Front Suspension Rebuild

[XfireZ51]

Spring Updatng season has come early this year. with 40d+ weather here in Chicagoland, its possible to throw open the garage door and do some needed maintenance work on the front end. Last year I decided to get a wheel alignment prior to BG. I was told they couldn't do it due to the condition of the lower ball joints. I bought some Moog ball joints last fall planning on installing them this spring. I also got a poly bushing kit for the front end. Well this weekend marked the beginning of maintenance season and I started with replacing the D/S rear hub bearing. Bought a Timken unit for that. And yesterday I started tearing into the front end.
The Brembos were the biggest obstacle due to how they were installed.
Also went ahead and order upper ball joints after getting a closer look at them. Here's some pics of the devastation:







You can see the Brembos use a 2 piece disc. The bracket mounting bolts were too long to allow removal of the caliper which in turn would not allow removal of the disc. My suspicion is that the outer disc was installed in the caliper, then the center hub portion of the disc was bolted to the outer ring once the caliper mounting bolts were torqued. Otherwise, no way to remove disc without cutting the bolts which is what I did.
Passenger side gets disassembled later today.

[VetteMed]

Looks like fun, Dom. I despise doing front-end work, but somehow I always seem to end up still doing it myself instead of paying someone else. I guess my cheapness overwhelms my distaste for the job!

[XfireZ51]

Originally Posted by VetteMed

Looks like fun, Dom. I despise doing front-end work, but somehow I always seem to end up still doing it myself instead of paying someone else. I guess my cheapness overwhelms my distaste for the job!

My checkbook overwhelms mine. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Having coilovers makes this a much less daunting task.

[rhipsher]

When its done you'll love it. It won't even feel like the same car. Are you doing the steering rack/inner/outer tie rods also? If you can afford to you should hit it all at once.

[VetteMed]

Do the steering rack mount bushings often deteriorate to any significant degree?

[rhipsher]

The Mooge inner and outer tie rods run about $250. There's only two bushings on the steering rack. The drivers side one was good. The passengers side was toast. Replaced both with poly.

[VetteMed]

Reason I ask, is I rebuild my whole front end last year, but neglected the rack mount bushings. Maybe I ought to inspect those...

[rhipsher]

Originally Posted by VetteMed

Reason I ask, is I rebuild my whole front end last year, but neglected the rack mount bushings. Maybe I ought to inspect those...

They're exposed to air which causes dry rot. But some are gonna be in better shape then others.

[XfireZ51]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

When its done you'll love it. It won't even feel like the same car. Are you doing the steering rack/inner/outer tie rods also? If you can afford to you should hit it all at once.

Unfortunately no. These cars are a bit like a knit sweater. Start to pull on a thread and you get a cascading failure. I have another couple of projects betond this. Pulling the plenum to do a repaint and match cam covers. I may smooth out the runners while I'm at it. I also picked up a set of new Yukon 3.73 gears. That should bring the effective gear close to
a 3.45 using 19" rear wheels.
Need to replace rear hatch tray moldings and hatch curtain also. Hope to have it done before BG.

[XfireZ51]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

They're exposed to air which causes dry rot. But some are gonna be in better shape then others.

Going out to the garage now. I'll give them a look.