My 480s so far!

[Themasteryeti]

Something a bit more fun today, finally bit the bullet and got some coilovers!

Naturally they were fitted the second the turned up
fronts weren't to bad, although even though it has camber adjustment there isn't actually any room to adjust with the hight of the bolts not that I really need to mess with the camber much! Did have to open up the two retaining bolt holes ever so slightly to fit the bolt in too!


Rears were a bit more of a faff, adjusted both so they matched and the rear drivers side will sit about 20mm lower, which seems like quite a bit, like I get that not every corner is the same weight but that did seem like quite a bit, either way for the time being that one corner has been adjusted a bit higher to compensate!

Took a guess for what to adjust the hight too and It was definitely way off, much to low at the back, but the tucked look did seem pretty cool

Unfortunately it is a family car so back up it went so cars a smidge lower than when it had the 40mm lowering springs! (For now!)
First test drive was horrendous, was like driving a bouncy castle so adjustments were made and it rides pretty nice now

Few adjustable rods and arms from gizfab should be turning up next week then hopefully I'll have another tinker with it so get it sitting a bit lower!
But now that I've seen what it's like lower I think it's ruined my plans for a set of 8" wheels I've had my eye on, just no chance so squeezing them under the arches which is a bit of a bummer, but honestly I don't get how I'd bit a wider wheel in there, the 440 ones it currently has are 5.5" and that just about clears the rear!? Even with the the lips rolled back

Still, that's an issue for another day, all old lowering springs/shocks and struts locked up in the "shed" for the time being till i decide to rid of them

[jifflemon]

Hmmmm, those front adjuster plates don’t look well thought out and I’m not a fan of the rears - your now pushing spring loads through an area not designed for it….

[Themasteryeti]

Hmmmm, those front adjuster plates don’t look well thought out and I’m not a fan of the rears - your now pushing spring loads through an area not designed for it….

I have seen people modify their top mounts on different cars to adjust better but with a bolt with a shallower head you should be able to tuck it under the lip, but personally I'd rather keep the camber to stock!

I have seen peoples 480's go alot lower and still be aight!
&& hoping the adjustable bits from giz fab should help keep the rear nicer, but the rear is about 3" lower in the back in the picture, I did raise it back up after to match the front! But quite a few people have run these and I'm yet to hear anything bad about them!
This is how it currently sits

Have to say tho ride quality is a million times better! So that's something at least

[Themasteryeti]

First step in correcting geometry today, got the rear torque arms in, literally taken all day to try get the top bolts out, ended up sheering one in half and cut the other with a grinder, but hey ho they're in!!

Didn't fancy my chances of getting the nut off the panhard bar so I'll wait till I can get a replacement bolt for that, don't suppose anyone's knows where I can get a new one? Or dimensions of the bolt


And new lower wishbones also turned up so I'm going to plate them as per cranna's advice, but I have also been looking into getting new custom tubed wishbones to see if I can somewhat correct the roll center would be interested to know people's opinion on this

[jifflemon]

Torque arms are wonderful to change eh? I’ve had one set take me a week to remove just one bolt, then on another car, undid the nut and pushed the bolt out!

I’ll have a look for a panhard bolt - should have one lying around

[Themasteryeti]

Torque arms are wonderful to change eh? I’ve had one set take me a week to remove just one bolt, then on another car, undid the nut and pushed the bolt out!

I’ll have a look for a panhard bolt - should have one lying around

The joys of old cars ay!
Definitely think I was a bit optimistic about getting everything done in one day

& that would be amazing, thank you! You're a lifesaver once again!!

[Alan 480]

Hmmmm, those front adjuster plates don’t look well thought out and I’m not a fan of the rears - your now pushing spring loads through an area not designed for it….

Button heads might be a better option, if 'man-enuf'?
I too am 'not a fan' of rear-coils as the load is them placed in the middle of the trailing arm, From memory Cranna runs same version, but not sure how many miles his 'soupped up 480 has done?

your front spring pans are probably worth a fair bit as NLA!

for removal of rear rear arm I think the Sabre saw might be used!! (I have one side easily removed, the other side is 'stuck')

The nut on the Panhard is easily chopped off, and M12 from memory, but I guess if the nut is on the wrong side not so easy?

BTW brave doing repair work in open toed footwear I've dropped too many spanners on my feet even taking photos I've shifted to get a better view and it's fallen over

[Themasteryeti]

Button heads might be a better option, if 'man-enuf'?
I too am 'not a fan' of rear-coils as the load is them placed in the middle of the trailing arm, From memory Cranna runs same version, but not sure how many miles his 'soupped up 480 has done?

your front spring pans are probably worth a fair bit as NLA!

for removal of rear rear arm I think the Sabre saw might be used!! (I have one side easily removed, the other side is 'stuck')

The nut on the Panhard is easily chopped off, and M12 from memory, but I guess if the nut is on the wrong side not so easy?

BTW brave doing repair work in open toed footwear I've dropped too many spanners on my feet even taking photos I've shifted to get a better view and it's fallen over

Oh button heads ain't a bad idea yakno!

I posted a question on the Facebook page awhile ago and it looks like quite a few people have put this lot on and looks like the only problem that's arose from them is cranna cracked his lower wishbone do to awkward angles due to lowing!

& Can you not get the front spring pans if you order repo front struts? :O
Either way I'll probably keep them, got a bad habit of hoarding old car parts that I don't need! You should see the inside of my beetle, it's probably better classed as a shed than a car with all the bits stashed in it

&& with the panhard bar, nothing a bit of "gentle" persuasion with an angle grinder can't sort im sure

& ngl I live in sandals, can't stand wearing shoes! Luckily I'm yet to drop anything to big so far tho

[Alan 480]

I posted a question on the Facebook page awhile ago and it looks like quite a few people have put this lot on and looks like the only problem that's arose from them is cranna cracked his lower wishbone do to awkward angles due to lowing!

& Can you not get the front spring pans if you order repo front struts? :O
Either way I'll probably keep them, got a bad habit of hoarding old car parts that I don't need! You should see the inside of my beetle, it's probably better classed as a shed than a car with all the bits stashed in it

AFAIK the struts ALWAYS come 'sans-pan'
aye nowt wrong with storing 'used parts' that still have life for 'emergencies', I had to empty the Regal when I sold it, amazing just how much cr@p I'd stashed . .. . . .

ref flip-flops, only an observation, I dropped a tin of beans in kitchen and stupidly slowed the descent with left foot clad only in a sock, jeeze did it hurt!!!!

[Themasteryeti]

I posted a question on the Facebook page awhile ago and it looks like quite a few people have put this lot on and looks like the only problem that's arose from them is cranna cracked his lower wishbone do to awkward angles due to lowing!

& Can you not get the front spring pans if you order repo front struts? :O
Either way I'll probably keep them, got a bad habit of hoarding old car parts that I don't need! You should see the inside of my beetle, it's probably better classed as a shed than a car with all the bits stashed in it

AFAIK the struts ALWAYS come 'sans-pan'
aye nowt wrong with storing 'used parts' that still have life for 'emergencies', I had to empty the Regal when I sold it, amazing just how much cr@p I'd stashed . .. . . .

ref flip-flops, only an observation, I dropped a tin of beans in kitchen and stupidly slowed the descent with left foot clad only in a sock, jeeze did it hurt!!!!

Does make you wonder why they reproduce all the strut apart from that one bit!?
But y'know if you ever got rid of any of it you'd need that one part the next day
I always find I keep every part bcoz I'm very paranoid that everytime I put something new on one of my cars it's gonna fail and break


& personally I'd blame the beans more than your great choice of footwear!

[Themasteryeti]

Something a bit more fun today! Finally got round to welding plates on the lower wishbones, I ain't winning any awards but ain't any worse then the other two corners so I'll take that as a win

Only had yellow paint so they're also yellow for the time being

Wasn't able to get the old ones out tho so they'll have to go in another day


Also over the past week or two my steering has developed the most horrendous creek/rubbing noise when I steer, when I changed the pads the other week I found out the links arms that come from the anti roll bar rub against the bottom adjuster on the coilovers, one worse than the other due to being different designs

My plan was to take them off and put them on the opposite side of the roll bar but in typical fashion one of them doesn't wanna budge, either way new ones had been ordered and I'll cut it off instead

But to try sort it a bit I'd added some positive camber so I kinda just stuck it where it sat before as they wasn't much room for adjustments but took a Dremel round a bit so I was able to put the bolt in different spot and that seems to have stopped the creeking but I'm guessing that bcoz it's already wore down so it's just skimming it now
I'll still try flipping the arms at another point but for now I guess this'll do!

[Themasteryeti]

Productive day today! Thought with winter coming up I'd sort out the bits of surface rust that had popped up!

Had to sand those plastic bits by the wheel arch off as the were stuck on good and looked terrible, but all rusty patches sanded, fillered, primed and painted!

First side looked good but ran out of paint the other side so got a nice red smudge one the bottom till more paint turns up next week


Discovered a small rust spot hiding under some filler in the arch that'll need sorting soon and the obvious bit of rust in the corner, but I've made a start on making a repair panel but it'll have to wait till next week to carry on also does anyone know what gives the sills that bumpy texture? Would be nice to recreate that once the patch is in



Also sorted my drop link problem, Fraser did tell me mx5 ones worked but then i found these adjustable ones and thought that might work a bit better! And sure enough it clears! But more impressively I actually managed to get the old ones out without having to cut them off
And finally put some new boot struts on so I can actually open my boot without balancing it on my head

[Alan 480]

Can of worms if that inner section of the sill/arch is flakey, there is another section also within, most likely also 'iffy'

I think the 'bumpy' texture is some REALLY heavy duty stone chip, nae idea if you could apply it 'domestically' if it was even available?

where the brake hose sits on front strut there 'should' be a thick rubber grommet to avoid the hose rubbing on the strut/hole, or ONLY use the one 'inboard'

not sure why there is an 'option' with opening axial to strut?

[Themasteryeti]

Can of worms if that inner section of the sill/arch is flakey, there is another section also within, most likely also 'iffy'

I think the 'bumpy' texture is some REALLY heavy duty stone chip, nae idea if you could apply it 'domestically' if it was even available?

where the brake hose sits on front strut there 'should' be a thick rubber grommet to avoid the hose rubbing on the strut/hole, or ONLY use the one 'inboard'

not sure why there is an 'option' with opening axial to strut?

I'll dig into it in a week or two and hopefully it'll only be a small can of worm either way it'll get fixed!

& hmm not sure, I did think maybe to try use the hammerite stuff you get on Industrial equipment as that has a similar texture

&& I didn't know that about the break hose! I'll look into getting a rubber grommet for it! I assume the option is there to hold the line out the way with lowered cars as it does bunch everything together more, but then again you could always get a shorted line!

[Themasteryeti]

Was keeping my fingers crossed for a dry day today but unfortunately luck wasn't on my side BUT my paint cans turned up so i did manage to finish the paint on the other half of the car before it started raining, and I have to say it's not perfect but I'm a big fan of imperfection! If it was pristine I'd never drive the thing!


So I've also had a leaking problem which has now been sorted but unfortunately left me with the sponge under the carpet soaking so the car smells damp and grim, I ended up cutting the worst of the foam out as I couldn't pull it out, tried to use one of those handheld water hoover things which didn't do to bad for a cheapo thing, so the worst it is out and now it's currently hanging up in the garage slowly letting the rest of the water seep out
unfortunately I couldn't get the top bit out as that looked like it went right up behind the dash so I'm not sure how I'm gonna try that without butchering it


And FINALLY! I made a start on the patch panel for the bottom wheel arch! And I have to say I'm pretty chuffed with it , obviously it needs a bit of trimming and a MUCH dryer day to put it in but hey it's all progress!

[WillC9303]

Looking good!

Might want to tighten the bolt on that rear wiper!

Or delete it entirely…

[Themasteryeti]

Looking good!

Might want to tighten the bolt on that rear wiper!

Or delete it entirely…

I have been thinking about getting rid of it and making a rear louver for the car, but that's still just a idea currently

[Themasteryeti]

Had a go at welding up the wheel arch today as the sun was out, after sanding back turns out A LOT of hidden rust under all that under seal
So cut and peeled the outer layer to obviously reveal more rust!, so sanded down the best I could and painted the rest of the inside with that anti rust paint
And cut around the small rust hole on the outer arch to see quite a bit of the inner skin to be rusty too so sanded the rust off and painted that too and patched a new piece over that

Also welded in the rest of the other corner but forgot to take pictures then it started to rain as I was putting filler on so filler and paint was rushed so didn't get to sand and paint it properly so that'll need doing again at some point but it's all in primer so that's a job for another day now, at least the rusts gone!

[Alan 480]

Aye, that was the can of worms I reckoned lurking 'within' ruddy difficult when there are two / three layers to get at

I managed to get teh spot welder to fix the inner section, but had to fold the short 12/15mm bit that goes in towards centre more 'parallel' to get access .. . .

but progress anyway . . .

[Themasteryeti]

Nothing exciting to say today but actually took notice of the milage and noticed I've almost made it to 55000miles which would mean I've driven the car about 10000 miles! Not bad for only owning the car a bit over a year!

It amazes me that looking at the milage over the years that this car just hasn't been driven at all in the past 20 odd years!? Now it's a proud daily driver! Honestly the best car I've ever owned