Winter Plan

Since it's too cold to work in the garage during the winter time, I've decided to work on the pieces that can be restored in the basement - mainly, the front wheel assembly. I purchased a bunch of parts for the front and rear wheel assemblies from Victoria British and the plan is to have the units refinished and reassembled by spring.

After a considerable amount of effort, I have removed all the parts on the lower front arm and readied it to be painted. Removing the bolts from the fulcrom brackets proved to be a difficult task. I tried various methods to remove two bolts that had rusted on to the bracket. Heating and cooling the bolt was a bad idea as the rubber bushing caught fire and caused a toxic smell. I dremel-ed off the end of the bolt and tried pounding the bolt out, but to no avail. In the end, I hacksawed the bolt off and punched out the remaining bolt pieces.

As for removing the rubber bushings, I watched a few youtube videos to figure out what to do. Some people burned the bushing out, but since I'm working in the basement, the awful smell would have permeated throughout the house. There were also a few people with a custom bushing jig that screwed the bolt out. In the end, I made my own version of the jig using scrap 2x4's and clamp. I drilled a 1-1/4" hole through a scrap piece of 2x4 and aligned the hole on one end of the bushing with another piece of 2x4 behind it. I put the clamp over the 2x4 and on the other end of the bushing. Using the clamp screw, I slowly screwed out the bushing by pushing it into the hole on the first 2x4.

Below is a picture of the bushing jig setup and lower arms with the bushings removed.

After receiving order from Victoria British, I was about to assemble the shock absorber and strut unit, but noticed the paint job on the new shocks were already chipping off. I ended up sanding the chipped parts smooth and patching the spots with chassis paint. Hopefully the chassis paint holds up, otherwise I may look into powder coating.


What I ended up ordering from Victoria British... (the total cost is almost equal to what I paid for the car)

Part # Description Qty Price Total Status
5-445 SHOCK ABSORBER KIT-F/R-W/BUSH 1 79.95 79.95 In Stock
5-9931 RADIUS ARM POLY BUSHING SET 1 19.95 19.95 In Stock
5-303 MAJOR FRONT SUSPENSION KIT 1 109.95 109.95 Back Ordered
12-944 SPRING PLATE 2 REQ 2 16.95 33.90 Back Ordered
5-925 WHEEL BEARING KIT FRONT 2 REQ 2 24.95 49.90 In Stock
5-5084 LOWERED SPRNG SET-6.875" 330LB 1 59.95 59.95 In Stock
5-926 WHEEL BEARING KIT REAR 2 REQ 2 29.95 59.90 In Stock
FBK310 FRONT BRAKE KIT 1 REQ 1 129.95 129.95 In Stock
6-521 BRAKE SHOE SET 1 22.95 22.95 In Stock
7-760 BRAKE SHOE HOLD DOWN KIT 12 PC 1 12.95 12.95 In Stock
7-875 BRAKE ADJUSTER ASSEMBLY 2 REQ 2 19.95 39.90 In Stock
7-876 BRAKE SPRING CYLINDER END 2REQ 2 4.95 9.90 In Stock
7-880 BRAKE SPRING ADJUSTER END 2REQ 2 4.95 9.90 In Stock
7-945 WHEEL CYLINDER REAR 3/4" 2 REQ 2 34.95 69.90 In Stock
7-861 BRAKE HOSE-FT/REAR A/R 2 16.95 33.90 In Stock