couple of mods on the flip front.

[Schrodinger]

I now have the RT bodywork attached and all painted. It's also now IVAed and registered also back in Aviemore.
Stylus 7a.jpg

Which uprights did you decide on finally ? The car looks great . In the past I've designed various parts to replace standard suspension bits , not recently though . ARB , wishbones/rodended , rear links enabling 15in shocks and 8 to 10in springs to lower the car , adjustable panard .

I have the Escort uprights on atm but I am thinking of getting the Siltech Racing uprights on in the future but will wait until I'm back in East Anglia for that.