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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
A bargain! And what a great base to begin a re-build.
A bargain! And what a great base to begin a re-build.
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
A couple of years ago when I was toying with the idea of restoring the Marlin I spotted a Sierra XR4X4 in the local breakers. I was interested in the rear suspension because it has disc brakes which would help improve the mediocre brakes originally fitted to the Berly. When I was told the asking price was £100 I jumped at it, thinking that if the restoration did not go ahead I could get my money back on ebay. It has the added bonus of a viscous diff. The next job is to strip it down and get the trailing arms and main beam powder coated.
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
This is how I removed the suspension bushes from the trailing arms.
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With the main beam bushes being much larger I made up this arrangement but the principle is the same as before.
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That's the rear suspension ready for the powder coater. Going to get the front top wishbones and the bumper mounts done too so need to get them prepared next.Comment
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
Collected the parts from the powder coater today.
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I had intended to get the bumper mounts done at the same time but I noticed that one was squint. Obviously during the original build I was less fussy than I am now, I must have leveled the bumper and drilled the bracket off center, this time I will cut and weld the bracket square. So I decided not to get them powder coated at the moment.
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
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Back to black. The more I looked at the silver chassis, the more I thought it needed to be black! Was going to brush paint it but a local farmer with a busy sideline in sandblasting and painting farm machinery did me a good deal to spray paint it. It got etch primer first.Comment
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
Looking good ScottComment
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
Thanks. I think it was a good move to paint the chassis, there is so much of it still visible on the completed car that leaving it silver would not look right.Comment
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
I've bought 3 brand new galvanised chassis for Land Rovers and every time painted black as it looks so much better. At one time I had a Reliant Fox with an unpainted galvanised chassis and the zinc was coming off in sheets. It did a good job of protecting the steel but made me realise that whilst something like a farm gate will survive unpainted the salt and other "stuff" on the roads can ultimately attack a vehicle chassis so no harm in adding a paint layer as well.
Paul HComment
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
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The rear hub bearings were worn, so this morning I have been fitting new ones. They are two piece, inner and outer. The old outers were removed with a few careful blows with a hammer and punch. To make refitting easier the new outers were put in the freezer overnight and the casing was heated with a blow torch, the appliance of science! I placed the new outer in position and placed the old outer on top so as not to damage the new, a few very careful taps with the hammer and job done.Comment
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
I had to bite the bullet and spend a chunk of the budget on suspension parts.
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Most of the rubber bushes were perished so I decided on a full set of uprated polybushes. I went for black coloured ones which are the same material but more in keeping with the Marlin than bright yellow. The original steering rack seemed ok but needed new gators and when I priced them I found out that a complete recon rack was only £25 exchange so I went for that. The original rear springs are ok but they are special order and I can't remember what they are! So I got a pair of standard Sierra saloon springs and hope to make them fit, which would make things easy if I ever need replacements.
At the risk of sounding like an old fogey it struck me how much easier the internet has made the task of sourcing parts compared to the first time I built the Berly. Back then in the early 90's, when everything was black and white, it was a case of searching through car magazines looking at adverts, or word of mouth, and then numerous phone calls. They only need to crack an easy way to find the money to pay for the stuff now!Comment
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
How often have you read the phrase refitting is the reversal of removal? Makes it sound too easy. I spent 3 hours the other evening trying to fit the large poly bushes to the rear beam, threaded rod and angle steel, G clamps, heat gun, vice, were all tried and all I've got to show for it are skinned knuckles! Today it was time to get tough. Using a bottle jack and a forklift saw both bushes fitted in 10 mins, you live and learn!
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The rest of the bushes should be easier as they are split in two and are much smaller anyway.
P.S. regular readers will notice that I have worked out how to resize the pics which should make it quicker to load, I got a new phone the other week and it has a 16mp camera but it takes ages to load to here so biggest is not always best.Comment
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
As I have decided to make a new bulkhead I thought I may as well take the chance to reposition the steering column, the slight mounting angle to clear the V8 no longer required.
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Here you can see the original hole in the bulkhead and the new straight position.
I was also keen to try to fit the standard Sierra brake servo, this was one of the reasons for changing from V8 to 4cyl. The pedal box required an extension as it is slightly shorter than the bulkhead.
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
These build threads have got to be addictive lol.
Look forward to reading more updates!!
Top Job!
Dan.Comment
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Re: Berlinetta build and restoration
Thanks Dan, I quite enjoy doing the build diary and I would encourage others to have a go, it's surprising the number of views you get. It also gives me a bit more motivation when I know people are waiting on the next instalment, I myself can't wait to see what happens next! Now that the diary is in real time rather than a historical account of the original build I find that pictures speak a thousand words and so it's fairly easy to just take photos and upload them here.
On a technical note about posting pics, this is what I do. My phone has a 13mp camera which is great quality but takes a lot of time to upload so I have set the camera to 8mp which seems just as good. I then send the pics to my laptop by bluetooth, once on my laptop I use a program called Paint which has a feature to resize pics. Here I choose 50% then save the pic which I then upload. I bought this laptop a few months before starting the build diary and doing the diary really pushed me to learn about computers.Comment
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