Why it matters. The toe links keep the rear wheels pointing straight. If a joint fails, that rear wheel can steer itself, which is just as serious as a hub carrier bolt failure. The parts are cheap, so if the boots are split or there's any play, replace them.
Before you start
- Plan a geometry check afterwards. Rear toe on these cars is very sensitive: small errors make the car twitchy and unpleasant to drive. Book a proper alignment unless you have a home rig (see the SELOC guide in Sources). One owner who put his back exactly as it was advises that the safest course is a decent place with the right equipment, because a slight error makes the car undrivable, and it matters more on the VX than on ordinary cars.
- If you're only driving it to the alignment shop, you can mark the current toe position and put it back by eye (step 2).
- Get the parts first and set the new joints to roughly the same length as the old ones.
Replacing the standard links
- Raise the car and remove the wheel. Chock the other wheels and support the car on stands.
- (Optional) Mark the toe. Rest a laser level flat across the hub face on the centre boss and mark the dot on the wheel arch. You only care about the left/right position. You'll line the dot up again on reassembly.
- Remove the caliper.
- Undo the 17 mm caliper nut.
- Tap out the pad retaining pin from the inside face of the caliper with a small punch (or an Allen key) and lift out the spring.
- Release the handbrake, pull the cable at the caliper and lever the pads gently to free them, then tap out the front pad.
- Remove the disc. Undo the disc retaining screw, soak the centre with penetrating oil and tap the disc off from behind with a block of wood. Slide the caliper off and support it so it doesn't hang on the hose.
- Outer joint. Undo the 12 mm nut on top of the outer joint. If the ball pin spins, hold it with a 17 mm spanner on the flats. Tap the thread out with a punch.
- Inner joint. Undo the 12 mm nut on the inner joint (it's hard to see). Loosen the bolt holding the undertray just below it, plus one either side, so the tray drops enough to get the link out.
- Swap the joints on the bar. Hold the bar with a 16 mm spanner on its flats (standing on the spanner works) and undo the joint lock nuts with a 17 mm.
The inner joint (long stud) has a left-hand thread on both its nut and the bar. The outer joint is a normal thread.
- Refit in reverse order, noting:
- Outer joint: there is a spacer on first, then the other spacer on top, then the nut, so one spacer above the hub carrier and one below. One owner asked whether both should go below; the reply was that his had one on top and one underneath when they came off, and he refitted them that way, though he isn't sure why two are needed (his links, at 45,000 miles or perhaps 75,000 if original, could have been changed at some point). Put them back the way they came off. Thread lock on the outer is optional.
- Inner joint: make sure the joint sits fully in its recess with the flats aligned, and hold it there while you tighten. It will tighten up even when it's not seated, and you won't be able to see that it's wrong.
- Set the toe. Put the laser back, turn the bar until the dot lines up with your mark, then lock up.
- Check every fixing before refitting the wheel, especially the 17 mm caliper nut. At least one owner has lost one on the road.
Fitting the Spitfire Engineering kit
The kit replaces the inner mounting with a bracket bolted to the subframe. In outline, from Spitfire's own instructions:
- Remove the rear undertray (2 × M8 centre bolts, 10 × M5 bolts, 2 plastic fasteners).
- Hold the outer joint flats with a 17 mm open-ended spanner between the boot and the carrier, undo the outer nut, and tap the bar to drop the joint out.
- Remove the inner nyloc nut (17 mm) from behind the wishbone bush and pull the old link out.
- On the nearside, drill out the small aluminium rivet holding a curved aluminium piece to the subframe.
- Outer: the outer end of the bar has no insert, and the joint under the boot is red. Press the shaped collet into the underside of the carrier, then fit the bolt with a washer from below and a washer and nyloc nut on top. Torque to 49 Nm.
- Screw both joints into the bar up to the boots.
- Inner: fit the bolt through the collet, the bracket, the inner joint, the subframe and the wishbone bush. The slotted collet must sit in the grooved face of the subframe. Snug the nut so the bracket can still be turned by hand.
- Repeat on the other side, then use a straight edge across both brackets to get them level. Tighten and re-check. Torque to 60 Nm.
- Drill through the four small holes in each bracket with a 6 mm bit (only the top two if you're fitting the brace bar). A drill extension helps. Fit the supplied bolts, washers and lock nuts with a 5 mm Allen key and a 10 mm spanner.
- Set toe by turning the bar and nipping the lock nuts (they don't need to be very tight), then refit the undertray.
Spitfire's printed instructions say 60 Nm for the outer bolt, but Spitfire later corrected this to 49 Nm. They say over- or under-torquing can cause the bolt itself to fail.
The kit's optional brace bar fits between the two brackets. Keep at least 5 mm clearance from the exhaust, drill 10 mm through the subframe using the bracket as a guide, torque to 60 Nm, then lengthen the bar half a turn past first resistance to preload the subframe.
After the job
- Get a proper geometry check.
- Re-check torques after the first few miles.