Topic

Sunday 9th February
The old compliance bushes were removed and replaced with new poly ones…

…which resulted in some damage to the paint I had applied previously.

But this was rectified after I had re-instated them on the sub frame along with both buttresses, plus the front and rear mounts.

I spent an hour or so prevaricating over reusing bolts as the ones I had order from Rimmers were the wrong size. Too short and likely for a F which doesn't have the compliance bushed.
Most cleaned up ok so could be reused . But some were damaged so replacements will be required .

Then whilst watching Top Gear this evening, and power by a bottle of wine, I poly bushed the ARB drop links singled handed.


So it's coming back together now but perhaps not quite quick enough, as I have only 6 MGing weekends until April.

Really enjoying the write up. Excellent job. Like ur xf aswell I just got 1 before Xmas lovely car.

Good work - but you've missed out the bit where you had to repaint the sub frame after shutting the door on it LOL. Seriously great and tidy work Robert.

You probably need to explain why Sunday the 2nd had to be written off... chnuder monkey!

BarryD wrote: wrote:

Good work - but you've missed out the bit where you had to repaint the sub frame after shutting the door on LOL.

That was the ARB, and the wasn't much LOL just a long string of expletives! Still, I got over it, sanded back the affected area and painted it again. It looks great now

BarryD wrote: wrote:

You probably need to explain why Sunday the 2nd had to be written off... chnuder monkey!

You're a bad influence Barry, beer followed by wine follow by whiskey. Should of known better. Still we had fun didn't we!

Alans835 wrote: wrote:

Really enjoying the write up. Excellent job. Like ur xf aswell I just got 1 before Xmas lovely car.

Thanks. I've had my Xf just over a year, it's a great drive, but a bit heavy on the wallet. Had to replace the tyres on the rear already and at £520 for a pair it still hurts! But I forget that every time I nail it. Have you tried yours in S with dynamic mode turned on? Incredibly quick!

Ouch thankfully I haven't had to put tyres on mine yet! Still amazed at how good it is on fuel my last car was the 3.0l petrol xtype lovely car but was murder around the town on fuel and unbelievable with the caravan on tow lol. Yes it's its superb in the s and dynamic mode so quick for such a big car. Just about to bite the bullet and get a towbar for mine can't believe the wiring kit is more than the towbar! The XF should be better though for towing to its got twice the torque of my old x-type.

Saturday 15th February
Started to re-assemble the suspension. Got the upper and lower arms in on one side and then moved on to building up the hub, only to find I didn’t have lock washers with the ball joints. Grrr . So I had to image that I’d been able to fit it:-

I’ve checked Rimmers and B&G and they are listed as No longer Available. Grrr !
Anyone got any suggestions where I might get a couple?

I was now in a mood to something, so I fitted the “torque tamer” bushes…

..only took one hit with the soft faced mallet.

Next I assembled the upper and lower arms on the other side, and fitted the “witches hat” engine mount and engine restraint. To prevent grot getting in between I applied some silicon sealant to the bottom of the mount before fitting.
By the end of the day the sub-frame looked like this…

Put one last coat of paint on the drive shafts, and a few other bits and the off to the pub for & with BarryD

Sunday 16th February
With a renewed send of urgency as a result of Barry’s “Are you going to finish it in time” questions I decided to head off the local motor factors to get the lock washers and nyloc nuts I needed.
But they were closed Grrr . I had checked on their web site before leaving.
Checked the website again and noticed their and my mistake. I would seem that Sunday is the 8th day of the week!

Went in the garage to find the drive shafts were looking good…


So I decided I would clean the engine and box. I sprayed on plenty of “Gunk” and left it for 10 minutes. It looked like this:-

30 minutes of scrubbing later and the worst was off but it still looked filthy. So out came the steam cleaner. 60 minutes later and it looked cleaner but won’t be winning awards in a concourse competition…

Whilst cleaning I noticed the clutch arm had a grease nipple (circled). That’s one less upgrade to do . Out came the grease gun and I pumped in a couple of squirts.

Next job up was to swap the bell crank lever assembly. Here’s the old one with the much fresher one kindly donated by “FatBoldingOldGit”

Then the lower gear cable bracket went back on, and then I stopped for .

Ok, I wondered, can I get the engine back in the frame this before 4 pm
I pulled my son away from his XBox just long enough to help me lift the sub-frame back onto the trolley. “Can I go now” he says, “Yes but I’ll need you again in 30 minutes to help me lower the engine in” I reply. Whoosh, he’s gone. So I’ll be pushing the engine and crane back on my own then .

Time to clean up the threads and re-assemble the gearbox side engine mount, and on it goes.
Now where’s that son of mine? Always easy to find, you only need to know where the Xbox is.

Took us about 30 minutes of faffing and lots of damaged paint before the engine was in place. It’s a tight squeeze, and the engine wouldn’t hang straight no matter how much we played around with the spreader.

Gearbox side of “torque tamer” goes on, then the two halves just needed bolting together. But could we get the two parts to line up. We’ll it took another 30 minutes before the bolt was in, and whoosh he was gone again .

By this time I was knackered, so touched up the damaged paint work and it looked like this…

… that’s enough for the day. Time to pack up and go and visit my mother. I had said I’d be there by 16:30, it was now 17:00 and I needed to have a shower. Whoops.

Superb piece of work Argen. I've added it to the guides so that it doesn't fade away from view.

I had a real moment looking at the picture below. " Why's he left his coffee mug there?"
See if you see it too!

David Aiketgate wrote: wrote:

I had a real moment looking at the picture below. " Why's he left his coffee mug there?"
See if you see it too!

There are two of them both with two handles

David Aiketgate wrote: wrote:

I had a real moment looking at the picture below. " Why's he left his coffee mug there?"
See if you see it too!

Because its at just the right height to reach it!

You'll see my jar of moonshine, complete with brushes in one of the pictures!

Friday 21st February
Popped out at lunch time to the local motor factors (that aren’t open on Sunday) to get the bolt and lock washers I still needed. I also took the clutch pipe (that goes from the clutch slave cylinder down the hose) so that I could get a new one made up.
So did they have the bolt I need? No.
Did they have lock washers or anything of similar shape and size? No!
Could they make up the brake pipe? Yes 2 minutes later he comes back minus a new pipe. Sorry sir our flaring tool can do the end you need. So another No!
That evening fired up the laptop and ordered the bits I need from Rimmers.

Saturday 22nd February
At 2am our 11 year old daughter appears in our bedroom with a raging temperature, and announced that she felt sick (again). Off she goes into the on-suite, sits on the toilet makes some bottom noises, and then throws up on the floor whilst still sat on the toilet. Nice. Good job it’s a tilled floor.
You’re probably wondering why this is relevant. Well, we were due to go out for the day, but Lucy’s night time meltdown put an end to that plan. Still every cloud has a silver lining, so while wife and daughter spent the entire day watching back to back films until she felt better, I spent some time on the TF.

So what to-do? First cancel that Rimmers order as I’ve thought of some bits I missed, and am likely to find some more bits that need replacing.
Then out to the garage to fit the refurbished clutch bracket and “Rod assembly – upper tie” (No 11 in the diagram below).

And that was all I could do with the sub frame, so time to move onto tidying up the body rot.

I started by washing the dirt off the rear end, and degreased and cleaned inside the engine bay. I should have taken some before and after pictures as it made quite a difference.
The brake pipes were removed as they were in areas that need some rust treatment, and I masked off the bodywork to protect from overspray. Then on to sorting the rust…

An hour or so with a wire cup brush on the drill, and the Dremel and the back end looked like this…

…I did the same with the rust on the N/S and some areas of the underside of the boot.
Then sprayed with some zinc primer…


… which ran out before I had finished.

So I decided to head to the shops, starting with Pollards as they close at 5pm.
They guy in the motor factors had suggested them after his inability to sell me any bits for my car. He couldn’t see the irony.
Anyway it’s a proper old iron mongers. I had resisted asking for some O’s, four candles, and some plugs.

They had the M12 100mm bolt, and M12 nyloc nuts I need, and even M30+ washers which I hoped I might be able to use as lock washers but they were too thick.
Then to Halfords for the primer.
On returning I fitted the bolt, and could then fit the other trailing arm. So it now looked like this…

Time for dinner.