Front Suspension Re-Assembly | Triumph Spitfire Restoration Project - Part 75 

Excellent video! I am going to watch it over and over before I take care of my spitfire front suspension. Thank you!

I will be tackling this in January/February... perfect timing! Thanks!

I see your hand is healing well. I installed my bushings with all-thread and heavy washers (+ a couple sockets). They went in pretty easy with some silicone lube.

Steve, thanks so much for this.

On the upper arm ball joint, try using the spring washers on the bolt head and the nyloc nuts without a washer. You shouldn't need a spring or lock washer and nyloc nut together. Good vids.

The bushings for the Anti roll bar are for the uprated 7/8" bar along with the u bolts...ask me how I know...

About to do this same process myself on my 75 so I’m happy to see you doing it!

I agree, RimmerBros drive me mad

I believe the bolt direction is factory with the head next to the frame. It has been speculated that it is a safety feature so if the nut comes off the bolt won’t fall out. My car has the bolts that way

Nice to see the forward progress! I'll have a great reference when I get to mine! That hand is still looking a bit nasty. *barf*

The bushings are probably got a 1500 which has a thicker anti roll bar

Nice Work, as always. You are making a huge amount of progress!

Good vid, thanks. Rotate the upright back & forth, look at the trunnion it's threaded into and if its moving around, that means the upright's threaded end is bent, when it should be staying perfectly straight. Easy fix now that you've gotta press to straighten it. Also, DO NOT tighten up those bushings with the suspension unloaded, as at normal height/loaded they will be twisted & it shortens their life Good Luck! Quentin Hazelton stuff was poor in the 70's!

There is a set of sockets that are designed to hold the top of the shock and keep it from spinning. There's one for the thicker shock stud and one for the thinner. Rimmers is a British company. A lot of their parts are aimed at British versions of the car. The US got a detuned suspension compared to the home version. Their kits are often set up for the home market. Spitbits and The Roadster Factory know what the US market needs and orders their parts appropriately.

Good job, Steve. Frustrating, of course. I got a rear main seal for my TR4 that didn't have the spring in the seal. I didn't figure that out until I was ready to install it. BPNW made good on it, and I guess I should have made sure the part was complete, but come on...

Runners Bros.does supply the proper bushings for the sway bar, but you have to request either the “larger diameter or the smaller diameter” and that Has to be put in so put the proper part number in the search bar, and it’ll come up. I like you experience the same problems with My (GT6) Parts Left Over From the same situation, no washers were included in my assembly hardware, so I switched most of my hardware from grade 5 to either grade 8 or stainless where it wasn’t gonna receive as much vibration such as those bushings. I went at quite a bit expense to do it, because,it turned out, I virtually replaced or substituted for a higher grade of bolt, sticking with the same thread, TPI, as well as size millimeter, and so forth. After I did the sway bar, I went to the steering rack and pinion be advised they have a newer operated style. I suggest you order it now if you haven’t already because it does take a while to get stuff unless you wanna pay for extra shipping cost. That up rated steering rack blocks are the cats meow I mean they are fabulous.! It’ll save you a ton of fidgeting around with the other rubber bushing type stuff and meeting everything and holding the other to the upper and then try to get nuts on and tighten them down I mean wow, a real time and frustration cutter! You’re doing a fine job just take your time when you’re going to the edge in subsequent assembly take pains to look at the part numbers as to what’s in your book, your manual, and the parts that you had to order,make sure those part numbers are the same if they’re different you’ve got to go back to Rimmers and put it in the search bar the proper number, if at all possible try and return it but if you can’t return it, good source to get rid of it is on eBay . Cheers Rob

I think Kyle mentioned it elsewhere, but those sway bar bushings are definitely the wrong ones. There should be just enough play to slip them on, with effort. They shouldn't easily slide around. Also, I've heard it said those upper A-arm bolts are backwards for safety reasons-to prevent the bolt from backing out fully should the nuts come loose...(or something to that effect). Anyway, looking good!

In short, it's best to avoid kits from Rimmers and order individual parts looking for US applications.

Who are the big domestic supplies you spoke of?

Nice job! Been following your progress. Quick question could tell me what the frame alone weighs? Thanks.

Those parts that are too big are TR6 parts, yet another reason why I dropped reamers.

Don't feel bad for putting suppliers on blast. Without it stuff like this go unfixed. I have gotten a few things from Rimmers, and fortunately everything was okay. But as someone who is about to start their restoration, knowing who is and who isn't reliable when sourcing parts makes others lives a little less worrisome.

Also Rimmers are ok but james Paddock uk is very good

How easy is replacing the front studs with rover studs?

I don't buy from reamers, I buy from Canley Classics.

WHERE CAN I GET THE FRONT SPRINGS.... RIMMERS IN UK TELLS ME THEY CANT BE GOTTEN ????

Who sells that spring compressor?

RimmerBros are rubbish. Back in the 80's and 90's they were good but currently they are shamefully poor. It took them 3 attempts to deliver me a good sump gasket. The first one was folded up and put in a box. Do yourself a massive favour and find a different supplier and save your energy for working on your car . Kind regards Paul from 48 Spokes 🇬🇧

ya that really sux to have missing stuff. it's ok to have parts missing. but let the customer know whats missing.