Groovy Baby! Reliant Kitten part 2

Suspension, Steering, Axle and Brakes

With the chassis finished and painted it was time to sort out the suspension, steering, axle and brakes. Many parts were in poor condition so a lot of time was spent repairing, de-rusting and painting the parts good enough to use again and ordering new and second-hand parts to replace those that were beyond economic repair.

When it comes to suspension and brakes there are no safe short cuts. One needs to be patient and methodical. First, I had to check if all the parts were there. As I didn’t dismantle the car I had no idea which bits were missing and which bits had belonged to the car and which had been bought as spares or replacements. But a few hours of sorting and list making told me what I needed to know. The old spring-damper (coil-overs) units were beyond economic repair but, luckily, new ones were available from Gaz. I decided not to re-use any of the consumable brake parts as they too are still available new. Most of the suspension parts were able to be cleaned, de-rusted in the blast cabinet and painted. Many nuts and bolts were replaced though many were in reasonable condition.

Some items, such as the rear axle, wouldn’t fit in my small blast cabinet so I used a rotary wire brush in an electric drill to clean them up after they had been de-greased and pressure-washed. The surfaces were stabilized with Kurust before primer and paint.

With the suspension and axle fitted, I made up a set of new brake pipes, fitted new brake shoes, wheel cylinders and brake hoses. A new brake master cylinder arrived recently and will be fitted soon. Meanwhile, what about the engine?

In the next installment we’ll have a look at the engine rebuild - it turned out to be a lot more complicated than I originally thought..

Stay Tuned!