randall977 Jun 15, 2012 8:45 am
Subject: Front Suspension Rebuild

I'm just in the process of reassembling the front suspension. I've had quite a few parts blasted and powdercoated and replaced one lower bearings (these take most of the wear and some dirt) as well as all of the rubbers etc. It's tempting to fit the calipers and discs as well but this could make the whole assembly quite heavy to handle...


SRD Jun 15, 2012 10:42 am
Subject: Re: Front Suspension Rebuild

Your front suspension looks fabulous, please post some more pictures when assembled on your car.

Who did you use to do the work for you, in terms of shot blasting and powder coating ?

What a lovely clean work-shop as well.

randall977 Jun 15, 2012 9:48 pm
Subject: Re: Front Suspension Rebuild

It'll be quite a while until the front is ready... The blasting was done by a guy near Witney who owns at least one Lagonda 3.0, his details can be obtained from Oxford Industrial Finishes (oif) who did the powder coating. The blasting was not done as well as it could have been but then the parts were very grease and dirt encrusted. OIF are really excellent and actually quite cheap / good value - 5 stars!

As you know I love my workshop, a place of order and some nice tools...the best of which is my Bosch 10.8v sheet metal cutter, I cannot recommend one of these enough if you have metal to cut.

randall977 Jun 16, 2012 8:41 pm
Subject: Re: Front Suspension Rebuild

Reassembled more of the front suspension today, all went well, just found one more damaged item - upper cup bearing - easy to replace. Really enjoyed this part of the project, it's nice working with clean / new parts - a bit like Lego for adults. It's also very satisfying making something which was so crusty like new again...or heading that way!

Just to give an idea, the cost to me of rebuilding the front suspension including brakes and shocks has been around £2-3K. This is actually very good as potentially you could easily spend two or three times that if all the parts needed renewing. Fortunately for me this area had obviously been worked on fairly recently (mileage wise) and the low mileage of the car helps too.

Next job is the steering rack and column...