S1 Rallye work continue...

After what felt like a million small tasks (fitting door panels, blocking roll cage bolt holes etc) the S1 finally felt like ready for MOT. It was sunday however and I thought that I could do one more thing: put grease nipples to the rear axle. I drilled the right hand side first... When the drill went though the wall of the trailing arm - rust! I was completely surprised and must say - felt like an idiot! I had thought that the arm was ok condition. Time for a rethink.

After a brief thinking session, I was convinced I'd have to take the arms apart to see the condition of the bearings properly. The arb endplate was quickly removed from the drivers side with a help of 12mm (1.5mm thread) bolt.

To get left hand trailing arm first, one must hammer from the right hand side:

In that picture I have already taken the T40 torx screw and offset washer out from the end of torsion bar. The washer was a bit tricky to remove because the lack of space. Also the support for the brake pipe was released to gain space for hammering.

Before hammering, I marked the position of the t.bars with two methods (one would have been enough):

It helps if one lifts the trailing arm from the drum to release torsion from the bar. Couple of hits (with homemade tool) and the bar is loose

View from the drivers side - the stub pin is in very good condition:

A bit of archeology is needed :) Looks bad but in reality not so difficult, a bit of WD40 will do wonders

ARB should be removed (or just loosened) before hitting the other t.bar, otherwise it adds unnecessary friction. It is after all quite tight fit to the stub pin.

to be continued...