What I learned rebuilding the front end

[bran100]

So, I just finished rebuilding the front end on my '82, and it was pretty painless. The biggest PITA was installing the original sway bar with new bushings. Holy crap. The entire front end was original, including the original shocks which were replaced with KYB. I cut one coil from the front springs, and replaced upper and lower control arms and ball joints, and all bushings on the sway bar. I probably should have replaced the tie rods while I was at it, but I'll just save that for another day when I rebuild the brakes.

Here's what I learned:

• On an '82, you'll need to pull the plastic fender liner partially out to get the top control arm bolt out, because it's so long.
• Shocks are so simple that they don't come with directions on where the bushings and washers should go. Pay attention to the old ones when you remove them
• Sometimes, you'll need to get channel-locks on the shock body to unscrew the top nut
• Use a 4" steel pipe nipple on the internal spring compressor, between the nut and the plate. My 6" nipple was too long
• When a reciprocating saw with a new steel cutting blade won't cut a spring, the Dremel works very well
• The first coil of a spring doesn't provide a lot of vertical spread, so I probably should have cut 1.5 coils. After a full front-end rebuild with one coil cut, the car only dropped about a half inch
• Cutting that first coil doesn't result in a stiff ride at all
• You don't need a press for the wheel bearings. A punch to get the old one out suffices, and an $18 seal press from HF works fine, provided you use fender washers in addition to the plastic disks to keep them from disintegrating when you hammer on them. I wish they had steel or aluminum disks
• Both a short 3/8" and a large 1/2" torque wrench with wobble extensions are pretty much needed. Not to mention, you'll need a BFH
• Holy crap, the sway bar is a bitch when using new bushings. It takes a contortionist to hold it up, getting all the brackets lined up and in place. I had to install, then uninstall brackets many times to get it lined up properly. A floor jack is a necessity to compress the center brackets together (after drilling out the old welds to get the bushings in) to get it to bolt up. Large channel locks also worked well to compress the brackets together.

Next step: replace rear shocks and cut about 1.5 coils from the spring. I'll drive it for a bit, then decide whether to cut another 1/2 coil from the front.

[4uall]

I had to lol when reading your post. I felt like I was reading my own Your front end pics brought flashbacks of my own experiences. http://forum.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtop ... ilit=+fall

Your engine rebuild is something for me to aspire to

[RRoller123]

Your new front end height looks good, just where it is! I would consider not lowering it any further were it my car.

[SoFlaFiat]

Your new front end height looks good, just where it is! I would consider not lowering it any further were it my car.

I'll +1 that Brandon, the ride height looks perfect on the front!!
Nice work!!

[Zippy]

I really like the color of your car. I also vote for taking another 1/2 off your front coils. I always thought the later model sat too high.