Although it looks like much hasn't been happening over the winter, which is partially true due to the weather, various bits have been tinkered with and she has been out for the odd test drive. These have shown up that there is vibration on coming through the front wheels when traveling at about 60mph, which first showed up when I tried to do a slightly longer trip and hence reached motorway speeds just before Christmas.
Initial thoughts were that the bearings were damaged or when last assembled they weren't properly greased. The bearing were duly dimantled, regreased and tightened to what I believe to be the correct torque, although the Haynes manual is somewhat wooly on the subject saying that the bearing retaining nut should be tightened until you feel some resistance when trying to turn the hub. A quick spin up the A3 towards Tolworth shows that the problem is still there.
It isn't inconceivable to think that the bearings were damaged during the collision. A visual inspection of the offside stub axle doesn't show any apparent signs of damage and looks identical to the nearside stub axle which came with the new steering and suspension assembly. Using the bearings from the hubs that were attached to the replacement suspension assembly still resulted in the same vibrations.
My old Ford Sierra once suffered a similar problem, caused by worn brake discs and pads. Turning the hub with the brake calipers inplace shows that they aren't touching, at least at slow speed, although if the bearing is loose it could be moving at higher speeds allowing them to touch. That said I've tightened the bearing nut quite considerably, so that I can jut feel the hub start to resist when turned by hand.
My suspicion is now that one of the tyres is unbalanced. Once I've put her through the paint shop I'll try rotating the spare into the place of the other two to see if that cures the problem. If not, I'll have to get the garage to look at it when she goes in for her MOT at the end of the month.