westernlancia
New member
Hi folks
I haven't posted for a while because I've been away, but I have 2 Lancia Ys from 1996 and 2000, and they are identical mechanically to a Mk1 Punto. Or at least, until today I hadn't come across anything that was different, in 10 years of buying parts for them and telling the parts bloke they were Puntos. However, today I have had a problem - not sure if it is because they are different or because I have the wrong part (from eBay).
Here's my problem. I am changing the rear trailing arm bearings on the 1996 60HP one, using the absolutely excellent guide in the tech section of this forum. I am following the instructions very closely, and I just got to the bit where you insert the plastic spacer between the bearings, having removed the old ones. When I removed the spacer and put the new one in, I found that the new one wouldn't fit - it is just under a centimetre too long. Alarmed, I looked at the metal tube that goes inside it - and that's too long too, but the same amount. And so is the bolt.
The parts all fit nicely into the bearing housings (I have already installed one of the bearing races and it's the same size as the old one), but the diameter of the hole in the trailing arm mountings on the car is also too small, because the bolt is 1-2mm larger in diameter.
My question is, has anyone else had this problem, and if so, was it O.K. to do what I am hoping to do, which is simply cut down the plastic and metal spacers and drill out the holes in the mountings on the car to take the larger bolts. I don't think I even need to cut the bolt down, because there is room for it to stick out a bit more at the back. I'd have to cut the plastic spacer in two and take 1cm out of the middle, so it would be in 2 parts, but I don't see that that would be a problem (would it?)
And does anyone know what's happened? My guess is that either I have been sent a beefed-up one from a different model (Sporting? Mk2?) or simply that they got changed in the lifetime of the car.
Anyone else had success or failure trying to modify them as I intend - and would I just better buying a new pair (that's slightly fraught as I am in France and the deadline for the French MoT retest is next week, so there isn't really time to order a new pair)? I am also worried that I might just end up with another pair of wrong ones...
I have taken some pix of the parts, but I am having trouble uploading them...
Thanks in advance...
Alan
I haven't posted for a while because I've been away, but I have 2 Lancia Ys from 1996 and 2000, and they are identical mechanically to a Mk1 Punto. Or at least, until today I hadn't come across anything that was different, in 10 years of buying parts for them and telling the parts bloke they were Puntos. However, today I have had a problem - not sure if it is because they are different or because I have the wrong part (from eBay).
Here's my problem. I am changing the rear trailing arm bearings on the 1996 60HP one, using the absolutely excellent guide in the tech section of this forum. I am following the instructions very closely, and I just got to the bit where you insert the plastic spacer between the bearings, having removed the old ones. When I removed the spacer and put the new one in, I found that the new one wouldn't fit - it is just under a centimetre too long. Alarmed, I looked at the metal tube that goes inside it - and that's too long too, but the same amount. And so is the bolt.
The parts all fit nicely into the bearing housings (I have already installed one of the bearing races and it's the same size as the old one), but the diameter of the hole in the trailing arm mountings on the car is also too small, because the bolt is 1-2mm larger in diameter.
My question is, has anyone else had this problem, and if so, was it O.K. to do what I am hoping to do, which is simply cut down the plastic and metal spacers and drill out the holes in the mountings on the car to take the larger bolts. I don't think I even need to cut the bolt down, because there is room for it to stick out a bit more at the back. I'd have to cut the plastic spacer in two and take 1cm out of the middle, so it would be in 2 parts, but I don't see that that would be a problem (would it?)
And does anyone know what's happened? My guess is that either I have been sent a beefed-up one from a different model (Sporting? Mk2?) or simply that they got changed in the lifetime of the car.
Anyone else had success or failure trying to modify them as I intend - and would I just better buying a new pair (that's slightly fraught as I am in France and the deadline for the French MoT retest is next week, so there isn't really time to order a new pair)? I am also worried that I might just end up with another pair of wrong ones...
I have taken some pix of the parts, but I am having trouble uploading them...
Thanks in advance...
Alan
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