LP2a SAR restoration

[Phillip]

The semi hollow rivets turned up today, so with a glint in my eye and a handful of rivets I disappeared down the shed for the evening.

Using guesswork and black magic, I made up a former to hold and roll the rivet end and welded these to a sturdy g-clamp. Results are 50/50, the tool works okay but I now have to find some 3/4” rivets and modify the tool to get the right angle on some of the rivets.

[Lynn Eades]

Phillip, over here I used some aluminium rivets. I followed exactly what a friend had done. because of the small quantity, the company supplied and sent them free, believe it or not.
They were solid aluminium with the countersink flat head, and the right length.
I set up a dolly with knob on it, to keep the counter sink finish, and peined them over.
I must add, it was not the most successful thing I've ever done.

[Phillip]

The diff has now been rebuilt, twice. The first time with the correct gasket size 0.010” but this did not provide any backlash, it took a slightly thicker gasket 0.040” to give the right amount of backlash. I can only put this down to the NOS crown wheel/ pinion and bearings and maybe they were ever so slightly different.

Diff is now all installed. Dropped the brake drums and pads into the local brake shop and they will match the pads to the drums.

Assembled the trailing bogies. The nitrile bushes fit and seem to work well at keeping the grease in.

One set of springs are installed, the other boggie is installed and just the other set of springs to be painted and installed. To completely strip and rebuild the suspension has been a laborious job, but I suspect will be well worth it.

Now I can finish making the new brake rods.

[Phillip]

Brake drums and matching shoes are back from the brake man.

The grease seals in the hubs were obviously what ever could be found locally and a galvanised steel shim of around 1mm in thickness was used to hold them in

New grease seals have arrived courtesy of Macs Auto in the US of A (same part number as per the manual) and new snap rings from the local bearing shop.

I cannot find the little steel cap that goes over the top adjuster. It’s probably not that important but would be nice to find.

When I took the springs off, they were not coloured and were all over the place. Some careful checking to the manual and some references has hopefully enabled me to work which spring is the right colour and therefore where it goes.

The first hub is back on and the shoes centred, the second hub can go on until the cap turns up and then I can complete the brake rods.

The engine is still in the machine shop - it needs a new cylinder liner, the heads and block faced and four broken studs extracted. 4 months down the track the studs are out, hopefully another 4 months and the rest may be done

[Phillip]

With the new brake pads fitted last week, Over the weekend I fitted the matched drums and centralised the pads in the drums (well I think I have, there seems to be very little movement in the cam - following the manual, the process seems to be ‘set by feel’ with no way of checking, no wonder the drivers manual tells the drivers not to touch it!)

I made up new brake rods out of some 7/16” 1030 steel rod (courtesy of a friend in Geraldton who can spot 7/16 amongst a whole pile of 12mm stock )

The local brake & clutch shop found me some rubber boots that are a perfect match for length and diameters - both big and small.

Test fitting everything works, even the park brake! Not sure about the return springs, these are a little lighter than original so I may need to find a closer, heavier spring.

Just now have to paint and reinstall.

[Dale Jordan]

Excellent work Phillip . I've been looking for those boots , I'll use that number and try and get some over here thanks for posting . Dale

[Phillip]

I have to admit, this has been my least favourite job, pulling all the suspension apart, removing all the rust, cleaning and painting has been time consuming. But then you get it all back together and it’s a big step closer.

I learned a trick today, when compressing the spring, if the rod moves left or right of the other end of the of the suspension arm, it is very difficult to get get the other springs and the ball end in. The trick was to place a washer under one edge of the spring compression tool to get it to pull the rod straight. Also, this job is definitely a lot easier to do with the suspension on the carrier.

Now onto the front two units, hopefully in time for the arrival of the re-rubbered wheels.