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  • Marina top ball joints

    MoT failure on one, excessive play. Having dismantled it, there seems no wear, so can I just tighten it up? The rubber gaiter is slightly split so that may be a failure anyway. The build manual says that a Mk II ball joint must be used. What is the difference between that and the Mk I version? Earlparts only list a Mk I balljoint.

  • #2
    Re: Marina top ball joints

    Just got a repair kit on ebay for not much, so should solve the problem.

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    • #3
      Re: Marina top ball joints

      Hi Peter
      I thought that the top ball joints were shimmed up and you could adjust them by adding or removing the shims.

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      • #4
        Re: Marina top ball joints

        Maybe different size taper, fairly sure no shimming possible.

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        • #5
          Re: Marina top ball joints

          If my grey cells are working I seem to remember that the ball sits on a strong spring in the bottom socket that is screwed to the leg. The top cup is screwed on to the socket and adjusted with shims and the locking tab and this gives you the amount of movement to the ball joint.
          Just had a thought we are talking about marina leg fitted with mini top ( wishbone?) and ball joint are we?

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          • #6
            Re: Marina top ball joints

            Think you are right Phil. I put mine together back in '92/93 so memory isn't what it once was.

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            • #7
              Re: Marina top ball joints

              The only shim as such is the locking tab. Once the joint is dismantled and cleaned check for wear. Re assemble with grease then adjustment is by tightening down the top retaining nut with the locking lower nut backed off until resistance of about 40lbs/ft to move the pall pin on its full articulation. Then the locking nut is tightened back to the top nut at 70 to 80lb/ft the locking tab preferably a new one is bent down one side and up the other to lock the assembly. Be careful if you rebuild with the old pin as if you take out the slack at the local wear point in the middle range the joint may seize at extreme movement and cause a failure.
              Last edited by b_caswell; 25-04-14, 10:56 AM.
              Ben Caswell probably not the last word on anything here!!

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              • #8
                Re: Marina top ball joints

                This should help clear things up E bay 191139651594 mini top ball joint with lock tab and shims, without shims how can you obtain the necessary loading on the ball joint?

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                • #9
                  Re: Marina top ball joints

                  Phil,
                  Those are for a Mini that you have found on eBay. We are talking Marina / Ital MK11. They are different from the Mini. The Marina ones work as per Ben's post above.
                  See eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOP-BALL-J...item3ce0317113

                  Jon.
                  Attached Files
                  Mk2 SWB Marina Roadster with a 1800 Fiat Twin Cam engine and 5 speed Abarth gearbox built in 1987
                  - I have no idea what I am talking about........ but my advice is always free! -

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                  • #10
                    Re: Marina top ball joints

                    Hi All

                    I hope the extracts below help.
                    Attached Files

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                    • #11
                      Re: Marina top ball joints

                      Oh well, it just goes to show what a bodge up the person who had the car before me made of the front end. I had fitted Walford trunions and superflex bushes to firm up the front but in the end!
                      I built my own unequal wishbone front suspension for the car with coil overs. I went in the garage today and had a look at the old Marina suspension and yes it does have shims under the locking tab so well done Mr original builder, it goes with the speedo cable that was shorting out on the dashboard wiring, and the way dissimilar materials were bolted together with plain nuts and bolts, plus many other bodges that I found on the rebuild.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Marina top ball joints

                        Hi Phil

                        Don't get to despondent.

                        Adrian

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                        • #13
                          Re: Marina top ball joints

                          Hi Adrian,
                          I'm not despondent, all that happened years ago but it would appear that certain things trigger off memories and then you wonder if you really are getting past your sell by date.
                          In the time I have had the car I have modified it, 2.8 Capri LSD back axle, track and body widened by 8 inches, coilover and wishbone front suspension and Cortina uprights, EFi 2.0ltr engine, type 9 gearbox with concentric hydraulic clutch, wire wheels with hub adaptors, aluminium tank with intank pump, and on and on and on.
                          Keeps the old grey cells well stretched.
                          Phil

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                          • #14
                            Re: Marina top ball joints

                            I sympathise...I am rebuilding a lwb roadster and am lucky in that it has been put together really well...or was it? I'm not saying its been done wrong, just I would have done things differently. In my own case I am thinking that some jobs were a bit rushed and full thought not given (like the myriad of tiny slotted screws holding the gear lever plate in place, or a bar behind the rad being just low enough to touch the bottom hose, or the fuel filler pipe clip resting on the negative battery terminal. In my case, little details which will take an eternity to remedy but then again, back in the day people just wanted to get out onto the road in a car they had made themselves. Maybe IVA isnt such a bad idea after all?

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                            • #15
                              Re: Marina top ball joints

                              Cameron,

                              I think IVA is a life saver in many ways, just as the MOT at present helps to keep some of the shall we say unmaintained vehicles due to insufficient funds or basic car repair knowledge, off the road.
                              Kit cars are all about being the individual, of putting down your thoughts on how the car should look or sound and the big grin on your face when it all comes together. It doesn't matter what other people think it's yours and everyone else can lump it. The time it takes to do things your way, irrelevant, so lime green and pink doesn't appeal to everyone but if we think so then so be it. It doesn't matter what badge is on the front of the car, the thing is it's your badge.

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