And finally, my RS2.

[K Simmonds]

Not too long and we'll get to show off our beasties in the flesh, only Michael S2 has seen mine and he was over the moon with her condish, so am pretty pleased with that. Plus she's a leftie....

Yeah, not long now, really looking forward to the run. A left hooker is an even sounder investment, I have a LHD Corrado and once your used to it there's nothing hard about driving one.

Over the past week I've been reverting the car to stock springs, I have got a set of genuine second hand RS2 springs coming but I'm unsure when I'll have them and want it sorted before a long trip to Scotland at the end of the month. I'm going to drop everything, sub frames the lot, in future and have everything powder coated and re-bushed so this is a temporary job to last the next couple of years.

The OE air-con spec front springs were fitted to my S2 when I got it and the rears Eric kindly provided me complete with legs with blown dampers from an S2 Avant. As I've said I'll have a matched set of RS2 springs coming which I'll have refinished along with all the other suspension components.

Changing springs on the car to save disturbing the brakes, it's a fiddle the first time but one you get the knack it saves a load of time, will replace all the bolts when I do the full refresh in future.



One of the front springs off the car side by side with the OE one from my S2, S2 on the left, modified RS2 on the right. The rear one's were shorter by much the same amount, forgot to get a comparison pic. The lowering springs are for sale by the way.



The bump stops and gaiters were shot so I didn't bother refit them and used a couple of solid polyurethane ones I had knocking about, their a touch shorter but much firmer so should do the job just fine. Again, I'll be replacing the stops, gaiters and dampers with genuine parts when I do the major refresh, However the current dampers are perfectly serviceable, they actually feel very good still.



The dished washer goes on top of the strut under the top plate, gave the contact areas a good clean and covered them in copper grease, was pushed for time so they can wait for powder coating, it's not like they can be seen.



All back together and torqued up

[K Simmonds]

And the back end, had to renew the upper inner wishbone bushes as they were completely shot, the outers whilst not looking pretty are solid so again they can wait for the major overhaul. Apart from that everything else looks to be in really good order, it appears the rear dampers have been changed for new OE items judging from the condition of them.

Freshly bushed and nearly ready for a couple of thick coats of Por 15, will do until their powder coated and a nice fresh set of plugs in the background.



Rear legs built up with stock springs waiting to go back on, couldn't be arsed to paint the damper housings as their not in bad condition and can wait to be powder coated. Springs require a specialist coating by rights plus it's a waste of time painting them being a temporary measure.



All looks good under the arches considering it's 20 years old, any rust will be dealt with now while I can get at it and the area will get a coat of Wax Oil. Got the arch liners out and spotlessly clean ready to go back on.





Got a little surface corrosion to deal with on the body where the shock housing have been disturbed in the past. Having removed the arch liners to check for more hidden rust I was relieved to find there isn't any. The rust spots will be knot wheeled clean, rust treated then painted with a thick coat of Por15 chassis paint before being sprayed with Wax Oil.

[K Simmonds]

Currently sat safely on axle stands.



Nice new 'Bambridge' front tie rod adjusters fitted with lashings of copper grease, can be turned by hand. Kindly supplied by Eric with the spares package.



Nearside front brake air duct attached to the forged wishbone, not sure the cable tie is OE but at least their present.



Under tray which has a crack, deep cleaned of oil contamination ready for a neat fibre glass repair on the backside which I'll paint black.



Freshly rebuilt air tight PCV system awaiting fitment, kindly supplied by Alex.

[K Simmonds]

The tops of the front shocks aren't to hot but cleaned up their fine for the time being, wouldn't be at all surprised if they were renewed when the lowering springs were installed. The top mounts fitted are made by Monroe and in excellent condition, not sure how long they've been on there for but their their fine for the time being.



The upper rear arms before I knot wheeled them ready for paint, pretty bloody grotty, couldn't bring myself to refit them without a lick of paint. The outer bushes are still solid and can stay put for the time being.



Some boost hoses I picked up from Handy Andy awaiting cleaning, their in great condition unlike the ones currently on the car.



All the OE Jubilee clips I got with the OE hoses from Andy soaking in Diesel so they'll be spotless, I always use a dam of copper grease on the thread before tightening them



My Hi Tech alignment equipment, antiquated but if ones knows how to use it and takes time over the job it's perfectly good enough for initial setting up. I want to cover at least 500 miles this week to settle the springs etc before getting four wheel alignment done properly. Want to get it set bang on the factory toe figures just with the camber on the limit of the negative side of tolerances and as much castor as I can get.

[K Simmonds]

Let's have a few more for good measure.

Off side brake air duct.



One of the old inner wishbone bushes.



Close up of the under tray showing the efforts made to direct air to the front brakes, also needs a bit of work with some fibre glass.



Some nice spares from Alex, good things to have in my hoard.


Test fitting an upper arm to confirm that the B5 bushes fit correctly, obviously I won't tighten any of the bush bolts until she's level on the deck.



Close up showing the extra duct in the under tray to allow for god air flow through the inter-cooler.



Desperate to get this pulley/clutch mechanism off, any pointers welcome.

[AndyP]

Wrap your new track rod adjusters in this stuff:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DENSO-TAPE...item5d2a9a2eab

Keeps them moist and waterproof, they'll never sieze up again

[irishs2]

Nice bit of work done there.
I think the cable ties on the air guides are factory.

[K Simmonds]

Cheers Eric, yeah I'm keen to get it driving as it should ASAP so I can enjoy the car this summer.

AndyP- I know the stuff you mean, I used it on my S2 tie rods, good stuff

This is kind of a double post as I put this exact info in a current thread I started asking for advice on dissembling the clutch/pulley assembly used on ABY/ADU air conditioning compressors.

But as the info is also relevant to this thread I'll post it here as well.

After a fair amount of head scratching I managed to get the thing apart without damaging anything. I used an old bottom pulley with hole's drilled in it attached attached to the face of the assembly using the three M5 holes to enable me to remove it. Once I'd gotten the face of it was just a matter of removing two circlips before using a three legged puller to extract the centre which came off easily.

The bearing is in great condition and it's cleaned up well so hopefully I'll have working air conditioning soon, if the systems seems to be good I'll get it re-gassed straight away

[K Simmonds]

Another double post but it's relevant to this thread.

The electronic clutch is actuated by the non rotating circular part on the end of the pump itself with a single core wire going to it, I guess it simply works using magnetism. I hope these pic's of it loosely fitted back together help it make more sense.

Got the fun job of removing the old pulley assembly from the pump on the car.

The donated pump with all rotating parts removed.



The main pulley with bearing loosely fitted back on to the duff pump.



The face plate which is on splines holds the lot together.

[cardcrash]

Well Kit had me cleaning his rear arches toady with a wire brush wheel on a hand drill before he painted them with his special black goo, here's some before and after pictures, may take a few tries as I'm not used to uploading pictures to this forum so bear with me:

ok, here's a f/n/s before:


r/n/s before:


Me scrubbing the r/o/s:


Kit painting r/o/s in progress:


r/o/s done:


r/o/s done, different angle:

[K Simmonds]

Thanks for the help with a crappy job on the cordless drill, couldn't have done it better myself

I'm also grateful for the photography, you got plenty of decent shots, guess you have to resize them all before posting then in this thread, which your welcome to do.

[cardcrash]

Yes, they're uploading to photobucket as we speak, which will make the whole process a little smoother, watch this space... tomorrow...

[cardcrash]

Ok, as demanded by Kit by means of subtly saying that if I were to post some of the pictures I took yesterday of his project work he 'wouldn't mind'... here is pretty much the entire selection:

A prepped upper rear wishbone:


Two upper rear wishbones ready for painting:


This is me under orders from SS Commandant Simmonds to paint said wishbones:


Making progress:


Job done:


Kit having just painted his boost gauge:


Painted items place in the improvised 'open kiln':


Some related nuts, bolts and washers cleaned using an interesting and no doubt undrinkable petroleum distillate based concoction:


Now some more wheel arch pictures:


Flash on this time:
































Probably a few repeats from my last post, but hey....

[K Simmonds]

Good effort Mr Sutherland, really most appreciated, the work and the photo's.

Won't be long before we get her on back wheels and tracked up

Then it's 3B clutch time, at last after much delay and pontificating.

Head on over when your ready mate.

In case anyone is curious I used normal Por 15 on the wishbones and their chassis specific paint in the wheel arches, have to say I was very impressed by the way it went on. Used a whole 250ml pot on just the rear arches and I'm confident those localised bit's of rust are dealt with for good.

[Error404]

Bloody hell you lads have been busy
Did you use the Metal Ready etch before painting the POR15?