Chapter III -- Begin Assembly
After painting the bottom and interior, I still wanted to do some of the other work
related to the under side before taking it off the rotisserie. The suspension parts
are really too heavy to deal with that way but I could install a few of the lighter
components. The first was the brake pipe to the rear; it was run through the tunnel
to a bracket on the back bulkhead where it attaches to the rear axle hose. Next was
the fuel line from the pump at the back to the engine bay where a hose connects it
to the carburetors. Last was the fuel pump. There are two permanent studs provided
to mount a bracket for the pump, one in the bulkhead and one in the floor over the
axle. We never found that bracket though so I made one from some scrap steel. We
also didn't find a pump so I bought a Facet and mounted it. This is the bracket and
bracket and pump mounted. The third photo shows the routing of the fuel and brake
lines and the hand brake cable. The cable attaches to a cleat on the body where it
exits the tunnel where a nut tightens it down. It is not possible to get a wrench
on that nut inside the tunnel. The only way we found to tighten it is to jamb the
nut with a screw driver or some other wedge then tighten the cable against it. This
still does not work very well because you can't really get a wrench on the cable all
that securely either.
With those done, we took it off the rotisserie and set it on jack stands to begin assembly. The first thing was to install the wiring harness. I also temporarily mounted the tail lights and backup lights to test everything in place. While I was prepping and painting, Dan had gone through the existing harness and, with a little help from me, made any corrections necessary. Fortunately I had a fair sample of wires left over from the Prefect wiring project and was able to match the Lucas color coding. The old braided cover was pretty much shot so he finally wrapped the entire harness in black, non-sticky vinyl tape. It is not strictly correct for this car but apparently was a factory feature in later cars. Well we will just live with that to save a few hundred dollars.
Next was the suspension and brakes. I found a complete major overhaul kit for the
front among the boxes of parts so that saved a few dollars. Mike Glass, our local
professional, checked the existing bushings against the new king pins and declared
them "all right" which saved a bunch more. The bushings have to be pressed
into the spindles then line reamed to fit the king pin. The reamer to accomplish that
is $1000 and no local shop has one. The whole mess has to be sent off to be done. I
bought new rotors and kits for the calipers. The hub ball bearings also seemed good
so we serviced them and reassembled the front suspension. These photos show two views
of the offside finished and ready for its wheel.
There was one setback discovered here.
When trying to mount the rotors to the back of the hubs, the two machined surfaces
did not meet flat, resulting in rocking between the two. The DPO got us here again.
He had removed the wheel studs from the hub and replaced them with ordinary bolts
(I wondered why at the time) which do not have the necessary splined mating surface
so he welded them in place. Not only the welds, but the bolt heads stood proud of the
mating surface. I had to cut the welds away and replace the bolts with proper studs.
The mating splines in one of the eight holes turned out to be too loose to hold the
stud so I did have to tack weld that one in place. Maybe that's why he replaced it,
but why all eight? Finally, I rebuilt the calipers and painted them red, not the
correct color, I know. During installation, I discovered that I have two left calipers
and no right. According to Mike, that will make the right side impossible to bleed and
I suspect he is right. Before buying another, I will try removing it and holding it
upside down to bleed. If that doesn't work then I guess caliper replacement is the next
option. I'm not sure whether it is advisable to replace only one or should it be done
in pairs.
I should point out one really handy feature on these cars. The front springs can easily be installed with no weight in the car and no spring compressor. This photo shows the bare lower control arm in place. The large hole in its center is larger than the spring's diameter so the spring can be inserted through it and located at the top. Then there is a pan that fits the spring from below and bolts to the four holes around the large one. You just need four suitably sized bolts, 4 inches long and threaded all the way. Actually, the Haynes manual only specifies two but we liked four. Insert them through the pan then the arm with the spring between and tighten them up, keeping approximately even force on each. When it reaches the end, replace them, one at a time, with proper length bolts. The other photo is of Dan finishing the first spring.
On the rear, I wanted to at least service and replace seals on the hubs as well as
overhaul the brakes. New wheel cylinders are almost as cheap as kits. One of the
drums took a lot of effort to remove but both eventually looked good enough to use
and we found a nearly new set of shoes among the parts. We found that the DPO had
assembled the brake return springs wrong and just omitted the handbrake mechanism
entirely. I understand. Assembling these things is a bit fiddly at best. Both
adjusters were rusted in place and one even required the "oxy-acetylene wrench"
to remove it. Some time on the wire wheel rendered both as good as new, however. Dan
installed the springs and shocks and we mounted the axle. Attaching the rebound straps
was another matter. It required the weight of both of us on the back end and a third set
of hands to get them attached. These photos show a properly assembled rear brake system
and the hand brake equalizer. Note the brake pipes are not installed yet.
While installing the offside shock, we noticed that its arm would interfere with the
fuel pump outlet in its upward travel. I had to modify the pump mount to compensate.
Later, when installing the rear brake hose, we discovered that it would interfere
with the relocated fuel pump inlet with the required filter in place. I had to change
to a different style filter which, of course, required a whole new method of mounting
it and another modification of the pump bracket. These photos show the extension added
to the pump bracket and the pump installed on the modified mount to clear the shock arm.
The last one shows the final installation with the offset filter in its new bracket to
clear the brake hose.
The only thing left at the rear after that was the fuel tank. We noticed it had a small fiberglass patch already when we cleaned it up. I found another hole that the DPO had tried to plug with a sheet metal screw. Dan glassed that for me too. I then put a gallon of white vinegar in it and let it set for a week to clean the inside and treat what appeared to be a little "surface rust". That did its job fairly well but it also opened a couple more small leaks and showed some other suspicious spots. Therefore, we determined to fiberglass the whole bottom. I will replace the tank someday if I have to. We removed the rear bumper brackets that were used to attach to the rotisserie, installed the tank and the rear. After Dan adjusted the rear brakes and the hand brake cable, the underside was finished.
While Dan was doing much of the other work, I wasted a lot of time sorting out and fitting
the remaining brake lines (this seems awfully slow work) and mounting some of the other
under-bonnet parts, the heater box, the solenoid, the control box, the flasher unit, the
fuse box, etc. The left photo shows the brake pipe from the union to the rear. I really
don't understand now why it seemed to take me so long to shape and install although there
are two retainer clips inside the tunnel as well as the one shown on the foot well bulkhead.
The other photo is the line from the master cylinder to the union. Notice how it runs up to
the top of the bulkhead then over and down to the union. This is how the factory did it but
the line I had to start with was not shaped that way at all.
I had made a couple of attempts at getting the wiper motor to run without success. Continuity and impedance seemed all right but it just would not go. Yesterday, I tore it down one more time, thinking maybe something was binding. All seemed to be good except for the brushes. They were somewhat worn and possibly dirty. I cleaned and polished them, reassembled the motor and it ran. The park function also worked. This is a single-speed DR3A which is no longer available new so making it work was a priority. I have a mounting kit for it and, as soon as I can figure out how to get it assembled, I will install the wiper motor. The rest of the wiper system will probably wait until after painting.
I am a little concerned about the rear springs. It took both of us (about 400 pounds) sitting
on the back of the body and a third set of hands to install the rebound straps. I have read on
British Car Forum of new rear springs
causing the car to set too high. I can't be certain but my springs looked like they could be
new. Anyway, we installed the wheels and tires today and, after a couple of suspension details,
set it on the ground. At that point it would have been nice to have a steering wheel to make it
easier to move around the shop. Unfortunately, none was to be found. See the full steering
wheel story here.
About a week later I discovered we had left out a necessary spacer related to the rebound strap
installation. Removing and reinstalling barely required the weight of one on the rear. Maybe
the springs are relaxing a little. Well, that's about it for this session. I just ordered the
Rivergate 5 speed adapter kit with both the speedometer cable and clutch slave cylinder options
and it should be here in a week or less. But, that is for the next chapter. Stay tuned or come
back soon.
Meanwhile - After Some Delay
You might have noticed in the last photo above, there is no anti-sway bar installed. They were optional on these cars and mine apparently didn't have one since the lower control arms were not drilled for it. To ensure everything aligned right, we waited to drill until after some weight was on the suspension, the engine and gearbox were installed. That was the above delay. So here we return to this chapter after that has been done. Dan mounted the bar to the frame then I stood on the front rails to simulate the weight of the wings and bonnet while he marked the control arms for drilling and tightened their mounting grommets. After drilling and attaching the bar links, the following photos show the front end as it should be. I should mention, there was one problem; my bar would not fit the mounting hardware. It turned out that the bar diameter was 11/16 inch while the standard bar is 9/16. Moss motors sells a performance bar but its diameter is 3/4 inch. Thanks to Glass Restorations, I have a used 9/16 bar. Dan cleaned, sanded and painted it and it now looks like new, all for a quarter of the price of a new one.
It looks like I should have dusted before shooting the photos. With this, I think the suspension is finally complete and that should be the end of this chapter.
Several Months Later
With much of the Sprite assembled, many of the original boxes were empty or at least had no more needed parts inside. Much of the storage shelves dedicated to the Sprite were now loaded in nearly empty boxes or otherwise cluttered. I wanted to make more space in my area so total rearrangement of the shelves was in order. In examining every box to determine what was still active and what could be put away until the build is done, I ran across a third brake caliper. Comparing it to the left one on my right wheel proved that it was in fact a right caliper. I cleaned it thoroughly and ordered another overhaul kit. After installing the kit and painting it red, I installed it in place of the incorrect one. With that, I am pretty sure ...