darrenjlobb's Adaptronic Managed Compound Blown Derv Bus Build

[darrenjlobb]

Well its been a wet weekend down here in Cornwall, so while everyones been using all of the boost at PugFest, I've done a bit more to the old bus.

Started out by getting the rest of the rear beam back together, so collected together the torsion bars / antiroll bar, all uprated units from what I was running before, so greased up the shafts and bearings and got rest to "slam her in"



Like so:



Started putting torsion bars in, had to adjust a couple times to get height correct on the new bars:



Not 100% on the height yet as the wheel situation is still a bit up in the air etc, but will do for now.

Greased everything up and got the anti roll bar refitted etc:






Fitted some new braided flexi's on the rear, wanted to upgrade anyway, and old rubber items were fairly perished / deteriorated:




Next up was to rebuild the rear calipers, so started out by stripping them down / picking all the seals out:





And put it all back together after cleaning / greasing up the sliders and also the cleaning up the pistons:



Re-Fitted to the car, made up some new brake lines as saw no sense re using the old many deteriorated ones just for the sake of it. Also fitted new pair of handbrake cables:





Sadly couldn't finish the job as realised I don't have new new discs here, so have left other part of calipers off / re painted and fitted pads ready for will have to wait for discs.


So decided to move up front next, nearside required a new wheel bearing as I had just replaced the offside when I took it off the road, but never got around to doing this side, so figured now was a good time. So stripped the first side back:




Pressed new bearing into the hub:




Then decided to fit the Baker BM adjustable Top mounts, had to grind out a bit of the strut tower for clearance for full adjustment, bit of a shame I didnt do this before I painted it, but still needs must etc:



Re-fitted GAZ coilover with rose jointed drop links, and have fitted the lower arm with Vibratechnics P-bushes and Powerflex Black front bushes, so will see how these fair in the long run. Re used the old wishbone and balljoint as both in good condition, just changed the bushes over.

Can just about see Pbush hiding away:



And strut top all back together:





Next problem is the clearance issue that I pretty much suspected would be the case, and is the case. I am unable to clear the Brembo's without 20mm spacers... There is room up front just about for 20mm spacers, but problem is I end up wider track up front than rear, which looks a little odd / silly, but not really able to space the back out anymore as its on its limits for clearance while still be able to "drive" the car hard as it is. So not sure really if I should just use GTI6 units (would rather not) or find different wheels, or who knows really, need to think on that one, any thoughts??


Few photos to semi show it, hard to image fully obviously as no weight up front to lower it: