My friend Rimmer...

So I entered a Rimmer Bros Facebook Polybushes competition to win a mug!

And won, I'm now the proud owner of a Polybush mug ;)

Front suspension fitted...

Finally finished refitting the front suspension, this allow me to move car for next stage of removing the engine and gearbox.

Everything is stripped and ready, just need to hire a engine crane for the day and a friend!

3 hrs

Anti-roll bar poly to be fitted later

In the post today...

Received replacement poly bushes for Rimmer Bros today!

Two working days not bad, just a shame I was required to send both parts back.

Jiffy bag & postage – £3.95

Spot the difference...

Assembling all the parts to refit the font suspension I discovered that the spacer tube for the new inner track arm poly bush is 5mm short.

The front/rear suspension poly bush kit was purchased a few months ago from Rimmer Bros, I called the returns department and was told I needed to the return the bush and a replacement would be sent out by return.

Now I know why some rebuilds can take so long! 

30 mins

Paint job...

Over the past couple weeks while doing some the other jobs I've been cleaning and painting the front suspension parts for refitting when replacement ball joints and track rod ends are ordered.

Other parts like disks, dampers, springs, bump stops and gaiters will be bought later due financial pressured, It's hard to justified spending money on the car - food on the table comings first.

10 hrs

Front anti roll bar...

With both ends free, I removed the four bolts holding the anti roll bar to the subframe witch as you can see from my photos I had fitted a Anti-drive spacer blocks 30 years ago after reading a article in a magazine on improving the TR7 handling.

My father made them up for me because at the time no kits where available. 16mm spaces was the preferred size – lots of info on this subject has been written since, so I will need to see when fitting uprated bushes, spring and inserts what the correct size is.

2 hrs

Front suspension removal...

I started by giving all the parts a good dose of WD40 to loosen everything up!

First I removed the nuts from the ends of the Anti roll bar, then the Tie rod lever allowing access to the Ball joint split pin and nut. Refitting the 'castle' head nut upside down and giving it a good hit to free from the strut leg.

Then removing the bolt from Track arm on the subframe, then the three nuts holding the suspension to the turret I carefully lifting the assembly away from the car. I repeated this for the other side.

Stripping down strut leg started with a ring around to see if I could borrow a spring compressor tool – but no luck.

A very good and old (that's number of years I've know him!) friend Nick came to my rescue with the  idea to using straps, as the road spring are 35 years old and knackered we could compress them using straps he had – which we did.

I will need to buy the right tool when fitting the uprated spring.

I then started cleaning up some of the parts for painting.

6 hrs

Rear axle refitted...

Time to refit the rear axle so I can move and turn the car. Next big job to remove the engine.

Using new ploy bushes I assemble the axle, tie bar and trailing arms. Then using the old shocks and springs for the moment as I will be under sealing and refitting the fuel tank later.

All went back together very easily other then having to adjust brake pads so the drums would fit.

2 hrs

Trailing arm, rear tie bar and anti roll bar...

After rubbing down and painting I fitted the new poly bushes. Using some of the wife's washing up liquid to lubricate they pushed in easily.

The anti roll bar was also stripped and painted.

5 hrs