what have you done to your car today ?

Battoussai

Active Member
Mar 22, 2016
475
130
Portugal
Thanks everyone for all your patience. Both sides are back in now. I managed to tear the boot on the offside ball joint, so rather than put that back together, I'm just going to order a new one and wait to put it back on its wheels when I've fitted that.

Just got to do the rears now and barring any surprises with the top mounts there, I should have that done quickly enough. I'm sure this post will age well though - expect me to be complaining about a snapped bolt or something later in the week.

It's not like I can drive anywhere at the moment anyway - 1/4 of a tank isn't going to last long if the whole petrol station thing doesn't work itself out in a few days.


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Glad you've sorted it out. Everything tight? Does it sits in the same distante to the floor?
 

Yellow fr

Gone to new owner so seat less for now
Sep 6, 2018
1,547
1,062
Sandbeds West Yorkshire
Do you have a vice at all ?
Good work with the fronts I always take the drive shaft nut off gives a bit more room just remember to put it back in to the wheel bearing before the shocker goes all the way in

The vice with help with holding the shocker when it comes to unbolting it from the top mount


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Yellow fr

Gone to new owner so seat less for now
Sep 6, 2018
1,547
1,062
Sandbeds West Yorkshire
Move some stuff from my garage so I could park my car in the garage
bc59d72bcff57035328afd005a122cd8.jpg



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iammooks

Active Member
Nov 27, 2018
1,784
1,172
Move some stuff from my garage so I could park my car in the garage
bc59d72bcff57035328afd005a122cd8.jpg


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Finally someone who uses their garage as a garage. My brother just turned a bloody DOUBLE garage into a bar. I can't imagine what I'd do if I had that space, but it would involve a restoration that's for certain - not a bar.

Do you have a vice at all ?
Good work with the fronts I always take the drive shaft nut off gives a bit more room just remember to put it back in to the wheel bearing before the shocker goes all the way in

The vice with help with holding the shocker when it comes to unbolting it from the top mount


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No vice, but the noisy gun came in handy getting the old front shocks out without messing about with the allen key business. I've seen someone do the same with the rears once they've got the top cap thing off, so hopefully that'll work.

To be honest the only reason I didn't take the driveshaft out, other than because the wheels were off and the car was off the ground, was that there's so much conflicting information about torque specs etc. I've seen some people say to torque it higher than my 3/8 torque wrench will do, and then turn the wheel before doing a half turn, and others just saying to torque it to 110nm, which seems too low.

Glad you've sorted it out. Everything tight? Does it sits in the same distante to the floor?

No idea at the moment. I'm desperate to get it back on its wheels and to see how much difference it's made, but until I can do the ball joint it's going to stay on axle stands.

That reminds me - I need to find that part number again so I can put an order in. It had only been in for six months too...


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MoToJoJo

Active Member
Mar 25, 2014
823
653
Northants
Sounds like the good old Haynes inspired phrase “Fitment is the reverse of removal? Like f$@k is it!”

Good to see it’s back together, just don’t question it else it might notice and go wrong somewhere else 😂
 
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iammooks

Active Member
Nov 27, 2018
1,784
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Sounds like the good old Haynes inspired phrase “Fitment is the reverse of removal? Like f$@k is it!”

Good to see it’s back together, just don’t question it else it might notice and go wrong somewhere else

It wouldn't have been so bad if the last few jobs I've done on the car hadn't been total pigs.

You're spot on when it comes to the Haynes thing. It's even worse when you haven't done the job before and none of the guides say anything about how hard it is to get it all back together.

Glad I went back and finished the job today though. I was going to wait until Wednesday when the weather was supposed to be better and my legs had recovered, but just went for it and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be after what happened yesterday.

So just the rears to do once I can get the front wheels on the ground again, last two fuel hoses and new fuel filter, and I can start doing fun stuff like the boost gauge and paint.


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Yellow fr

Gone to new owner so seat less for now
Sep 6, 2018
1,547
1,062
Sandbeds West Yorkshire
It wouldn't have been so bad if the last few jobs I've done on the car hadn't been total pigs.

You're spot on when it comes to the Haynes thing. It's even worse when you haven't done the job before and none of the guides say anything about how hard it is to get it all back together.

Glad I went back and finished the job today though. I was going to wait until Wednesday when the weather was supposed to be better and my legs had recovered, but just went for it and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be after what happened yesterday.

So just the rears to do once I can get the front wheels on the ground again, last two fuel hoses and new fuel filter, and I can start doing fun stuff like the boost gauge and paint.


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Don’t forget to get the tracking done when the car is back on all four wheels


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iammooks

Active Member
Nov 27, 2018
1,784
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The replacement ball joint arrived today so I was straight out to fit that. Decided that as it was a lovely afternoon I'd do the rear shocks as well.

Much, much easier than the fronts - but I can see where the vice comment came from. Managed to do it with an offset spanner and a mix of adjustable spanners and vice grips.

All went well until I tried to put the offside rear most bolt in and it just wasn't having it. It's the one that's slightly obscured by the wheel arch liner. It goes on so far but then just stops, and I'm not going to force it.

Tried brake cleaner, wire brush, compressed air... Not happening. I don't know if the thread is damaged but I'll either sleep on it or I'll just take it to a garage.

Haven't driven it, but it's much more stable when you try to rock the car, so at least there's that.


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MoToJoJo

Active Member
Mar 25, 2014
823
653
Northants
The replacement ball joint arrived today so I was straight out to fit that. Decided that as it was a lovely afternoon I'd do the rear shocks as well.

Much, much easier than the fronts - but I can see where the vice comment came from. Managed to do it with an offset spanner and a mix of adjustable spanners and vice grips.

All went well until I tried to put the offside rear most bolt in and it just wasn't having it. It's the one that's slightly obscured by the wheel arch liner. It goes on so far but then just stops, and I'm not going to force it.

Tried brake cleaner, wire brush, compressed air... Not happening. I don't know if the thread is damaged but I'll either sleep on it or I'll just take it to a garage.

Haven't driven it, but it's much more stable when you try to rock the car, so at least there's that.


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Sounds like you're cross threading it. Takes a suprising amount of force against the arch liner to get the angle right
 
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iammooks

Active Member
Nov 27, 2018
1,784
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Sounds like you're cross threading it. Takes a suprising amount of force against the arch liner to get the angle right

It's what it feels like. I'm tempted to even undo the arch liner torx bolts so I can get the angle right.

I had a similar problem on the other side, but it came good eventually.

Luckily I didn't do anything stupid before calling it a night. It was getting too dark to see what I was doing anyway.


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Thai-wronghorse

Self proclaimed Cupra R addict & butcher!
Dec 3, 2015
2,240
1,093
Kent
Whip out a few arch liner screws and it's loads easier to get the socket on that rear top mount bolt.

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iammooks

Active Member
Nov 27, 2018
1,784
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Whip out a few arch liner screws and it's loads easier to get the socket on that rear top mount bolt.

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Yep - I got tired of fighting the liner in the end. I could push it back with a screwdriver for maybe two turns of the ratchet, but then I got tired or lazy or both and it moved back and knocked the bolt out of line.

We all know these cars fight back though - and it'd be boring otherwise.


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iammooks

Active Member
Nov 27, 2018
1,784
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Think I started mine by hand, just getting it behind the liner, then when confident it was alright got the ratchet on it
Nice afternoon, so decided to try the rear shock bolt again. Took off the arch liner as much as I could (one of the Torx screws is totally rounded out) but tried over and over to get the bolt in and it just wasn't going.

Tried swapping the bolts over to see if that helped, and I couldn't get the bolt that was already threaded in on the other side. I'm thinking I've damaged the thread somehow. The bolt that I couldn't get in wouldn't go in on the other side either, so that bolt is probably damaged too. Have ordered a new one.

Wondering now what my next steps are. I've looked up Helicoils and I'm pretty sure I could do it, but I'd have to buy a whole kit at around £45 specifically for the one bolt and it seems a bit of a waste of money for something I'll only use once (hopefully). I'll give a garage or two a call tomorrow and see what they'll charge...

There are Helicoil 'style' kits on eBay for much, much less, if anyone has tried one of those?
 

Rich.T

Active Member
Feb 15, 2020
1,609
932
Can you just buy the tap you need off ebay rather than a full set?
Clean the thread out with it, job done.
No need for helicoils.
 
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iammooks

Active Member
Nov 27, 2018
1,784
1,172
Can you just buy the tap you need off ebay rather than a full set?
Clean the thread out with it, job done.
No need for helicoils.
I've got a tap and die set that I left up at the girlfriend's place and that has an M10 x 1.5 included - I don't suppose it can do much harm in the circumstances...

Thank you - one for the weekend, but I'm feeling a bit more hopeful now...
 
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Rich.T

Active Member
Feb 15, 2020
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Maybe if you can get to the thread from inside the car itd be worth running the tap through from that side.

Never had the trim out from the boot area so not sure if this would be possible.

@Thai-wronghorse may know.
 
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smutts

Active Member
Apr 12, 2020
373
188
Don't do what I did.
Changed the front shocks.
Then the blasted CV boot quit a month later.
Guess who hadn't clamped the shock to the knuckle properly?
Some monster potholes did the rest, tearing the metal tab & shoving the shock
through enough to shred the gaiter beneath.
Dime Bar!:doh:
 
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