Day 3 of working on the the ST170 front brake conversion... IT'S FINALLY SORTED!!!

Here's how it looked this morning... all tucked up for the night last night away from any rain.





First thing was to get the track rod end off. Unfortunately it was done up tighter than I had the strength to undo, and my spanners only go up to 19mm, so I was using stillsons and an adjustable spanner (and using one of those scares me because they slip and round everything off).

My mate brought a butane blow torch, so we heated up the nut for 2-3 minutes until it was glowing. It got so hot the heat conducted down the track rod end and melted the ball joint cover, even though we never got near it with the flame. 1500+ degrees I reckon it was!



Gave it 30 seconds to stop glowing then cracked the nut and it was EASY. Wearing thick thick gloves, wound the old track rod end off, and took a 10 minute break to let it all cool down. After 10 mins, whacked some copper grease on, which went from a thick paste to a dripping liquid and even started sizzling (and copper grease is for up to 1200 degrees still), but the new track rod end went on a treat, was as smooth as a dream to wind on.

Old one





New one






Then we refitted the new hub, had a bit of trouble getting the wishbone balljoint in the bottom, but managed eventually. It just didn't seem to want to go in straight, but we got it finally.





Fitted the brakes and got some old wheel nuts to pull the new longer studs completely through. Good job I had lots of spare nuts cos it shagged the thread inside them, but didn't do a thing to the new long studs.






Finally bled the brakes, got the wheels on and lowered the car to the ground. All nuts tightened as much as we can and then took it for a drive round the block. As I was turning onto my road, on full right lock, there was a click click click then a scrapy-whirry sound and all drive lost. F***ing CV joint I knew it straight away.

Fortunately it's downhill so rolled down and pulled up again, sure enough the CV joint had come off the driveshaft. Must have not put it completely on, when we looked, the circlip was missing. But we found it inside the joint amongst the grease.

Fitted it back on and gave it a few almighty smashes with a lump hammer (through a folded up handtowel so we didn't damage the end of it) and it was on, properly this time. Went for another drive round the block, and it's fine now... brakes are getting better, 80% of the rust is off them now, just need to get a bit more done.

ALL DONE and wheels back on






One thing that does need sorting though is tracking... it feels like they're quite off, and it's badly bump steering, I think as the dominant wheel loses grip over the bump and the other wheel takes over the direction.

So going to drive up to local garage tomorrow and get them to laser align it... I'll get them to fix the steering wheel in a central position too, it has been a good 30 degrees on the p1$$ for years, since it hit a kurb slowly in the ice. Also I'll get them to torque up the hub nuts... my 32mm socket isn't deep enough, so the thread sticks out too much and can't get enough purchase on the nut now without it slipping... they're tight, but not 300NM tight, or whatever the torque is for them.


So about 14 or 15 hours work in total this has taken us. And cost a lot more than I originally anticipated, but I've got unused new bolts and stuff to take back to Ford, they SHOULD swap it for something else, like a filter or something else I'll need in due time. Going to sell the old brakes and hubs to try make some more money back too.

Finally for the first time since last saturday, the car hasn't spent the night on axle stands or blocks of wood under the wishbone taking the weight off the hub. And everyone is happy they can get cars on and off the drive. But nobody is as happy as me, who now has a working car again.





Tomorrows plans:
- Tracking & hub nut tightening @ garage
- Fit ST170 pedals



After those 2 things, it'll be a good 2 months with nothing being done to the car, as I'm going into hospital on tuesday for a lateral ligament reconstruction in my elbow, so that's several weeks in a cast and arm brace. That doesn't mean I won't still be buying stuff for the car, but I don't wanna accumulate too much stuff if I can't fit it lol.

One of the first things after that which I wanna do is fit the rear ST170 brakes (I must be mad after the grief these have given me right?!) and paint all the calipers/carriers... either silver or blue I think. Or maybe go for the subtle black. Winter tyres will be fitted to the wheels as well sometime in October, or before then if the Lexus wheels get sold.