It's about time for me to start shopping for all of the parts to
rebuild the suspension (and upgrade brakes) on the Garage Queen. My
intent is to set the car up with the capabilities for fairly aggressive
street driving and the occasional autocross. Currently, everything is
very old, and I suppose worn out, except:
a) 4 year old CAT front springs
b) 4 year old Spax front shocks (BTW, 4 years old means about 2000
miles)
c) Plastic A-arm bushings from Tiger Auto Service, about 10 years old
from my old Alpine (thus Alpine A-arms and fulcrum pins)
d) poly bushings on stock front sway bar.
e) rebuilt front calipers, and braided ss flex lines front and rear
f) recently rebuilt steering rack & new steering U-joints
g) poly upper & lower front suspension limit snubbers; the lower ones
were meant for traction bars (!) originally.
So I'm asking opinions on where & what to get; all advice
welcome. If it gets quiet on the List, like it has for the last few
days, I could serialize my progress this winter on the project, similar
to "The Inside Story" I did on my interior in 1997 (hopefully I won't
fade out with an e-mail server crisis this time). So, here's the, well,
"Parts Chart":
Item Source Cost
I) front rotors: Dale ??
II) rear disc conversion: Dale ??
III) Rear springs Dale? CAT? ??
IV) oversized front swaybar ?? ??
V) rear Spax Classic Sunbeam? ??
VI) Panhard bushings TTMS? $18.50?
VII) Traction arm Dan Walters ??
VIII) crossmember wedges ?? ??
IX) upper ball joints (eek!) ?? ??
X) lower ball joints (eek!) ?? ??
XI) new rear 2.88 gears ?? ??
XII) posi unit ?? ??
XIII) rear axle bearings/seals ?? ??
Feel free to comment/revise/add/etc. And I'm looking for info on
prices as well as quality, where applicable.
Questions:
1) Do any of the existing bits (a) through (f) above sound like they
should be replaced?
2) Other than shipping it to Smitty's, is there a diagram with the areas
needing welding/reinforcement on the front crossmember?
3) Anybody running 4 wheel discs _without_ a booster? I really wasn't
planning on getting one, but I'd consider it if needed for the 4WD
set-up.
4) I'm planning on scraping & recoating the underside of the car while
I'm down there. Plus/minues on POR-15 and its competitors?
5) What kind of Mangafluxing or other "activity" should I perform on the
remaining parts, and where? (As in what kind of businesses should I be
looking for to do this.) And is this expensive?
6) The "locking" nuts on the ends of the fulcrum pins don't feel
reassuring in their "locking ability"; anyone try double-nutting these?
The plastic bushings are not supposed to be _too_ tight.
7) Repeat question: how about ditching the front disc dust shields?
8) The car will for a while have no suspension under it and have to be
propped up on jackstands; where's the best place under the car to put
them? Don't want to budget for a hydraulic lift right now.
9) What am I forgetting?
Lawrence R. Wright
Purchasing Analyst
Andrews Office Products Div. of USOP
lrw@aop.com
Ph. 301.386.7923 Fx. 301.386.5333
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