Ferrari Mailing List: Playing with the 308

[robert_h_bowser [at] juno.com (robert_h_bowser]

Bit of a cold, rainy day here in Southern Cal, so I decided to spend some 
quality garage time with my mistress.  A while ago, I'd bought a new set of 
front pads and a set of stainless braided brake lines.  Brake pads still had 
some meat on them, but they were squealing badly.  Thought new ones might fix 
that.  Also been having a problem with groaning in the front suspension.  
Sounded like a '52 Chevy every time I went over a speed bump.  Changing the 
brake lines pretty much requires removing the front A-arms simply to get 
clearance, so I thought it was a good time to lube the bushings.

A long time ago, I'd gotten new Energy Suspension A-arm bushings.  Several of 
us on the list had gotten together and bought in bulk.  Anyone remember that?  
I think it was back in 2000 or so.  Problem was the guy who did it was told the 
front and rear used the same size, so we all ended up with two sets of front.  
I remember returning the extra set to someone who was supposed to get them 
exchanged....but that was long ago and far away.....never got anything 
back....whatever.

I did get the new bushings installed on the front A-arms a year or so ago, but 
the guy who welded the bushings in did not disassemble them prior to doing the 
welding.  The bushings come assembled, but need to be taken apart prior to the 
welding operation.  If you weld them as a unit, the plastic insert gets 
damaged.  The assembly consists of an outer metal shell, an inner hard plastic 
sleeve, and inside that, a metal sleeve.  Plus a rubber donut for the outer 
side of the bushing.  The design of the bushing is that the outer shell (welded 
to the A-arm) is supposed to rotate with respect to the inner metal sleeve as 
outer point of the A-arm (attached to the wheel hub) moves up and down.  Prior 
to re-installing the A-arms, I had disassembled the bushings and lubed them 
with grease, but I guess it was too heavy, as the two metal sleeves were locked 
together with the plastic sleeve.  If I left the mounting bolts loose, the 
front end would be a little loose.  If I tightened them down, the bushings 
would groan.

So....anyway, this time I lubed them with vaseline.  Hope that will last for a 
while.  We'll see.  I did a static test, and they seemed to move freely with no 
noise.


While I was at it, I decided to get new bushings for the front sway bar.  Those 
are on order.  Hope to have everything back together by this weekend.  The new 
braided brake lines do look cool.  Hope I can tell a difference.

So....now I have pretty much rebuilt the entire front suspension.  New 
bushings.  Recently replaced the shocks, rotors and rebuilt the calipers.  Only 
thing left is the steering rack.  Think I'll wait on that.  Probably should do 
the rear suspension next.

Nice being retired so I can take the time to play with the 308.  Quality time.  
Life is good.

Bob
'78 308GTS
'01 Corvette Z06
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