How long you figure to refurb a 308s front suspension

I did it in a weekend.

 

Not that difficult.

BTW, if you have OEM bushings and are converting to ES, you don't need to burn out the old ones. You can cut off an end, press out the sleeve and cut out the rubber...

...smells much nicer.


http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=139872897&postcount=12

 

Assuming that you have your new parts ready and that you are not looking for a full detail job with re-painting and re-plating this job can easily be done in one day including changing the shocks and re-building the calipers yourself. Removing the suspension arms and all is really easy and getting to all the bolts is not at all hard. Where the time really goes is when you start going for the full concours re-build. The car will operate no better but it will be prettier.

 

The suspension forks joining the lower arms to the chassis can present problems if they have not been loosened recently. If one is frozen with rust, then a weekend job may turn into something longer. The other fasteners presented no problems but two of these forks took a few weekends for me just on their own. Apart from those it was all straightforward.

 

Do the rack while you are in there. With the suspension arms out you more than halve your workload.

 

Removal and replacement of the steering rack with the suspension bits out of the way makes that job many times easier. As others have said, with no major roadblocks and all parts in hand, you could do the front in a weekend...albeit a long one.

 

With powdercoating the painted parts, replating the plated parts, waiting for parts, rebuilding the steering rack, new stainless brake lines, and cleaning everything up, I had it all done in about two or three months. YMMV.

 

It took my wife and I exactly 8 hours to redo all the suspension bushings. That included working 1 hour just on 1 bolt. We went with ES bushings and have large arbor press in the garage.

 

I should add that we really struggled with the shock bushings. Getting the old ones out was a bear. When Koni made them, there were welding burrs, burn through, or slag on the ID of the bore. Once the original bushing were driven in, they were not coming out. We had to press out the rubber, then split the outer bush with a hack saw to get them out.

 

I cannot repeat this enough but GET THE SUSPENSION ARMS POWDER COATED!!!!!!!!!!!

They reall need to be man handled when putting them in and no matter how careful you are, they WILL get scratched. Powdercoat can be litterally bashed on with a hammer and it will not get a mark on it. Also years down the road it will look like it was painted yesterday. Coating the arms will fall under the min charge of any powder coater and the best thing is to ask them to hold off until they are running semi-gloss black so you avoid any setup fees. I have had arms done a bunch of times with turn-around of 2-3 days (including wait time for black as most PC shops run semi black all the time) with strip and finishing costs of about $100. With the parts in your hands now is the time to get them coated.

As for the front spindles. They do go black from the factory and the steering arms that come off of them are silver. Unless you have to do not separate the two as it is a very tough job reserved only for the insanely detailed restorations.

To help you along here are pics of my re-build:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55636&highlight=suspension

 

The ball joint shims are there to regulate the castor angle in the front end. They should slide in with minimal force so that when you get your alignment done this can be adjusted on the car. Typically after painting or powdercoating the arms pick up a little dimensional thickness making the install of shims tight. For this reason it may be necessary to sand the paint down in these areas to maintain a smooth fit of the shims.

It is critical to get a proper alignment done on the car after the suspension is re-built. Just matching the shims the way they came off will never be right. When I re-built my suspension I matched all the shims just for the drive to the alignment shop and even then at moderate speeds the car was not stable at all. $100 later and with a proper alignment it was a different car all together.

 

As you are in there,

Pack front wheel bearings.
Install stainless brake flex lines.

and don''t forget to schedule an alignment
chris

 

A lot of people seem to be using the ES bushes. Presumably these are the solid ones. I have never considered using these on a road car.
I would think the original rubber ones provide a degree of shock isolation to the chassis mounting points and the bolts.
Anyone had any issues with the solid ones, also do they wear? I would have thought they would not last nearly as long as the OEM type.
Race cars have all solid mountings of course but they are regularly inspected/replaced.

 

Urethane bushings will last much much longer than the OEM rubber ones and this was my primary reason for fitting them. As for the ride difference between the rubber and urethane it is too little to make any note of it. Note that very few people have driven both a car with GOOD OEM bushings and urethane ones so take their opinion with a grain of salt. Most people replace dead rubber bushings with urethane ones so it is not fair to tell the difference as both parts were not in their optimum state.

One downside to the urethane is that when the weather is cold they will squeak and it is noticable. I fitted the graphite impregnated bushings with plenty of lubricant but when it is cold (below maybe 10 degrees celcius) they do squeak over every bump. The squeak will go away depending on temperature and time driven but if it is really really cold (freezing or below) you may have to live with it for your whole drive. In the spring and summer the suspension does not make a peep.

As for race cars they use spherical bearings or solid metal bushings so it is not a fair comparision. Some track guys use urethane and it will outlast rubber by a long way.