hi all. getting ready to start rebuilding the sloppy front end on my 73 2.0. seems straight forward enough, so i figure it should only take 4 or 5 months to complete.
i am ordering lemfoerder turbo tie rods and ball joints, then a pair of rebuilt calipers from eric shea. what type of front shocks should i buy. kyb or bilstein? boge may be out of my budget. what are your thoughts.
also what bushings, nuts, spacers or other little crap should i get in house to avoid the weeks of waiting in shipping hell for a bolt or pin i may have missed?
this is a street car. no racing or auto cross.
thanks in advance for all the dumbass questions this project will no doubt create

avoid KYB... bils, koni or boge, watch you might find some in the classifieds. I think there's some there right now.

the weltmeister bushings should be fine for a street car, I can't see paying double for the elephant ones, and I don't know of a bushing in between the $62 Welts and the elephant racing.

get the ball joints, the new castle nut, etc...

FWIW, I did all of this a couple winters ago... I didn't do the turbo tie rods, just the new tie-rod ends with new nuts.. that saved me quite a bit. I did all except the bushings in one afternoon. it actually goes a lot faster than I thought. I still need to do bushings.

whoa whoa whoa.
Hold up here.

Have you driven the car yet?
Do you have witnesses to the fact that you have actually driven it?
Did you make it to an event, or a show, or bbq this year in your car?

If not, you do not have the prerequisite seat time to be certified to remove any part of your car and start a new project....how do you even know how it handles?

Rich

yes i have been driving it for a month now. just had it out on an old abandoned airport runway out here. topped out @ 105 mph, was shalking so bad i thought i was in L.A.
never made it to an event because they are all out in N.J. and i can't handle the prerequisite 2 hours of bumper to bumper traffic to get to one. anyone who has sat in traffic in the lincoln tunnel with the top off will bear me out. and the jersey guys NEVER come to NYC.
besides if i don,t take it apart again we will have no reason to talk to each other next spring.... unless you want to weld my longs

you drove it at 105 without doing the brakes and front end first? I guess you can never have a passenger, because balls like that have to ride shotgun.

the front end is one day, 2 tops if an idiot like me can do it in a weekend, you'll be fine.

then you can weld your longs or find someone who can... I was having trouble getting mine perfect, so I found a travelling welder on craigslist who was willing to do it for about $100 he normally welded gates and small stuff, but said he had a small mig just for projects like that. he also helped me find the settings I needed on my 110 welder to do the rest.

So I put about 700 miles on mine this year did I beat you Rich?

I haven't bothered to get under mine and see if anything is loose. Still having trouble with the gears. I just been driving in 3rd 4th and 5th. I might be introuble if I had to go from a dead stop up a steep hill but just bee driving locally so I haven't faced that issue.

I bet it's a 1 hour fix but I just hate to crawl under the car and I haven't bothered going to use a lift.

Hmmm, sounds fishy...no witnesses.

Here is my list.
new front wheel bearings
New ball joints (there are two types, make sure you get the proper year ball joints)
New upper strut bearings....the rubber ones that bolt to the fender...
Turbo Tie rods....good.
Inserts...hmmm
I would urge you to consider adjustable Koni inserts (again...different ones for different years)
These are the best and with the adjustment, you can tune them for your specific needs autox/street on the spot.

Not sure I would recommend any anti-sway bar at this point unless you really plan to autox the car...I have driven in NYC in my car and I would not want to have my suspension in that city....its way to harsh.

Think soft and supple for NYC...stick with the rubber a-arm bushings...dont be lead down that road or you wont drive it anymore.
Soft struts, so Koni or Boge ONLY....Bilstiens are to stiff, KYB are to stiff...koni is adjustable, boge are nice and supple.

Rich

Hmmm, sounds fishy...no witnesses.

Here is my list.
new front wheel bearings
New ball joints (there are two types, make sure you get the proper year ball joints)
New upper strut bearings....the rubber ones that bolt to the fender...
Turbo Tie rods....good.
Inserts...hmmm
I would urge you to consider adjustable Koni inserts (again...different ones for different years)
These are the best and with the adjustment, you can tune them for your specific needs autox/street on the spot.

Not sure I would recommend any anti-sway bar at this point unless you really plan to autox the car...I have driven in NYC in my car and I would not want to have my suspension in that city....its way to harsh.

Think soft and supple for NYC...stick with the rubber a-arm bushings...dont be lead down that road or you wont drive it anymore.
Soft struts, so Koni or Boge ONLY....Bilstiens are to stiff, KYB are to stiff...koni is adjustable, boge are nice and supple.

Rich
[/quote]
as always thanks rich. can you recommend front wheel bearings?

nate, 700 miles? i haven't put 700 miles, i haven't put 700 miles on this car since i've owned it

check rotors if you are going to replace the front bearings, may as well hit them all at once if the rotors are not in spec, or close to being out of spec.

how does one check to see if rotors are out of spec?

thickness my man it's all about thickness.

I think 8mm is the minimum in-spec thickness, but check your haynes manual. then put a caliper gauge on it and you will see. FWIW, I think you can only get about 1-2 cuts(getting your rotor turned) before it's out of spec...

the wheel bearings are cheap(about 15 per side), but kind of a pain, messy... I got a bearing grease press from a FLAPS, it made the job MUCH easier and cleaner... worth the $10 investment. rotors are more, about $50 per side but I don't skimp on brake parts if I can help it. there's NO reason to not replace the bearings, ever. but if the rotors are close, you may as well get them too... if the rotors are good, then don't worry about it.

front wheel bearings are standard cheap yearly replacement items....
Ball joints are not cheap, but there is no choice of vendors.

Rotors have a minimum width, check that by the book.
Rotors have runout, they are meant to wiggle a little bit side to side, but if they were overheated to many times, they wiggle to much or have to much runout.

Runout can be checked with a dial indicator mounted firmly and then you find the high spot. once you find the high spot, zero out the gauge then turn the rotor once to see how big the difference is between the high spot and the low spot.

OR,
just buy new rotors and replace the 35 year old rotors.

Rich

might as well replace the rotors. then all is new. should i think about pulling the entire front suspension and cleaning it up or am i asking for more problems.

Rich,
thanks for starting this thread, I am planning the same work some time soon, so I figure i'll just get out the and watch your antics, then I'll know what not to do when i start

Neil

you know instead of sitting around pickin on me why don't you adress some of lifes problems, like how the hell do you get these carbed 914's to start in the cold. someone should invent a choke cable set up or something. how do you get yours started in the co....oh look who i'm asking he lives in paradise

Yup, mine starts first time, every time, and idles at around 800 all the time, and your point is ?
looking forward to the soap opera - oops technical rebuild saga !

Richie,
Ask Eric Shea about the shox, he sells them as well.

Also, look at my PA transmission rebuild clinic thread to see if you are interested.

will take a look. may be going down to d.c to open a new restaurant, so play time might be tight this winter
miss you terribly
rich

Its not really needed to pull the whole front suspension down.
The rubber a-arm bushings will need to be replaced if you do this and you may not need to replace them at this point.

no matter what advice you hear, please consider where you live and the road conditions....others may not think about this.
You have pothole they only read about.

Keep as much rubber as possible.
Rubber a-arm bushings.
Rubber upper strut bearings.

do not lower your car and keep 195 or taller tires on the car...its a smoother ride.

I did a run through NYC with race suspension...I pulled that suspension out the next weekend and it sits on the shelf.
I think I broke all sorts of elec connections, coffee cups and a few teeth.

i did have a fun race (which I won) with a lambo and a porsche...
I wont cause I dont care...they cared.

Rich