[Saloon-lovers] Mark VII suspension

Hello,

if you are a fan of information that is not in the workshop manuals, but
is essential for maintenance, then read on. If you have torsion bar
suspension on a separate chassis (V, VII, VIII, IX and XK 120 etc), then
read on and then go and look under your car.

The current job on the VII is to refresh ball joints and rubbers in the
front suspension. Once this is completed (this week I hope), the car goes
to the paintshop for the long awaited bare metal respray.

The story revolves around the lower wishbone mounting shaft. This runs
fore and aft and is attached to the underside of the chassis on each side.
Basically the lower wishbone bushes go onto shafts at each end and locate
the inner ends of the wishbone.

ANYWAY, I’d put one side together on the bench (shaft, wishbone and tie
rod, forming a triangle) and was similarly assembling the other side. Let
me say at this point that these shafts looked to me and everybody else I
know to be symmetrical, ie it doesn’t matter which way they are mounted
(does this give you a hint?). While putting the second assembly together,
I looked along the line ofsight offered by the bench vice and noticed that
one mounting boss was out of line to the other. Further looking showed
that one was about 3-4 mm (about 1/8 inch) higher than the other. This
meant that the already assembled unit may have to be redone & possibly I’d
have to replace the bushes again. Ouch.

So what I hear you say? Just check the manual and follow the
instructions. This is where it starts to get wierd. Two versions of the
workshop manual and a look into the parts books showed NO reference to
installation orientation. None of the diagrams (line drawings anyway)
offered a clue either. Also, the part itself offered no obvious clues
like the word ‘front’ stamped onto the casting.

Next step was a call to my colleague, John Tupicoff, who has a restored Mk
VII. The conversation went like this: “Sure no problem, I’ll go into the
garage and have a look under my car - walk walk walk - OK I’m under the
car & it looks like the taller boss is towards the front - hang on I’ll
check the other side - OH SHUGAR - this ones on the other way round.”

This had the effect on Johns car of having the lower wishbone shaft on one
side being several degrees out of alignment with the equivalent on the
other side. Our next strategy was the ‘if it looks right, it must be
right’ method. Consensus here (with both of us on mobiles lying under the
cars) was that the taller of the two bosses should be at the front. This
was based on the line of the torsion bar matching the wishbone mounting
shaft.

Next morning (after rereading the manuals numerous times), John went into
his workshop yard and checked the front ends of the two spare Mk VII’s we
have. Both confirmed our gut feeling from the night before.

SO, if you have a 7,8,9 (or V or XK) have a look under the front. At
least make sure both sides are the same. Larry or anyone, if you can find
a reference to this issue in any of the documentation I’d love to see it.
The difference is noticeable by eye and the only operational problem that
John could identify was that one of his twelve month old wishbone bushes
(on the incorrectly fitted side) was already chewed out & needed
replacing.

Sorry about the length and possibly trivial nature of this but my flabber
was particularly ghasted by this one. If you would like more info on how
to assess this on your car, let me know.

Cheers

Kon Kakanis
Brisbane.
Limping Mark VII

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kkakanis@sundata.com.au wrote:

Hello,

if you are a fan of information that is not in the workshop manuals, but —

— Sorry about the length and possibly trivial nature of this but my
flabber
was particularly ghasted

Hi Kon,

don’t apologise, this is important information and this kind of report is of
great value. I will be faced with this task in the future and will tuck the
info aside. It is very frustrating when you find out after the event that
your problems have already been sorted out. I for one applaud your initiative
and will look carefully at any followups.

Cheers,

Rod Prater
Mk IX (x2)

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