My Suspension Restoration Project

[Jedi_Car_Fan]

Well, I decided it was time to ditch all the old worn out bushings, bearings, tie rods & ball joints. I also wanted to rebuild both half shafts and clean up the diff while I was at it. And in my spare time so far, this is what I’ve come up with and completed so far

Rear Subframe before I got started…

After the Subframe was stripped and most of the flakey stuff off was knocked off (looks a tiny bit better, hah)

Had to remove all these inner sleeves from the Subframe, Arms and Spindles after removing all the Bushings… what a PITA! Its not exactly hard to do, but its very time consuming.

Then I decided to Box in the Traction & Toe arms.

After Boxing the above Arms I drilled some holes to stress releave things so they can flex a bit if need be rather then snap if it ever came down to that…

After doing the rear arms I thought I’d also do the Front Control Arms.

All the Arms, TC Rods & Rear Spindles all blasted and ready for Powder Coating

Here are some pictures of everything after I Powder Coated it all up. Subframe was done in a RAL3020 Red.

I also did a bit of boxing/bracing on the Subframe

Front/Rear Arms, Spindles and TC Rods were done in a color called Extreme Chrome.

Crappy shot of the Subframe with the Sway Bar (the Red on Chrome should look real nice once its all back together)

Energy Suspension Bushing all pressed into the TC Rods, Front Control Arms, Rear Arms and Rear Spindles.

Solid Aluminum Bushings for the Subframe

Subframe Bushings all pressed in and ready to go

All the Bolts, Nuts and Washers from all the Arms/Rods/Spindles etc etc… Plan is to Media Blast them all and Coat them in a Flat Black as theirs no way Im putting everything back together with rusted hardware.

Most it all Media Blast and ready to be Painted

After being Painted

Next up is to Blast all this stuff and get it Coated up. Unfortunately I dont have spare rear Calipers thou so I will have to wait until I swap out everything in the rear and re-build the Calipers that are currently on the car.

Sad part is I still have quite a bit of work left to do…

• Press Hubs from Bearings (Buy new Bearings)
• Rebuild both Half Shalfs/Axles (Buy new Universial Joints)
• Buy and Install 4 Lower Ball Joints
• Powder Coat Diff Cover
• Prep & Paint Diff Housing

And that means I can start to re-assemble things in order to swap out everything with the parts that are currently on the car.

[roast]

Looks great!

Man, I really need to get my parts over to you. (I’m lazy)

Next thing, you’ll end up stripping the car and powder coating the whole subframe/chassis.

[empire049]

wow man that is amazing work! good job

[white240]

I’ve been planning to do this in the fall… thanks for the step by step. Its always helpful with pictures.

[Jedi_Car_Fan]

@roast

Looks great!

Man, I really need to get my parts over to you. (I’m lazy)

Next thing, you’ll end up stripping the car and powder coating the whole subframe/chassis.

funny you mention that. I had to go past strongco last week because my mother needed a ride so when I went in to get her, I shot the shit with Trevor for a minute and hes like “WTF, I was at his house last night, he must have a really bad memory or something”

@.white240.

I’ve been planning to do this in the fall… thanks for the step by step. Its always helpful with pictures.

Have fun man… its quite a bit more work then I had in mind and the money also adds up really quickly so it can become a costly project but its totally worth it in the end since not many people focus on the under body of their 240.

[Fobwall]

damn jeff, that looks so awesome. You have put in a lot of work and it’s definitely paying off.

[roast]

@Jedi_Car_Fan

funny you mention that. I had to go past strongco last week because my mother needed a ride so when I went in to get her, I shot the shit with Trevor for a minute and hes like “WTF, I was at his house last night, he must have a really bad memory or something”

Trevor’s right, I have a horrible memory when i’m focused on something.

[sidewayz240]

Awsome man, I just bought an ES bushing kit on friday for upcoming plans to do this exact build pretty much, minus the front suspension and rebuilt half shafts. This will most likely be happening this winter so be expecting some buissness from me sometime soon.

One question, I was planning on buying all new hardware from the dealership, but if powder coating them works then i’ll do that. But dosnt the coating just come off when threading and wrenching on the nuts and bolts?

Build looks good so far, Good job.

[maxgohan]

damn, looks nice!
how much did the project run you so far?

[frankduxx]

how much to do my car?

[Jedi_Car_Fan]

@maxgohan

damn, looks nice!
how much did the project run you so far?

Well, considering I can do the Powder Coating & Fab work myself, the only thing I’ve had to buy so far would be the ES Bushing it and the Subframe Bushings which together have me in around $250 ($150 for the ES Kit and $100 for the Subframe Bushings)

@frankduxx

how much to do my car?

Honestly, only thing I’d have no problem doing would be the Powder Coating or the boxing/bracing of either the Subframe or Arms etc etc but I wouldnt want to get into the removing of the bushings, metal sleeves or installing new bushings.

[Jedi_Car_Fan]

While I was working on a bunch of stuff for other people I figured I would also do the parts I had left and fill up the oven to make it more worth while.

Front & Rear Sway Bars

J30 Front Calipers

After removing the Pistons and Seals

After Media Blasting

After Powder Coating them in a Semi-Gloss Blac

Next up are these… I even opened up one to take a look-see inside and boy was it nasty in there

[drunkmunky]

holy moly. is that supposed to be grease?

[Jedi_Car_Fan]

@drunkmunky

holy moly. is that supposed to be grease?

haha yea, it kinda looks like a nasty runny crap eh.

Little update thou… I had some time the other day so I blasted the insides of the Pistons to remove the rust then spray bombed them black. Then today I put the Calipers all back together…

All thats left now are the Half Shalfs then its time to hit up Napa and get the rest of the parts I need to I can reassemble everything.

[AnDrEw]

looks awesome Jeff.

Andrew.

[JPE16]

haha…gotta love the tiger drylac colors…lookin good man.

do you own a stripping/coating business?

[Jedi_Car_Fan]

@AnDrEw

looks awesome Jeff.

Andrew.

You know how I roll buddy

@JPE16

haha…gotta love the tiger drylac colors…lookin good man.

do you own a stripping/coating business?

Tiger Drylac ftw… been dealing with them now for over 6 years

And yes I own/run a Coating business out of my fathers place which is a Fab/Metal Shop that has everything from brake, sheer, lathe, plasma, cnc turrent down to a wire and tube bender so I’ve got it pretty damn good when it comes to being able to work on the car or make anything for it. All I need is a hoist and I’d be set!

[jammin1911]

if i donate a hoist can i come use it and your tools anytime I want?

[JPE16]

haha…yeah we just switched to them…defnitely a great supplier…

have you tried the extreme chrome with a black base?

[Jedi_Car_Fan]

@JPE16

haha…yeah we just switched to them…defnitely a great supplier…

have you tried the extreme chrome with a black base?

No I havent tried that, have you ? if so, how does it look ?

I honestly dont get much time to screw around as we’re always busy with one thing or another. About 2yrs ago I tried Transparents “which are used with a Nickel Plated substrate” or their Mirror Silver “at the time” but the Mirror Silver wasnt shiney enough to bring out the Transparent effect, instead it just went dark. So if or when I get time I want to try blowing some Transparent Copper that I have over some of the Extreme Chrome to see if it will work as a better base and bring out the Transparent effect.