Suspension Rebuild Begins...And then some

If painting black use an anti rust semi matt in a rattle can. If just coating get some clear laquer in a rattle can. It may start to show rust if you chip the coating and/or as it wears off. Some other members may know of a better clear? Also would be good to know what factory was [I imagine black].

 

Surely the drop links are aluminum? No problems with rust on these!

 

These little links will be fine as I believe they are cast aluminum. I have a blast cabinet, and do aluminum pieces sometimes with walnut shells and then just leave them, or you can spray a nice clear coat on them, in which case I would probably bead blast first (gives more uniform look, kinda satin like, but then the clear makes 'em pretty). If you blast aluminum with anything stronger than walnuts, and then just leave it, it often has a fairly "sugary" texture and will hold dirt and grime pretty bad if untreated.

The bigger job is coming with all your A-arms and such, in which case I would recommend a glass bead or perhaps more aggressive blast media to get everything off and any rust. Then I personally would POR 15 it all. You can brush it on and it flows very nice. I did all mine like this as well as a couple previous restorations with very nice results. It is so nice to put fresh clean pretty parts back together rather than the grime...

 

Hi Jim,

Are you going to cut the welds and pess out the old bushings and sleeves or burn them out with heat or chemicals?

If you are going to QA-1s, what spring rate are you going for f/r?? If you bump the rate much, you might want to upgrade the bars and skip the stock drop link overhaul.

If your rubber brake lines are 20+ years old, you might want to take this opportunity to upgrade to stainless, particularly if you are going to drive it hard or track it. Every little bit helps.

Are you using Verell's paper weights or are you clearancing the upper front arm.

If you are using the QA-1s, do you have unobtanium supply's adaptor bushigs. There has been at least one report of cracked rear upright housings by trying to shortcut with washers. Don't do it!

And finally, do you have an alignment guy with scales, so you can adjust the spring perches for correct corner weight?? You might be able to do without this adjustment if you are only cruising with the new shocks.

I and others, (not all), have had a bit of spring settling, which necessitates redoing the spring perch height and alignment (if not the corner weighting as well).

It is great to be able to lower the car just the right amount so it doesn't bottom out on what ever roads you are driving.

hth,
chris

 

Krylon clear enamel is an excellent, tough top coat and it should be able to provide a durable finish on bare metal (paint sticks best if the surface is rough though).

I used it after painting my wheels and it's held up very well after 7+ years (no fading, yellowing, scratches, etc...).

 

I was told the drop links were cast magnesium when I had to buy a new one. They could be aluminum and they just told me that to justify the cost too though!!

Looking good Jim. I've done 2/3 of what you are but haven't done the A arm bushings or steering rack yet!

 

jIM,
If you bring the A arms to a chemical stripper you can clean them up and get rid of the rubber bushings at the same time.

 

Try the ball-joint separator fork tool again, but you'll probably find it's going to take more than that to pop those babies...

I used a porta-power with one of those duck-bill spreaders, pressed up against the ball-joint stem nut (back the nut off to allow it to pop off, but don't take it off completely. It'll give the spreader some surface to butt-up against) and the other pressed against the kingpin boss (hard to describe, but it is part of the steering knuckle, located immediately behind the kingpin). Be careful when applying pressure as it may jump off these parts if they are not well-located. With pressure applied and the tool secure, take an air-chissel/hammer with a blunt/flat chissel bit and rattle the end of the knuckle where the ball-joint attaches and it should pop off then.

 

I've seen all of these drop links being posted on this site and I'm quite intrigued that they're always this I-Beam type and yet, the ones on my car are forged steel rods. Considering the dirt and rust, I believe these are original:
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Jim,

You've got me inspired! This is definately going to be my project for next winter...

 

Hi Jim,

Have fun with this. I just finished my suspension rebuild yesterday. Not sure how it all works yet, as the car's still up on blocks and we've got several feet of snow to thaw before I venture out onto the roads.

I went the common route:

1. ES bushings
2. QA1 shocks and springs
3. Verell's paperweights
4. Also had my A arms and sway bars blasted and powercoated
5. New silentblock bushings for drop links
6. etc. etc.

From a technical point of view, I don't think there's much that's really difficult about this job. I will confess to quite a bit of grunting and swearing at various stages however!

When you get to the front end, you'll notice there are top and bottom shims that slide between the ends of the A arms and the ball joints. If you look at the parts book you'll see that top and bottom shims have different part numbers. Don't get these mixed up -- I put my lower shims in the wrong way around and it took me over an hour to figure out why I couldn't slide the bolt through no matter how much I jiggled everything. Hard to explain -- just look at the shims you take off and you'll see that they are different, and that it's especially important to get the lower shims in the right way around.

You've got a nice little press by the looks of it -- I burned out my old bushings ... probably not very environmentally friendly of me, but it worked a treat.

Again, have fun.

 

Hi Jim,

I really took my time over everything -- partly because we've had an exceptionally long and severe winter this year (so there was no rush), but also because I've done a lot of traveling. I don't mind confessing that I'm very satisfied with myself now that it's all back together. I know for sure that it's going to be a vast improvement over the pre-rebuild handling ... by just how much remains to be seen.

I'm starting off with the dampers set to 4/12 to give a slightly more gentle ride. Might tighten it up a bit, but our roads really are terrible compared with US roads. I also started off 1" higher on my ride height than Birdman ... for much the same reason ... i.e., the terrible state of our roads.

I'm keen to follow your progress on this.

Bye,

Simon.

 

Using spreaders and forks on the tie rods ends will destroy your rubber boots. I used this method. Apply pressure using the jack, then whack the upright casting where the tapered bolt goes through (the usual hammer on one side, hit with a second hammer on opposite side). Leave the nut on, otherwise everything just flies around when it pops loose.

Gerrit
http://dino308gt4.com
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He's got me feeling ashamed......I think every piece on my car's suspension is in worse shape and I'm letting it go at least another year

 

I tried that too Gerrit and they didn't budge for me. That's when I resorted to the procedure I wrote a few posts back in this thread...

 

You must have glanced past this post of mine. This method worked for me and worked like a charm (believe me, mine were #@!$% tight too):

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=137566018&postcount=36

As for the Porta Power tool with the "duck-bill" spreader that I mention, if you're up to buying more tools (one can never have too many tools to clutter up one's garage! ), here's something similar to what I used (the "duck-bill" spreader is the wedge-shaped tool in the middle of the picture):

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=44900

And as for the air-chissel/hammer, those can be had quite cheap and if you don't have a compressor, you can rent one for the day from places like Home Depot...

 

Bravo !!!!!