Build 2. Wishbones

With a whole load of blogs available and a build manual, it is hard to know what order to do stuff in. I've decided that I'll do roughly the same order as the manual.

So with that in mind, the first job is the wishbones. I'd read all about the washer layouts for different setups, and also how difficult they can be to get in, so I was a little nervous about this at first.

Turns out, it all went together quite easily for my build.

Firstly, check all the bolts will fit in all the holes, this is when you will probably notice that you need to bend the aluminium panel a little to get the nut on the front upper wishbone. for me everything seemed to fit OK, and anything tight just needed a tap of the nylon hammer I had.

Lower wishbone

You need to support this underneath in order to work safely. I used a motorbike jack stand on two sleepers which did the job perfectly. Once I had it resting in place I decided to start at the front, I'd read somewhere that this made it easier and I had no trouble with the washers doing it this way.

So I covered the bolt and washers in copper slip, and then screwed in the bolt about 10 turns (enough to make sure it wasn't going anywhere), I cam back to this after then sorting out the rear bolt.

With the rear bolt, the first two washers go on really easy, knock the bolt through enough to keep them in place, but not enough to get in the way of the next set of washers. For the last two, they will be pretty tight, I tried the approach of getting them both in together, which actually worked as they were tight enough to not fall when I left go of them. I simply then used the trusty nylon hammer and a plastic spacer to knock them into the correct position, and then tapped the bolt completely through them all.

For me the mess of the copper slip was the worst, it seemed to get everywhere, but WD40 will clean that up nicely.

Upper wishbone

this needs a bit more effort to get into the right place. Firstly make sure you have put the sleeve into the right part and covered with copper grease. Then you basically have to get both parts of the wishbone generally in the right place, before simply tapping it gently into place with a nylon hammer (this tool gets a lot of use!). Some have said put some copper grease on to help it, but I didn't need that in this case.

I then supported each wishbone with a ratchet strap to stop it from sagging down and pushing on the chassis. Tighten the rear bolt up, and then loosely attach the front bolt.

Timelapse

Summary

• This SV Build - washers are going in with the 2-2-2 formation.
• Chamfered side of the washers always point towards the wishbone.
• Don't fully torque the bolts, it says to leave that until the car is on the ground with the wheels on, although I am a little worried about how easy it will be to get to those bolts once the engine is in!
• Don't tighten or attach the nut to the front upper wishbone yet.
• Once they are tight enough, they will hold their own weight.