MGF Ball Joints Pt. 1

As expected, the Yanks have made me (and 34 other people) redundant, over fears of maybe losing 1/999th of their previous year's profits. Apart from desperately attempting to get another job in an industry that is unaffected by financial trends - yet is shedding jobs all over the place.

The rest has been sort of trying to get the MGF ready for an MOT.

I've been going over the car, and checking against the MOT list. Most are -made up-. There is no play in the ball joints, the corrosion to the seat belt anchors point is untrue, as the mounts are on the seats. Plus, there is no corrosion on the suspension top mounts at all. What was this tester looking at exactly? I haven't checked the brake pipes, but I'd guess they're fine. Maybe he saw the lacey sill skin and just thought 'what the hell', and went ahead with a quick test full of crap while he had a cuppa tea.


Anyway, I have bought everything, and know changing all the bushes and ball joints = hugely improved ride! The bushes are in such a state, the ARB links are knackered. Getting everything apart was a pain in the arse, and once again, needed a sledgehammer, the MF-Stilson Grips and a blow torch. I used experience to know how to get rounded off bolts off and it didn't take longer than 2 hours like it used to! I hammered a smaller sized socket onto these, and carefully turned them with fire applied for about 10 minutes, and they came away no problem!

"Heat"

Every corner has upper and lower wishbones, consisting of a pair of ball joints. I'm replacing both on all corners, and all the links and bushes. You can feel how worn out they are driving the car. The whole lot are perished and dried out, like you'd get on a 50 year old boiler. I've never really working on a British Leyland car, and I'm hoping this isn't indicative of the quality on them. Rubber on a 10 year old car shouldn't looked this bad! I'm not looking forward to taking everything off in winter temperatures.




I then got the rust off everything, primed the metal, and then painted the lot in strong outdoor paint (in 'Bitter Chocolate'), and assembled everything. There is a bit of surface rust which will all be banished. :)