[zippy7575]

Bought my '70 GT for $1,600 in '73 (when I was 19) with 29k miles on it. It was my daily driver until 1981 when I bought a new VW (Rabbit) pickup. Since then the GT has been mostly parked except for the occasional weekend drive. I replaced the ball joints sometime in the late 70s, and that's about all that's ever been done to it as far as the suspension goes. It had gotten really bad to drive, with stiff steering, a rough ride and following every groove in the road, so we started a front-end rebuild last week as a 40th anniversary present to the GT!

So far we've found we had about 1/2" of play on one side due to a bad tie-rod end, and a bent upper control arm on the other. I'm putting new poly bushings throughout and finally today said WTF and ordered a new intermediate leaf spring from OGTS!

I can't wait to have my "old" (or is that new?) GT back!

 

[MikeNotigan]

Hi Cameron,
Good luck with the install. Pretty neat for someone to have had their GT for so long as you have. You must have a lot of great road stories to share and am looking forward to hearing some of them.
Hope to hear a "before" and "after" road test of the bushings and front spring as a comparison...
Take Care,
Mike

 

[GeorgeOpel]

What kind of shocks are you going to put on it?

 

[zippy7575]

Thanks Mike! Yeah, this is the car I dated my wife in, the car I drove my newborn daughter home from the hospital in, the car I taught that same daughter to drive in... lot's of memories. The guys I still know from back in college days can't believe that I still have the car. Lasted lots longer than the wife, haha.

George, I went with the standard Monroes. I had KYB on there before. I think the KYBs are still good, but they were a little stiff for my taste. My first choice would have been the Koni reds, but not for what they cost. I'll try keeping the KYBs on the rear for now, since I think that might help with understeer, but I can always change them out later. The rear bushings will be my next project.

 

[Will I. Finish]

Thanks Mike! Yeah, this is the car I dated my wife in, the car I drove my newborn daughter home from the hospital in, the car I taught that same daughter to drive in... lot's of memories. The guys I still know from back in college days can't believe that I still have the car. Lasted lots longer than the wife, haha.

George, I went with the standard Monroes. I had KYB on there before. I think the KYBs are still good, but they were a little stiff for my taste. My first choice would have been the Koni reds, but not for what they cost. I'll try keeping the KYBs on the rear for now, since I think that might help with understeer, but I can always change them out later. The rear bushings will be my next project.

Hi Cameron, Found this old post and just wondered what were the final results of the front end rebuilt. What was the outcome? Are you happy with the results. Thanks, Carl

 

[zippy7575]

Hi Cameron, Found this old post and just wondered what were the final results of the front end rebuilt. What was the outcome? Are you happy with the results. Thanks, Carl

Yes, drives like a new car now. I went with rubber bushings front and rear as I wanted the stock feel, and the OGTS intermediate spring works great. I can't really tell any difference from the stock spring except the stance of the car looks better.