It's all coming together

[Delboy]

Either can i!

[Delboy]

Ooh, i'm getting excited now. Just recieved my 8 spokes. Look very very nice. Will post a pic when i get home (in work now).
Gonna get the tyres put on tomorrow and get them on, even though the spacers arent on yet, i cant wait. Grinning like a Cheshire cat!

[Delboy]

Managed to get off work early and rushed home. Loaded the tyres onto the Surf and went to the nearest tyre place i could find. Cost €20 to get the tyres put on the rims, with valves etc. Said his machine was not big enough to balance them, but hey!
Got home and decided to clean them a little before i put them on.Started putting them on over the wheel spacers and they were sticking out about 2" beyond the arches.(Pic 1) Not good, I wasnt sure about if they would fit without the spacers as i've heard so much about the backspacing and that they would hit off the calipers, but i thought i'd give it a try. Took the spacer off one front wheel and it fit perfectly. So i now have four 3 month old 30mm spacers to sell, because the tyres on their own fill out to the edge of the arches. I am still going to install the balljoint spacers as i had some serious rubbing issues, did some cutting and its ok now, but on compression it will be worse i think. Any way, hers some pics!

[gemini]

Managed to get off work early and rushed home. Loaded the tyres onto the Surf and went to the nearest tyre place i could find. Cost €20 to get the tyres put on the rims, with valves etc. Said his machine was not big enough to balance them, but hey!
Got home and decided to clean them a little before i put them on.Started putting them on over the wheel spacers and they were sticking out about 2" beyond the arches.(Pic 1) Not good, I wasnt sure about if they would fit without the spacers as i've heard so much about the backspacing and that they would hit off the calipers, but i thought i'd give it a try. Took the spacer off one front wheel and it fit perfectly. So i now have four 3 month old 30mm spacers to sell, because the tyres on their own fill out to the edge of the arches. I am still going to install the balljoint spacers as i had some serious rubbing issues, did some cutting and its ok now, but on compression it will be worse i think. Any way, hers some pics!

like it

[JimL]

like it too. do you have to stand on the front wall of that house to get in or what???

[Cmar]

very very nice derek, they really look great on your Surf...

[europa88]

Derek, nice wheels mate!

how did you get on with the fitting of the balljoint spacers, were they easy to fit and do they work?

I have just fitted OME901 rear coils and at the moment they have given me 3"
of lift over the saggy original springs!

Trouble is the fronts measure 12"n/s 13"o/sfrom wheel rim to arch(looks like a dragster at the mo)
I think It might be toooo much to adjust the torsion bars to level it out and I am seriously thinking of the spacers!

Any comments would be appreciated

[Morr]

Looking very mean Del, nice one!

[Delboy]

Cheers Guys. I'm very happy with them. The roof is taller than me now with boots on, so i reckon its about 6'2" not including the rack.

Neil, I havnt put the spacers on yet as i'm waiting for my Dad to bring back my 4 1/2" angle grinder so i can grind the upper control arm a little. But as soon as they are in i will give a full report.!
Del

[europa88]

Cheers Guys. I'm very happy with them. The roof is taller than me now with boots on, so i reckon its about 6'2" not including the rack.

Neil, I havnt put the spacers on yet as i'm waiting for my Dad to bring back my 4 1/2" angle grinder so i can grind the upper control arm a little. But as soon as they are in i will give a full report.!
Del

Cheers Del!

[Delboy]

Did a fair bit of driving today in and out of Kilkenny and turned more than a few heads on the way. Have noticed no reduction in acceleration and i can now cruise at 60 in 4th gear. Well, i think it's 60, my speedo says about 52. Have to get out on the Mway and do some tests.
Cheers

[europa88]

The next step was to install the new coils. Tried to get them in without compressing them, but was having too much trouble, so i rooted outthe compressors i'd bought when i did the Milner coilsand squished them down by a couple of inches. Its quite a scarey process compressing springs. I could just picture the compressor slipping and going through my head. Anyway, if you're careful and kepp the compressors on opposite sides of the spring and tighten them about 5 turns on each side at a time, you will be fine.
Before i put the coils in, i took out the rubber seats at the top and bottom and cleaned them. I also took measurements around the upper bumpstops etc if i want to make some coil spacers later. After that, just pushed them in and seated them correctly, undoing the compressors in the same careful way i did them up. This pics shows the new coils in.

Del

Is that an anti roll bar quick disconnect i can see in your pic!?

Some people with big lifts also use extended disconnects or plain extended links to compensate for the lift!

I would be interested to know where you got these from (If they are quick disconnects)

[Delboy]

Yeah, they are discos. I got them from a guy onthe Yotatech forum (FirefyterEmt) is his name on the forum. They are easy to install and top quality. I dont need to extend mine cause my suspension lift does not involve relocation of control arms etc. You would need bigger ones for a 4" lift and above.

[europa88]

Yeah, they are discos. I got them from a guy onthe Yotatech forum (FirefyterEmt) is his name on the forum. They are easy to install and top quality. I dont need to extend mine cause my suspension lift does not involve relocation of control arms etc. You would need bigger ones for a 4" lift and above.

Cheers Del

Gonna try and get some!!

[Delboy]

Have noticed the steering is very erratic at low speeds. Every little bump and hollow seems to be amplified through the big wheels, so i've just ordered a Procomp ES2000 heavy duty steering damper from Explorer UK. Tried to find an OME one but they're not easy to find. Nobody seems to have them. Anyway, if this one is as good as their shocks, then it will do just fine.