Suspension is DONE
After weeks of preparation, cleaning, gathering parts, and planning, I took advantage of a week when my wife was out of town and put the car up with the intention of tearing out the old suspension and putting in the new. This included:
- Replacing all bushings with poly
- Installing refurbished Control Arms, Trailing Arms, Panhard rod and Torque Rods
- Installing new Koni Sport dampers
- Installing IPD Sport Springs
- replacing strut mounts (OEM)
- installing IPD anti-sways (25/23) (used) and end links
- Installing new ball joints and tie rod ends
- Replacing all 6 rubber brake lines
- removing rust, prepping and painting diff cover
- Mounting MSW meshies
During this time, TB'er Bitterbuffaloh brought his wagon over and we replaced his lower TAB's, strut inserts and new springs all around. It was great to have him here and do some "guy time" wrenching. good times.
There were some late nights, opportunities for creativity (ahem), cutting, grinding, music and beer. And coffee. Lots of coffee.
For a quick before and after, here ya go:
BEFORE - "vulnerable doe tentatively taking a dump while watching for predators"
AFTER "grrrrrrr"
I have the rear center caps, but need to do some work on the center bores / caps to improve the fit.
I LOVE the way the car drives. The Konis and IPD springs seem very well matched out of the box (from my driving thus far). I've been driving a variety of roads with different surfaces, seams, cracks, bumps, etc to see how it does, and so far, the car stays planted no matter what I throw at it. I'm really happy with the setup.
Now some more project photos of the past week:
The weekend scene with Bitterbuffaloh's ride up for work
Control arms, old and refurbished (I only cleaned the bushing buckets)
Front ready for wheels
rear complete
Of everything the only disappointment was the fact that I had to retain my lower TAB's. Fortunately they felt extremely solid, despite being fugly as hell.
After 6 PB blaster soaks, I broke the beautiful factory tool - the center bolt snapped as I put the torque on it. I'll be replacing that bolt
Axle refurb is now on my "to do" list