please help! Strut Tops.

[citroenxm]

Im surprised at the mileage your series two tops have NOT done..

s2 tops appeared to last longer then series one cars.. my hdi exclusive is still on her original tops with no signs of rubber peeling at 235k.. let alone rotton at 200k...

[taffy]

your be more suprised how many miles ive done with it in the state it is...i swear my cars been sabotarged!! sad lol

[taffy]

I've done The job no leaks but s1 top and s2 gator incompateble....great job to do! I will post pics with discription later...

[taffy]

ok here we go....
so i had a read through the forums and decided i would drop the top drop link as i thought the process would be more controlable...
so i had been to the engineers to have it tapped and drilled...looked a good job so paid my money and went away with the thought if i take my strut off and this leaks ive had it!
so the s1 top with the m16 x 1.5 drill and tap


so i put the height on full cracked the 27mm nut off top of strut and 17mm top drop link nut with the steering turned to the offside by about 6 inch off straight ahead

[citroenxm]

You dont need any suspension pressure to undo the strut top Nut or the drop link nut.... as you possibly found..

[taffy]

nother pic from under the arch

this one shows it better


so then i dropped the car and depressurised it loosening the 12mm acumulater pressure release screw
then i removed the sphere with the cool tool


and now you can see it properly




so remover the feed pipe to the strut top 17mm and the sucuring bolts for the pipe 10mm
next i removed the top drop link from the strut and jacked up the car making sure all was clear




whilst supporting the wheel with the origional jack and a bar

[citroenxm]

F N HELL Taffy, they WERE BAD! Never seen S2 Tops like that ever!!!

[taffy]

so then i got a peice of wood undone the strut nut so it was flush with top of thread grabed a hammer and hit it...and hit it and hit it! it wouldnt budge! i thought thats it iv had it but then thought well jus have one go without the wood...and bang it went first time lmao!

[Hell Razor5543]

Taffy, you are one lucky bar steward! I am astounded that the strut top didn't fail as soon as sunlight touched it! I would suggest that the admins (or you) paste the bits relating to your strut tops into the supersticky post about strut tops. The pictures alone are enough to scare people into checking theirs!

[taffy]

undone the 4 13mm bolts ecuring the strut top to the car and dropped it down to the arch





see i wasnt joking lol!....so manovered it of the strut ram and bump stop


luckly the car body where it attached looked pretty good

so here are some better pics of the strut top






so then i preped the car body in underseal off the brush and the strut top



and proceeded to fit it to the car




now this was the fun part! manovering the strut ram back up into the top....some words were said between me and the ram for a good 5 mins lol but i won in the end!
i used a power bar under the wheel to lift it up whilst holding the strut ram up and eventually got it through enough to get the nut on
i have no pics if this bit as it was consuming both hands lol!
so alltogether now


so then lifted the wheel back up to put the top drop link back on and dropped the car
screwed back in the prussure screw and started her up........
it felt like forever but after about 2 mins she got up off her arse and boy was i pleased!
checked for leaks and was a perfect seal!
however i have got to do the hole job again lmao as i didnt get a new gaiter and its not fitting! cable ties wont do it
so there we are im now driving with alot more confidence and loving my turbo once again!
thanks again to all the help and advice all you guys have given me you truely have been priceless!

[taffy]

You dont need any suspension pressure to undo the strut top Nut or the drop link nut.... as you possibly found..

yes your right as it wasnt that tight but as i seen it i diddnt want to risk the strut posibly snapping and spinning so i thought i would make sure there was just a bit of stability to it as it was very frale

[Northern_Mike]

I'm frankly amazed (and very glad) that something horrible didn't happen. They look like they were made by FIAT in the early 80s!

[taffy]

Taffy, you are one lucky bar steward! I am astounded that the strut top didn't fail as soon as sunlight touched it! I would suggest that the admins (or you) paste the bits relating to your strut tops into the supersticky post about strut tops. The pictures alone are enough to scare people into checking theirs!

yes i know its really bad and i done 800 miles after i seen them in this state im very lucky!
yes i would love this info to help others but im not sure of how to do these sticky so if anyone would like to use this an improve it you have my full consent
yes nothing quite tells it like a pic even taking them i felt shocked!

[taffy]

I'm frankly amazed (and very glad) that something horrible didn't happen. They look like they were made by FIAT in the early 80s!

yes me too as u can see it was just the inside edge of the base holding it...lol as new!

[citroenxm]

Now theres interesting!! This IS the first time Ive seen a Series TWO Hydractive feed pipe!

The ends are different, and explains the need for the spacer!!

Series one feed pipes have a Flare, but NO extra pipe after the flare! That explains a few things to me now!

Obviously your centre drilled hole was the size of the pipe, and the flare buts up against the wider drilling that has the screwed thread in it....

NICE WORK Taffy... they aint that hard to change!