Hi Phil Thanks for getting in touch again. Just spotted your post now. Have progressed with the resto by digging lots of rust and grot out of the rear end. Now needing quite a bit of tricky welding, which is beyond me. However, have the funds for the bodywork and, I hope, a respray - in Texas yellow...

Thanks both. Big help. I already got rid of all that cracked sealant on the inner wings, treated the surface then painted with hammerite. Stupid question: can seam sealer be applied on top of paint? Also, how important is it that the flaps are attached to the drain tubes? One of the flaps has kind o...

Need some help. The long and winding resto of my '72 fastback goes on, and I'm turning my attention to the rear bodywork, which is not pretty. I have the rear wings off. Can anyone tell me the significance/function of the two little boxes which are just forward of the rear bumper mounts? They are at...

Hi Just realised that the reason one of the calipers I was going to use has one bleed nipple and the other has two is that the single nipple caliper runs up to 1971 and the twin nipple caliper is for 1971 on. I think I know the answer to this already, but can I run these two different calipers toget...

Haha! You're right! I'm an idiot. Was listening to football in the garage and not concentrating enough! Thanks.

Any ideas about the different caliper bodies?

Cheers

Simon

Hi. Quick query. When I reattach the calipers, if I include the locking tab in the set up, its thickness means the caliper fouls on the outside face of the disc. The caliper is pulled inwards a few millimetres and contacts the disc's face. When I put the calipers on without the tab, the disc spins f...

Thanks for your advice folks. I'm beginning to think that I have the correct hubs, but I'm just finding it hard to get the bearings on them. I was about to order some earlier bearings (>68) today, but Heritage helpfully give the inner diameter and it's 27mm, which is actually smaller than the ones I...

Hi I'm in the middle of rebuilding the front end of my '72 Fastback and have hit a snag (yet another one!) When taking it all apart last year I sheared one of the high tensile ball joint clamp bolts, making the stub axle only good for scrap. However, I sourced a replacement, so no problems. Today I ...

Brilliant. Thanks!

Hi Quick question. When I removed my front calipers and sent them away for refurbishment, I could swear that there were no cross-shaped brake pad retainers/clips in sight. Now that I'm putting it all back together, I need them and don't seem to be able to source them anywhere. Are they essential? Wh...

Hi In the middle of putting the front suspension and steering back together, and have realised I have no idea how far into the tie rods I should screw the ends to get anything like the correct geometry. Didn't take a note when I took it apart! Will it be obvious how many turns in they should go? Sho...

Hi Mike

Haven't been on for a few weeks. Thanks for the reply. If you had an angled track rod end, I'd be up for buying it. Would be grateful if you could let me know if you have one and how you'd want payment.

Thanks a lot

Simon

Hi

Putting fornt end back together, and having a bit of bother sourcing the angled joint for the end of the short rod. have been told a straight one will do just as well...

Opinions?

Thanks

Think that's what I'll do. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks Dave

A couple of momths back, when removing near side bottom ball joint pinch bolt, like an idiot I sheared it. An unsuccesssful attempt to drill out the high tensile remainder resulted in the entire axle being junk. So I sourced a new stub axle on ebay, cleaned it, painted it and today was reintroducing...

Thanks for the input, folks.

Was told I can get away with a straight one instead of the angled one. Is this true? What might be the consequences of using a straight track rod end attaching to the drop arm?

Hi folks Right. I've got myself confused. I've stripped the front end of my 71 fastback and am just about to reassemble with everything new and rust-free and shiny. I'm almost certain that when I removed the track rods, the clamped ends were at the wheels, and the double nut ends were under the car,...

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Yellow is where it's at. There's barley a seventies car that doesn't look the dog's in yellow! As soon as I'm back on the road we'll meet up for some photies. Haven't been to a club night for about two years. It was a rusty heap whan I got it. A certain VW engineer then filled it with filler and I d...

Yup. It's in my garage up on axle stands having all the suspension gubbins replaced, cleaned, painted etc. Target is to be back on the road by July or August. Some of it looks like it's never been apart and every nut is a battle at the moment.

You on the West of Scotland site,too?

This was taken a couple of years ago. I'm doing a fair bit of work at the moment, but hope to be back on the road in a few months.

Thanks everyone, and thanks, Dave, for clearing that up. You're right - it's the bolts clamping the balljoints to the steering knuckle that are giving me problems, and the solution seems to be to compress the torsion arms by whatever method. One other problem I've encountered is that the split pin w...

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. It's actually the pinch/clamp bolts I'm struggling to remove. I assumed they had to be out before I could think about removing the balljoints with the 30mm socket on the top (or bottom) bolt. When you say you twisted the pinch bolts, do you mean you removed them? A...