7 Mar 10 ...... Fitting the new Pro-Alloy radiator & Fan

There were a few jobs that needed doing today as I had a full day in the garage and was up for getting lots done.

First thing to do was to put the arb bushes in the right way round. During the week when i fitted the new Eliseparts competition arb i had fitted the bushes the wrong way round which meant that the bar could move longitudinally by a few millimetres. Didn't take long to whip out the clamp bolts and swap them around. 

So having done that, the plan was to fit the new Pro-alloy radiator and Spal uprated fan. I had managed to pick up a pair of used but good condition radiator hoses from a 340R off ebay. So whilst I was finishing off the anti-roll bar work, I whipped off the old whoses which were an odd assortment, one being convoluted and definately not ideal. It is an ewasy enough job from underneath and didn't take long to push them on having first put a spot of vaseline on the ally cooling pipes where they stick out of the sills to protect the hose and pipe. A nice shiny new set of wide jubilee clips were fitted to finish off the job. I'm not actually convinced the 340R hoses are quite right. Need the new radiator in first really to check everything aligns.      

New Pro-Alloy radiator fitting

First job was to unwrap the radiator and then stand back for a few minutes to admire the craftsmanship and quality. It really is a thing of beauty.

 

First thing to do was to rescue the fan mounting brackets off the old radiator. So it was off into the loft in the house to find it. Didm't tale long to find and I had been really good and bubble wrapped it to keep it safe. It is an original plastic rad but is not in too bad condition. Bad news was there were only 3 brackets, the fourth was missing! great. So I proceeded to drill out the rivets on the three which was easy enough whilst I thought about what to do. Do I make one out of steel plate or txt junks. No contest, txt junks!. Before I did I thought I would offer up the new uprated Spal fan (that I had also got from Pro-alloy) and three mounting brackets to the new rad. just to make sure everything lined up. And guess what, they didn't! The four mounting feet that are normally fitted to the Spal fans were missing! (not my day really so far!). So definately meant a txt to Phil as he got the fan for me and to ask him to look in his Aladdin Cave of S1 bits for a single mounting bracket. 

You can just see the sockets at 12,3,6 and 9 o'clock in the photo.

 

So I couldn't really do any more as I needed more bits. I spent a while de-rusting the three old mounting brackets ready for POR15 treating the next time I crack a pot of gloss black open.

Preparing and re-fitting the refurbished steering rack......

So as that job had come to an end, I thought I would have a go at preparing and re-fitting the refurbed steering rack. As it turned out the gaiters on the new rack looked a bit grubby as the rack had been sat around in storage for quite a while. So I decided to swap over the gaiters from the old rack which were like new, and put them on the new one. It's an easy enough job which involces cutting off the old cable ties that secure the gaiter at each end and slipping them off the steering arms. Greasing them up helps re-fitting and they went on easy enough. New cable ties on and the job was done. On went the new track rod ends and th erack could go back in. It's an easy enough job to slide the rack down the narrow channel even with the tre's fitted. It's best to fit it rotated 90 degrees clockwise (when viewed from the off side) and the rotate it back when the pinion shaft lines up with the bulkhead hole. 

I had purchased some rack raiser plates from Eliseparts as I will be fitting nitrons and running at the lowest ride height allowed in the regs. The plates have to be riveted in place inside the two brackets that are bonded on the interior side of the front bulkhead footwell. Looked in the footwell and one of the brackets is missing!! It definately was not my day. I don't remember it it not being there, but there again I can't say if it was when I got the part stripped car from junks. So I couldn't bolt up the rack in the end....

So that was the day finished really. It's off to Brands Harch tomorrow for the ET track day. Obviously not with the car but it is a good chance to introduce myslef to everyone and generally pick up tips. Might be able to collect the sponsor and series stickers to fit later when I am there and maybe a set of yokohamas ready to go on to the new Compomotive rims.