Front Suspension Rebuild

[rhipsher]

Also another thing I noticed was that Prothane who I bought my bushing kit from calls it the complete suspension kit but its really not. Its 80% complete. Comes with everything except the front and rear sway bar bushings. And the bushings that press into the lower control arm that connect to the sway bar ends. Prothane sells those as a separate kit. Go figure.

[XfireZ51]

rhipsher,

Yeah, I checked out the tie rod ends and the boots are punctured on them. They look easy to get to so I figured I could leave them for later. It took me 4+ hours to dismantle
the driver's side but only 2 to do the passenger side. Lessons learned.

[XfireZ51]

Today heading to Pete's to do bushings and ball joints. I'm waiting for the upper ball joints but we can remove the old ones and I can start re-assembling front end and bolt uppers in when they show up next week hopefully. I bought a set of
AC Delco Pro series ball joints from Amazon. In the meantime, we just got
our heaviest snow this morning 3-5". It's the wet stuff.
Should be melted by Sunday w temps at 47F.
Then we'll get started at pulling plenum and IHs.

[rhipsher]

Originally Posted by XfireZ51

Today heading to Pete's to do bushings and ball joints. I'm waiting for the upper ball joints but we can remove the old ones and I can start re-assembling front end and bolt uppers in when they show up next week hopefully. I bought a set of
AC Delco Pro series ball joints from Amazon. In the meantime, we just got
our heaviest snow this morning 3-5". It's the wet stuff.
Should be melted by Sunday w temps at 47F.
Then we'll get started at pulling plenum and IHs.

It was 81 degrees here yesterday. It's the middle of Feb for god sakes. I predict another miserably hot summer. If so I won't be driving the Z at all. See you guys up north put your cars away for the winter. And down here I put mine away in the summer.

[XfireZ51]

Bushings and lower ball joints installed last night. Not a job to do without a hydraulic press and an ornery stubborn Greek. The upper ball joints were the biggest PITA as far as pounding out the rivets. Obviously these were the OEM ball joints on a 20year old chassis with 115k miles on it. Ball joints themselves and bushings did not look bad but replacing everything with poly.
Much tighter. Using Energy Suspension bushing kit and Moog lowers. I'll clean the arms and install tomorrow w temps getting close to 50. Still waiting on upper ball joints.
BTW, Greeks that do suspension work must be fed Burritos in order to maximize their strength and concentration. Pete is sort of like the Tasmanian Devil running around in his garage when he's hungry!
LOL!

[rhipsher]

You know how fat people get when they're hungry. Sounds like its the same with little greek guys with a metabolism like a chiuaua.

[XfireZ51]

Here's Pete looking for food in his natural habitat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c54SvkgQ04A

[XfireZ51]

I just finished cleaning up the control arms and spindle w Engine Degreaser and Brake cleaner. Came out looking decent. I decided to pull the lower sway bar mount that attaches to the lower control arm and discovered that the bushing is not in very good shape. Anybody have a part# for that poly bushing. It did not come w the Energy Suspension bushing set I bought. Since I have everything apart, may as well change the out. waiting on upper ball joints as well.

[XfireZ51]

What happened to my last post here? I included pics of the lower sway bar link bushing and the 2 piece Brembo rotor! The bushing is in the lower control arm. On side came out w just the bushing and inner sleeve, while the passenger side came out w the outer sleeve intact. I just bought a set of
Energy Suspension away bar bushing but no outer sleeve appears to be I included. Is that outer sleeve needed w poly bushings?

[XfireZ51]

Here's a couple of pics. One is of the 2 piece Brembo rotor adn the other is of the lower Sway Bar Link bushing. This bushing is in the lower control arm. The Driver side came out with the inner sleeve and bushing. The pass. side came out with the outer sleeve as shown in the pics.