The first step in the build up of the suspension was to fit the supplied bushes (all 32 of them!) to the ends of the shock absorbers and front and rear wishbones. I first used a wire decoking brush in an electric drill, to remove all of the black powder coating from inside the wishbone ends. Then, with the use of a vice, some sockets and plenty of grease, I pressed them all into place. It was a rather tedious, time-consuming job, but eventually they all went in, with no mishaps. I then drove the new front wheel bearing races and seals into the front suspension uprights and fitted the donor's hub carriers, using more grease and new locknuts.
Whilst fitting the ball joints and adapter flanges onto the uprights, it was noticed that Quantum only supply 4 tab washers, which go between the ball joints and the wishbones. It seemed odd that there were no tab washers to go between the adaptor flanges and uprights, so I obtained and fitted another 4 tab washers from my local Rover dealer. This meant that every suspension fixing was secured by either a nyloc nut, split pin or tab washer. Glyn had fitted the springs onto the shock absorbers for me on collection day, so I had no problems bolting the shock absorbers and front wishbones to the chassis. New discs and pads, reconditioned calipers and the smart, braided flexible brake hoses supplied in the kit finished off the front nicely.
Update - 17/05/00: Glyn contacted me to find out the part number for the tab washers (NAM2470). Apparently, he's been trying to source them for a while now, but his local Rover dealer was unable to identify them as a separate part. Now he has the part number, 8 tab washers will be supplied with all future Xtreme kits. End.
