Wings
Posted: 18 Oct 2009
In order to put the AC onto the car, it seems sensible to tackle as many jobs as possible before the expense of gassing up.One problem I know needs tackling is the usual rusted out inner wing, i thought before the start of the Brazilian GP i would take the front end apart and see whats what.
Well its mixed, not as bad as it could have been but worse than i had hoped;
First remove the air box, and the mounting plate, i did find the air box is smashed just below the AFM as well;
Then remove the bumper. The bail of green wire is for replacing the wiring to the headlights.
This is what i'm looking to resolve the slight bubbling of the metal in the corner of the inner wing;
The outer wing has never been removed before so the bolts where stuck pretty fast. As it is in its original position i thought i would measure and mark up exactly where the wing started. 20mm from the inner wing lip apparently;
Then remove the two bolts behind the front door, i had to use a UJ adapter to get them out as i can't fully open the door in the garage.
The dreaded spring clip, useless rusted away piece of rotten metal. In this case the tab from the inner wing failed, i simply cut the rest of the tab off, ground down the sides of the bolt, and used mole grips to twist and shatter the spring clip. I will have to make up a new bracket and weld it to the inner wing, but as the original tab is so weak i'm happy to do this.
More of a note for others, to disconnect the wing from the side skirt you need to remove the black plastic rivet at the bottom of the arch. You can see it in this picture pushed back into the hole;
A bit of scrapping and grinding and i have a rather large hole, smeg;
Bit of a close up of a panel under the inner wing, bit of a structural point me thinks, might not be a quick fix!
And finally the inner wing after a spot of grinding etc
Now, things to point out. I've found a reasonably quick way to remove the inner wing stone guard in large panels (set fire to it!!), so i'm almost tempted to remove the whole lot and replace it. Underneath the stone chip is painted and the stone ship is coming off without damaging the paint so definitely a possibility.
There is a lot of rust around the strut mount on the underside, it looks to be surface rust and none too worrying BUT i will take the strut out and have a damn good look. As i need to do the front arm bushes as well, i think i will set about removing the whole hub etc and perhaps change other parts at the same time.
Well plenty to do over the winter, rather jumping in with both feet, but hopefully i can get it down over the winter and have the car fit and ready by Easter.
Well its mixed, not as bad as it could have been but worse than i had hoped;
First remove the air box, and the mounting plate, i did find the air box is smashed just below the AFM as well;
Then remove the bumper. The bail of green wire is for replacing the wiring to the headlights.
This is what i'm looking to resolve the slight bubbling of the metal in the corner of the inner wing;
The outer wing has never been removed before so the bolts where stuck pretty fast. As it is in its original position i thought i would measure and mark up exactly where the wing started. 20mm from the inner wing lip apparently;
Then remove the two bolts behind the front door, i had to use a UJ adapter to get them out as i can't fully open the door in the garage.
The dreaded spring clip, useless rusted away piece of rotten metal. In this case the tab from the inner wing failed, i simply cut the rest of the tab off, ground down the sides of the bolt, and used mole grips to twist and shatter the spring clip. I will have to make up a new bracket and weld it to the inner wing, but as the original tab is so weak i'm happy to do this.
More of a note for others, to disconnect the wing from the side skirt you need to remove the black plastic rivet at the bottom of the arch. You can see it in this picture pushed back into the hole;
A bit of scrapping and grinding and i have a rather large hole, smeg;
Bit of a close up of a panel under the inner wing, bit of a structural point me thinks, might not be a quick fix!
And finally the inner wing after a spot of grinding etc
Now, things to point out. I've found a reasonably quick way to remove the inner wing stone guard in large panels (set fire to it!!), so i'm almost tempted to remove the whole lot and replace it. Underneath the stone chip is painted and the stone ship is coming off without damaging the paint so definitely a possibility.
There is a lot of rust around the strut mount on the underside, it looks to be surface rust and none too worrying BUT i will take the strut out and have a damn good look. As i need to do the front arm bushes as well, i think i will set about removing the whole hub etc and perhaps change other parts at the same time.
Well plenty to do over the winter, rather jumping in with both feet, but hopefully i can get it down over the winter and have the car fit and ready by Easter.