That's reminded me of the time a few years ago when I was parked outside a pub unloading some big speakers out of a Transit (I do a bit of sound engineering), anyway, the pub was on a hill and just down the road from my van was the landlords Porsche. Strange really, 'cause they handle really well. Were the ramps not the same height or something?Įverytime I've jacked up a mk1 Ford Ka I've had problems opening and closing the doors, next time you see one take at look at the bottom front of the rear quarter just behind the front door and I guarantee there'll be a big rust scab there where the flexing of the chassis has cracked the paint. If I'd managed to open the door while on the ramps, it probably would have snapped the car in two. Only the doors were holding it roughly in one piece. Turns out the whole car was so rotten that it was flexing at the bottom of the bulkhead when on the ramps. After a couple of times trying and the same thing happening, I asked my Dad to have a look while I was in the car on the ramps. Rolled it back off the ramps, door opened fine, back onto the ramps, door wouldn't open. Trouble is, when I got it up on the ramps, I couldn't open the door to get out. Thought I'd run it up a set of ramps and have a look underneath to see if I could see anything wrong. Had an rally prepared Opel Kadett (a series) which felt a bit drifty even on tarmac. Luckily it didn't but for a moment I was contemplating how miserably poor I would be for the next few months if the potential energy was released from the spring in to the mid-riff of the Porsche. As the "live bomb" clatters about on the deck I am running for it looking back in case it "goes off". It's worth mentioning at this point that the Rover is parked next to a very nice looking Porsche 911. Put the spring compressors on the new spring and very gingerly take it over to the car, where I fumble it and the assembly drops on the floor. I didn't remove the strut for replacement and was planning on sliding the new spring on over the strut in situ to save time faffing about with rusty old pinch bolts Even though they are made for the job, anyone who has used them will testify that handling a strut or spring with them on feels like you are handling a live explosive that could go off, killing you at any moment. Lucky for me I wasn't using jubilee clips but a set of spring compressors. So I turned up at these "posh" flats and get going on the spring, now a rover 75 spring is a bit of a monster, old one came out easy enough in 2 bits but putting the new one on was grim. I once did an emergency repair on a work colleagues motor, was a Rover 75 and one of the front springs had snapped, the spring had also punctured the tyre and made a real mess of the inside of the wheel.Īnyway, I said I'd go over after work and replace the spring for him. I didn't have spring compressors so jacked up the wishbone to compress it, used a handful of Jubilee clips to hold the spring in compression and took off the strut, When I took off the top of the strut, the spring suddenly made a bid for freedom, shrugged off its Jubilee clips and shot up, just past my nose, and on out straight through the corrugated garage roof 30 feet above. Changing a coil spring on a mk1 Golf (first coil sprung car I'd ever worked on).
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