Hi, I've been asked by a friend to replace the front wishbone and anti-roll bar bushes on his 1989 328. I've got lots of experience with classic Jaguars but nothing with Ferraris. I had a quick look at the front suspension and it looks like a conventional double wishbone set up with coil over shocks and top and bottom ball joints for the hub. All familiar territory generally. So here are my questions. 1) The service manual for the 328 doesn't appear to include a suspension section. Is this because its identical to that used on the 308? 2) Are there any issues to be aware of when dealing with the suspension bushes? I note that the inner wishbone bushes appear to require welding into place!? This is a first for me. 3) Anything else that comes to mind as an issue when removing the wishbones from the hub. (I'm not planning to fiddle with the wheel bearings at all) Forgive the length of this post I'm just at the start of this adventure and I want to get it right! All help gratefully received. Cheers
Brett, at lease the 86 to 88. 328 suspension is identical to the 308 QV, not sure if 88.5 to 89 are the same as they have the ABS on those year. It may not show on the service manual but it shows in the parts catalog.
Yes, the metal case of the bushing needs to be tack welded to the A-arm in a couple~few places. You want the elastometric part of the bushing to flex for the A-arm motion -- you don't want the metal case of the bushing to rotate within the metal A-arm.
Just replaced all my bushings with graphite impregnated urethane bushings from Nicks Forza Ferrari. Easy replacement, no welding required.
Another tip is to not torque up the nuts holding the bushes while the car is of the ground,this is where a drive in ramp or pit is useful as trying to slide under a car whilst on the floor is a little tight..
Kind of hard to quantify relative to just the stock bushings as I also installed Nick's coilovers. Feels good thus far, but haven't had the opportunity to really push it in some twisties, and still on the initial shock settings.
This is a tutorial for the 308 that’s very popular with the DIY crowd here. The 328 is similar enough to give you an idea... http://birdman308.com/service/bushings/bushings.htm
The "série 2" 328 = after châssis # 76626 (even if there are still some "série 1" here and there among the first hundreds of new cars, notably RHD) have some differences in the suspension design characteristics (anchoring of the triangles on the chassis is modified to provide anti-squat, etc...) and dimensions: wheelbase is actually 1/2 inch shorter than on "serie 1 cars"; track is wider; wheels offset is different, etc... BUT the basic design/principle is the same: double whishbones, coil over shocks (some cars received Bilstein shocks instead of Konis). Therefore, bushings change method, and bushings themselves, balljoints, etc...is exactly the same. Rgds
Many thanks for the advice which is very helpful to me. I shall be starting in a couple of weeks. (He' still driving it at the moment whilst we have sunny weather in Blighty) I'm sure many more questions will occur to me as I go along.
I'll tell you for what it's worth, some people swear by the poly bushings feel, some by the ease of installation, BUT I installed OEM-spec rubber, and it feels great! Maseratisource on eBay routinely has blowout auction deals on these.
+1 Many people do not realize that the rubber part of the bushing itself is also part of the "spring" aspect of the suspension. The rubber is bonded to both the inner and outer metal sleeve. When you tighten the suspension bushing bolts the car's weight is resting on the tires. Let's think of this as a neutral position of the bushing rubber. Now when you are driving and the control arms go up or down this rubber is under tension and not in a neutral position anymore. The "spring" aspect of the rubber part of the bushing is always trying to get bake to the neutral position which adds to a bit of rebound and compression of the rubber. With a poly bushing, this is not the case. If you think of how the suspension was when it came from the factory, every time you change something to a different part you loose the original feel. Many posts always describe changing to poly bushings, different tire sizes, different rim sizes, different shocks, different ride height, and different sway bars. One can argue quite successfully that these non-original and more modern parts make the car handle better, but it also brings the handling farther and farther from the original feel. If you have a 30 to 40 year old car, it is very difficult to make it handle like a modern, high performance sports car. Personally, I prefer the feel of the Koni shocks, rubber bushings and 14" rims and tires. I do not track my car but drive on the street with lousy roads. There are cracks, dips, potholes, manhole and utility covers and multiple asphalt patches. My car is smooth and quiet and doesn't rattle my teeth every time I go over a bump. its pleasant to drive and if I feel like I want to push it on a public road, I can still scare myself and get into a danger zone pretty quick. I'm all for keeping it like Ferrari wanted it in 1978...it was great then and still pretty good now.
Funny you should mention that... I just bought one of their frontend sets off eBay with the 4 ball joints and 8 bushings. Freaking killer deal, hope the parts are good quality. I think I'll just go ahead and install the rubber versions, as I'm able to tack weld to the support arms the way they need to be.
