soldave

Spotter's badge for that man. Will take a look at the shock and make sure it's ok. Did you go for stock replacement springs?

Big rubber mallet and some brute forcing and managed to get the hub carrier off the car. Couldn't separate the driveshaft from the hub carrier so will leave that for the garage to do. Both joints looked like they'd seen better days to be honest. I'd love to be able to replace the rear shocks too, but don't really have the finances for that right now. Just have to wait for the joints to come in from the States, and get the other side suspension off so I have everything I need for my buddy's garage to do their bit in a week or 2

Pre-empting the answer, I've been looking at 2 hub pullers: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Laser-3699-2-inch-Hub-Puller/dp/B0037241T4 https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cht240-universal-hub-puller My only worry with them (other than them breaking) would be wheel nuts might be put under a lot of pressure if the drive shafts aren't keen on coming out.

34mm fitted and with 450Nm of torque on the impact gun, the hub nut didn't stand a chance! So next question: should the drive shaft just knock out now with some force (i.e. heavy rubber mallet or similar) or a hub puller? I put a hammer to it with a block of wood inbetween but it wasn't budging so might need something more substantial. Or do I have to pull the bearing carrier at the same time? If I do then I might change bearings at the same time, and I'm assuming that these have to be pressed in place, or can they go in by hand? Apologies for the endless questions!

Bought a 34mm from Halfords so let's see where that gets me tonight. If too big I'll take it back and get the 32 instead.

Thanks for that Dan. Dunc said he thought they could be different sizes (I guess they made do with whatever was in the parts bin that day!). Not ordered anything yet but going to get an impact gun from Machine Mart tomorrow so will decide on my socket at that time.

Thanks for that. 1 5/16 works out to about 33mm so I've now heard 32, 33 and 34! Will get a 32mm and see if it's too big or too small.

Much appreciated

Thanks for the thoughts Dunc. I did look at that thread last night, which is where I read about the Spicer 5-1310X joints that don't require greasing. I also did a little research on the Neapco Brute joints in the US which you looked at previously, which are also non-greasable joints. Both are options Alternatively, do you know the part number from Bailey Morris of the joints you used?

I guess so. Yeah... that could have ended very badly. Going to order 4 of these. I know there's some debate about non-greasable joints but have read good things about these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271383469075 Will have to buy a hella-big torque wrench too to get that hub nut tight again. While the rest is apart it'll give me chance to have a good look at those studs that I couldn't free last time attached to the lower links. Which reminds me: what size is the hub nut? I've seen anything from 32mm to 34mm mentioned.

Can someone sense check me please and take a look at this video. The universal joint is supposed to move on 2 planes (up/down, left/right) at both ends of the driveshafts, right?

Thanks Dan - it does. What would I be looking for if I'm checking it for wear? EDIT: Incidentally, looking at that right shoe, it does look like it could do with replacing. Looks to be getting a little skinny.

Thanks for the thoughts. Couldn't hear anything rattling against the exhaust as I was turning the wheel though.

Went for a 5-10 minute drive and found vibrations driving straight as well as turning right, but not when turning left. Got back and felt the brake drums - while the driver's side was probably a little warmer that the passenger's, it wasn't really hot. Jacked the car up again and pulled the driver's side brake drum off for a little look around. First off, I think we can rule out the diff; the driveshaft connection to the diff rotates nice and smoothly. What I did try was reconnecting the driveshaft to the diff without using the brake drum. Doing that, when I tried to rotate the hub it was very tough to rotate every 180 degrees. That could possibly be because of the bolts holding driveshaft through to diff, and usually having the drum inbetween them. Inside the brake drum itself, things don't look too bad to be honest, although I've not seen many drums before. One of the shoes looked a bit more worn than the other, but I don't think it would cause a vibration like I'm having. The question is... what could be causing it? Will be getting the front wheels balanced soon just in case.

The plot possibly thickens. Lifted the two rear wheels again and took the handbrake off. Passenger side wheel spins (well, rotates) without any big problems. Driver's side, well it turns about a quarter of a turn and then takes some effort to get it around the next bit, then another quarter turning before extra effort required, and repeat. Next up, starting the car up. Fired it up and put it into 1st gear. Only the passenger wheel was spinning; the driver's was trying to, but wasn't getting over that point that took me effort to spin, even when I put my foot on the gas. Even put it into 2nd gear and the driver's side wheel spun for a couple of seconds before getting stuck again. Now I may be wrong but I thought with both wheels in the air, they should both spin unless there's a lot of resistance on one side (which there seems to be). With that in mind, do we think that wheel bearing would be a fair diagnosis?

I've actually had it up on jackstands and have been shaking the wheel, but no movement. Will try rotation of the wheels tonight too and see if I can hear anything that sounds a little off. I'll also take a look at the track control arms and bushes around that area on both sides.

Driving to a car show yesterday and I noticed that over 40mph I was getting a vibration throughout the whole car that increased with speed. Was happening when driving straight, turning left or right. Today I pulled the two rear tyres off for balancing and found them way out of spec. Got them back on and there is no vibration driving straight or turning left, but it comes back on right turns, over about 35. Happens when turning and then for a few seconds after straightening up. Left turns are silky smooth. Should also say that the vibration doesn't seem to be acceleration/braking related. Now I'm going to get the front two wheels balanced as hopefully they'll be way out of spec and it'll solve my problem. But I'm also thinking about what if it's not that. Now I've done the 3 o'clock/9 o'clock and 12 o'clock/6 o'clock test on the wheels and there doesn't appear to be any movement, but that doesn't necessarily rule out wheel bearings (which would be my next thought). Any other thoughts on a diagnosis though? Also, if it's front wheel bearing what's the procedure for changing them? I've looked in the service manual and can only find rear wheel bearing replacements mentioned. Should be going to Liverpool in a couple of weeks but would rather not have the car shaking on each right turn I make. Thanks for any thoughts you guys may have.

Sweet. And I as just watching this documentary on Group B the other day: http://dai.ly/x14ems5

Not had any time to work on the car over the past few weeks. Trips abroad, work on the new house/garden, and much more important family matters have needed priority attention. I did manage to get the valve covers painted in wrinkle black, and am reasonably pleased with the way they turned out. The "after" is closest to camera/bottom, by the way Did go for a drive out to the Pennines today to let the old girl see the sun. Very enjoyable although I noticed a vibration over about 40mph. Can't quite remember but possibly more than the normal driving around vibration, which I guess is normal. Will have to go over things like tyre pressures, and then look to all my suspension bushings etc to see if something can be improved. Still have to sort out those 4 studs at the back and get them greased. Lots to do, and little precious time to do it in.

Thanks for the heads-up. Might have to attend that.

Thanks for the advice. Am going to be tackling this this weekend hopefully. Going to start blasting them with Pure Gas in the next couple of days. Might also get a blowtorch for some heat, just in case it's needed to free things up.

Got mine in the engine bay and they put the rest of it to shame with their shininess! One thing I did notice that was interesting is that my Valvoline Lubricants sticker is in silver, not gold as seen on some others. I've not replaced that one as it's pretty good condition but am wondering why it is a different colour? Only reason I can think of is that my car was originally gold and so they used a non-gold sticker for contrast.

Yeah, to cover what happened with mine, the ignition light needs to be seeing over a certain voltage (or something like that). With an LED it wasn't seeing over that and needed revving a little to get the voltage over and the alternator to fire into life. If your ignition light is working though then it's probably not that.

Got mine on my return from Japan today so will try to clean the engine bay and get them in tomorrow

Looking at replacing the two ground wires on my Eclat (the one from the battery and the one from the engine), as the latter is looking like it's seen better days. Was wondering what thickness of wire I'd need for this though. 4AWG / 5.19mm diameter wire and 8AWG / 3.25mm wires seem to be the favoured thicknesses. I'm guessing that 8AWG would be all I'd need as the Eclat is hardly full to the brim with electronics, but what does everyone think?