[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Well after driving the car for the last couple of days, the creaks havn't got any worse, which I supose is good news.

Ordered factor drop link arms ( £13 for 2, as opposed to ford £51+vat each), just to rule out the creak as being the ARB.

But,

theres a horrible groaning noise on full lock.
now it maybe this was there all the time, but after the accident, I've not had the radio on, so any noises that were always there might now be more apparent.
When the rack is disconnected from the hubs its not there, but once under load its really loud.
Was hoping to change the pas fluid as it looks pretty black, but on inspection, what I thought was the pump is just a reseviour

Theres two pipes on the reseviour - big one off the bottom, which I'm thinking is the feed to the pump and the one with the red button, which I'm thinking is the return.

If I disconnect the return, would it be the same process as with an ST, lock to lock to empty the rack of fluid, then reconnect, fill reseviour and lock to lock until its quiet ?

THx Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Well I posted the last post too soon as had an idea and topped up the pas fluid, rotated the steering with the car on the ground stationary and theres no noise on full lock.

So, I'm guessing that puts the cause back into suspesion land.

Really frustrating that I can't get my spare hubs built up as then I could get rid of the old shocks and top hats , hopefully I can get them to the blasters some time this week

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Had a result and managed to blag a week off work to get this repair finished properly.
Hubs are going into blasters tommorrow, promised 24hr turn round so can rebuild on wednesday

Struts are all built up and ready to go in.

I'd like to get built up with new goodrich lines, but the calipers are pretty rough ( although functional ) so if the OEM hoses don't come off cleanly I'll leave until I've built up my spare calipers

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Just got back from the blasters, promised the hubs would be ready to pick up in morning, so todays job will be to build the press back up so I can get new wheel bearings in.
I was planning on spraying the hubs prior to fitting the bearings, but on reflection, I'm thinking of fitting the bearings, then masking them up and spraying, less change of knackering the paint that way ( famous last words )
Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Took the opportunity to clean up the wheel studs that are going back into the refurbed hubs
Wire brushed the back and splines and used white spirit on the threads

gonna refit to the hubs before masking the threads and spraying silver

Factor drop links arrived

Not sure how its gonna pan out with these as they are OEM length and I'll be dropping the car by 30mm, but as I posted previously, the adjustable drop links I bought dont fit, so maybe these can be shortened ?

Any advice ?
Thx
Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

More happiness arrived in the post,

Zetec S steering wheel, exactly the same as the ST version, will look far better than whats currently fitted

 

[zippy_st]

Not sure how its gonna pan out with these as they are OEM length and I'll be dropping the car by 30mm, but as I posted previously, the adjustable drop links I bought dont fit, so maybe these can be shortened ?

Any advice ?
Thx
Al

Do you need shorter links? I have been running stock links no problems, the lowered height has not caused it to knock or foul on anything. Although on a ST not ZS, I wouldnt have thought 30mm would be ok

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Do you need shorter links? I have been running stock links no problems, the lowered height has not caused it to knock or foul on anything. Although on a ST not ZS, I wouldnt have thought 30mm would be ok

HI zippy,
Hopefully not, but I have been told the ARB should be adjusted when lowering, and the only "adjustment" would be the drop link length.
I'll try it out with these and see how it is.
Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,
Just got back from the blasters, really pleased with results

Time to get masking up and spraying

Also just wanted to double check, the brown ring on the bearing goes in facing the abs sensor ?

THx - Al

 

[Vulpes]

Whiteline sell a plethora of drop links in all sorts of bolt pattern / shapes / sizes/ adjustable lengths.

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Whiteline sell a plethora of drop links in all sorts of bolt pattern / shapes / sizes/ adjustable lengths.

thx, I'll check them out

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Made a start on the hub rebuild.
Masked the bit the bearing goes onto and sprayed up the front faces

Once the front faces are dry, which will probably be next week in this weather, I'll press the wheel studs in and spray up the backs.
Using calliper paint as its got really good coverage

 

[_jimmy_]

tbh I had standard length drop links with Bilstein B12 kit and it handled really bloody well. Fitted for 6 years.
I used Meyle ones as they are chunkier than OEM ones which are a bit spindly. Just a tiny bit more unsprung weight.

 

[alan ST Bentley]

tbh I had standard length drop links with Bilstein B12 kit and it handled really bloody well. Fitted for 6 years.
I used Meyle ones as they are chunkier than OEM ones which are a bit spindly. Just a tiny bit more unsprung weight.

Hi Jimmy,
Yeah I'm sure they will be fine, tbh I didn't go mad on the struts so can't see it being a problem, especially as I've been driving around for a week with only 1 drop link fitted and havn't noticed any difference

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

First wheel bearing in

I should have bought a press years ago

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Both bearings now in
Masked up and ready for some paint

First coat done

Quite pleased with progress today.
Hoping to get all the painting finished tomorrow and if the paints dry enough mate hubs to struts - ready to go in at the weekend.

 

[zippy_st]

HI zippy,
Hopefully not, but I have been told the ARB should be adjusted when lowering, and the only "adjustment" would be the drop link length.
I'll try it out with these and see how it is.
Al

Its a bit like in theory vs in reality.
In theory yes, there may be some benefit to adjustable links, but also in theory, you need to change your shocks to match your springs, you need adjustable top mounts to sort out the camber, and you need roll centre correction kits for the new ride height (to name just a few)
In reality, on a road car, a small drop in spring height and leaving everything else stock will be just fine.
P.S nice progress so far

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Its a bit like in theory vs in reality.
In theory yes, there may be some benefit to adjustable links, but also in theory, you need to change your shocks to match your springs, you need adjustable top mounts to sort out the camber, and you need roll centre correction kits for the new ride height (to name just a few)
In reality, on a road car, a small drop in spring height and leaving everything else stock will be just fine.
P.S nice progress so far

Hi zippy,
thx mate, yeah, and if she hadn't driven into a kerb, I could be working on my ST

 

[alan ST Bentley]

HI All,

Well after painting the outer sides of the hubs I tried finding a way of pressing the wheel bolts in, with the press, and failed epically, reverted to a vice a spacer and an old wheel nut and wound them all in.
Knackered the paint but hey ho, this isn't a show car.
Anyway, wheel bolts now in, sprayed up reverse, I guess I'll have to mask up wheel studs and give the front another coat

hubs given another coat

and front of other hub bits sprayed

I've properly had enough now, will bring the hubs down the house so they can dry off overnight, and then press the two halves together tomorrow.

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

went to Ford this morning and got new abs sensor bolts, I figured as all the other bolts were new, why not.
Got two new abs sensors ordered as I haven't got a good track record of getting them out without snapping them

Pressed the two halves of the hubs back together

At this point I admit to a schoolboy error, I blocked the black part of the hub up, aligned the silver bit, pressed it in and it pushed the inner race out of the back.
I'd blocked onto the hub, not the bearing, so turned it over and pressed the inner race back in, it feels ok, so fingers x'd.
No mistakes on the second one - all good

Going to fit the shocks to the hubs later, I did a dry run last night and they don't go in bad, last 5 or so mm gets tight

Al.