'74 Dino GTS front end rebuild

Hooray!! after a lot of time,effort & help I have finally rebuilt the front suspension,brakes,shocks,radiator,hoses & water tubes on my Dino. A huge thanks to Jeff McCormick, Carroll Phillips (Top Down Restorations),Jim Selevan & Mike at Superformance UK. Fchat has been extremely helpful!! I am enclosing some 'before & 'after pictures. If anyone is planning on doing this please let me know as I can save you ALOT of time!! Champ

 

Phil- thank you very much for your patience & extensive advice on this over the past several weeks. I did have them spot welded & they are not visible in the picture. The difficulty I had in removing the passenger side was due to it being slightly out of align due to hitting a potthole or something by the PO. The bolt ($60 bucks & only from Ferrari)that goes thru the lower shock was bent & wouldn't come out. I had to cut it in several places to get it out. I had to have the lower A arm slightly bent back into the correct position after I removed the whole assembly. It all fit up perfectly when I re-installed it. Regarding Jim's question of removing the entire assembly first & then dismantling it off the car. I would advise that. One of the many things that the Ferrari manual does not tell you is that in 1974 car's the suspension yokes(which attach the A arms to the chasis) do not come off. I am told in earlier models they are able to be removed & you can slide the whole suspension off. I think that would be much easier to work on. Obviously, you have to remove brake lines & anti sway bar. The manual tells you to remove the bolt that goes thru the lower shock first & then the rest. I found that taking the upper ball joint off first allowed me to pull off the upper A arm and it gave me a lot more room to work with. However, I had zero problem removing the driver's side suspension off. That could be due to the fact that it was not slightly bent like the passenger side and also due to the fact that I figured out how to do it. A long breaker bar is an essential tool in this job. The spot welds hold the bushings in place & are easiy cut off when you remove the bearing. The new bearings have a shoulder that abuts the race so it lines up properly. After you install them(into the race but before puttting everything back on the car) you spot weld em back. I have been driving it a little bit & it is a blast. I had the brakes rebuilt by SS in Buffalo NY. It stops on a dime!! If I can be of help please let me know. I had a lot of fun doing this & will likely do the rear end and maybe pull the engine this Fall.