As part of the dismantling for the Elise’s suspension refresh I removed the wheel arch liners. Removing the fuse box from the liner was, predictably, a bit of a fight as the fixings were rusted stuck, see here for some about that. But it was worth the effort as it meant I discovered some wiring […]
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S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Assembling the Rear Suspension
With the front finished it’s time to start assembling rear suspension components back onto the Elise. Pretty much the same as the front with a few small differences. Starting with these chassis brackets for the lower wishbones. A bit of corrosion block grease applied too. Right hand lower wishbone on. Upper one on. Damper mount. […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Fitting Front Hub Carriers, Camber Shims, Ball Joint Plinths, Steering Arms, Brakes, Disc Guards and Drop Links
Now the wishbones are on and the bolts all torqued up… …I moved on to assembling the rest of the front end. As usual with these things ‘refitting is the reverse of removal’. The ball joint plinths need fitting to the ball joints first. I used a bit of copper grease here to help prevent […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Fitting Caliper Brackets and Pressing in Drive Flanges
Just a couple of bits to assemble before parts go back on the car. The rear caliper brackets need to be fitted to the hub carriers before the drive flanges can be pressed into the bearings. This is because access to the allen head bolts is restricted when the drive flange is in place. With […]
S1 Elise – Removing and Refitting Headlamp Covers
The headlamp covers had been fitted with the usual sticky black butyl type adhesive so removing them wasn’t a big problem fortunately. It just requires a little bit of heat to soften it then once I had an edge lifted with my fingers the covers peeled off quite easily. Most of the adhesive was left […]
S1 Elise – Refitting the Headlamp Brackets
While I had the Elise apart for the suspension refresh I was on the lookout for anything else that might need some attention. I had already noticed the dirt that had got behind the headlamp covers and that one side was letting water in so I was going to have to deal with that. What […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Fitting New Ball Joints
If you happen to have arrived here looking for info on how to replace a ball joint with the wishbone still on the car then check out my other post here. Having fitted the Elise Parts wishbone bearing kit I could move on to pressing the new ball joints in but just before getting stuck […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Fitting Elise Parts Wishbone Bearings
To be honest I couldn’t see or feel much wrong with the original rubber wishbone bushes, they didn’t have any excessive movement and hadn’t aged badly. But to properly prepare and paint the wishbones they had to be removed so some replacements were required. I had a good read about the various replacement options and […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – A Few Other Parts Get The POR15 Treatment
The POR15 treatment went pretty well on the wishbones and various other parts of the running gear so I thought I’d go over a few other parts on the car. Firstly, I should have removed these lower rear wishbone brackets and put them through the whole process with all the other parts I’d removed. No […]
S1 Elise – Suspension Refresh – Wishbones etc POR15 Rust Preventive Paint
With all the preparation done. Finally it’s time to actually get some paint on these parts. Obviously the wishbones are a bit of an awkward thing to paint so I attached a bit of fishing line to each of them so I could hang them while painting and to dry. This was a great idea […]