I've just realised I haven't updated this thread!
IT'S FINALLY F***ING FIXED AFTER 2 YEARS!
Get yourself a cuppa, this is a long one.
The hub, the subframe, everything's done! Finally had some spare time in the summer to work on the car!It was stood on three wheels for almost a year with things going wrong here and there, but it's now road legal with a fresh MOT. It's been one hell of a journey to get this suspension fixed since the last time I posted. Wrong hubs posted, two faulty arms received, etc.
It looked like absolute shyate though. Matted paint, mould on the roof, faded plastics, bird poo damage to the paintwork (light enough to sand/polish), cobwebs completely covered the engine bay, fuel cap, all wheel arches and even some inside the car, etc. It's honestly a state. To think of the condition it was in before... but, as you can see from the photos below, it's back to it's former glory.
But I took to the garage like that for an MOT. I only started refurbishing it when I knew it's road legal again which, thankfully, it passed the MOT with flying colours! A huge relief. It's also been serviced, new battery, and new tyres too with a four wheel alignment also. Drives like a dream.
As you can see in the photos below, I've had the wheels refurbished back to silver with black center caps. I feel like the anthracite was too muddy and got lost in the contrast. Now they ping out lovely.
Whilst the wheels were off to be powder coated, I had the chance to scrub the suspension area and to re-clean and coat some parts. They look 10x better.
Going to eventually do a lot more of this under the car.
I'm going to take it to an exhaust garage soon as I want both pre-cat O2 sensors swapped (they need to blow torch them), and at the same time I'm going to ask them to replace both gaskets between the manifold & exhausts and all of the clamps on the exhaust to ensure all leaks are sound. Not that there's any, but emissions weren't the most comfortable at the MOT. Being stood on my drive wouldn't have done it any favours, so it's precautionary.
Other things I've done - I've dropped the horseshoe radio surround at a local bodyshop to get it resprayed gloss black for £50. It was scratched and, no matter what I did, I wasn't happy with the finish. I tried wrapping it but it bubbled in the heat. Tried spraying it but it was never a good finish. If this looks good I'd be tempted to take more interior bits of trim in to get them done. The black surround around the dials, the centre console, door bin lids and handle covers would look beautiful in gloss black, so I may get those done too.
Here's what the radio horseshoe looks like now:
Also temporarily wrapped the ashtray in gloss black before spraying.
And here's how the car stands now:
And that's it! I'm going to fit an external amp for the stereo as the built in amp chip is weak as hell on this chinese radio. I've replaced the speakers and didn't notice the improvement, so the amp is needed. Aside from that and the exhaust work I need to do, it's all done! I've got some performance upgrades I'm planning on doing soon though.
Oh, and by the way...
I figured out something. I thought the lip that cracked off the subframe when I was replacing a track rod arm was the sole culprit of the alignment constantly going out, but I was wrong.
The original track rod arm two years ago sheared its bolt on me whilst driving, right? Remember this?
And remember how I replaced it, and not long after that I decided to reverse into a Tesco bollard and clip the rear quarter (same side), which bent the bolt of the new arm I put in? The bolt was bent
at the same point that the old one snapped, which was odd:
I never figured this out.
Either way, a third arm went in. Following that, the alignment
never stayed true and the arm always came loose with the nut needing constant tightening. I never got to figuring out why. Until recently.
So this is the new hub's hole that the track rod arm goes into:
But this is the old hub I took off the car...
Oh, my god.
From the fact that the original arm snapped its bolt, it would seem that the arm was actually replaced before I bought the car. That bush most likely fell out without the previous mechanic/owner's knowledge, so they didn't put it back in when the arm was changed. This explains the original arm's bolt snapping and the second arm's bolt bending due to the tremendous force on that particular section of the bolt rather than having a snug fit. Everything is explained. I'm quite shocked to be honest.
Either way, the new hub is in, new subframe, handbrake cable guide, eccentric bolts, tyres, etc. It's all fresh and it all feels fantastic.
And here we are now.
If you've read this far, thank you!