What did you do to your mk 3/4/5 today.

[cherniy_chack]

Today I changed the oil and both filters on my Mk3 engine. This is how I prepare the car for cold starts.
Recently I broke the outer handle on the rear hinged doors.
Today I replaced it with a new one.

[cherniy_chack]

Three months ago I injured my right hand and it still hurts.
My left hand also started hurting.
It became difficult to turn the steering wheel on a stationary car without power steering.
The Internet is full of messages and videos about installing electric power steering on Soviet/Russian cars, mainly from various Nissan models.
Nissan X-Trail 31 and 32, Nissan Note and Nissan Beetle.
I have not come across anything in Russian about installing an electric power steering on Transit manufactured before 2000.
Maybe someone wrote about this here?

[cherniy_chack]

Recently I have started to notice that there are knocks on uneven roads in front on the right.
Yesterday I replaced the ball joint, the knocks disappeared, but when driving on uneven roads there are creaks and the steering wheel has shifted from the normal position.
When replacing the ball joint, I noticed that the right lever is slightly deformed.
It is very difficult to buy a lever for a car before 1991.
One online store offers a right lever for a car with 15-inch wheels.
As far as I remember, the levers for 14 and 15 inches are the same.
Correct me if I am wrong.

[cherniy_chack]

Today I asked a question about the possible difference between the control arms on Transits with 14-inch and 15-inch wheels to a parts seller at the auto market. He assured me that there was no difference.

[Chug]

Do you mean the parts numbered 15 here Cherniy?
https://www.catcar.info/ford/?lang=en&l ... YrMA%3D%3D

[cherniy_chack]

I asked this question to the car parts seller at the car market, with whom I prefer to deal, and he answered that there is no difference in the levers with 14-inch and 15-inch wheels. The difference is before 1991 and after 1992.
I could not buy the right lever for my MK3 in Ukraine, so I bought both levers for the Transit from 1992 and after a small rework of the levers and the installation of 5 mm thick gaskets under the ball joints, I installed these levers on the Transit. I checked the toe-in of the front wheels, it turned out that it was about 30 millimeters, which is unacceptable.
I lengthened the steering rods and made the toe-in about 0 millimeters. The car goes smoothly, holds the road.

[cherniy_chack]

Today I drove around Kyiv quite a lot, both fast and slow.
The car holds the road and obeys the steering wheel. There are no knocks or creaks in the front suspension.
The levers for the MK3 are made of thinner steel than for the MK4.
New levers for the MK3 last about 10 years, for the MK4 they should last longer.
I will soon be 71 years old, I am not sure that I will live to be 80, and if I live, I will hardly drive a car.
It will last me a lifetime!
I looked at the catalog, number 15 is a steering rod. I'm not sure that they are different for MK3 and MK4. The steering tips are different - they differ in the size of the cone.

[Chug]

Ah you mean part number 20? we call them track rod or tie rod ends.
I need to replace steering rod part number 20 as it appears like wheel bearing play when you pull the wheel side to side but it is actually moving on the inner end of the steering rod, pulling the wheel top to bottom has no movement.

[cherniy_chack]

And we call part 20 "tie rod end". On my car they are in good condition.
I bought a short level - a device for checking the horizontal or vertical surfaces and assessed the camber of the front wheels. The left wheel has positive camber - the top of the wheel is tilted outward, and the right wheel has negative camber - the top of the wheel is tilted toward the longitudinal axis of the car.
The camber on the Transit is not adjustable. Why the car has such a camber of the front wheels - I do not know, the car is old and has been in many hands and could have received frame damage as a result of a road accident or as a result of corrosion.
But the car obeys the steering wheel and does not throw itself on the road.

[cherniy_chack]

I'm currently on vacation and doing body repairs on my Transit at my dacha.
I replaced the front right wing, front right arch and front beam.
I need to replace the left wing and rear right wing over the summer.
And repair those body parts that will be damaged by corrosion when opened.