Thread: My 88" Series 3

Bit more progress, got the steering relay stripped. From all the warnings, stories, etc I was terrified of doing this! So into the press, with a tall box filled with bubble wrap under it, full face mask on, and back turned to it, various things clenched, apart it came





All the bits





The shaft is pretty stuffed, it's really badly pitted. A genuine new shaft seems to be NLA, so I'll be getting a new (genuine) relay. There are aftermarket ones available, but there is some hearsay on the interweb about them failing, so for the extre $120ish I'll be getting a new one.





Also finished painting the chassis Ended up topcoating it with 2 pack black, was a bit more matte than I wanted, but I actually prefer how it looks.





Rear cross member came up good, can't see the repairs, (unless you know where they are)





Onto the hubs next, the diff inner pinion bearing shell is the gift that keeps on giving, it's the perfect size for pressing out the smaller bearing in the hubs, so less hammering





All the old shells pressed out, and time to give the threads a clean up, (M16 for the studs, and 3/8" BSF for the drive flange mounting threads.





All the shells pressed in and ready for fitting to the axles





Rear axle tube preparing for surgery, (and yes that's bubble wrap, don't want to scratch my freshly painted axle tubes!)





When I removed the blanking plugs I found that sand had still managed to get inside So both tubes got a spray of degreaser inside, then flushed out with the pressure cleaner, (on a scale of things I don't want inside the axles sand rates higher than water).





Refitting the drain bung, wish I'd figured this out earlier





Dropped the diff center in, and when I was tightening the nuts one of the studs came loose, I had to hold it up with some pliers and cut it off.





Robbed a spare stud from the spare axle tube and pulled it up tight with some spacers and a nut





Diff center in




And the reason for putting the Ashcroft center in the rear diff, new 24 spline HD axles





Brakes on, new shoes, springs, cylinder, hopefully this will provide many good years of stopping!





And, finally, both sides on, and the new lines loosely in place, (they will need some final adjustment when the brackets and springs are fitted).





Cheers,

Love your work Tim. A real credit to you. It's gunna look special when its finished. Too good to get dirty!

Thanks Chris, I'll promise to try and not be too precious with it!

Cheers,

Originally Posted by TimNZ

Quick question about the hub bearings, with them being oil lubricated do you still pack them with grease? The book says to pack the hub, but makes no mention of the bearings themselves?

Cheers,

You pack them with grease to provide lubrication until oil makes its way into the bearings. Early models had a filler plug in the drive flange and you filled the hub with oil after assembly. (Filler plugs deleted about Series 2)

John

And continuing on with the axles

Drive flanges on





I always struggle with finding the most "backed off" position of the brake adjusters, so I've ground a notch on the upper most side of the bolt and added some red paint. I know the red paint will probably become invisible after the first few k's, but why not?





Put the brake drums on only to find the new retaining screws sit proud





So after a bit of work on the pillar drill with a countersinking bit all is right again





And all together with the wheels on





Onto the front alxe, diff center in, and axle seals before I forget!





Swivel outers ready to go with all the threads cleaned out





The studs on the bottoms of the swivel outers are supposed to be made up of 2 types, one set of pairs with thin studs, and one set with thick shoulders on the studs. For some reason I ended up with 3 of one type and 5 of the other?





So after robbing the correct stud off the spare axle, the outers were fitted, and I got to play the spring balance and shim game.





Seal in and all done. (well, I missed one bit.... ) I packed the swivel seal lips with O-Ring grease, bit more fluid than grease, and a bit heavier than oil.





And, both sides done:





Stub axles and brakes on, no more free wheeling hubs:





And tyres fitted





Pair of axles ready to go under the chassis, (yes, I know there's a manky, dirty track rod on there! It's yet to be dealt with).





I'm really happy with how the wheels came up, they're still shod with the cheap tyres I purchased in NZ, but they can stay for now, (even if they seem to be named after a Bond girl!).

Well, I'm off to have a shower, put my feet up and have an ale!

Cheers,

Bit of a frustrating day today, one of those 2 steps forward, 8 steps sideways, 1 step back kind of days.

Got back to a rolling chassis, sort of..... I've missed ordering 2 of the spring bolts, and the Superpro kit I ordered is for a LWB, (I checked the paperwork and I says SWB thankfully). Fortunately I ordered the kit from a local company, unfortunately they are closed till the new year

The bolts I missed are 9/16" x 4 1/4", of course the local bolt place has bolts that only go up to 4".... I have to order a new steering relay, so they can come over with that. Until I get the bolts, and the correct suspension bushes, I cannot do up the suspension bolts, as it needs to be compressed to half travel first, (well, according to the book anyway).








Started on getting the brake lines fitted:





All the lines are new, since most of the old ones looked like this:





Was starting to look good, until I came to the bit where the PDWA valve is, (AKA the "it'll never let you bleed the brakes" valve). I'm considering replacing the valve with a level sensor in the master cylinder reservoir, but the junction pieces supplied from the company that did the lines are not threaded deep enough to accept the threaded ends of the lines.

So, I'm going to have to take them off and get the ends redone tomorrow

At least I've got the task of getting the rear loom back through the chassis, I mean, how hard can that be?

Cheers,

The other decision that I've been putting off, is colour... I'm not too fond of the original colour, (sand/limestone), and have been tossing up between Marine Blue, and Masai Red.

I am leaning towards Masai Red as it is very close to my company colour, however Red is, (or so I've been told), a difficult colour to paint, and I don't want the car to be too "loud". The roof and hard top sides will be the factory Limestone.

Cheers,

Hi Tim, This doesn't appear to be usual rear flexible pipe (see attached) kinds you see on series vehicles. Did you make one yourself?

BTW awesome job....keep up the good work

Regard,
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