pulling springs/shocks on my gt

[ckeen74]

Hi all,

This weekend I tried to pull out the shocks and springs on the alfetta. Shocks were pretty easy, but pulling the springs has proven a bit harder. Haynes says to disconnect the halfshaft at the outboard end and disconnect all the suspension linkages, but I've been told you can pull the springs without all that pain.

Any good suggestions for what I can do to make this quicker? If not, how'd you get the halfshafts loose?

Thanks!

[ckeen74]

Anybody?

Even "you're lazy, just pull everything" would be useful, or some tips on how to get the halfshaft screws loose - heat? penetrant? What tools did you use? All I've got right now is a set of long-handled (maybe 6 in.) allen keys. There's no rust on the screws, just some light corrosion.

Thanks!

[Grant]

Get yourself a spring compressor from the local parts store or Harbor Freight. You should be able to pull the springs out by just disconnecting the sway bars, watt's linkage, and shock absorbers.

The spring compressor can easily take care of the rest. Don't forget to remove the wheels too. That make spring removal much easier. The watt's will be a bit harder to re-align when you need to get the bolts back in, so have a screw driver handy to help pry the watts into place so you can slip the 14mm bolts back in.

[ckeen74]

Thanks Grant, I'll try that this weekend... being a noob to this particular task myself, I have another question - can I also use the spring compressor to compress the new springs for installation?

[Grant]

If you are using shorter, performance springs, you shouldn't have to. If not, then yeah.

Do be aware that spring compressors can be pretty dangerous. When you compress the springs, if something were to slip or to break, that is a lot of potential energy stored up in the spring and could really hurt someone/something.

[ckeen74]

Yeah, haven't used them in a while, but I remember learning in my autoshop class that the potential for excitement was pretty great with spring compressors... so will be very careful.

I'm using GTV6 springs in the back... will see what the car looks like before deciding to cut them or not. It's already high in the front, maybe being slightly higher in the back would be fine.

Hmm.... jacked-up look, flat black hood, rollbar, light bar in the front, and an impact guard for the oilpan and I'd have a period pseudo-rally car.

[sidewaysalfa]

Chris,
Some of these bolts can get pretty frozen so I suggest you try to loosen them now. Those that are stuck you can use penetrant now.
On my Alfetta I had to have a shop use their impact gun on.
Sometime, soon, you will need to remove a 1/2 shaft.
My example: I broke the diff at the track last year. I flat tow the car so the only way I could get it home was to remove the 1/2 shafts. Since I had previously removed the bolts it was easy (but tedious) to do it at the track late on Sunday.

[ckeen74]

We took a few bruises, but we came out on top!

So yesterday I went out to the shop and messed around a bit more, to come to the conclusion that the only way to do this was the right way. So today I went with my penetrant and sprayed it on all the half-shaft screws. I then pulled all the bolts from the watts linkage and the anti-roll bar, and got to work on the screws. Realized that I could lever them by levering against the allen key with my long-handled torque wrench... until I realized on the second wheel that the top end of the jack handle (from my harbor freight lightweight jack, in case you guys have one too) is perfect for extra leverage. But beware, on the driver's/left/exhaust side of the car, the screws are reverse threaded. Almost stripped one doing that....

My question for tonight is - I'd like to replace all the screws, since if I have to do this again, I don't want to end up with stripped heads. Have any of you found a source for (or if you're local, do you have) the halfshaft screws? And, are they any different than the GTV6/Milano ones? A quick look at the Alfa Parts site says they're $5.50 each for GTV6/Milano. I'm all about supporting vendors, but $66 for a set sounds a bit over the top. Tips would be appreciated!

Oh, and I'll try to post some pics so you can see what your advice is contributing to.

Thanks!

[ckeen74]

Welp, the plan to post pix has, for the moment, been skewered by Admin-restricted access on connecting my camera to my work computer, so I'll try to do it tonight.

Yesterday I went out to the car and had a good think about what I'm going to do next. Ideally, the car would get all-new suspension bushings and transaxle mounts (trying to eradicate a clunking noise when I drive over expansion joints, plus just tighten things up), so I was originally planning to drop the entire transaxle/suspension assembly.

However, I'm thinking the better route for now would be to just pull the suspension and have it redone by my mechanic (since he has a press), and wait until the car needs real transmission work (it already pops out of reverse on severe San Francisco inclines). Which leads me to an annoying problem - the guy who installed the tailpipe on the Alfetta welded the sleeve fitting together, instead of using a clamp. I think what I'd like to have done, for ease of maintenance, is get flanges installed so I can undo it any time I want. Does this seem like the sensible way to go forward? Or is there some compelling reason not to have flanges installed?

In any case, I've got to reassemble the car next weekend, and drive it to a muffler shop. Lame.

[ckeen74]

Here are some pics of the progress being made on the car:









And yet one more question - what kind of paint would you use to paint the springs and suspension components (watts linkage, de dion tube)? Need I use special paint for the springs, since they'll be flexing all the time? Just doing a rattle-can job, nothing concours.

[Grant]

spray paint won't stay on the springs, it will flake off most likely. I think powdercoating is one of the few ways to make the paint stay.

When I rebuilt my tranny in our GTV6 (with much help from my dad) we used some FLAT black enamel sprayt paint from kragen's, and an air die grinder with a wire brush attachment to polish the brass and metals. It looked fantastic. Remember to put on several coats and to keep the can moving to help reduce drips and runs.

[sh0rtlife]

hmm guess i cheat when i do stuff like that..i just pull the bolts that hold the entire shaft to the disc's and transaxle....and leave the allens alone...but ive striped alot of allens on alot of brands of cars and only mess with them if im forced to

if your going to paint anything and want it to last...use engine paint and PREP PREP PREP...clean the part and then spray it down with crab clean and wipe it down...then hose it down with brake clean or laqure thinner and wipe it again...your rag should be clean...at this point spray with engine paint and leave it sit in a WARM place..make sure the temp where the item is stays above 60 degs for the best results..if your cold its to cold to paint....if you wouldnt eat off of it its not clean enuf for paint

the reason i ONLY use engine paint is that its MUCH more resistant to chemicals and heat..it also seems to be a tad more flexible for springs and such...and certainly designed to be MUCH more durrable....lets put it this way...i painted ALL of the suspension parts on my 67 cuda some 10+ years ago and the paint looks as good as the day i put it on..stick to "duplicolor 500deg" and "VHT 500deg" as there some of the best quality....vht goes on MUCH thinner and is alot harder to get runs but is also ALOT slower to dry but the quality is hard to beat...duplicolor goes on heavy and wet ....if your not already good with spraypaint cans then go with the VHT its harder to make it look bad...stay away from the 1200deg paints as you wont get the finish you want from them there VERY flat

[ckeen74]

Well, to get the exhaust flanges installed, I put the car back together this past weekend. The back end is already a bit tighter, certainly less wheezy and old feeling, and I didn't need to cut a coil off the springs - ride height in the rear is the same. Seems I'm going to need to drop the front a little when I put the GTV6 torsion bars in.

My question is, I have been shopping around for a Watts-linkage pivot bushing, and they seem pretty scarce (NLA according to Bob @ Centerline). He said they could get poly, but of course at greater cost and more harshness. Any idea where I might find a pivot bushing?

Thanks!

[ckeen74]

Turns out I was able to get a Watts linkage pivot bushing at Alfa Parts ($24 - ouch, but it's NLA), along with a rebuilt fuel pump, and some socket head cap screws from Bowlin near Harrison & San Pablo in Albany/Berkeley.

The rest of the bushings should be coming late this week or early next week from Centerline, and then I have some work cut out for me.

[ckeen74]

Got the bushings Friday... but I was unable to finish pulling the suspension this weekend. However, while I was under the car I tried to visualize everything I had left to do for it to come off, and I had a couple of questions:

1) Less important: Is there a way to avoid all the gear oil spilling out when you pull the speedo cable? Just screw that bolt back in (would have tried that but didn't think of it until now)?

2) More important: I'm thinking I want to replace the 2 front transmission mounts while I'm in there - I think their floppiness is related to the clunks I occasionally get when going over expansion joints, and there's rubbed-off undercoat to prove it. It appears that one of the bolts that holds the suspension to the intake-side mount goes through the slave cylinder. Is this right, and if so, can I withdraw this bolt without introducing air into the hydraulic system and having to deal with the consequences of that?

Thanks for the tips! I'll try to post some pics when the suspension is out.