What is that saying about “life gets in the way?” Progress on the 63 FHC has been slow but some good things have happened. That “life” thing? Really a “wife” thing. A much delayed finishing of an unfinished basement area has taken up roughly the last 2 months of my 40 hour retirement week. Sheetrock. Multiple closets. Shelves. Suspended ceiling. Paint. I may be slow but I get there eventually. Anyway, the Etype has been relegated to the weekends. The big news is that I now have 4 splined hubs! If I wanted to, I could mount wire wheels and tires and land the car on the ground. For maybe the first time in 25 years. But what’s the rush, it’s not going anywhere, as I continue to add parts to the engine.
Just in case the term “splined hubs” is not in your automotive vocabulary, the Etype came with wire wheels that use splines on the hubs to engage the axles to the wheels. For this restoration, I have procured new splined hubs from SNG and new wire wheels. So the interface between the splines will be perfect, so to speak. Splines can and do wear out over time, which in the worst case can result in axle spinning inside the wire wheel hub. But even before that happens, you get a worrisome “clunk” as you get on and off the power. So new ones are just an obvious thing for a top shelf restoration.
On the front suspension, the Etype uses unequal length A-arms, a single damper, and a straight torsion bar spring. A torsion bar, discussed in my article here, is nothing more than a coil spring that has been straightened out. It holds up the weight of the car at the front axles. The unequal length A-arms are a classic race inspired suspension design that allows the tire/wheel to move up and down as required while remaining roughly vertical, which maximizes tire contact with the road surface. I installed new inner and outer wheel bearings into the central hub. The dampers (shocks) are a recent offering from SNG in their new Girling line of products. The disc brakes, cutting edge in the 60s, are a Dunlop design. All in all, it makes quite the photo op when everything is assembled and complete.
As you can see, I have also fitted up the disc brake components. The caliper and piston/cylinder assembly are original to the car. That said, I sent the parts out for zinc plating and then the pistons to White Post Restorations to be sleeved and fitted with new rubber parts. The brake disc is a shiny new part from SNG. It is coated with something to keep it from rusting but once it goes into service it will rust pretty quickly. Oh well, I can admire it for now.
BTW, I have triple checked that the hubs are placed on the correct sides of the car. In order for the knockoffs to remain tight under load, there are right hand threads on one side of the car and left hand threads on the other side.
This is something you don’t see too often. Unlike the rear hub, where the bearings are captured and secured, the front hub is set up to allow easy removal of the brake disc/hub assembly. This results in the bearings being a “slip fit” on the stub axle shaft. Here I have just finished using some sandpaper to remove a thin layer of the plating to allow the bearings to slide onto the stub axle shaft. Yes, most of the bolting in this photo was loose. I was just mocking things up to see what might be needed for completion.
With the front end complete, I moved on to the rear of the car. The independent rear suspension (IRS) has been completed and sitting patiently in a corner of the shop for quite some time. Now the time had come to install it. The IRS was another item on the Etype that was race inspired. Many cars in this era used a solid axle rear suspension with leaf springs and drum brakes. The Etype utilized “in-board” rear disc brakes, which are used on high performance cars to reduce the “unsprung mass” out at the tire/wheels. This feature is of course a PITA on an Etype when it comes time to work on the brakes. In a deviation from originality, I did install remote bleeders. But the IRS concept is very nice, as it also allows the tires to maintain maximum contact with the road during cornering.
The IRS is attached to the body structure with 4 rubber isolated mounting blocks. The mounting holes in these don’t really line up very well without the full weight of fuel, etc. but I managed to use various pry bars and such to get them lined up and the proper bolts installed. This suspension design uses “trailing arms” to hold the IRS in position fore and aft. These also were reluctant to line up without the full weight of the car. But I did manage to get them hooked up, with proper persuasion.
Once the IRS is installed, remaining tasks include bolting up the driveshaft, attaching the parking brake cable, and fitting the brake fluid line.
So, not bad for weekend work. Getting the four corners of the suspension ready for tires/wheels is definately another milestone!
New Hill Garage 
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