Front end rebuild... the beginning to the final chapter

[Thom71GT]

Well, I have the sport lowering spring so I need to adjust for the negative camber that that creates. OGTS suggests rotating the ball joints 180 degrees, which was my intention, but I dont know which is the original point of origin to rotate them from.

[RallyBob]

Then to reduce the negative camber you need to point the marking towards the 'outside' of the car. This will make the spindle more upright and reduce negative camber. Unless your photo is reversed!

[Thom71GT]

Ok, so Im putting my front end back together. I have the Sport lowering spring and as I am trying to put the end bolts in, where it connects to the outer part of the control arm where the ball joints are, I just cant get it lined up. I finally see why............ the spring is hitting the bottom of the ball joint. Now what?!?!? Grind away part of the spring for clearance?

[markandson]

I had to grind my spring to make it fit. I called OGTS when I had the problem and Gil told me that it was normal to have this problem. He said it does not occur on all GTs, which I don't understand, but in any case it is not unusual to have to grind the spring. Make sure you do a nice job of grinding so that there are nice smooth radius' so as not to create any stress risers. I never took any pictures and mine is all assembled already.

[Thom71GT]

That's what I will have to do then. It doesnt need that much clearance before I can get the bolt all the way through. I got so mad because I fought with it for over an hour on both sides before I stuck my finger under there and realized it was hitting the back part of the ball joint. Good to know others have had the same problem. I think the area where they bend up the iron around to make the circle for the bushings is thicker and that is causing the problem.

I can't imagine that it will take too long as there isnt too much that needs to be taken out. Thank God I have an air compressor and grinder. Otherwise I'd be SOL.

Thanks guys

I'll post pics of the grinded area when I am done.

[Thom71GT]

Well, I did one side before the wife made me come in early. Took about 30 minutes and it chewed up about 4 of my cutting wheels and half a grinding stone to get it down, it is done. Ill have to do the other side tomorrow.

[Thom71GT]

YAY!!! Got it almost together. I ran into several problems putting the suspension back in. The Spring eye was rounder than the stock spring so I had to use my air grinder to grind away part of the top of the spring eye. It was hitting the inside bottom of the lower ball joint. Next I had to loosen the inside of the lower control arms super "loosey Goosey" so I could get the bolts through the outer spring eye bushings. Loosening them made it cake though. Thanks to Gil at OGTS for that tip.

Lastly, even though I went on to Monroes website and they SPECIFICALLY said that Model 77 would fit a 1971 Opel GT... it didnt. The part at the bottom was too wide to fit into the area that is provided on the lower control arm. Soooo........10 minutes with my air grinder took care of that.

But I digress... only thing left to do is put the hubs on and the brakes and then I can put the wheels back on and lower it to the ground.

[Thom71GT]

WHOOO WHOOO!!!!

SUCCESS!! Well after 3 months I finally got the front end all back together and lowered to the ground!! SWEET!!! The wheel well is filled up with the wheel and tire and looks much more aggressive and sporty. Now, just wait until I get those custom made 16" Wheels and 50 series tires on this puppy!!!! To put it into perspective, it is a 14" wheel and 60 series tire that I have on there now.

The only snag I ran in to was that I had a bad drivers side outer tie rod, but the spare front end I had in my basement that I got from my other GT prooved to be a lifesaver. It had a brand new outer tie rod on it, so it was happy to be the donor.

See my before and after photos..........

[Tru-Craft]

Looks great lowered!
Will go back and read all you did to it. I think my stock spring is messed up, car sits 5/8" lower on drivers side! I think I'm going to get a new sport spring from ogs.
What is the bumper height now to the center?
Lyle

[Thom71GT]

Originally Posted by Tru-Craft Looks great lowered! Will go back and read all you did to it. I think my stock spring is messed up, car sits 5/8" lower on drivers side! I think I'm going to get a new sport spring from ogs. What is the bumper height now to the center? Lyle

Dont know, I have the bumper off and its going to get rechromed really soon. Ill measure where it is supposed to be though and let you know.

ABout your lean, you sure you dont have a messed up lower ball joint? That would create a lean like that.

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by Tru-Craft I think my stock spring is messed up, car sits 5/8" lower on drivers side!

Lyle, on a GT this is a common phenomenon. Normally you can look at one of two things.

1) Check the rear springs, see if one is cracked or improperly seated. The cross-wedge will change your front ride height on a diagonal.

2) Check for a bent front lower a-arm. Very common on GT's these days, I'd estimate 50-60% of the GT's on the road have a bent arm to some degree. They are very fragile. They will bend backwards, which puts a side-load on the lower spring eyelet. This will raise the side of the car with the bent a-arm. It's sometimes hard to eye-ball, so the easiest way is to measure the wheelbase of the car. Should be 95.7". I've seen them as little as 95 1/8" on some GT's!

Bob

[Tru-Craft]

Bob, just went out and measured everything. The rear springs are seated good. 2 years ago I put poly sping seats top and bottom. The right rear spring protrudes about 3/16 more than the left rear. Right rear of car is about 3/8 higher than left rear.
The wheel base checks 95-3/4 both sides +-1/8.
I put a level under the A-arms. The left front angles down about 3/16 more than the right side, over the length of the A-arm (10")
The front is very stiff! It moves up and down a couple inches and returns to same position. Moved car and re-measured and got the same 3/4 lower on left front.
Any thoughts?
Lyle

[Thom71GT]

I measured and the front bumper center will be about 17" off the ground

[kwilford]

Originally Posted by Thom71GT My front end... the FINAL CHAPTER!! DONE!! .......

Thom, these were SUCH good posts that I merged them into one terrific thread on rebuilding a front suspension. If you happen to find any other posts that would fit here, please let me know and I will merge them in.

[jeff denton]

Switch your rear springs side to side and see if it changes anything.
Look at the center of the front spring and see if there is a metal strap keeping the leafs centered.
Measuring the wheelbase is kind of tricky, it is rarely done with enough accuracy to be of any use here. You need a level floor, car blocked up level with wheels off, a plumb bob and marker pen. It's best to have the suspension "loaded" at ride height, I use tools made of all-thread in place of each shock absorber to "pull" against the springs. I run the plumb bob string through the hole in the steering arm (tie rod ends removed) which obviously then isn't really measuring actual wheelbase but gives a reference number to campare side to side. See how this method removes error of trying to have the wheels "straight"? In back,I run the string over a top wheel stud, beside a lower stud, and mark the floor.
Till I learned how to do this right my chassis setups never worked. When you need an 1/8" of rear steer and screwups gave you 1/4" the driver of the car is not happy... The crew chief got me straightened out on this procedure long ago! If you think this sounds like a lot of fuss, try playing with "rear roll steer"!