Coil Over Removal

[kevin the chicken]

Run up against another problem. Took the front grille off and was able to remove the top bolts with ease. But when it came to the bottom bolt there is a serious issue. The damper is fixed to a u shaped piece cross member with the open end facing forward. The bolt heads are accessible at the back of the member but the nuts are covered up by an L shaped piece of stainless welded over the open end effectively making it a box section. The short end of the L is welded across the member with three welds about one inch long top and bottom with the long piece stretching out to attach to the nosecone.

The front member looks nothing like the one in the build manual so I don't know if the extra piece is just an add on by the builder and not structural or part of the original design. The welds do look quite neat for this car. Has anybody got any photos of their cars front end?

As I see it my options are firstly cut it off and have it replaced or not, remove the steering rack and fiddle around for ages inside the box section to remove and replace the bolts or remove the rack and cut two small access holes away from the weld. Apart from cutting it off and throwing it away all the other options will need to take the rack off as the brackets for it block the ends of the box.

[theduck]

Got a picture of yours? I've not got a picture of mine at the moment.

[Guest 2b cruising]

How difficult is it to remove the steering rack.

My 2b one is easier than it looks.

You will not have to reset any of the steering geometry, just remove the ends from the links in one piece along with the rack.

Mark the bottom UJ so you put it back in the exact same place to keep your steering wheel centralised.

It should pull out either side when the wheels are removed.

[kevin the chicken]

I don't think it would be too hard to remove the rack, I can get at the bolts easily enough. The trouble is I am still not sure if I can get at the nuts without taking off all the nosecone side panels. I tried to take some photos but they didn't come out very well. I think I am inclined towards this route though. Taking the mounting bolts for the rack off may even give me enough movement to get a spanner into the box section.

[Guest 2b cruising]

Are you sure the nuts are not welded or fixed into the box section.

They might even be something like rivnuts.

The nuts could also be a tight fit into the box keeping them tight enough to undo.

As some kinds of people say, too much lubricant is just not quite enough.

[kevin the chicken]

That had occurred to me but I tried to remove one with no luck. I'm off down the garage in a minute to flood it with penetrating fluid so it can have a good soak until sunday when it will be coming off one way or another. I'll keep you posted.

[fry61]

If all else fails --- don't use the angle grinder. Try to drill the head or nut end of the bolt & keep increasing the drill size until its possible to shear the remains; less likely to damage the surroundings which maybe needed. ( assumes you can attack one end & drill parallel to the shank length.)

[Guest 2b cruising]

If the box is not much bigger than the nut, I have in the past forced the blade of a flat screwdriver to jam the nut.

Once again that's if accessibility allows.

[kevin the chicken]

Take a sweet from the jar! The big screwdriver did it in the end as a spanner wouldn't fit over the nut because it was too close to the bottom of the box section. I had to take the steering rack off to get at it though and then i could actually see what I was up against. A very long bolt with a nyloc nut on the end. In the end just to get it undone and the coil over out I had to remove the nose cone side panel, steering rack, bottom nose cone panel and if I want to get the bolts right out to replace with new ones , which would be ideal I will have to take the radiator out too.

I did take the spring off in the end to check the size of the cups the spring sits in, I put spring compressors on it to reduce the pressure but still couldn't undo the nut as I didn't have a spanner big enough so I used an oil filter chain wrench and a pair of water pump pliers to hold the damper body while I turned it and it came off first try!

[Guest 2b cruising]

Good for you.

I know you had to strip a lot off but you got there in the end.

I would suggest that you weld the nuts in while it is stripped down and you have access.

This will aid in the rebuild and any future stripping.

Forget about the nylons and use some thread lock.

The thing about using that stuff is only use a couple of small drops on the bolt thread.

I have seen threads having to be stripped right off through to much locking agent being used.

To weld the bolt in the right place and tight against the surface, tighten a short bolt into it.

Edited February 16, 2016 by 2b cruising