Front Suspension seems... wrong.

It's not right. There should be a shoulder or thick disc washer at the end of the sway bar that holds the two tapered bushings captive. Looks like you're missing the two disc washers on each side. They're actually an exotic dimension and not the easiest to find

 

While we're at it, and of course I don't know what changes were made for the Euro QV cars versus the US carbs cars like mine, but something looks wonky with your brake line attachment, as well, at the mounting tab on the knuckle. The metal fitting on the end of the line should poke through the opening in the tab, and be secured on the other side by a 24mm washer. It looks like your line just runs through the hole. Maybe that's a later design update? At any rate, just grabbed this pic from another suspension post today by tomberlin. Also shows the two disc washers that hold the drop link bushings in place.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

You're looking for item 34 (x4 if that's what it looks like on both sides), but it's probably cheaper to have someone machine a few for you, if these are even in stock.

https://www.ricambiamerica.com/car-diagrams/ferrari/v6-v8/308-group/308gtb-gts/front-suspension-wishbones.html

 

A bit surprising someone installed this without the washers, the bushing look fairly new! That said, these bushing tend to break down fairly quickly, you will get some clunks and less precise roll control but not a safety issue.

Might find out who did the bushing work, they probably have a couple of washers lying around...

 

The ~2" at the end of the sway bar steps down about 4mm for the threaded end that runs through the bushings and nut, so the inner washer basically has that smaller diameter and stops up against the fatter main body of the sway bar. The rear actually has the inner "washer" integrated into the bar itself.

 

Be advised with 33 that it's one of those items where the diagrams are sometimes incorrect. Those spacer bushings are shown as needed on both the front and rear, but one of the bars actually has their added thickness machined in already. I remember only needing one set, but forget if it was for front or back. Superformance UK has these parts least expensively.

Sway bar isn't DIRECTLY under compression from the shocks and can be safely manipulated or removed. Where it gets tricky sometimes is that the shock exerts downward force on the hub/control arms, which are connected to the other end of the drop link. As shady as this will sound in writing, I actually used the OEM tire jack and a short piece of 2x4 to slightly jack the wheel hub up in order to get enough play to detach the drop link. Worked like a charm. I have all sorts of pics when I get home later.

 

The flat washers are required back and front to keep the rubber bushes tight. You can use standard metric fender washers as the will work but the OD is too large. The OEM look neater but do not perform any different.

The spherical spacer washers are listed at both ends but are only needed at the front (and then only two) to provide separation between the silent bloc bushing pressed into the drop link and the a-arm. The rear a-arm is shaped to provide the separation without a spacer.

Note that on some (all?) the parts diagrams the bolt through the drop link bushing, through the a-arm (the long bolt with the shoulder) is shown the wrong way round.

Regards
David

 

Photos might make it clearer. Front:
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Finding washers of that dimension won't be the problem, but rather the thickness. A word of caution if you're going outside of OEM: Get stainless or zinc chromated of some sort if you go the hardware store route (I'd try Bel-Metric first), because this part of the car is highly prone to splashing and fastener rust. I need to look in my bag of removed fasteners from my project tonight; I may actually have some used spacer tubes.

 

Don't hold me to this, but - as a workaround - I believe the AC compressor shims listed as item 4 in this diagram are the identical dimension to the bushing washers, and they list here for $2 bucks. Downside is, they aren't chromated (unless new replacements are). Depends how worried you are about corrosion.

https://www.ricambiamerica.com/car-diagrams/ferrari/v6-v8/308-group/308gtb-gts/air-conditioning-compressor-and-controls.html

 

The thickness is critical. The washer supports side loads on the rubber bushings. A fender washer wont stand up to the loads.

get the right 117730 washers from Ricambi America ($7.11 ea) or Eurospares ($5.49 ea) in the UK

 

117730 is the 328 part, 105334 is the 308 part. I don't know if they are same or different.

 

Shipwright's Disease. That's how it begins. Tell us the specs when the engine teardown begins. ;-)

Lester

 

I looking for complete redone my suspension for my Euro 328 GTB. Shock absorbers and all bushes.

Anyone could tell me how long time for this work and idea of the cost ? Examples of invoices ?

Thanks in advance

 

It depends how deep you want to go. New shocks run about $1600, springs run about $100 ea if yours are worn out. Most people talk about replacing bushings, but really are referring to the rubber bushings at the inner control arm mounts. For FULL bushings, there also are complex, hard metal bushings at the outer rear control arms, and ball joints at the front outer control arms, which can get pricey, like $1000 for everything if you go aftermarket from Superformance. Otherwise there are 16 rubber bushings that are about $50ea OEM list price, plus the expensive stuff. Doing rotors as well? $100ea if you buy Rutlands high-grade aftermarket discs. Re-packing the grease and bearings in your wheel hubs? Bearings will be about $100-200 per wheel, plus either the ring nut socket tool or the labor of having a pro rebuild them. And, of course, you gonna powdercoat or refinish the control arms while they're apart? Add another hundred or two for batch powder coating, depending on where you live. Having suffered through this, I can tell you that pressing out the solid bushings is NOT fun, and the whole process can be a slog. Very dangerous to try to change your own springs. Ive heard several 308 owners tells me $4-5k to have a dealer do the bushings and refurb.

 

I replaced all my control arm bushings front and rear, new tie rods, new sway bar bushings, rebuilt my Koni shocks, new outer control arm bushings on the rear, new boots inner and outer boots on the drive shafts and repainted every part I worked on and also repacked the front hubs and new seals. Replaced the steering bushings, replaced the brake lines, new pads, new front rotors and a bunch of other small tasks "while I was in there"....

About $2000 worth of parts, 2 months of 3-4 nights a week work and some weekends and a $200 4 wheel alignment.

The local dealer had quoted $15,000 but would not have done all the painting etc. that we do as a matter of course.

I will say that the car is much, much, much tighter and handles much better. Though I would have said it was good before I did all the work.... it's so much better now.

One of the most satisfying things I have done to the car.

(1987 328GTS)

 

I have very recently rebuilt the rear suspension on my 308 GT4. I replaced every bush, inner, outer, shock absorbers and anti-roll bars. I also replaced the CV joints and boots. All of the bolts were re-plated and all of the washers and nuts were replaced, including the ludicrously expensive CV joint nuts.
The total cost was around £1,500.

Paul

 

Thanks for your reply