I love that A-arm construction (stamped 5-lug TR A-arms just look so much more "conventional"). David -- Are the (Aluminum?) mounts holding the (brown) split flexible anti-roll bar bushings the stock piece or something that you fabricated?
Steve , I basically left everything stock just replated and cleaned everything. The aluminum roll bar mounts are stock and i just pressed each side against a wheel sander to make look like brush finish then sprayed clear enamel to protect.
Thanks for the information David (and that's a very nice piece of work!). My ex-308 had the more conventional formed steel strap design for those anti-roll bar brackets so I made up some Aluminum ones similar to yours (but mostly just for looks since the rear ones are so visible on a 308). My 5-lug TR also has the steel strap design so I was thinking that your Aluminum ones had to be special -- but obviously not. I checked the TR SPC, and it turns out that (just like the A-arms) the early TR are much more like your BB using a solid Aluminum piece for that anti-roll bar mount.
I was going to complete today but had the wrong brake lines The order was for all front components but they sent me rear brake lines. They will send them overnight delivery. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The wheels were a pain !!!! I ended up fabricating the tin bolt locks. I was going to just use loc tite but ended up doing this - I felt like Enzo's ghost was telling me do it this way Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Actually i did have a few bolts that did fail the torqe spec. Specifically the upright to ball joints bolts only. The rest of the bolts are ok. Strange ! i feel the metal Ferrari / vender used was not all consistant.When i checked them before plating i did notice the metal was different than the other bolts - very cheap zinc plate like hardware store. I ended up replacing these bolts (6)even though 2 out 3 failed on one side.I would not recommend any replating of bolts period! just not safe as some have mentioned.Seems the plating made the threads soft. Dave
Finally finished and just had the car smog certified for 2 more years and had the wheels aligned. The pictures are at the alignment shop. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Looks great, interesting that you had bolts fail... can you give more info in EXACTLY what method of plating you had done.... ie batch quantity, solution strength/age, current applied etc etc. I hope the alignemnt guy washed his hands before aligning your car! You "might" want to re-align it after it has re-settled onto it's springs for a couple of months.... keep it heavy with fuel, luggage and a passenger to speed this process up. Make sure you have released and re-tightened all the rubber wishbone and shock bushes at static ride height.
I had all the nuts and bolts plated in 2 batches. The receipt has one batch gold plate 2 and the other gold plate 3.Not sure what batch was what.All parts were in the oven for 23 hours.I had around 130 gold cad parts plated total.This was done just 2 months ago. Thanks also for the advice. I will definatly recheck everything.
