Yes. The top leaf, with the spring eyes, is pulled in and clamped against its natural curve. As mentioned, i's definitely not ideal, however flipping a leaf has been done many times before.

It can also be done (the top spring) by working along it gradually in a press to slowly flattend and eventually recurve the arch other way, effectively flipping/reversing the spring eyes. This used to be don'e to early leaf suspension in hotrod.

The leaves that were in it were set up for towing and were not original. They were higher than standard and definitely stiffer having an extra 2 leaves.

The plan will be to eventually get some custom springs made up once I've settled on a ride height etc. First I'm going with backyard budget option just to get the thing running.

Shaun

That looks awesome, love the ride height! I'm proper jealous, this will be such a fun run around.

So some success today, yet more headaches.

I'd been waiting for the capri inserts I ordered to turn up before working again on the front struts. It has been a while, so contacted the company I bought them from to be told the no longer have stock and won't be getting any in.... pretty frustrating that I had to initiate the proceedings and then get money back putting me behind ....


Anyway....

I decided to crack on with the spare struts to convert to coilovers and use thenold inserts.

They came up well, cleaned and painted everything, re packed bearings and fitted some new discs. I haven't yet completely drilled out the top of the coilover 'top' as I wasn't 100% on the diameter of the capri inset. So it should sit 10mm lower than it is.

That said, ITS NOT LOW ENOUGH!!!! Despite many assurances, I'm guessing my version of low differs from others. I have 10.5" 190lbs springs wound down as much as I can get them.

Looks like I need at least 8" or even shorter and I can then have the ability to wind them up the threaded tube.

At least they look good so far. Now to order new springs. I hate having to buy things twice.

Shaun

love the Superlights, nice offset.!
 
They have aged 1000% better then the old Dragways.
Those and Dragway Skoggs hey, were the wheel, unless you were in the Simmons camp.
Showing our age.
 
Its going to look good if you can leave the patina....

deano
love the Superlights, nice offset.!
 
They have aged 1000% better then the old Dragways.
Those and Dragway Skoggs hey, were the wheel, unless you were in the Simmons camp.
Showing our age.
 
Its going to look good if you can leave the patina....

Yep, the dragway pros are very much an 80/90s wheel.

I'm planning on leaving as much patina as I can, however I'll see what it looks like after the body work and rust repairs. Lowered with fat wheels should look good.

So far nearly all the driveline and suspension components have been serviced and/or cleaned and painted.

It'll has new carpet/door trims etc, so nice to be inside, clean underneath, but hopefully ill not be afraid to drive and use it.

Shaun

Ahhh, yes understand now, repositioning the tube lower down.

Unfortunately it's not the threaded collar I've run out of adjustment on, it's clearance to the tyre, so can't drop the lower platforms any more.

Shaun.

Had to walk away from the wagon for a while....
 
After the slight issue of the shocks paid for that were never in stock, and then the springs that weren't low enough, i ran into another problem.
 
Despite firing the engine up on the stand, and having previously cranked the motor over without issue, once I installed the rebuild engine in the bay I had issues.
 
The starter would make grinding/interference sound and be really sluggish to turn over. Like it misaligned?
Despite numerous attempts to sort the problem, I ended up pulling the engine and box as I was sick of fixing things in the engine bay.
 
I cant for the life of me work out what has changed? Maybe the bellhousing has slightly rotated around ever so slightly, just enough to clash???  I'm not sure. I had to walk away after a few attempts in vane.
 
Anyway, i'm keen to get back to it, so any help of suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Really keen to get it running now and get some motivation back.
 
Shaun.
 

Thanks for the encouragement.
Yep keen to get back on with it.

It was definitely a strange one.

The starter had previously worked fine in the car, and on the stand (with a different bellhousing) however once all bolted back in the car, it wouldn't work.

Definable mechanical and not electrical.

I even bought another starter with the same result.

My thoughts are that possibly the sandwich plate is slightly out of alignment causing the starter to bind as it has some play.

I'll separate the engine and box and have a look.

Will get it all lined up and started on the floor with the box before returning it too the engine bay this time.

It's a strange one.... but I'll get it sorted 👌

Really looking forward to having the mechanicals done, it running and drivable so I can start on the rust.

Shaun.