Just wanted to share some pics of a very satisfying Sunday afternoon/evening changing the front suspension eyebolt and bushes on my '67 2 door. I've had the parts in stock for over a year (added to an earlier Bull Motif order to get free delivery) and finally had a free afternoon to attempt changing one.
I'm a member of the North London & Middlesex MMOC branch and I brought up the topic in the 'any technical questions' part of the last meeting. I can't stress enough how beneficial it is to be part of a branch and to meet and discuss these things face to face. Obviously this forum is great too, and very useful, but there is added face to face banter at the branch meetings
![Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
So one thing that had been putting me off doing this for a while, apart from time' was the thought that I would need to remove a torsion bar to get to do this job.
I knew from a previous inspection that the bushes and eyebolt needed changing, you can see the round hole in the eyebold has gone a big egg shaped from wear and tear, from memory the other side is even worse!
One of the chaps at our club meet suggested that you could leave the torsion bar in place and merely pull away the front end of it with the eyebolt still attached (but obviously the nut on the inside of the chassis leg removed).
At first it would only come out a couple of inches. The rub being that its at perfect right angles to the chassis leg, which itself must be a about 3 inches wide, so the further you pull it out then its pulling out slightly sideways and so losing that perfect 90 degree angle.....which gets it stuck. However, I think the fact the rubber bushes were very worn ultimately gave it some wiggle room and so after some more huffing and puffing (technical term!) it popped out with not much trouble at all!
Obviously if you don't want to take it off the torsion bar, to prevent having the hassle of re-adjustment etc, and adding another hour or so to the job, then it means you leave the pin in place (so can't replace that), but you can pull the eyebolt and both bushes off the end (pic above).
Obligatory pics of old and new eyebolts and bushes below...
And the bushes on their own...
And the eyebolts....
So then I slid the new eyebolt and bushes onto the pin (which was still attached to the end of the torsion bar)...and pulled the torsion bar back a bit to re-insert it into the chassis.....which is where the fun began...because the centre of the end of it, was a full centimetre off the centre of the chassis leg hole
![:o](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
After some more manly grunting it occurred to me that having two perfect poly bushes on the end was giving it a solid 90 degree angle with the chassis leg, so unlike the old worn rubber bushes no wiggle room at all..... so I removed the front end bush which gave the eye bolt some wiggle room on the pin, and, after some more manly grunting, it popped in the hole no probs, with a gentle tap to help!
Then I just had to tap the front bush back in which was fairly easy, tapping one side at a time to get it evenly on (eg: either side of the pin).
I honestly hadn't expected for it to be so straightforward and had thought I would need to finish it off next weekend, although it was quite dark by the time I finished...curse these short dark autumn/winter days!!
Job done - very satisfied indeed, fish & chips for supper!
![Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
I don't have a garage, or a pit, or a ramp, so all this was done with the car jacked up on one side and suitably supported.... so there was a lot of on-my-knees work, and a bit of crawling underneath to undo the bolt on the inside of the chassis leg, but I'm (relatively) young enough.....40-50 age bracket!....to be doing that.
Hope that was useful for all. Next month it will be the other side....although that exhaust could get in the way a bit....
![:-?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
Matt
PS: Just realise I have logged this under 'bodywork' instead of mechanical
![:o](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)