So, Christmas has come and gone, thank goodness. I spent most of it in the garage, fiddling with my TR7. The subframe is now finished, having been painted with etch primer, stone-chip on the underside and then finished off in some lovely satin black. I'm really pleased with it.
Various bushes turned up from Rimmer Bros, which got assembled on the bonnet of the Bond Equipe (it makes a great work bench) along with the contents of a nut & bolt kit I bought some years ago. It is lovely when you can go into the shed and retrieve something you have been saving there for years, for just that purpose. The only problem is locating them, and they are usually found inside the lawn mower. Last time I tried to cut the grass, it spewed out three distributors. Only joking.
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| Bond Equipe work bench |
I also found an anti-dive kit and spent many hours sorting bolts, washers and nuts into piles. Some of them even look similar to the ones coming off the car!
The anti-roll bar got the same treatment as everything else, i.e. rub-down, primer and satin black.
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| Can you spot the anti-roll bar? |
The next time I write about the subframe will be when the front suspension is going on the car, I hope. Then we can talk bushes properly.
Right, onto the things fitted to the subframe. Dammit, my subframe silence didn't last long, did it? Anyway, the steering rack was given a thorough clean and its internals ignored, as when it was last driven it worked fine. Back in 1994 my mate Neil used to reckon that the car had a "quick rack" fitted, such was the precision of the steering. I have no idea if the rack is anything other than standard (the only part number I can find on it is BEX3018RH - any ideas?) but it is going back on the car as-is.
The alloy steering rack clamps cleaned up well with a wire brush and some thinners nicely removing years of muck and that weird white powder which accumulates on aluminum parts.
A coat of etch primer and some silver paint brought them up like new. Once the rack was clean, it was stripped and cleaned in the same way, and masked up for painting. The slightly brown centre piece and the track arms got a coat of rust eater, which made them look blue for a while.
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| The steering rack after a good rub down |
The alloy parts were first painted in two coats of etch, followed by silver paint.
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| Rust eater applied |
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| Etch primer |
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| The bellows are being used for masking and will be replaced |
Next time I'll be painting up the centre piece and track arms in satin black, ready for their new bellows and track rod ends. But that's next time.
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