My "new" 72 Javelin SST

The front suspension rebuild is going well.  I have the driver's side completely finished and the lower control arm on the passenger side is done.  I'm just waiting for the welder to fix a hack in my passenger's side upper control arm where a previous owner had damaged it removing the old bushings.  Should have that on Monday.

Removing old bushings is not an easy job, but I've gotten better at it.  Using a combination of long bolts and sockets of various sizes I find I am able to press bushings in and out pretty easily without the need for a press (though a press certainly would be nice to have!).  The spring perch bushing was a little problematic because I didn't have a socket of the right size that was deep enough to slip over the mounting "ears", so I got a loaner bushing tool kit from O'Reilly's solely for an adapter in it that was the right size.  I didn't bother with the big c-clamp in their kit, as I find a long grade-8 bolt is easier to manage,

 

I'm cleaning and painting everything as I go, so now have a mixture of shiny/new and rusty/crusty on the car.  The crossmember cleaning & painting will be left for another session, and the steering knuckle pin and spindles will be taken care of when I do the conversion to disc brakes.

The Moog 3112 springs seem to have been the right choice.  The car sits noticeably higher in the one corner with the new spring.  Might be a tad bit too high at first, but I'm sure it will settle in.

Hopefully I can get the rest of the passenger's side finished early next week.  

Here's how I go about removing the old spring perch bushings.  They're a little harder to do than the control arm bushings because it takes more force to bust them loose, and like the lower control arm bushings, you have to take steps to prevent the bracket from collapsing as you increase the pressure.

BillD has an excellent sticky on rebuilding the front-end of his Javelin, which I referred to a lot.  Like Bill, I made do with whatever I had around the shop to remove and replace the bushings. Where Bill used a piece of oak and a bolt, I made do with sockets.  I use the same basic method outlined here on the control arms too, just varying the size of the sockets and bolts to fit the job.

First you have to get the rubber bushing out of the sleeve, which I do with a propane torch.  Heat the sleeve, rather than burning the rubber bushing itself, and you can then pound it out with a hammer.  Save the bolts, since you will need to reuse them.  A spline holds the head of the bolt against the bracket, so you have to pound it out too. I just put a socket slightly larger than the head of the bolt underneath, put the nut on the end of the bolt and hit it with a sledge hammer.  Two or three good hits with a big hammer and the bolt will pop right out.

Once you have the rubber bushing out of the metal sleeve, you need to press the sleeve out of the spring perch. I used a 7" long grade-8 bolt, a 1 3/16" socket, and a couple of adapters out of the #67045 Ball Joint/U-Joint rental tool kit from O'Reilly's.  I think Auto Zone also rents the same kit.  Both are free... you just place a deposit that is refunded when you return the kit.  I used some deep well sockets that just happened to be the right length to keep the spring perch from collapsing as I tightened the bolt.  My 1 3/16" socket was the right diameter to push the old sleeve through the hole, but you might need a different size depending on the wall thickness of your sockets.

It takes a lot of tightening, banging on the sleeve with a ball peen hammer and repositioning of the socket, but eventually the bushing sleeve will start to pop out in small increments. Just keep repeating the process, and sooner or later the bracket will give up the sleeve.

From here, I just throw the bracket in a bucket of Evaporust overnight.  Tomorrow it will be ready to paint and then I'll press a new bushing in.

Back on the ground, with new bushings, springs and shocks.  Definitely rides higher in the front now, but I finally have some suspension travel and no longer need to adjust the headlights! They were only reaching out about ten feet in front of the car before!

Drove the eight miles to town last night to fill up the gas tank.  Even with just an eye-ball alignment she no longer wanders, and I no longer worry about whether I'll return home with all four wheels still on the car!

The interior is nearly finished too.  I still need to repaint the clam shell back on the seats, but otherwise all the interior plastics have been repaired, replaced and/or repainted.  The seats will get new upholstery at some point, but they don't look horrible so they're not a priority.  The foam inside them is either cheap or completely shot though, and I'm not sure how long I'll be able to tolerate the low driving position. If I get a little extra money I might just reupholster them sooner rather than later.

Sure looks better with the new paint, steering wheel and a console lid!

Next up is either fixing the transmission leaks or replacing the windshield.  Still have some driveline vibration too.

Thanks, Scott!  Guess where I got those door panels and the A-pillar trim?