Seattle Snake - Roadster mk5 - Build Thread

[DancingTosan]

Front Hubs (page 69)
Installing the hub required buying a higher-spec torque wrench (the husky one) that can go up to 250 ft-lb, and a 36mm socket to be able to get around that huge nut. The manual calls for 225-250ft-lb torque (page 69), so we torqued to 240 ft-lb, above minimum, but I don't fully trust the cheap torque wrench's accuracy as much as our more expensive smaller ones, and I didn't want to over-torque it by accident. So we split the middle-ish.

Attachment 225914
Torquing the Hub

Getting the dust cap installed was the trickier part. The best technique we were able to devise was to get it evenly placed and then tap around lightly in a roughly circular pattern, to nudge it in bit by bit, but keeping it balanced. We encouraged it with a hammer against a screw-driver (without a bit installed). We got there in the end.

Attachment 225915
Hub Dust Cap Encouragement

Connecting the Tie Rod Ends and Steering Rack (pages 71-72)
We substituted our Moog tie-rod ends here, and they went on just fine. We need to muscle the steering rack and angle the tie rod end's bolt to get it to go in, but it went in without 'encouragement' (aka mallet) this time.

We left the castle nut untorqued and un-pinned, because we'll be revisiting this whole area post-build-school, when we know a bit more of what the 'desired' settings are.

Attachment 225916
Front Suspension Complete!

Attachment 225917
Front Suspension Wide Shot

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Coming Up in Week 2
We have also cut our rear spindles yesterday, but I will include that in week 2's report. We also are postponing brake install until we get our rear brakes and paint both sets of calipers. Those should make it into week 2, if the delivery is on-time.

Thanks to all of the expert builders who are present on this thread. I look forward to your advise and guidance. We are the entry-level grade builders, who have much to learn.

I hope my detailed callouts of 'newbie confusion/mistakes' and manual page references will help other builders in the entry-level category navigate their builds.