Build 6. Dampers
Next up was getting the front dampers in place. All in all another pretty simple job, the tough part being the limited access to the top bolt, and the worry that you will crease the chassis buy pushing the metal out of the way!
The bolts to attach the dampers are already mounted in the chassis, so they need removing first. The top one is a bit of a pain, access is tight and you will probably have to "push/bend" the aluminium skin in or out to get the bolt out. Whilst doing this I was sweating a little, hoping that it wouldn't create a crease in the skin. In the end after a bit of persuasion it came out.
Next locate the parts. In the suspension parts bag there should be 6 sleeves left, 4 of one type and 2 of another. I decided to check the sleeves against the bolts in the chassis (by also removing the rear damper bolt), and worked out that the 4 of the same type all go with the front damper, the picture below shows the larger sleeve on the larger rear damper bolt.
The usual copper slip was applied to the sleeves, and then I started by attaching the bottom of the damper to the lower wishbone first (Bilstein Logo at the bottom facing out), and then carefully moved the aluminium skin out of the way to put the upper damper bolt back in. I screwed this in loosely using a pair of water pump pliers as it was much easier than using an alan key, I then used the ball end hex on the torque wrench to torque it up!
Tools used and Bolts
The End Product
Timelapse
Summary
