Rear Suspension and other bits.

On to the rear suspension.  This is a lot more of a palaver than the fronts as access is a lot harder.  First thing is to remove the rear arches and store them out of the way.

Next is to gain access to the top mounting bolts.  Now on the first image below, you can see a nice little access hole to get at the top mounting bolt, and it is easy to get at with nothing else in the way.

 The problem was that I had added the boot panels and the access hole, where the clamp is in the picture, has now gone.

Add to this, I then covered it in carpet!!

To get access meant pulling back the carpet and going postal on the panel.  It is not a very neat job, but at least I have access.  I will use some Velcro so it gets put back in place but can be accessed later if needs be.

In fact it is so nasty I am ashamed to put up a picture of it!!

So, after all that faffing about, I finally got to fit the new DamperTech shocks.

Once fitted I lowered the car back to the floor and started to wind the shocks up to get the ride height right.  The rear needs to be between 130mm and 140mm to the bottom of the chassis rail just in front of the rear wheel arch.  As much as I wound up the springs, they weren't going over 120mm, which is just way too low for my driveway access, not to mention speed bumps.

So off they came.  You can see in the image below, that they are not far off, in fact only about 1/4 inch short, but that equates to quite a bit on the ride height.

Anyway, they had to go back to GBS to be sorted out.  They were really good about it all although with Christmas getting in the way, they did take a few weeks before they were returned to me.

I finally got round to fitting them and getting the car back together and also added a couple of other small parts.  The first was a new gear knob from GBS.

Next was a map pocket.

Then a phone holder.

And finally, a GoPro Hero 3 camera.  Here it is fitted tot he roll bar.

I decided it might be better hung under the roll bar.

You can just about make out the GoPro app on the phone which is used to control the camera and also acts as a view finder using a wi-fi connection.  All very clever.

Once all this was done, I was able to take the car out for a drive, the first in about 3 months.  The good thing is that I can feel a definite improvement with the suspension.  My fear was that, after such a long time getting them sorted, I might have forgotten what the old ones were like, but this was not the case.  I am not clever enough to say exactly why, but they just feel better.  The ride is smoother and they seem to absorbs the bumps better.  That is the best way I can describe them.

Anyway, I hope to new continue the blog but for it to be more of a drive blog than a build blog.  Roll on the better weather!!