Winter Projects (Suspension Busshings and Oil Leak)

[Dave Colangelo]

I will be getting home in just over a week for semester break and have 3 solid weeks to work on my 78SC. I am starting this thread now because I know that Im going to have issues and questions so I may as well consolidate every thing here. The projects are as follows.

1. I have already ordered the Netrix spring arm bushings as it was recently brought to my attention that mine were quite warn. After lots of thread reading I decided to go with the Netrix as many seemed satisfied with them. So those will be installed.

2. I have a nasty Oil leak coming from the top of my tank some where. Basically when ever I shut the car off about a half a cup to a cup of oil leaks out on to the floor of my garage. Then stops The leak is not from any of the oil hoses. I can see the oil coming down the face of my tank (the face that the filter is mounted to) but i can not see where it is coming from. I changed the oil and filter a few times to fix this, with no avail. So I have decided to drop the tank and check it for cracks.
3. The car needs a new head light

4. (if there is time) my fresh air valves dont open and close correctly so i have to adjust the slider, and neither the blower or fresh air fans work so those need to be dealt with. The fresh air fan also has an electrical issue that I will post about later.

5. (if there is time) Clean up engine compartment, the plug wires need to be more organized as long as some other extraneous vacuum tubes.

6. (if there is time) convert car to a 74' RS replica.....
(just kidding)

Questions...
1. Any advise on changing bushings, I have read the articles here on how to do it?
2. What must I measure in terms of ride height so i can adjust it later?
3. What is euro ride height and how can I adjust my car to it?
4. Any one in the Westchester NY area really good at aligning spring plates and want to help?
5. Any advise on dropping the oil tank?
6. Does any one have a good way to adjust the fresh air valves?

Regards
Dave

[jrolstin]

Sounds like fun Dave. I've got a big list of my own as well but I have until spring to complete at least since I am not away :P

I haven't dropped my oil tank yet but it will be part of my projects as well since it is also leaking (although not as bad as yours is). Similar symptom though - leaks when the car is shut off.

[gtc]

Dropping the oil tank is pretty straightforward. All you need to know is in the Bentley manual.

To find euro height, buy an angle finder for the spring plates, and use Wil Ferch's calculator. Don't forget to take into account the angle of the car as it sits on the jackstands. If you have read about how to rotate the torsion bars spline-by-spline in different directions to adjust ride height, getting them set to the degree is not difficult.

If you burn off the old bushings, an acetylene torch is much hotter and faster than mapp or propane. The neatrix scraper tool is a little flimsy.

Buy some long bolts for the spring plate covers. You will need them in order to cinch the covers down over the new bushings.

Have some extra superglue on hand in case you run out of the glue that comes with the neatrix kit.

[jstobo]

I just finished the bushing replacement on my 69. Since the rear torsion bar always seems to stick in the spring arm(and not the car's torsion tube) I indexed the torsion bar after removing the old bushing and before installing the new ones. In other words a "naked" spring arm. In this way it was easy to pull out, turn the torsion bar or spring plate. Once I had the angle I wanted, I carefully removed the spring arm leaving the torsion bar in place. Now once I had the new bushings on, I only had to rotate the spring arm to get my angle before drawing them in with longer bolts. It's a real tight fit. Trying to index the torsion bar with the bushings on the spring plate would drive me crazy because they would be difficult to remove , rotate and put back in.

Not a bad job. The worst part is all the trim I had to remove so I could get the torsion bar cover off. Actually removing the old bushings from the spring plate turned out to be a piece of cake. I used a MAPP torch and it was plenty hot enough. I hope this helps. Have fun.

[Dave Colangelo]

Im on my way home this Wednesday, and my order from pelican has arrived and is waiting for me. I have seen that I need one of those magnetic angle measure devices, any suggestions for a good one/ reasonably priced one. There is a sears, and home depot close buy but I can get just about any thing I need around where I live.

Regards
Dave

[Dave Colangelo]

So I got home today and went right to work. What was one project turned in to like 50. First I went to change the headlight, found a ton of rust so I clean up the bulb holder and sprayed it black I will post pics tomorrow.

The wooden floor boards that the car has behind the pedals and on the passenger side were in bad shape when i got the car. So i pulled them out and decided to see what I could do about it. I traced them on to some foam and laid up some fiber glass on to the foam cores. Pics to come soon. Bushings will begin be after the fun run on friday.

Regards
Dave

[Dave Colangelo]

Second layer of fiber glass went on today the boards are looking good, and have only cost 20$ in materials so far, so its a win. I also got new windshield wipers today at costco 7$ a piece not bad looking Ill find out how well they work tomorrow. I pulled the wiper arms as a result of chipped paint and a drop of rust. So I sanded them, a bit of wire wheel time, then a nice coat of paint and they are looking real nice. It seems that every time I go to do some thing 10 other projects come up.

Regards
Dave

[bfunke]

Dave - you can get replacement floor boards in either ABS or AL. Unless you are looking for concourse it's a worthy upgrade. If you do that be sure not to forget the clutch pedal stop and the throttle stop.

Bryan

[Dave Colangelo]

Bryan,

I did see those plates and they werevery nice. I may end up with them if my fiber glass ones dont work out. I figured I would give the glass ones a shot, I had the stuff and lots of time and it basically free.

Regards
Dave

[Dave Colangelo]

So its been a while since I Have posted here mostly because I have been working on the car. Here are some pics of what i have been up to.

I went to change the head light and the support was all rusty so I cleaned it up and painted it.


This is getting replaced and was the reason I decided to do the new bushings while I was in there.


This is the drivers side floor board which is in bad shape as you can see.


So i decided to make some fiber glass ones here is the template being made. If they dont come out well im just going to get some aluminum and use a plasma cutter but I had the glass and the foam so we will see how it ends up.



I also decided to make new RS style door panels, check them out on my other thread, RS door panels a fiberglass project.

Regards
Dave

[steely]

nice work! - my floor board wasn't that bad, I guess I was lucky - let us know how the new board project turns out. keep the pics coming.