QA-1/Eibach suspension rebuild project

I recently returned from an overseas tour and have been anticipating (among other things) restoring my suspension on the 308. While "over there", I stockpiled bushings, ball joints, shims, shocks, springs, etc in anticipation of my return. (The wife was amused as every month another care package would arrive from some auto parts wholesaler...)

I have to thank all the members of this forum for their guidance (active and passive) in my project's journey: Verell (for his counsel and excellently crafted paperweights), Birdman (for his comprehensive threads/documentation on different ways to tackle this project), Greg328, chrismorse, jimshadow and many many others.

I am on a trip now and over the next few days will do my best to summarize some of my "challenges" and attempt to offer encouragement and maybe some tips that helped me.

This project was great therapy for me. I definitely enjoyed my time in the garage slowly working through this over the last couple months. Even in the relatively cold Houston winter (all you guys from up North, stop laughing It wasn't terribly difficult and just took some time to work through. I think more than anything, I enjoy watching the transformation and renewal of my 308. I have always loved the design and to see a car that looks better at 31 years old than most any other vehicle on the road, well it is a treat.

I will start off with a picture from the beginning of the project and make more installments as the week progresses...
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If you have all your parts in place, your estimate of one week per corner sounds about right. I took my time and took about a month. My work schedule is varied, though. I might have a 5-6 days off, but then go to work for 5 days (not coming home in the p.m.)

 

-Commence suspension restoration on 2-1-2010
• Removed all four suspension assemblies/lever arms, media blasted, primed and painted w/ hi-temp satin black
• Cleaned/stripped and steel brushed all suspension assembly hardware
• Removed and replaced L & Rt, upper and lower ball joints
• Removed and replaced all inner suspension bushings w/ 16 Energy Suspension 13.3101g 30mm bushing. Lubed w/ Energy Suspension Polyurethane bushing grease
• Removed, media blasted and painted all drop link assemblies and replaced inner bushings w/ Silentbloc bushings and replacement rubbers.
• Removed, replaced rear sway bar to frame bushings w/ Superformance polyurethane bushings and new SS brackets
• Removed, rebuilt and replaced CamGears steering rack assembly by ASE in North Carolina. Replaced mounting bushings w/Superformance bushings
• Replaced rear hub rubber bushing seals, inspected rear hub bushings for tolerances; OK return to service
• Removed, inspected, repacked L & Rt front wheel bearing assy's
• Removed and replaced all 4 flexible brake lines w/ Goodridge SS brake lines.
• Replaced Rt/Fr. & L/Rear hard brake lines w/ PAE-308 steel brake lines from Advance Auto Parts
• Removed and Replaced 4 Koni shocks w/ QA-1 4855 & 5855 adjustable shock absorbers
• Removed and Replaced stock springs w/ Eibach 10in 300# (2.5in dia.) front and 12in 250# (2.5in dia.) rear
• Cleaned/ Repainted 4 wheel well assy w/black satin and black rubberized undercoating
• Cleaned/stripped/painted 4 original ATE brake calipers w/Hi-temp Gloss Safety Yellow paint (seals all checked: good)
• Bled brake system and flushed/replaced all fluid w/ fresh brake fluid
• Repaired Rt side vent fan motor mount and remounted
• Repaired L/Rear wheel well liner mounting attach point

 

What a mess! These bushings were deteriorated and nasty looking. Definitely needed refreshing!

PB Blaster is your friend! Use it liberally on your suspension lever to chassis attach points and lower forks!

Not sure if you can make out the steering rack out in the last picture. It's that big gob of leaking grease that is in the shape of a steering rack!
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PB Blaster is your friend. Buy 3 cans. I used at least 2. Soak the lower chassis to fork bracket attach points (big 22mm nuts) for at least a day or two. It would have been nice to have an air hammer to help with these. Also an air ratchet is nice. I just pounded on them for a long time. (“Bam-bam likes big hammer….”). I wound up buying a set of air tools after disassembly. They are not expensive. Especially if you go to your local pawn shop. There are tons of tools that guys hock during down times. I got a brand new basic three piece air-tool set (ratchet, air hammer and impact wrench) with all the fittings, sockets, chisels, carrying case, etc for twenty-five (25) dollars!
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...

Note the trusty can of PB Blaster!
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Take lots of pictures. Things that you wouldn’t think you’d need to look at again, you won’t be able to, unless you have pictures. You can’t always tell the orientation direction of some parts in the parts manual!

Note how many shims/thicknesses and where they came from. It won’t be exact, but will get you in the ballpark to drive it to a shop for a proper alignment.

Places where you will want to write down how many shims/corresponding thicknesses (there are .5mm, 1mm, 1.2mm and 1.5mm shims, I believe. Also some thinner ones for the brakes.): Upper and lower attach points for each brake caliper; each side of all four ball joints (upper/lower); and all attach points for the lower suspension levers (4 levers, 8 points total).
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.Also see post #8 above for the suspension fork shims...
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There were far more shims on my brake calipers than I used when I mounted them back on the car. The calipers were “true” (not closer on the top than on the bottom to the rotor) and only on the back did I need to add equal shims (2 top/2 bottom) to center or allow equal amounts of travel from the inboard and outboard pistons to make contact with the rotor. The pistons probably would have naturally balanced this small difference out, but adding these shims made me feel more comfortable w/ how close the caliper mounting bolts were to making contact w/ the rotor… I could have always added another washer between the head of the bolt and the caliper rather than between the caliper and the steering knuckle….

 

Looking back, I would have bought a small blast cabinet and done the pieces myself. As it was, I paid someone else to do an incomplete job. What they did was fine, but I had to finish some parts with a wire wheel and steel brush. The wire wheel works great on your hardware pieces. And yes, that is my dirty, nasty, leaking steering rack. But all the hardware behind it is clean!
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Jim=
It was leaking. It did feel a little loose. I sent it to ASE for a rebuild. They said that the rack was bent and of course leaking. They straightened it and did a "standard" rebuild on it. I had it back in less than a week. All in all, I was satisfied with their service. They did, however, just paint over the bushings that were in the rack, rather than replace them or simply remove them. I took them out and replaced with the correct "firm" ones from Superformance.uk.

 

Jim-
Also, I didn't have the same problems as you did with removing my steering rack. I think maybe this was a GT4 specific issue. Mine came out fairly easily. (Sorry, Jim.) ☺
It was easy to remove the steering rack once the left side front suspension assembly was removed. Not necessary, but when the shock and steering knuckle are out of the way, definitely easier.

I initially had some issue getting the steering column collar off of the pinion that comes out of the steering rack. What I wound up doing was using an open end wrench, placed it around the pinion and wedge underneath the steering column attachment collar. Then I took another wrench and used it to wedge/pry off the steering column fitting from the pinion spline on the steering rack.

When re-installing the steering rack, I mounted one (1) bolt. The upper rt mounting bolt. This one will hold the rack in place while you loosen the “firewall” grommet to maneuver the spline back in place. This required tremendous patience. Also, PLEASE note the design of the spline itself and how it is split into an upper and lower portion. The groove is what the screw in the collar slides through to hold the pinion in place. Note about how far up from the base of where the splines start, that the groove is. You want this to align properly, then the screw will slide EASILY right into place. On my rack, the splines were just covered by the bottom of the collar… I had to take my steering rack out/in three times before I figured this out (I am a slow learner).
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I paid about $370 plus my shipping to NC. The company was ASE. They are at atlantic-ent.com

There are some negatives on the board about them, but I got out of them what I expected: a quality inspection and assessment, they straightened my steering bar, installed new seals/grease, cleaned and painted. They did not replace the mounting bushings, but appeared to have just cleaned them and painted over them. Thankfully I had already ordered a set from Superformance and just popped them in.

In this thread toward the beginning, someone mentioned John Haller, who is on our forum. I have heard good things about his work, but have no first hand experience.

 

The other three corners getting cleaned up.... While in there I discovered that my right side heater blower motor had a broken mounting bracket. Easy fix, and now no more rattling around from that!
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Starting to clean everything up for re-assembly....
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Definitely use Nuvolari's technique with the hydraulic jack to pop the ball joints from the steering knuckle. It works like a charm..

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=161144&stc=1&d=1115658176

 

Here is the left/rear, all cleaned up and ready to go....
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