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"Finally!"
We've seen a few people that put all the wishbones and hubs etc, front and back, on the car right at the beginning. We've never really quire figured out why they do that - yes, it looks great... but it seems like they would just get in the way of everything and make the car take up more space than needed in the garage. Not to mention needing to take them off again to fit side panels etc later on anyway...
For us, now the side panels were glued on, we thought we'd treat ourselves to assembling the back end!
One of the first jobs (as you will see below) is to make the body fit around the suspension!
This nicely cut opening for the suspension on the rear tub isn't big enough... Baffling! We measured the shortest the shock was likely to get and added a little more to figure out the clearance.
Why isn't the tub cut to the correct shape to accommodate the suspension? Maybe it fits the Ford rear end? At least it was only a 20 min fix with a Dremel.
The result - You have to square off the opening to allow the top wishbone to travel vertically.
Kathryn getting some of the (pre-greased) bolts into the wishbones. Having struggled with many of the Shazda's bolts previously we were not falling foul of that again!
Notches on the wishbones point forwards (we hope!)
Just getting a feel for how it all fits together. We bought the upgraded solid rear end, it still uses the Mazda hubs to save the cost of the GBS billet rear end - but has all the same adjustability and stiffness.
Nice shiny ATR shock offered up
It feels like a lifetime since we stripped these off the Shazda - we have since fitted new wheel bearings.
Note to self... next time, save the old bearings to use to push in the new ones...
Don't forget the half shafts! Short one on the left, plenty of oil on the engaging surfaces and a small amount of persuasion required with a mallet to get the locking ring to seat in the diff
We couldn't get one of the half shafts to pull through the hub and didn't want to ruin the CV joints by smashing it in with the mallet...
So out came the welder...
And a makeshift tool was bodged. This screwed onto the half shaft back to front and pulled it through far enough to get a proper nut onto it!
Rear corners - assembled!
You will notice the tub came off part way through the assembly - we should have done that much sooner as it really helped with access. It's also worth noting that 2 pairs of hands made this jobs much easier as you often need to hold, and line up, 3 or 4 weighty things at once and then push a bolt through.
Now on to the brakes!
Bit fiddly, reverted to the Haynes Manual way of assembling them - on the car!
Pads in, ready to close up!
One of the calipers needed the end stop backing off so it fitted over the new disc/pad combo
Looking smart in the orange!
Rear brakes - fitted!
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