S1 Type 49 Elise Refresh

[Badger02]

Before you remove the wishbone bolts, make a note of how many big washers there are and their position, and then measure their thickness once removed

[Badger02]

Top wishbone is out

[Badger02]

Now I have to make my mind up, do I:

Shotblast or Deox C to remove the dirt/rust, then

Kurust/hammerite or get them plated.

Zinc plating seems to be the best long term solution according to my petrolhead friends, though I've no experience with it, so unsure at the moment.

Have been told to avoid powdercoating as not very resilient to stonechips

[Badger02]

Having a read of this article as I try to understand toe, Castor and Camber angles a bit better

https://wiki.seloc.org/a/Chassis_development

 

 

[Badger02]

And this one

http://sandsmuseum.com/cars/elise/experience/maintenance/alignment/alignment.html

[Badger02]

Removing the wishbone bushes

The bush will then be in the sleeve, the sleeve has a hole in top, put a screwdriver through the hole to push the bush out of the sleeve

[Badger02]

Removing the ball joints 

[Badger02]

Wishbone set now in a mix of Deox C and water with a ratio of 1:8. Will see result in a couple of days. If no good then I might shotblast them 

[Lithopsian]

I can see signs of the original galvanizing on those wishbones!  Must have been living inside a low-humidity cocoon

[JulianT]

Looking good Badger, you’ve inspired me to start my front end refresh. Have a question about the heater. How do you separate the fan from the motor? I’ve removed the clip from the end of the motor shaft but the plastic fan doesn’t move. Do you just tap it off or am I missing something?

[Badger02]

1 hour ago, JulianT said:

Looking good Badger, you’ve inspired me to start my front end refresh. Have a question about the heater. How do you separate the fan from the motor? I’ve removed the clip from the end of the motor shaft but the plastic fan doesn’t move. Do you just tap it off or am I missing something?

My fan was seized onto the shaft. I tried my mole grips to pull it of, but no luck.

If you have a look at my post from the 9th Dec, I raised the fan plus cover on some pieces of wood, then with a punch positioned on the end of the shaft, I gave it a few whacks with my lump hammer which did the trick.

[JulianT]

Sorry, must have missed that post. Will give that a try at the weekend. Thanks again 

[Badger02]

Decided to repaint the brake calipers as well as they look dull. This was the condition when i removed it, have applied some paint stripper but boy that paint is tough, going to take some scrubbing with a wire brush before it's ready for a fresh coat

[Badger02]

Deox C has worked its magic on the wishbones. Amazing product which I only recently found

[Mutley00]

Looking good! I wouldn't Hammerite them though as it chips off just like powder coating. We've just got a thin layer of waxoyl on ours, but we don't run them in the wet.