its been no secret on here the amount of work that ive needed to do to the Stilo for quite some time... well its all done and se passed her MOT this afternoon so its all good!
the shopping list consisted of
first things first. i couldnt get it into our local 2 poster lift rental establishment due to them digging a pit, i also could get into the father inlaws garage due to his workload. after clearing out a space barely big enough to park a stilo in my garage the rear end was stripped out
both ABS sensor multiplugs disintergrated on removal :bang: ... so 2 of those were bought... when removing the flexi hoses both rigid pipes twisted with the unions, although luckily the ones from the chassis came out cleanly.
after attempting to use a hydraulic puller to get the bushes out... it didnt work, ended up cutting them out (this comment doesnt do them justice, it was the BIGGEST P.I.T.A. i have ever had the misfortune of doing) the way to do it is definately with a large hydraulic press and the correct tooling (around £50 from Fiat) it just saves so much messing around.
anyway, new bushes in (i wanted Meyle HD, i fitted Original Birth, but thats another story), copper brake pipes made, new passenger rear caliper, flexis refitted, new Handbrake cables, Brembo aftermarket Disc and pads, new Monroe Reflex shocks and a pair of -30mm Apex springs in, on and up!
swapped the old girl round and there she sat for 2 weeks due to half term for the child and my buddy who needed a hand with his Vectra
.
once i FINALLY mangaged to get back on it all the front was stripped, wishbones, struts, calipers and rubber hoses. not a lot went wrong here, thank god, although i did find the lower gearbox mount shot so in went a new one. whilst removing the old wish bones, one of the rear bushed literally fell out
and this is what the new ones should look like when installed
i took the old struts to the father laws garage and stripped them to reuse the upper and lower rubber spring pads. good job too as the springs were starting to push out of the top of the top mounts! rebuilt it all onto a pair of new Monroe Reflex struts again with Apex -30mm Springs and KYB top bearings and mounts.
(yes i know one of the springs is slightly misloacated... i didnt realise until just before fitting but true it up before it went on the car)
this is what they look like in, on and up.
again with brembo discs and pads.
Full Engine service and Box Oil replacement happened yesterday before bleeding brakes and throwing the front wheels on. took it for test today and it passed with no advisories! shes a completely different car but i like it, even if i do have to get the tracking sorted as soon as i can
still to do is the clutch, rad, and a couple of other bits that i found along the way. shes had about a grand thrown into her all in all and 3 weeks with every available minute i could muster, most of it on mondays some of it by torch light! would have been a million times easier on a 2poster and with all the right kit probably would have only taken 3 days max. but due to me scrabbling around on my ass in an unheated garage things took considerably longer
the shopping list consisted of
- Rear Axle Bushes
- Front Wishbones
- Front and Rear Springs and Shocks
- Rear Passenger Caliper and Full Set of Rubber Hoses
- Front and Rear Discs and Pads
- Pair of Handbrake Cables
- Engine & Box Service
- Coolant Radiator
- Clutch
first things first. i couldnt get it into our local 2 poster lift rental establishment due to them digging a pit, i also could get into the father inlaws garage due to his workload. after clearing out a space barely big enough to park a stilo in my garage the rear end was stripped out
both ABS sensor multiplugs disintergrated on removal :bang: ... so 2 of those were bought... when removing the flexi hoses both rigid pipes twisted with the unions, although luckily the ones from the chassis came out cleanly.
after attempting to use a hydraulic puller to get the bushes out... it didnt work, ended up cutting them out (this comment doesnt do them justice, it was the BIGGEST P.I.T.A. i have ever had the misfortune of doing) the way to do it is definately with a large hydraulic press and the correct tooling (around £50 from Fiat) it just saves so much messing around.
anyway, new bushes in (i wanted Meyle HD, i fitted Original Birth, but thats another story), copper brake pipes made, new passenger rear caliper, flexis refitted, new Handbrake cables, Brembo aftermarket Disc and pads, new Monroe Reflex shocks and a pair of -30mm Apex springs in, on and up!
swapped the old girl round and there she sat for 2 weeks due to half term for the child and my buddy who needed a hand with his Vectra
.once i FINALLY mangaged to get back on it all the front was stripped, wishbones, struts, calipers and rubber hoses. not a lot went wrong here, thank god, although i did find the lower gearbox mount shot so in went a new one. whilst removing the old wish bones, one of the rear bushed literally fell out
and this is what the new ones should look like when installed
i took the old struts to the father laws garage and stripped them to reuse the upper and lower rubber spring pads. good job too as the springs were starting to push out of the top of the top mounts!
rebuilt it all onto a pair of new Monroe Reflex struts again with Apex -30mm Springs and KYB top bearings and mounts.(yes i know one of the springs is slightly misloacated... i didnt realise until just before fitting but true it up before it went on the car)
this is what they look like in, on and up.
again with brembo discs and pads.
Full Engine service and Box Oil replacement happened yesterday before bleeding brakes and throwing the front wheels on. took it for test today and it passed with no advisories!
shes a completely different car but i like it, even if i do have to get the tracking sorted as soon as i can still to do is the clutch, rad, and a couple of other bits that i found along the way. shes had about a grand thrown into her all in all and 3 weeks with every available minute i could muster, most of it on mondays some of it by torch light! would have been a million times easier on a 2poster and with all the right kit probably would have only taken 3 days max. but due to me scrabbling around on my ass in an unheated garage things took considerably longer
