Tuesday 29/11/11

Hi

Well last day before I go back to work, (seem to say that a lot). Not as much to report this time home as most of it has been cleaning and painting.

With the axle and fuel tank out of the way I managed to get at the rear underside, as I said before this was in really great shape with just a few places needing a bit of rust removal and rust cure applied. Then a scrub up with degreaser and a bucket of floor cleaner and ready for painting, I removed the fuel pipes which are all new to the engine by the last owner then rubbed up the paint to give it a key and gave it a good coat of chassis paint. I started on the wheel arches next but only managed one of these, getting of the old undercoat was a bit messy but a wire wheel on my grinder made light work of it.

Just a note for those that are going to work on there car this winter, have a look and a feel under rear lower section of the wing as I found a hole. It feels like it is a proper cut hole and not corrosion and is in one of the worse places to be as all of the wet gets thrown into that corner, so a real corrosion problem.

Just a few inches from the bottom

This is defiantly going to get filled before underseal is sprayed on.

Next effort went on the fuel tank, a bit of rust on the lower weld edges and signs of brazing on 2 of the edge corners but other than that it cleaned up rather nice. I removed the sender unit which also looks in good condition, I don't know if it works yet but will put a meter on it before I refit and see if I get any readings.

Fuel tank

After a good cleaning I gave it a couple of coats of primer then a couple of black and its ready to fit, need to wrap around some sound deadening strip to stop any road noise and rubbing first. Also had a look inside and its not to bad at all.

The axle came next, quite a bit of weight in this; you don't realise how much steel goes into one till you have to hump it around.

The brakes came first so lots of photo's for putting them back and stripped them off, I have been on eBay and ordered new springs and shoes, the shoes are here already but waiting for the spring set also found a hole in the handbrake lever dust boot which will either be repaired or replaced if I can find a supplier. Will put the number of these items on when I have fitted them.

Next came cleaning the axle, this was done over a 2 day period first with sand blasting then the needle gun and then the rotary wire brush, not for the faint hearted but the results are defiantly worth it.

Axle before

Axle after

I then attacked it with the hammerite and you can see the results. The brake areas I have sprayed with high temp paint which I shall also use on the brake drums when I get round to them, 2 days of hard lifting and cleaning but it looks like new.

Now for the oil leaks, I suspected that the leak was from the gasket but did not want to fit the axle and find out it was from the pinion so I bought the oil seal and the gasket. The first to get a look at was the gasket, this was fixed on with a red sealant. I don't know if this is factory fit or has been replaced in the past but gave it a good cleaning.

I also gave to inside a good staring at as I ain't got a clue what I was looking for, but all seems well; no wear on the teeth and no play or movement in the cogs or the shims so all good.

I bought some hylomar red for the refitting of the gasket and cover just to ensure a good seal, tightened it all back together and fingers crossed.
The next job was the pinion oil seal, I have never; and I imagine nearly everyone reading this will never have changed a one of these, so youtube got a good seeing to and it looked so easy; famous last words.
Well surprisingly enough it was just that easy.
First job is to mark where the nut is positioned and to count the threads, this is because it has to go back exactly where it came from. It is factory torqued and there is a crush washer that needs to be pulled up to its original position.

Next, remove the nut, I had to use a impact gun to do this and a fully pressurised air bottle as it was on that tight. Once off, the flange just pulled off.

And there is the oil seal, it was covered in a lot of dust and crud which I imagine was from the sand blasting even though I tried to keep the stream away from the joint. On youtube it says to remove with special oil seal removal tool, ye right. I am afraid I had to revert to old fashioned methods of brute force and a huge amount of ignorance.

After a bit of persuasion out it came, of course I did try the new one up against it before whacking it. Here it is alongside the inside of the flange.

This is the inside of the pinion. Unfortunately I forgot to get a shot of the new oil seal in position, but it went in easy enough I just sprayed the inside with WD40 to give a little lube; fitted it in square and using a block of wood tapped all around until it was in position. I then replaced the flange on the paint marks and tightened back up until the paint marks all aligned and the correct count of threads were showing.
Of course I did all this on a bench, I would imagine it is a different ball game lying on you back under the car.
I had a run out and picked up a litre of 80 - 90 mineral oil and topped it up, I was expecting it to overflow from the fill hole but it took the whole litre straight of, I shall make enquiries as to the volume as it may require more to fill to correct level. I know a man who will know.
I have spoken to Cat at Flo-flex again today who has tracked down the 2 void bushes for the rear suspension but unfortunately has not had much luck on the rubber bobbin type bushes. She plans to keep on looking and is happy to make a mold if I can get a bush in good condition, unfortunately they need to be forced out and this squishes them a bit so no good for mold making. If anyone out they has a new bobbin bush that a mold can be made from then please let me know as once they have a set made then they will be available to any Kallista owner that wants to re-bush there car.
Well that's about all I got done this time home, hope for better progress next time if Christmas doesn't get in the way, I've asked Santa for Halfords vouchers.
See ya Paul

Thursday 24/11/11

Hi

Back again for a weeks leave, I did a 3 week trip again as one of the lads went sick; lucky me. That's 3 weeks overtime since I bought the car and over 3/4's of my expected budget covered, 1 more extra week and I'll be looking at side exhausts.

While away I have been trolling through ebay looking for some bargains and managed to pick up a few, the best being an original pair of Boge oil filled rear shocks for a Vauxhall Magnum. These are the shocks fitted to the Lima and will also fit the Kallista, unfortunately on trying them I found the bush holes larger than those fitted at 15mm where the Kallista has a 12mm bolt, still; not a problem as I just need to fit stainless steel inserts which I have already sorted, only cost £40 plus p&p. I was going to buy the Spax adjustable but having saved over £100 by buying originals I am well happy I shall also get a comfy ride instead of a sporty one.

I also got a bit indulgent and bought a Panther sculpture to fit on the new grill when I fit it, cost a bit more than I was hoping but they do look good.

I was also wondering where to go to to buy new front brake caliper shims, pins and clips, well I finally found the Tech page on the Panther car club web site. I new there was one somewhere as I had read references to it but could never find it, then I finally looked in the Jump To drop down section and there at the bottom was the link to the Tech page. It is full of useful info including an article posted by Terry Borton on where to buy the shim kit and the number on ebay. So here it is for all.

Ebay # 310353988329

Big Red shim kit 

Shim kit

The rear axle is a modified Capri 2.8 Atlas which are still well catered for, so finding a Pinion oil seal and gasket for the diff was easy enough, I went for the upgraded seal and gasket on the premise that if its good enough for a rally car then its good enough for a Sunday driver like me. Just hope it fits.

Pinion seal Ebay address

Rally pinion oil seal

Diff gasket Ebay address

Atlas axle Diff gasket

Pinion oil seal & gasket

I also picked up an original Cortina void bush removal fitting tool for a fiver, very lucky as I have spent the afternoon removing the void bushes and it would have been a much harder job without it. When this job is done and anyone needs to borrow then just let me know.

Cortina void bush removal tool

I have been in contact with Terry about rear bushes for the Kallista and found that Deflex supplied a set of bushes for the car, unfortunately Deflex are no longer with us as they were bought up by Flo-flex. I have been in contact with Flo-flex and sent off a sample of the rear bushes, there are 3 different bushes fitted. The axle and upper arm are Cortina void bushes both slightly different, the Panhard rod and the lower arm bushes are of the bobbin type and are of the same size. I have posted the sample set today on next day delivery so hopefully i shall get a call soon saying they can supply, I hope so as the bobbin bushes get slightly distorted when removed as a lot of force is required so I doubt they will be able to be re-fitted. with this being a bit of a worry I have left the other ones in position until I get a ya or na. Which means my trip to the powder coaters is delayed.

Another problem that I have found is that the top of the springs have a rubber interface fitted between the spring and chassis contact, this is riveted on, I could unfold the rivet and remove the rubber but it could cause damage. So I'm thinking of sandblasting and spraying these myself as I don't think they will like the powder coater's oven.

Rear springs

You can see the rubber on the top and under the top turn of the spring.

Not much done today, but will crack on tomorrow.

See ya Paul

Tuesday 01/11/2011

Hi

Well last day home today so been rather busy, all of the jobs that should have been done during the week have been handed down to me. Tried to escape but she had me, so after 2 cars washed all the floors vacuumed, washed and believe it or not; steam cleaned, add a few other bits and I was free.

I did manage to get most of the jobs I had planned done but the highlight of the day was the arrival of the post man, he had the most fantastic steering wheel I have ever laid eye's, I've told Lynne that she is on the settee tonight and the steering wheel is getting her side of the bed.

My baby

Isn't she lovely! well some people are easily pleased. £108 + p+p and well worth it.

I started with the fuel tank, I had one of the brackets off yesterday so just one left before it could be removed, I new there was not much fuel in but the jack went under anyway. After a look in the back of the car I found the fuel filler pipe and the sender unit, and after disconnecting them all got the last bracket off

Filler and sender unit

There are no bolts inside the car so it just lowered out nice and easy, I managed to empty around 4 litres out of the tank and this went into Lynne's car.

Fuel tank

I was a bit concerned considering the condition of the rest of the car as to the state of the tank, but I was surprised at how good a condition it is in. Not only the tank but the whole area above and around where it sits is very clean and in great condition, so all this needs is a good clean and spray paint.

The rest was not so easy as the tank, I first removed the hand brake mechanism which is just 2 R clips holding a pin and a bar that goes thru a bush attached to the diff, this was the easy bit

hand brake mech

The next step was to jack the weight of the axle but not lift it of the stands and then the first bit of the suspension system the Panhard rod. This was the start of the Battle of the Bolt, even my big air ratchet could not budge these, I even tried heating them but it eventually came down to the grinder which soon had them off, shame really as these are high tensile bolts which I will have to replace. The next battle came with the top 2 nuts on the dampers, no matter what I tried they would not budge so again the grinder took over.

After these 2 main items that hold everything up, it all was resting on the springs and the jack, I then removed the bolts from the prop shaft after paint marking the 2 flanges, I probably did not need to mark this but just to make sure; I shall chisel mark the paint marking before sand blasting. The rest of the nuts came of with the big gun and left them in place. The bolts I was most worried about was the top spring bolts but surprise surprise there practically threw themselves at me, it was strange though that the pass side had a 17mm head and the drivers had a 13mm head I found the same on some of the other bolts 19mm one side and 17mm the other. What's that about.

Spring un-bolted

Wheels on ready to drop

 I now fitted the wheels so there was less of a drop before I removed all of the other bolts, it was now just a matter of sliding off the prop shaft and levering the arms out from there brackets.

After releasing the jack out it rolled, I still had the brake pipe connected which I had difficulty getting at before so removed that and pulled out the axle.

You can see the oil stain that much clearer now on the diff, I don't know if its the pinion oil seal or just the cover gasket so I will have to change both just to make sure, well next time home.

I have received a number of emails from people after reading my blog and I would like to thank them for there help and advice, of course Terry is helping me continuously which is a great. John Manuel who let me know about the pit falls of changing seats even though they advertise as fitting the Kallista. This morning I received a very interesting one from Alun Williams concerning my thoughts of powder coating the drum brakes. Alun was an accident investigator for VOSA and has seen a number of incidents where the wheel nuts have become loose and the wheels coming off due to the powder coating softening because of the heat generated during braking. Again something that would never come to mind. 

I also received another email from Paul Yates, I had been in contact with Paul before concerning rocker covers. Paul has a website www.regaliarockercovers.co.uk and he makes rocker covers for specialist cars with the Essex engine, I contacted Paul thinking that the Essex had the same rocker design as the Cologne v6 and if he could make a set with Panther or Kallista imprinted in the top as he does with his others. Unfortunately this is not the case, but I am sure I am not the only one who would like a pair of alloy rocker covers, I have been looking on Ebay and they are quite a regular item and always go for around £130. SO if there are any like minded Kallisa owners reading this then contact Paul at his web site and maybe if enough people want a pair he will design a set for us.

Well that's all for this time home, back away for another 2 weeks.

see ya Paul