Sugga #443

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SANDBLASTING

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SANDBLASTING

I've posted more than enough pictures, not to annoy everyone but this is one oportunity to see what's 'underneath'. To see how a Sugga looks like to bare skin.

The places where it was mostly deteriorated are:

- door pillars

- trunk

This is where one Sugga owner should look and care after.

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SANDBLASTING

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SANDBLASTING

I'll finish with some dramatic images showing the interior of the old factory where the Sugga body was blasted.

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Well, having said so, body was send to bodyshop, and I forgot a while about it...

Ok. Let's see: what have we here ?

A bunch of parts - engine, gearbox, transfer case, axles, drive shafts, not to mention all bits and pieces nicelly labelled in boxes. So what to start with ?

Have to mention rush was to commence work on the body as this is usually the most time-consumer.

Where to start ? With what's in the way and seams easyer in order to clear space and put restored parts in the back.

Gearbox we thought (I say we as I wasn't at any time alone in this, beeing helped by a friend of mine and later on by a very skilfull old-school mechanic).

I have to mention there was always a delay between starting a job and putting all together due to ordering parts. Logistics proved to be the most difficult part in this restoration. If you think mechanics or metal sheet work is difficult, think twice ! Operations ofenetly overlapped, and work was started on other assemblies while parts were ordered and shipped. It was at all times a struggle to move assemblies (do you have an ideea of how heavy the axles are ?) and get space for work. Therefore, we thought, let's start the easy bits, finish them and clear the way.

Gearbox.

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GEARBOX

First thing opened of the whole Sugga was the gearbox. It's within reach, and it opens just by unscrewing the bolts on top. Curiosity won the game, and there we found ourselves looking inside - it's red !!!! Finally something not green !

But gears had seen better days. I guess due to the large bunch of recruits learning how to double clutch over the years. Decision was to replace worn gears.

Gears and gaskets were purchased from ALTYCO PARTS AB, bearings and oil seals from a local supplier by comparing dimensions and codes.

This is a straight forward job. It's easy and you do not have to be a skilfull mechanic to do it. It is also described in DEL2, page 56 (unfortunatelly for us, in swedish...).

It takes about 4 houres to complete and all needed is brute force of a hydraulic press.

Paper gaskets - they are available in most cases (ALTYCO) but we soon found out it's cheaper and better to make those by copying the original. Sheets of gasket paper, cartboard, rubber, composite are available (EBAY).

By the way, paper gaskets purchased from ALTYCO for the axles differentials do not fit !

Mention also, in most cases we used silicone on both sides of paper gasket too.

Job done !

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CLUTCH

This involved lots of cleaning (with diesel) and degreasing.

Once this is done parts can be put back together.

Friction plate and pressure bearing were purchased from ALTYCO. Same for the plate rivets.

Friction plate received was superior in quality than original (probably not a NOS - new old spare, but build from more modern materials).

Rivets seamed to be a problem as are made of a yellowish (brass ?) alloy. We made a tool for punching (did I mention for a restoration like this you'll need help from a lathe operator ?), and start mounting the plate. Ended up braking few rivets. These are brackable and need to be softened before punched. We knew copper is easy to soften by heating until it turns white and then fast submerge in cold water (and I suggest always do so before replacing a copper washer on the car), but brass ? It turned out it has to be heated and left for cooling at room temperature. After we did this, clutch plate was a joke to mount.

Interesting is that replacement pressure bearing we got from ALTYCO had a different position of one mounting hole (see pictures). If remember well we replaced the bearing in the original mounting plate.

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CLUTCH

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TRANSFER CASE

Here we did (almost) nothing.

Bearings seamed in good shape - no noise, smooth turning, still tight.

Checked the oil and there were no metal scrapings, and, as much as we could see, gears were ok.

Very little oil leak.

Therefore all we did was to replace the oil seals (local store) and buy new rubber mounting bushes (ALTYCO).

Fill up with oil and to storage it went...

Sorry, no pictures.

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Have found one image showing how easy is to change the oil seals - these are just under the caps. Unscrew, change, screw back.