[AFB24911S]

Alright, home build update time! Parts arrived about a month ago but I couldn't stand to put the car up on jack stands until it got to snow season here in Colorado.

It's been up on the jack stands for about 3 weeks now, and I've got the right rear suspension almost totally disassembled. The strut is out, the brake caliper is off (the lower caliper bolt is a PAIN, needed to hammer it loose with the box end on the bolt and then took it off about 1/16 turn at a time), the spring plate is detached from the trailing arm, the torsion bar is out, and I've taken the bushings off the spring plate. Only disassembly left is to remove the small end of the trailing arm and replace the bushing there. Going to wait on that until everything else is back in place so I don't have to hold the trailing arm in place; I can't figure out how to remove the brake lines from it easily, and if I don't have to mess with them I don't want to.

Removing Spring Plate Bushings:
I used Elephant Racing's bushing separation tool, the video they provide helps a whole lot. Here's what it doesn't say: 5 minutes of heating is the MINIMUM, just heat until the whole thing is smoking like a grill on the Fourth of July. Also, if you don't have a shop press get a really good bar clamp and have two pieces of wood or steel nearby to press the thing together. You'll have to remove the torsion bar cover to help the wood/steel sit flat on the top of the cylinder, so tap it out from the inside with a screw driver and a hammer. Do not wait, as I did, until the metal is flaming hot to realize this. It cools quickly, so have your clamp, your wood, your knife, and your separation tool nearby. And don't skimp on your clamp, if you don't own one; I got a $40 one from Home Depot that looked pretty strong, but I bent the bar when I was clamping. It took me about 3 hours to take the rubber off, remove the remains, and polish the surfaces smooth, but it'll probably take an hour less on the other side because I've got a system for the clamping & heating now.

Spring Plate/Trailing Arm Separation
This was tricky. Not only are the bolts really torqued down, which is always fun when the car's on jack stands, but it's hard to figure out where to lever the trailing arm to relieve the tension. When I took my bolts out, one left some little indents a the hole in the trailing arm. So, learn from my mistake: with the bolts in and the damper off, let it hang. Then, use the jack under the trailing arm to push up the assembly juuuuust a little. Maybe, if possible, even try to lift the spring plate as opposed to lifting the trailing arm. I'll try that on the next side and post if it works or not.

Spring Plate & Torsion Bar Removal:
This is the fun part. to remove the spring plate, I had my Dad put a hammer against the body with the claw pulling outward, like you would remove a nail, and I banged on the interior side of the spring plate while he was twisting the hammer to push it outward. Marked up the interior side of the spring plate pretty well, but it's steel and it faces the car. The spring plate came off the torsion bar, so I didn't have to separate those two.

The torsion bar could have been really difficult if I didn't have a big wood handscrew clamp. I pinched the part of the torsion bar behind the splines with the front, leaned the tip against the body, and tapped the back end of the clamp from the other side with a hammer; came right out. Don't know how I would have removed it if I didn't have a wooden hand screw clamp.

Other Notes:
Good idea to have a rubber cap or something to put over the brake nipple while you work. Also helps to have a nice tray to keep all brake fluid off the floor. The cars made after '77 with the two height adjustment bolts really require that thin 24/36mm wrench Pelican offers, there's just no clearance between the spring plate and the body to make the adjustment any other way. Get a 17mm wrench with a ratcheting box end for the struts on the top, it's really tight in the engine compartment and the ratcheting box end makes it a lot easier.

If you're thinking about replacing just enough parts to really make a difference in the ride quality/performance and everything's worn about the same, the struts are probably your best bet to make the most improvement for the least work/cost. Mine were TOTALLY shot, the bump stop on the right rear were in pieces and I could force the rod down with one hand.

Also: in other threads, I've read that the rubber spring plate bushings contribute a fair bit of resistance to the rotation of the assembly. Based on what I've read in other posts here, what I've observed in my car and on my understanding of the engineering at work (mech e., Santa Clara University) that is a fair assessment of the system. My Elephant Racing poly-bronze bushings will remove resistance to twisting in the system, but the increased torsion bar size will more than compensate for that loss in resistance to rotation I think. We'll see.

Thinking about doing a video when I do the other side, once I know just enough about what the heck I'm doing to speak with a little authority on it. If I do, I'll post it here.