Front Suspension Dismantling Lotus Esprit S3 Front Suspension Dismantling

Picture shows nearside suspension prior to dismantling Picture shows nearside suspension prior to dismantling. The car is resting on axle stands positioned under the crossmember. A wooden packing piece is used to protect the chassis – just visible to the right of the steering rack boot. The anti-roll bar has already been detached from the chassis and opposite suspension link. DAMPER TOP MOUNT WISHBONE PIVOT SPRING & DAMPER WISHBONE STEERING RACK TOP BALLJOINT ANTI-ROLL BAR BRAKE DISC HUB BRAKE BACKPLATE BRAKE CALIPER HUB NUT DUST CAP

Prise off the steel cap that protects the bearings from dirt ingress…

With the split pin removed, the hub nut can be undone. It should not be tight.

On this car, the braking system had already been drained and new flexible hoses were to be fitted. Here, the rigid line coupling is undone with a 13mm spanner to allow…

… the flexible line to be detached from the chassis bracket. A 15mm and a 17mm spanner will be required.

The flexible line can be detached from the brake caliper in the same manner. Use a 19mm spanner or socket to loosen and remove the two bolts securing the caliper to its mounting, and remove the caliper.

With the caliper removed, the hub nut can be removed to allow the hub and brake disc to be lifted off. The inner grease seal has been prised from its recess…

… and here the bolts that secure the brake backplate are being removed with a 13mm spanner.

Removal of the two lower bolts (14mm) allows the brake backplate and the steering arm to be removed. The front bolt has a nut on the back…

… and will require the Nyloc to be held whilst the bolt is undone.

With the backplate and steering arm removed, the brake caliper mounting plate can be lifted off. This method saves having to disturb the track rod end if it does not need replacing.

Remove the trunnion mounting nut and bolt…

…and the two bolts that clamp the top wishbone to the top balljoint (not shown but should be obvious). Then the upright can be lifted away from the lower link. The trolley jack is easing the load off the trunnion and top balljoint mounts to make extracting the bolts easier.

With the trunnion out of the way, it is now possible to gain access to the anti-roll bar end nut (a Nyloc) with a 19mm spanner. It may well be fairly seized.

On this ARB the rubber bushes are completely wrecked. Note the two washers (one with a tapered side to the centre hole) and the distance piece (tube) through the centre of the bushes. It is also possible to make out a crack in the Nyloc nut…!

Loosen the upper and lower damper mountings, then install a pair of spring compressors (not visible here). The spring can then be compressed…

Once the spring is under a degree of compression, remove the damper top mounting nuts and bushes, prise the damper out of its upper mounting and compress it down into the spring. Picture shows a large spanner being used as a lever to push the damper down.

With the spring and damper disengaged from their top mountings, the spring can be simply lifted off the lower link. Removal of the damper lower mounting nut and bolt will allow the damper to be extracted from the link. Note that although there is a rubber spring seat in the top mounting, the lower end of the spring sits directly on the lower link platform.

Removal of the pivot bolt and nut will allow the lower link to be removed from its mounting. Similarly, the two halves of the top wishbone can be removed once their pivot stud is extracted. The bodyshell has holes in the foot- wells to allow access for sockets, drifts etc. Note that the pivots may well be rusted into the bushes and/or the chassis.