Front suspension rebuild

[1750GTV]

Thanks for the sentiment, David.

In general I'm chugging along slowly - the car is a garage queen, so I'm in no hurry and want to get the job done properly. I took 4 weekends to rebuild the rear suspension, but in that case everything came apart very easily.

I've just about finished cleaning in and around the wheel wells and will start painting next weekend. I've uncovered plenty of bare metal, but no rust and have covered myself in dirt and grease to the point where my wife nearly refused me entry into the house. My kids think it's a great joke.

The dreaded bolt is still in situ and I'm going to give one last shot tomorrow night when my mate comes over with the thermonuclear gear ... If I can't shift it, I'll just have to cut it in half.
I tried your acetone:oil mixture to no avail - I guess because the bolt sits horizontally, it's difficult to soak it in any sort of penetrating liquid.

I've attached a photo of my cleaned and partially assembled front suspension. I've still got to paint a couple of parts.

Post some photos of your Spider rebuild when you do it. It's great fun - you'll have a hoot.

Chris

[Evan Bottcher]

Very very nice 

[1750GTV]

Finally got the upper control arm off the car without damaging the chassis - a reciprocating saw with a long blade cut through it like butter. When I cut the old bush open, the inner sleeve was rusted tightly on to the bolt. A phone call to the nice guys at Milano Spares and a couple of good, second hand bolts are on the way north.

I've spend the last few evenings doing the final clean and started to paint Friday night, with the second coats going on this morning. Some parts of the wheel well had not seen much undercoat or paint, ever - little wonder these cars rust a bit.

One of the tricky bits was carefully removing the steering box bolts so I could paint the area without dropping the shims between it and the body of the car. When I rebuilt the box a couple of years ago, I had the inlet manifold off the car and the dash out of the car so I had a lot more room. This time I just slipped a couple of short bolts in from the engine bay to hold the shims when I removed the long bolts and the steering limiter on that side.

Tomorrow I hope to get most of the suspension on the car. I've ordered new shockies from Pace Engineering - Koni Yellows front and back. Apparently Koni Reds are virtually unobtainable, so I'll fit Yellows to the rear and set them to the softest setting.

Apart from the saga with the bolt, this has all gone very easily. I was expecting some problems as the suspension has not been touched in 40-odd years but have been pleasantly surprised. The rear rebuild was just as easy. I guess you get lucky now and again

I've posted a couple of pictures of the bolt (contain your excitement, if you can ...) and will post some more of the reassembly tomorrow evening.

Chris

[1750GTV]

Today I installed the major suspension components. New bushes, bump stops, ball joints and even new grommets for the brake lines. I torqued up everything except the wishbone spherical bushes and the upper control arm bolt. I'll do them when there is weight through the suspension. The springs went in without any trouble using the 'all thread' technique. I've still got a bit to do - caster arms, rotors, wheel bearings, brake calipers, anti-roll bar, steering assembly etc. but the heavy stuff is all done.

As well as the photos of the reassembly, I've also attached a pdf of the front suspension with the relevant torque settings.

Chris

[pancho]

That looks fantastic! Great work

How many hours effort do you think the whole suspension rebuild cleanup took ?

[1750GTV]

Pancho,

It's kinda hard to know as I was interrupted by the bolt saga.

By the time I stripped the suspension, steering and the front and rear inner mudguards, I gave the wheel wells an initial clean with loads of degreaser to remove most of the messy stuff. Next I attacked the areas with a wire brush mounted on my drill as well as a hand held wire brush. More degreaser followed, particularly in and around the cross member, gearbox and in the engine bay. Where the paint or undercoat was eventually clean I left it, though I did get down to bare metal in many places on both sides. When I was happy it was all clean, I masked it off, primed with a rustproofing undercoat and then applied by brush two coats of a thick, rust resistant matt black top coat paint. I know that these areas were originally body coloured, but for me it was easier to paint it all black.

I guess all up it took about about 60 hours - I'm a slow, methodical worker. Not obsessive/compulsive, just keen to do a good job

I did a similar thing to the rear when I rebuilt the suspension a couple of months ago. All up, it's been great fun, if a little messy at times. Now I'm really looking forward to getting out on the road.

Chris

PS: I've been watching your rebuild here and on the alfabb with great interest.

[Paul Gulliver]

I did a similar thing to the rear when I rebuilt the suspension a couple of months ago

This has been as great read, thanks . Any idea on the time spent on the rear suspension.

[1750GTV]

The rear suspension was considerably easier as the rear wheel wells do not have the complex curves that are present at the front of the car, nor the brake components or suspension parts protruding from the body/chassis. The hardest part was balancing the diff on a trolley jack while I lined up the trunnion and the spring loaded trailing arms by myself.

The rear suspension was rebuilt using standard parts except for the trunnion. I ended up buying a light weight aluminium trunnion and used poly conical bushes for the diff end. It was very easy to fit and shim. The only real problem I had was with the rebound straps. I purchased two sets from two different suppliers and no permutation would fit properly so I soaked and cleaned the old ones, sealed them and reinstalled them as they were OK.

For the wheel wells, the cleaning, priming and painting took about 20 hours all up. I also cleaned (degreased) the fuel tank underside, spare wheel well and as far forward as I could get around the prop shaft tunnel and floor. The paint was OK under there, so I left it alone - I think all of the grease and oil has probably protected the underside over the years.

I didn't take many photos, sorry, as it is really quite an easy job. I might take a few when I install the new rear shock absorbers.

Chris

[pancho]

Hey again Chris, did you source the aluminium T bar from here or the UK ? Also what was the weight difference between the two - that's one weight saving upgrade I'll be doing.

Vin Sharp sells these aluminium T bar units (for anyone reading this).

Yeah my project at the moment feels like it's on a 'go slow' arrangement. It's moved a bit further forwards though as Pauls angle grinder has proven I now have to buy some more panels to repair rusty areas....update soon though.

[1750GTV]

The aluminium T-bar came from the UK and weighs about 4kg less the the standard pig-iron one. Well made and heat tempered - a nice bit of kit.

The lateral support end bushes are also better than the original - easier to fit, easier to replace and supposedly permit smoother vertical movement of the T-bar over uneven ground. Even though my car is a only a road car, I thought that this would be an improvement without sacrificing comfort, particularly when teamed with conical differential bushes. The only minor problem was that the three a side bolts that hold the T-bar are a bit long - this is easily fixed with a thicker washer on each bolt.

I'll see if I can get a photo when I'm next under that end of the car.

Chris

[1750GTV]

A few more photos that may help anyone else rebuilding their suspension and steering:

Non interchangeable parts are marked according to the side where they go - "S" (sinistra = left) and "D" (destra = right).

The 'scalloped' wishbone goes at the rear so the tie-rod end clears the suspension at that point on each side.

Chris

[1750GTV]

Nearly done now.

The Konis arrived yesterday and I put the front ones in last night after adjusting them to about half stiffness (360 deg from soft). All I need to do now is attach the antiroll bar, put in some new brake pads (I'll replace the front discs soon), bleed the system and I'm off 

I found an interesting website full of useful information at http://www.duettoinfo.com/. If you look at the 'Maintenance and Shop Manuals' page under 'Wheel and Suspension - Front End Geometry - Amendment to Specifications', number 1838-R2 (10/1977) -600 is a pdf giving the required lengths and angles. I'd post it here, but it's 1.8Mb and the maximum size I can post is 1.0Mb. I used it to do the initial steering setup. I'll get a formal adjustment as well as a suspension check soon as some angles I just guessed at (eg: castor angle).

Chris

[1750GTV]

I found a couple of photos that I took when I rebuilt the rear suspension. They show the light weight aluminium trunnion.

I'll take some more when I change the shockies next weekend.

Chris

[1750GTV]

As promised, the rear suspension.

The car has been finished for a little while now and will have a wheel alignment next weekend. I've been unable to do much in the last 2 weeks due to work commitments but once the steering geometry is sorted, it'll get driven much more than it has been in the last year or so.

This rebuild is well worth doing and easily within the capability of an amateur mechanic like myself.

Chris

[1750GTV]

A final note:

It's been a couple of months since I finished all of the suspension work and the result has been remarkable. The car points and turns beautifully, it sits on the road at speed without the 'hunting' it used to have and generally feels stable and safe.

This must be what they were like when they were new. No wonder people lauded them as drivers cars.

Chris