The upper front ball joint arrived in the post yesterday, so today was going to have to be a dodging whilst working type of day.
First job of the day was to try and track down some oil pressure pipe to replace the the replacement that split. After trudging around Chelsea for a bit I decided to give up and look in the Demon Tweaks catalogue. One quick phone call and it'll be in the post on Monday.
Next job is to take a drill to the spare upper wishbone that I have in order to remove the rivets holding the old ball joint on. A 7.5mm bit through the center of the rivets soon has them removed and the wishbone is ready for painting. Whilst the coats of paint are drying I roll the car out and turn it around so that I can work on the front of it in the garage without getting wet. It rains halfways through the manouver and I get wet anyway.
With the car in backwards, the offside wheel nuts are loosened, the front is jacked up, axle stands inserted and the wheel removed. The front suport for the bumper and anti-roll bar needs removing in order to get at the bolt through the wishbone, and since it also needs painting I might as well do it at the same time. With the wishbone and hub exposed I try and shift it to look for signs of play, but can't see anything obvious. I'll have to remember to ask when I take it back in for it's retest so that I know what to look for in future. The wishbone is comes out pleasantly easily and the ball joint taps free of the upright without any problems, this wishbone goes onto the bits pile in case it's needed again at some point.
Reassembled the new top wishbone onto Kate. Rather pleased that the actual mechanical work has only taken me a little over an hour which is probably about as quick as it could be done. The fact that it took all day was mostly down to waiting for paint to dry. Tomorrow morning the front support need to be reassembled and then I can start taking a look at the electrics which should leave only the oil pressure piping for later in the week once the new pipework appears. With luck I should be able to book a retest for Thursday or Friday.