My turn on the suspension rebuild.. SUCCESS!..Sorta...

[njoconnor]

Thanks, Mike! I'll take another close look at mine. I may just mark the current bushing positions, then remove them and lay it flat. I suspect there's little if any bend either direction.

Neil

[njoconnor]

Been a busy weekend....

Last week I did take the sway bar off, looked at it, and realized that the ends angled just slightly downwards (72). I'd had them angling up. Started reattaching it with the ends down, and after 3 days of intermittent work (accompanied by many tools, clamps, and un-Scout-like words), yesterday got it back on and snugged down to 14 ft lbs at all points!



No secrets or hints. Just persistence and desperation (have a show next weekend!). Moved on to the bearings and hubs. I used a plastic tub like bearing packer from Carlisle which made quick work of all four bearings. Followed Richard Ridge's instructions carefully (http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/sp ... l_Arms.htm ; best, most succinct write up I've found), and got the hubs on quickly. They spin great, with no discernible play.



On to the rotors....and the progress halted.

Made two mistakes. Bought some EBC Green pads (EBC Part # DP 2116) from a generic on line brake parts distributor. Second, didn't test fit them until yesterday. The rear Green pads went on just fine, but the fronts, when placed in the caliper mounting block, were too thick for the caliper to slide into place, even with the pads pressed up against the disc:



Here's the dimension of the caliper slot (calipers are reman's from A/R):



Here's the measurement held against the pads/rotor:



Each pad is 18mm at thickest point (near center slot in pad). Rotor is a shade over 11mm (brand new rotor). Caliper slot measures a shade over 46mm. 18 +18 +11 = 47mm. Sure looks like more than 1 mm too big.

Piston is fully seated (used my brake tool and an old pad; no fluid inside, since they've not been on the car yet). Am I missing something in this install? The rears went in smoothly, so I'm kinda surprised at this development. Alan (SoFlaFiat) has already suggested a belt sander and mask, and I'm sorely tempted to run out to Sears or Home Depot for a nice addition to the tool collection (all I have are pad sanders).

While I'm waiting/pondering, gonna load the car with 700# of softener salt (in bags), and do the final suspension torques. Generic ceramic pads due in to Weavers on Monday morning, so I have a temp fix (gonna take the calipers with me and measure those pads too!). So close......

Neil

[azruss]

remove the anti-squeal backer pads from the brake pads. make sure your piston is retracted all the way. On the fronts, the should retract all the way to the casting.

[DieselSpider]

remove the anti-squeal backer pads from the brake pads

Ditto on removing the anti squeal pads.

[njoconnor]

Oh, my.

Off go the anti-squeal shims. And (good eyes, Azruss!), the piston was just not quite all the way in. Fixed that, and:



Everything slid together just right, and took less than 10 minutes per side. Thanks Azruss and Diesel! Looks like I'll be keeping that Tues AM alignment appointment after all!

Before getting the front brakes squared away, I worked on the suspension final torques . First, put the car on its suspension at all four corners, with extra fixed jackstands and both hydraulic floor jacks positioned for "ooops":



Next, loaded the car with 680 lbs of bagged water softener salt, and got it nicely loaded down:



Then crawled around cranking the front control arms and the rear trailing arms/panhard rod all down to 72 ft lbs ( I gotta get back on the Bowflex....pushing 72 ft lbs one handed is a bear!). Finished up, and off loaded all the salt into the basement (got about a years supply of softener salt ).

All that's left is bleeding the brakes, setting the e-brake, and torquing the tires back on. Some gentle braking to bed in the EBC pads, take it in for alignment....and we're rolling!

Thanks again, Azruss and Diesel!

Neil

[DieselSpider]

Does the 72 have a greater load capacity than the 78? My book has laden as 300 lbs driver and passenger combined along with 130 lbs luggage or 430 lbs total.

[njoconnor]

Diesel, the factory manual I have stated 300 something KG, which translated to 700 lbs. "4 passengers at 150 each and 80 lbs luggage". Yeah..."4 passengers". Although, when I was 16, my chem teacher did give me a ride home in the back of his 68 Spider....that started the infatuation with 124's for me.

I do know the rear axle was on the bump stops, so I'm pretty sure I got the bushings torqued at/near max load.

Neil

[AriK]

By 79 they discovered that legless adults are inexistent and figured that any two front passengers who exceed 215 pounds each would not tolerate spending any time in such a vehicle. Oh and trunk cargo suddenly got abolished. How times change over a few years.

[njoconnor]

Back home after a mile long run around the neighborhood! Raining pretty hard, but the wipers actually worked (slowly) and the defroster kept the windshield clear. It wouldn't be Blue 72 without some drama; bleeding took longer than planned, and as I left the garage there was a loud bang from the right rear. Drove back in, jacked it up, pulled the wheel, and searched everywhere for something broken. Saw nothing, figure it was the spring doing a final "seat".

Out on the street.....wow what a change! "Oxcart " ride gone, zero pull on braking, tracks straight even before the alignment later today. Everything seems smoother, tighter. No leaks (so far), and the brakes, while working well ( and stopping very well!), feel spongy at the bottom of travel. I suspect there's some more bleeding due. And I swear the car has dropped two inches! I have some "pre" measurements at the wheel wells; I'll re-measure and see what the tape says.

Feels great to have the car off jackstands and on its tires. Thanks, again, to everyone who helped out, on- and off-line. You all helped me through a project with a lot of challenges, but the learning and results have been far and away worth all the work!

Neil

[aj81spider]

Nice! Congratulations.

[seabeelt]

Very nice. That's going to be my fall/winter project this year for sure.

[njoconnor]

Now for the "sorta"....

Got up early Tuesday morning and took the car over to the alignment shop in central Madison (Accurate Alignment, Jim Piper). Jim was pretty impressed when he saw all the new components under the car! We were both surprised to see that the rear passenger side cross member "stud" was missing its nut/lock washer. This was the loose "stud" I asked about in my cross member post. I'd managed to get it torqued down to spec using a large screwdriver, but it was completely gone. After some work, Jim brought me the "stud", actually a bolt, and told me it was a 7/16 SAE bolt (and it had flattened threads where the nut had been). Of course (ignoring azruss' advice... ), I'd assumed a metric thread and had used a metric nut. Jim only had a 3/8 bolt available, so he installed that with the admonition I was to drive home and replace it with the proper metric bolt before any trips (including a 60 miler to the car show this weekend). No biggie, a little more time under the car, and we're good.

So I thought. Went to work, co-workers made nice comments about the car, but on leaving on an errand, I noticed....a puddle. Center rear. AND...the brakes just weren't firming up. Checked the reservoirs, and the outboard one was losing fluid. Looked under the car, and there's a drip off the diff....and it's yellowish clear fluid....brake fluid.

Went home that night, had a discussion with Pat, and we decided to cancel the car show weekend, since I would not have time to get a new hard line if I needed to replace that line (and I suspect it's a holed/kinked line instead of a loose fitting; I'll be under there today to see what's going on).

Major disappointment. BUT. Driving the car was great!! Both before and after the alignment, it felt smooth, tight, and poised. Took it over some bad pavement near the house, and the new suspension just soaked up the impacts. Could still feel the bumps, but very much muted. Only other issue was a little spitting on iniital acceleration when just started up, but that went away quickly (and has not returned.

SO, back under the car today, and planning the repairs. I'll continue the brake issue in a separate thread; I'll have some questions, I'm sure. Thanks again for all the support. And...Azruss...gonna pay a LOT more attention to your suggestions!!!

Neil

[njoconnor]

Very nice. That's going to be my fall/winter project this year for sure.

Do it, Mike! BUT...read through my posts and take careful note of my mistakes!

The suspension upgrades are way worth it. A/R blue springs over Koni's on full soft. Nice ride!

Neil

[njoconnor]

Question for the collective wisdom.

As described above, PO/his mech used a 7/16 bolt to sub for a broken 12mm stud on the crossmember, passenger rear position. My alignment tech did not have a 7/16, but subbed in a 3/8 bolt on the condition I change it to something thicker in diameter (he recommended 7/16; I'd prefer to stay metric). Went to the local hardware, purchased a 12mm bolt in correct pitch, and can't get the bolt to slide into the opening left from the departed stud. It feels like the opening inside the crossmember is too narrow for the 12mm bolt, but just enough for the 7/16. I suspect I can get a 10 mm bolt in there without much difficulty. 7/16 converts roughly to 11.5 mm; am I giving up too much strength/safety by going with the 10mm?

Ideal solution would be to weld in a new 12 mm stud or get a new crossmember. My regular mechanic is back from vacation tonight, and I'll discuss that option with him. Any thoughts from the group very welcome.

BTW..."leaking brake hard line" turned out to be......loose connection of the center brake hose to the T fitting on the rear axle.
Lessons learned: check ALL connections before putting the car back on wheels,even if I'm SURE I didn't touch them. Also....don't overestimate the awfulness of what may be wrong.

[spider2081]

There was a discussion on these bolts some time ago. I believe the bolts are suppose to be 12 mm as your stated. Also they are a minimum of a grade 8 but some say they are grade 10 bolt. You should be replacing the bolt with the correct diameter and grade. The bolts can be difficult to line up. There is a floating space the bolt has to pass through.

Have you tried passing the bolt through backwards to alight the holes and spacer. Sometimes a take a spare bolt longer than needed and grind the end to a shallow point. pass it into the holes from the reverse direction the new bolt needs to go in. Then pass the new bolt in from the correct direction pushing the alignment bolt out as it goes in.