Brooklands November

I'm really in wait mode now for the chassis. I spent a couple of hours in the garage yesterday getting together
a box of bits together that need to be taken to be modified. These are the front suspension arms, accelerator
pedal, clutch/brake pedal assembly, steering column and gearstick (the part that comes out of the gearbox
itself). I also have to take the bellhousing from the gearbox and the BMW flywheel as I'm using the BMW
engine.

It was at this point I spotted the flaw in my plan - the steering column was still an assembly. taking it to bits
was a 15 minute exercise. I used the angle grinder to get the security bolts off the U clamp (I've got new ones
waiting for the build) and then it was just spanner work. One tip is to make sure that the key is in the ignition
and turned to the second position before trying to remove the ignition assembly - this is because the steering
lock will stop you taking it to bits.

Finally I used some scrap wood to create a trestle for the chassis to stand on. the other end will be axle
stands with a length of wood across them.

So thats it, I'm as ready as I'm going to be ready. I have decided not to pre-build assemblies such as
axles/suspension arms, I'll re-build them on the car.

It's here! The weather on Friday morning was pretty grim with heavy rain and
mist, and my journey took me on some of Britains most notorious roads, the A14,
M6 and M42. My father-in-law, Bob came along to help (thanks Bob). It went
surprisingly well however, and all of the bits were ready when we arrived.
Loading up took 20 minutes, including roping the chassis firmly on top of the
roof bars. Journey back was OK, but was taken a little slower :-) When we
stopped to get petrol, one old chap wound down his window and asked what it
was. When I told him it was a chassis, he looked bemused, so I said it was the
main part of a car. He smiled at that and asked what type. When I said a
Pembleton he gave that special smile that is used to humour someone you're
talking to who is slightly insane whom you don't understand. Window went up
and off he went. The cashier thought it was something for a horse! Hmmmmmm.

A frustrating weekend. I got into the garage on Saturday afternoon
ready to start. The first item in the manual is to create the rolling
chassis by attaching the two beams, the arms and the spring/damper
assemblies. So the axles went in along with a rebuild of the steering
rack, but when I looked at the exchange front arms I had been given,
there were no taper bearing faces in them. The taper bearings are
used to hold the arm in place, allowing rotation but no lateral
movement. This was catastrophic as I couldn't even start the first
part of the build.

I was able to build up one rear side after lots of faffing about with
the rods and springs. The Citroen has four rods and springs, and it
uses long springs and short rods at the front and short springs and
long rods at the back. It became apparent that the long rod would not
work at the back as it didn't maintain spring tension. A bit of
measuring later and it became clear that the longer rod will need to
go at the front, and the short rod at the back worked fine.

That was about it though as on Sunday I had a sickness and diarrhoea
bug which kept me otherwise occupied!

Got on quite well today. The rear suspension and brake system is in place, just need to put in the split pins
that protect the bearing pressure rings from loosening.

I spoke to Phil at Pembleton - he was expecting my call! Apparently, I was supposed to remove the bearing
surfaces before giving him the arms, and also remove the ring gear from the flywheel. He said he'd drop
them all in the post.

So today the focus was on the rear. The dampers took some persuading to fit into the front retaining plates,
ended up using a Manchester screwdriver and grease. The brake lines alos took some time as I had to remove
the brackets from the old lines. These lines are like springs and fit within the axle itself to provide
flexibility when the suspension arm moves up and down - more modern vehicles use a flexible hose but
apparently the LHM you have to use in the Citroen system doesn't like flexible hoses. Replacing the brackets
needed care so that they were fitted back in the right place, the pain is then getting them back in the tube so
that a retaining screw pokes out of a hole and can be tightened with a nut.

I took this week off to try and get a flying start, but it isn't quite working out as I planned.

On Tuesday I spent most of the day traipsing around or sourcing parts. I had aon old Viva Magnum axle in my
garage which I was going to fit to the Leader I had. It is now taking up space so I needed to get rid of it. I
also needed some odds and sods like masking tape, cable ties etc as well as some board for folding aluminium
panels in (more of that later). I also decided that as I didn't have the taper bearing faces I had to
concentrate on the back of the car so I needed the fuel pump, which I eventually ordered from Vehicle Wiring
Products, along with P clips, fuel hose, filters etc.

Today I was in the garage most of the day and don't feel to have got very far. Firstly the brake pipes on the
nearside had to come out again as I was kidding myself that they were assembled acceptably - basically the
coil must not be nearer than 6mm to the inside of the axle tube, and mine touched if you nudged it. That took
the best part of two hours to get right.

I then decided that I should finish off the engine by setting the valve clearances. On the nearside cylinder,
the pushrods would not seat abainst the rockers properly - it turned out the cylinder head gasket looks as if it
will fit either way around, but it is very slightly handed on the pushrod tubes, and this was deflectingt eh
pushrods. Another hour gone.

I then rebuilt the steering rods and arms assemblies (loads of grease!) and started the uprights/swivels. The
bearings went in OK, but getting the locking rings on was a sod (although getting them off was worse.
Eventually I welded up a tool to fit them, which broke on the first ring. I'll have to find a local Citroen agent
who can do them for me. I could buy the tool, but its almost �50 and I'll never use it again

I owed Phil an Astra inner column as the one I had sourced was the wrong part.
I ended up going to a local scrapyard on Thursday and physically pointing at
what I wanted this time. I also got a package of bits from Phil that I should
have taken of my swap parts. First thing to do was to fit the taper faces for
which I had to make up a wooden drift.

On Friday I dressed the Citroen welds on the arms as I had done on the rear and
then cleaned the paint back where there was obviously pitting and rust
underneath. Once this was done both arms were painted and left to dry. I had
also dropped the front swivels with the local Citroen specialist. It took them an
hour to fit them and they had all of the proper gear! In the process the paint got
chipped so I'll do it again once I've refitted them to the arms as that is another
process needing some brute force. I had hoped I'd seen the last of the black
smoothrite tin.................

The problem then appeared. The bottom plug thread in one of the
swivels had got damaged and the plug would not screw in, and to
make matters worse, the thread on the plug got damaged. Not
being able to complete this side I built up the offside with the
rod and spring. I also drilled and tapped the arm to allow an
adjustable bump stop to be added.

Next day I ordered two threaded plugs which duly arrived. I
knackered one of them but eventually managed to clean up the
thread enough to get the second to fit (see tips).

Having done this I could now fit the nearside arm which all went according to plan. Fitting the dampers was a
pig. The plastic outer bushes are wider than the inner metal ones by 3mm each side at the rear of it. The rear
mounting brackets are, of course, the exact width of the inner bush. Time for grease and bad language (and
a bigger hammer!). To make matters worse. the front bushes (which, incidentally, have the plastic and metal
the same width as the plastic outer at the other end) were so wide that when they were on the front pin, the
thread didn't reach the nylon of a standard M12 nyloc. In the end I sawed and ground the nut down so it was
shallower and the thread had clearly passed through the nylon with bare thread showing (important for SVA).

I could then add the steering arms and roughly align the toe, although it will need setting again once it is on
its wheels and the ride height is set.

Finally, I tried hanging the fuel tank. Two brackets have to be attached to the axle tube by drilling and
tapping it. I'm not happy with this as a) the brake pipes are in the axle tube and b) the plates are flat and the
tube is round so the plate will act a s a seesaw - not good with a full tank of fuel, so I intend to weld the
brackets on.

I've had a cold so haven't been outside for a couple of days, but this afternoon
decided to get back to it. First job of the day was to attach the fuel tank. With
the tank hanging from the two side brackets I was able to measure and cut the
brackets supplied by Phil. The axle and brackets were filed to remove paint and
create a weld key, and then they were welded on. For the side brackets I used
some chrome tube to space down the tank.

I then spent some time playing around with the fuel pump, making up rubber
mounts out of an old mini exhaust bobbin. The pump is a low pressure Facet job,
and the problem is that it is fairly large, and needs to be mounted at 45 degrees.
In addition to that, there are long tails for the pipe to attach to, and the
problem is that the chassis rails are too shallow to fit the pump without some of
it dangling down below the chassis line, risking damage. In the end I decided to
postpone fitting it as it may be possible to fit it to the rear bulkhead panels.

I also had a close look at the tank inlet tube (which has been shortened by 50mm
as per the instructions). It looks awfully close towhere the side panels will be
(see photo) and I know that Peter Donbavand, another Brooklands builder, has
had fun with this area. It will certainly need a tight bend. I might look at
blocking it off and fitting a flange to the top of the tank, but would prefer not
to.

So, that is the rolling chassis as far as I can get it. So out came the floorpan
and rear bulkhead panels. These I bought laser cut as I still have scars from
the last time I cut aluminium sheet :-) Peter Donbavand had already told me he
had a nightmare with his as the panel has to be bent to get it in, and then the
slots for the chassis uprights didn't take account of the weld beads. I
measured my panel to check, and it was right, so Phil has obviously been
listening. I spent some time measuring the panels and checking where they
would all fit. It looks like next time will start drilling and rivetting.

I've been abroad all week again so haven't got far with the build (OK, no progress at all) although I have
put together soem material for the "Pembleton's are Go" newsletter whilst I was in the hotel room, with
input from some other builders.

If you've been paying attention, you wiull remember that I had trouble with the front shock absorbers. I
called Phil as I still wasn't comfortable with my solution. It turns out his suppliers of shocks have been
problematic and I had the wrong bushes, the metal bushes should be short at both ends and the nylon
should be flush with them. He's going to get them to sent me replacement bushes.

I also asked about the rods and springs. If you recall, Citroen have long rods and short springs at the
front and short rods and long springs at the rear. After measuring from the spring set to the knife edges
I had put short rods and short springs at the back and long springs and long rods at the front. Turns out
this is wrong, it should be short roids and short springs to the front, long rods and long springs to the
rear. Seems I have some changes to make to the suspension.

It is times like this that most expressive bit of technical jargon is useful. Bugger!