21, 25- Front and Rear Suspesion

• Lemfoerder Balljoints
• Caster bar nuts
• Spring spacers
• Castor rod pads
• Parts
• Rear Steer
• Creaking torsion bars
• Which rear bearing
• Get the nut out/in
• Torsion bar orientation
• Castor bar ball joint upgrade
• Alignment spec
• Clunk on accel
• Spring interchange
• Installing T-bars
• T bar adjustment
• Rear spring spacers
• Lots on torsion bar adj
• front wheel bearing nut
• more on Tbar adj.
• Crappy handling
• Ball joint change
• rear bearing ring tool
• rear bushings changed
• Rear bearing change
• stiffer front bar
  

You were told wrong. Lemfoerde ("oe" being "o" with two dots above it, or
an
"Umlaut") is the name of a town in Germany, where the manufacturer is. The
factory itself is called "Lemfoerder Metallwaren". Trust me, I am just
looking at the box with lower wishbone bushing for my Alfetta, produced by
them :-)
One more great thing - Rainer Hurtienne told me in an e-mail that they are
planning to start selling parts for 116 series as well.

Sincerely,

Marko
Alfetta GTV 2.0 '81
Croatia, Europe

Ordered some from RH in March 2005 with no problems here's the numbers,
Front upper ball joint
Lemforder #027 215 019 501

Front lower ball joint
Lemforder #030 215 006 501

Carson

>Does Lemforde make ball joints for Alfa 75?
>--
>Carson Damm
>Ft. McMurray, AB
>Canada

Hello Mr. Damm,

Thank you for your email.

Yes, Lemforde makes ball ball joints for your car.
Please send informations of the parts your need.

Best regards / mit freundlichen Grüßen
 

Stefan Otto
Rainer Hurtienne Alfa Romeo Ersatzteilversand
http://www.alfahurtienne.de
Harpener Feld 34a
44805 Bochum
Germany
Tel.: +49-234-864143
Fax.:+49-234-864699

I was on the hunt about one month ago:  Rainer Hurtienne (frequently
mentioned here) has all of them, including control arms.

They were also kind enough to correct my, and most everyone else's
misspelling of the manufacturer's name:  It's Lemfoerde, not Lemforder.
They should know, they're German.

> Anyway, the bolt size is M12x1.5 (metric, of course). Be sure you buy a
self
> locking one, and use plenty of thread lock when you put it on, or it may
> fall off while driving (ask me how I know).

i believe that the factory nut is nylock for this application.

bs

John H.
Raleigh, N.C.

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 13:14:05 +0200
From: Jaap Bouma <j.h.bouma@wb.utwente.nl>
Subject: Re: Milano suspension noises

At 11:06 PM 3/29/99 -0800, Chip Mutza wrote:
>Recently I replaced the old, worn, partially gone caster bushings on my
>89 Milano with the poly ones from IAP. Ever since, the front right
>suspension has been making a creaking sounds when ever moved. 

I had a similar experience. Turned out to be the drop link on the anti-roll
(sway?) bar.

>With the bushings: how tight should the bolt on the inside of the engine
>compart. be? It seems like you could tighten and tighten it forever and
>the bushings just keep getting squashed and squashed. 

The big washer between the rubber and the nut should hit a raised edge
where the flats of the castor rod end. If you had some corrosion on the
washer or the castor rod, you might have pushed the washer past this point,
but that doesn't seem likely. Mind you, the rubbers do require a lot of
compressing, which is obvious when you compare the shape and size of the
old rubbers and the PU ones. Once the nut on the rod is fully tightened,
the diameter of the rubber should be slightly larger than the diameter of
the washer.

>clunking from the rear when pulling away in 1st gear, the rattling
>shifter, the grinding when attempting to downshift into 2nd... etc. I

The rattling shifter should be quite easy to cure. 
See http://192.82.208.21/sikand_mti/clone/ratshift.html

Best, Jaap Bouma (Netherlands)
'87 GTV6 2.5 Grand Prix

Doug Bender asked about who has Lemfoerde suspension components.

I was on the hunt about one month ago:  Rainer Hurtienne (frequently
mentioned here) has all of them, including control arms.

They were also kind enough to correct my, and most everyone else's
misspelling of the manufacturer's name:  It's Lemfoerde, not Lemforder.
They should know, they're German.

However, these parts can also be obtained from Jon Norman Alfa Parts in
California (Bay Area), for roughly the same price.

Also want to give my vote to Rugh springs, just put in the fronts along
with all of the OEM suspension components, (rears were already
installed) - My GTV handles superbly.  It is not rock hard but I also
feel that an Alfa (at least the 105/115 cars) does not need to be ultra
stiff to achieve optimal handling - even for track applications.

Peter Kemos

Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 15:12:46 -0600 
From: Andrew Garcia <aggarcia@swbell.net> 
Subject: Rear Steer Milano

The watts linkage bushings can really let the rear suspension do some 
weird things. You can use a regular shop press no special tools needed. 
To the best of my knowledge the are not any replacement bushings other 
than stock or a complete replacement of the arms with heim joints.

The Dedion pivot bushing is replaceable in the car, but it is a real 
bear- not much room to work and a lot of force required. It was easier 
to remove the whole Dedion tube and press the bushing out and in. Now 
for this bushing there are stock, Super Pro, and the trick SZ heim 
bushing. It all depends on what you are doing with the car for your 
selection. 

My my personal experience the Orange Konis are every good street shocks. 
The stock Spica shocks are too soft. The Yellow Konis are too stiff 
unless set to the initial position, but they are cost much more. The 
Bilsteins seemed to stiff for a street car. No experience with KYB. Good 
Luck. 

        ANDREWG 
        Houston, Tx 
        #63 ITS GTV6 

One side of our 75 creaks when the suspension moves. By a process of
elimination I've isolated the source as part of the torsion bar
assembly. If
I squirt oil between the torsion bar and the lower arm that they wheel
assembly is held on it stops for a few days. Questions
I can see it is an triangular shaped arm that rotates on the end of the
torsion bar, but what are these parts called?
What is sort of bearing surfaces does the front part of the torsion bar
run on?
How do I fix this problem permanently? I guess I dissassemble the torsion
bar some how and lubricate or replace the bearings. How much work is
that? Are any special tools required?
Any suggestions welcomed.
thanks
Leigh

from John Thacker

just a word of warning I had a similar problem with my 75
I stripped torsion bar ect put it back together still creaked turned
out to
be the ball joint was dry?
just worth checking before you strip it

see ya
jt

from Abe Kheraz

Before you go tearing down the torsion bar, you may
want to check the ball joints first.  I did the same
thing as you are thinking about, but the problem was
in the joints.  Apparently they dried up and the metal
surfaces (or whatever surfaces) started to rub against
each other.  Some how when I raised the car to remove
the tire and spray oil on the torsion bar joints, the
surfaces in the ball joints got separated and some
grease got between the them and stopped the creaking
giving me the illusion that what I did cured the
problem.  That will last for a while and then comes
back.  To remedy the problem temporarily is to inject
oil in the ball joints' rubber booths.  That will last
longer than the illusion you get when you spray the
torsion bar.  Good Luck.

Later
Abe Kheraz
Madison, WI
88 Milano (GPS) Gold Plated Silver

Nelson

Hi again Nelson;

Last year my car was making the same noise as it is
making now.  I noticed then that when I make left
turns the noise goes away.  I let it like that until
it got real bad. I was able to tell where the noise
was coming from when I raised the wheel and let it
rotate.

Currently it is doing the opposite.  I did not get a
chance to raise the car, but I am 99.999% sure it is
the left bearing.  Other ALFA owners on the Alfa
Digest support this theory.

As you know the rear bearings consist of two sections
that are housed in one jacket and opposite each other.
 In straight travel the load is perpendicular on the
axel and the force is trying to separate the bearing
sections from each and therefore they share the load. 
When you make a right turn the force shifts and more
is applied to the outer section reliving the inner one
which is the one that goes bad first.

Later
Abe

Nelson
If the idea works, please let me know I am going to
change my left bearing when I get back from my
vacation around the end of March.

AK

--- AK <alfapit@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> Here is an other idea.
> 
> Get (1 1/2" X 6") iron pipe
> Drill (1/4") hole about (2") from one end
> Drill (1/2") hole about (1" )from the other end.  By
> inserting a (1/2" X 2') diameter rod, this end will
> be
> used like a T-bar handle.
> Get (1/4") square steel bar from hardware store
> Cut an exactly (2 5/16") pice from the bar and
> insert
> it in the (1/4") hole in the iron pipe
> If you have a welder you could weld the bar and the
> rod and will end up with home made T-bar tool.
> 
> Hope it helps
> 
> Abe
> w/88 Milano Gold
> Madison, WI - USA
> 
> --- a.chapman@initiatives.co.uk wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > It's a good big nut, shouldn't be hard to get
> enough
> > "grip" to torque it
> > substantially, especially with a fine thread
> pitch.
> > 
> > Let you all know on Monday how it goes....
> > 
> > Adrian.
> > 
> > 
> > I am in Marin County (bay area), CA.  I like the
> > idea of the bar, but
> > it would be hard to torque it to the requiered
> > amount.
> > 
> > carson or wendy <dammwoo-@incentre.net> wrote:
> > original
> Cut out the ring type nut and get a castleated type nut for a GTV-6 that are still avail. new, then you can use the better tool.
> > > This tool should be easier to find, try your
> local
> > alfa club. Failing
> > that,
> > > a big bar with two pins welded to it.
I figured that much.  What I'll do is the following.  I'll use an old
socket and make a hold thru it.  That way I can still use the torque
wrench to use the proper torque.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Thank
you for the idea. 

Nelson

On Thursday, May 25, 1939, Jan Ben <ben@lucent.com> wrote:
>Hi there, alfa people.
>I have a pair of used torsion bars I need to install in my milano.
>How do I tell left from right? front from rear?  (On the bars I mean, I
know where the car front is..)

The left bar should have an S or an L stamped on one end.  The right bar
should have a D or an R one one end.  There are also color markings on
the outside of the bar but I can't remember them off the top of my head. 
The rear of the bar has a threaded hole in it for attaching the puller/
extractor.  See the Milano workshop manual in the front suspension
section for more info.

Dan Scolaro
Delaware Valley AROC www.dvaroc.org
Phila, PA

65 2600 Spider
87 Milano Gold
91 164
>all US milano's had the same torsion bars.

My 75 turbo has this caster rod with ball/socket joint for six months. The
first difference is that you feel the bumps in the road trough the chassis a
little better, but I got used to it. It's nothing to be concerned about.
At low speeds you don't feel a difference in steering and cornering. But when
you try to corner at higher speeds, it's perfect. The car feels secure at any
moment while cornering, you can drift and brake while cornering without losing
the car. My car is lowered at the maximum, in front and rear, and my front
tires always used to wear in at the inside in short time. Since I use this caster
ball/socket the front tires don't wear only at the sides anymore, the wear
has become even, like it's supposed to be. So not only the steering will be
improved, but also the breaking, because the caster will always be at 4,5
degrees. The wheels will not tend to be displaced backwards while braking.
I personally don't understand why this type of connection isn't used
standard on this car. It's easy to install (3 hours) and it's a lot of fun to drive.

Alfa
>also see www.gtv6.org for good info on this.

        I would expect your average alignment shop would just get it close to
spec or the specs you gave them (if they even do that). Your front toe
is off from both specs. For my street GTV6 I run zero toe, -.75 camber,
and around 3 deg caster. Unless you either shorten the arm spacers or
use an offset upper A-arm bushing, you will not be able to take neg.
camber out of the alignment. The problem with caster adjustment is that
if the caster rod has not been adjusted recently the adjuster will be
stuck in place. I would not accept such a alignment, but there may be
items you need to take care of on the car to make it possible to
correctly align. 

        ANDREWG
        Houston, Tx
        #63 ITS GTV6

Firstly, it sounds like your 70mph+ shake is something that I've heard
GTV6's do frequently (including mine).  Mine still does it, but was
improved after an alignment (which was probably done wrong anyway--perhaps
it should have eliminated the problem).

Your clunks sound to me like worn/broken transaxle mounts or misadjusted
"burnout bolt" (I don't know the proper term for that one).  By "burnout
bolt" I refer to the threaded rod on top of the driveshaft tunnel in front
of the back seat (or, from the bottom, right behind the rear donut).  It
has a slot for a screwdriver in the top, but once you adjust that to
eliminate the problem, it is critical to adjust the locknut on the
underside accordingly.  This is a huge bitch, but I believe the locknut
actually bears the load.  If you do like I did and ignore the seized
locknut you will eventually break the assembly that this thing is threaded
into.  While I'm on the subject, anyone have any tips for adjusting the
afformentioned locknut?

BTW, thanks to all who helped with Jake's ignition switch.  He's going to
get a new one and have to pull the way-ill two-keys-one-car gag as the
switch assembly does not seem to want to come apart.  Any tips would be
appreciated, but it looks like you're supposed to drive out a rod, but this
one is stuck.

Joe Elliott
'82 GTV6 (Hueston Woods Loop Rd aka Oxford Nurburgring in 10:08 today)
'73 Opel (solenoid gets 12.7v, but only passes 1.4 on to starter which
doesn't turn over--any ideas?)

Subject: 
          [alfa75] Re: 75 Clunk
     Date: 
          Fri, 19 May 2000 14:51:03 -0000
     From: 
          "Mats Strandberg" <mats666@hotmail.com>

You might want to check  the de-dion bushing and the gearbox mounts. 
My de-dion bushing is bad and it sounds like a clattering noise when 
accelerating from a stand-still.

/Mats
 
 

--- In alfa75@egroups.com, giovanni rizzo <giovannirizzo@e...> wrote:
> My 88 3.0 Milano/75 "clunks" upon releasing the clutch and accelerating
> in any gear.
> 
> The motor mounts look questionable and will probably be replaced anyway,
> as the rear (bellhousing mount) just was replaced this week.
> 
> Driveshaft donuts were recently replaced along with center bushing about
> 2 months ago, perfect balance after replacement.
> 
> on  a possibly related or unrelated note, the car steering wheel shows a
> tendency to vibrate at speeds over 70-75 mph, and also underbraking at
> any speed.
> 
> Wheels/tires were recently changed and also in perfect balance at the
> time.
> 
> A local alfisti suggested a repack of the wheel bearings was in order,
> out to to you guys again, Thanks.
> 
> Giovanni
> 88 75 3.0
> SoCal

Front springs from Saab 900 -79 to -83.
But someone said that the inner diameter was a little bit smaller on the Saab 
springs. You also have to cut 1 - 2 rounds to get a decent ride height.

/Anders

On Thu, 18 May 2000, you wrote:
> Gents (Nick, Anders),
>
>
> Could you tell me more specifics on these replacements.
> i'd like to know the year and exact type of the cars which can be
> used.
> I can imagine that there are different derivatives of MB500 and Saab
> 99 / 900.
>
>
>
> Simon
>

The supersport bars are much more difficult to install because of the
problem you stated.  Although it is possible to pry the "A" arm down with a
lever, it is also very awkward especially if you try several times to get
the height right.  It would be nice if you could put the bolt in from the
engine side but of course the sump is in the way.  A solution I use is
to have some special studs machined with nuts on both ends.  I slip the
studs in the frame before I mount the "A" arms and use Loctite stud lock
on
all the nuts for safety.
-- 

Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 10:32:28 -0700
From: giovanni rizzo <giovannirizzo@earthlink.net>
Subject: GTV6 torsion bar adjust/steering

Joe Elliot asked the procedure for lowering his GTV6 front ride height:

Here's how it's done:

First measure the front ride height at both wheels, I use ground to TDC
of wheel opening, then decide how much you want to lower it (be
conservative if staying with stock T bars)

Then, under the car mark the current position of the teeth of the tbars
in relation to the splined sockets, once you have done this, take the
amount of lowering you want remove and rotate BOTH ENDS of each torsion
bar and towards the center of the car for 4 teeth for each quarter inch
you want to lower it (apx) so If you want to lower the car a full inch,
rotate the torsion bar 16 teeth from the original marks.

Once this is done, drive the car around the block and recheck ride
height in the same flat level surface you did the first time. Adjust as
necessary

If your're torsion bars have never been out they may be stuck inside,
spray lubricant into the sockets for a couple of days before you plan to
do it, and drive around to work it in. I've had to heat the sockets with
a torch in many cases to free the bar.

AFAIK, 3 ways to "lighten" the GTV6 steering

1-Run too high a tire pressure-BAD

2-Fit a bigger steering wheel-BAD, the OE one is already boat like

3-Retrofit Milano Power steering-The only truly viable way, IMHO
4- Bring Castor closer to "0". ED
Giovanni
88 75 3.0
www.alfa75-milano.20m.com
-- 

In AD7-195 Jake Thomas, who has a GTV6 which has been lowered beyond the point
of sanity by a previous owner, opens a large, and very old, can of worms about
torsion bar front suspensions on the transaxle cars.

>> I know that the front height is controlled by the torsion bars but lack the
instructions to adjust them. Can someone please post instructions, or point me
to where they can be found?<<

In the shop manual. Any shop manual, preferably GTV-6, but Milano will do
equally, as will an Alfetta manual, by Haynes, Autobooks, the factory, cribbed
reprint, whatever. The process and logic are the same, the values are the same
or very close, differing slightly with the lighter-nosed cars. 

>> Secondly, I'm wondering what the "correct" height really is.  The N.
American and European factory specs were different,<<

As far as I know this is totally incorrect. Front suspension settings are
checked by subtracting the height of the bottom of the steering knuckle (or
lower ball joint assembly) from the height of the wishbone pivot-mounting,
with the car loaded to specified values. The resulting "trim value" is, as far
as I can recollect, 44 mm +/- 5 mm, for Alfettas, Milanos, GTV-6s (and I
assume Giulietta Nuovas, 90s, 6s) but check your manual. If you find a
different one for your country (or for your county, for that matter) use it.
This value is unaffected (as measurements from bumper, drain plug or some
other chassis point to the ground would be) by wheel or tire size or wear,
sagging motor mounts etc. 

A caution: torsion bars almost invariably have pre-twist; a given load will
twist one further in one direction than in the other. For this reason if the
painted code marks (yellow for the left bar, blue for the right bar) are no
longer present pray that you can find a stamped code L (for 'left') or S (for
'sinister') on one and a code R (for 'right') or D (for 'dexter') on the
other, preferably on the left and right sides of the car, respectively. 

The bars have 35 splines at the front and 34 splines at the rear, allowing a
fairly precise vernier adjustment. Moving both the front and the rear by one
spline raises or lowers the suspension about a tenth of an inch. The trim
value (measured in the second paragraph above) is increased by rotating the
right bar clockwise and the left bar counterclockwise, or decreased by doing
the reverse. Moving one end one tooth while leaving the other end alone
changes things by about thirty-five tenths of an inch, which coincidentally
corresponds to the differences between front bumper height and rear bumper
height which Jake measured on his car: 
>13", bottom of front bumper
>16.5", bottom of rear bumper.

If all this isn't clear (quite likely) and if I might have gotten it ass-
backwards (entirely possible) pour a coffee (no, not another beer), sit down,
and read the manual again.

The important thing to understand is that there is nothing haphazard about the
process. Too many people have said that you just take it apart, put it
together some other way, and see if it looks right, and do it again until it
does look right. Wrong. 

As for the optimum amount to leave it lowered from stock to correct the
aesthetic and handling errors of those dunces at the factory, you will have to
get that from someone else. I'm gone.

Cordially, 

John H. 

Postscript. The spellchecker just asked me to change "transaxle" to
"transsexual." This I refuse to do.

To: alfa-digest@digest.net 
     Subject: unloading the torsion bars 
     From: JHertzman@aol.com 
     Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 22:51:28 EST 
     Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit 
     Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII 
     Reply-To: JHertzman@aol.com 
     Sender: owner-alfa@digest.net 
 
 

Jake Thomas, who does not have a shop manual yet, writes, of his GTV-6,

>>Tires are P205/55 ZR15 on what look like original campagnolos.  Don't know
whether that's the original tire size or someone's experiment<< 

which sounds like he does not have the owner's manual either; the original
tire size was 195/60 HR 15 until the last year in which a very abnormal size
of Michelin tire and its own very abnormal wheel was adopted. The owner's
manual is a very useful thing to have. A photocopy, if an original is not
available.

He writes further:
>>The details on spline adjustment are very helpful but the information I'm
really looking for is how to get to the part where I do the adjusting.  I see
some bolts at the back end of the torsion bar and a big rectangular bar
running across underneath.  But I don't want to start loosening and hammering
until it's off-loaded and, so far, that doesn't seem to be the case.  I have
visions of small or, worse, large parts flying across the garage, never to be
seen again, and so some advice from those who've been there would be
reassuring.<<

What the shop manuals will tell you is:
1. Jack up the lower suspension arm until the upper arm moves away from the
rebound stop.
2. Undo the castelated nut, then using a balljoint separator disconnect the
lower suspension arm from the stub axle carrier.
3. Lower the jack under the suspension arm, after first placing a stand under
a jacking point to keep the body in a raised position.

That covers the big worry. The lower A-arm is held up by the limp torsion bar,
nothing is under torsion, and no parts are going to go anywhere that gravity
and your tools don't put them. Nothing.

Great as the digest is, I must make a plug for warm-body, face-time type car
clubs. If you are sitting in the pizzeria chatting with seven or eight other
guys waiting for the lady to bring the beer, one or another of the people with
dirt under his fingernails probably usta have an Alfetta and probably would
lend you his dirty old shop manual. He might even give it to you. All of the
systems except the engine are essentially the same, just some beefier on the
GTV-6. Changing giubos, pulling transmissions, adjusting ride heights didn't
change from the first 1974 Alfetta to the last Milano. The ARA is an excellent
club if you are in that neighborhood, AROC and its local chapters anyplace in
the USA, other national Alfa clubs in other countries. 

Of manuals, Jake writes: 
>> There doesn't seem to be a lot out there either; I heard the CarDisc is
good, although pricey at $50.  Yet another thing I'm happy to take advice on
and sooner or later will get around to.<<

I've got to get some CarDisks too, don't have one yet, just old paper stuff.
The CarDisks contain an ENORMOUS amount of interesting and useful material,
but I would take hardcopy first and the CD as a very nice adjunct. Your
choice, but given portability, display resolutions, working conditions where I
work, and the costs of things I might screw up I would go for a manual first,
or pay the going shop rates to someone else. I believe in paper; I bought my
164 shop manual (which had been given to him by ARDONA) from a mechanic at an
Authorized Dealership who "din't need no manual to work on no car." Never took
my car back there.

John H. 

In AD7-3012 Brian Shorey mentioned, re front wheel bearing noises, that
"A search of older archives will turn up an alternative wheel bearing nut,
something from an MB 220 (I think) that will allow for finer
adjustment."

 There were discussions, somewhat inconclusive, about applicable years
and models of Mercedes in AD4-235 ->AD4-373 and AD4-629 -> AD5-011; it was
Mercedes 240D but not sure which year as they used different sizes
before and after about 1976, and it was also Mercedes 230 around 1978,
but toward the end of the threads Scott Shadle (our mole in the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Defect 
Investigation, Vehicle Dynamics (tires, wheels, suspensions, 
steering & Braking Systems) reported that the '91 and
later 75's used the same principle with two each of the following parts:

     60701300 - nut

     60501548 - washer

 Junkyard Mercedes parts still might be a lot cheaper and perhaps
quicker,(one respondent reported prices of $30 each new from MB 
against $10/pair boneyard) unless someone like Alfabill 
(Is there someone like Alfabill?) found
it convenient and profitable to stock them here, but Alfastop, Highwood,
Hurtienne etc (or Luca?) might have access to stocks of them and Alfiat
prices might not be as bad as MB prices. No personal experience 
or opinions, etc.

 John H.

<<Ride Height Adjustment 
Ride height adjustment is carried out by rotating the torsion bars with
respect to the indices
on the front lower A-arms and rear mount within the cross member.  The
bars are provided with a
different number of splines (35 front, 34 rear) at each end, essentially
a vernier scale,
allowing precise adjustments to be made.  When removing the bars, take
care not to switch them
over.  The bars are marked by the following code: Left by a yellow mark
and the letter S or L:
right by a blue mark and the letter D or R. You shouldn't have to worry
about this since the
bars don't need to be fully removed to be adjusted, but I included it
here just in case.  

Using a marker, grease pencil or scribe, mark the position of the
factory indices on the A-arm
and cross member in relation to the splines on the bars.  By employing
the torsion bar removal
tool or your substitute (you cheapskate), withdraw the torsion  bars to
the rear so that the
splines are completely free.  Complete the ride height adjustment by
rotating the torsion bar
by one tooth at each for every 1.5 mm to 2.0 mm of required adjustment. 
Viewing the bars from
the rear, rotate the right side bar counterclock  wise to lower the car
and clockwise to raise
the car.  You adjust the left bar in the same manner, but rotate the bar
clockwise to lower the
ride height and counterclockwise to raise it.  

Use this formula to correct ride height: (amount of required correction
in inches) divided by
.059  (number of splines rotated).  Round off the number of splines to
be rotated, such as 10.4
is read as 10.  

Reinsert the bars, remembering to permanently mark the original factory
indices, and
temporarily mark your new splines corresponding to the factory indices. 
These may be marked
permanently once you've verified the new ride height, but always
distinguish them from the
original factory reference marks. >>
-- 

After replacing every bushing in the car, I was disappointed to find on 
my first test drive that the car handled horribly.   I knew I needed a 
re-alignment, but I figured that it couldn't have been that bad.

So I took it in for an alignment...  Got a call back saying they did the 
best they could, and asked if it was ever in an accident.   The rear 
wheels weren't lined up with the chasis...

I picked it up, only to find marginal improvement.  It was still spooky 
to drive.   As I plotted driving off a cliff to end my sorrows on the 
way home, I thought some more about the problem.    The rear end had a 
mind of it's own.  Was there something wrong with the Watts links?

Well by the time I got home (just a few minutes) I figured it out, and 
pulled out the shop manual to confirm.   I had the watts links connected 
backwards.    I was looking at the wrong picture in my manual when I 
re-assembled, and had incorrectly interpreted the witness marks I had 
made on the links before I removed them.

*sigh*

15 minutes later I reversed the links and was back on the road.   The 
handling was restored, and I was able to enjoy the added stiffness of 
all the new bushings.

While I may be hanging my head in shame, I'm tickled that the problem 
was as easy to solve as it was.

        --Mark

Les Singh Said:

>stupid suspension ball joints  - top arm has bj rivetted in - why?! 
>bottom bj has a spline locator at the top  -- why?!

Yes those idiots at Alfa. I saw a guide on replacing a Honda Civic Si
upper balljoint. Just simple bolts. And fortunately I have replaced the
upper balljoint. I can do it, but it involves destroying the old
balljoint and drilling out the rivets. It'll take me 1hr per side for
the upper ball joint. The lower ones are much easier, I cut the out
part of the balljoints and use a C-clamp type press to press it out and
in, 45 mins. a side.

So for those of you even thinking of doing a total front suspension
rework on your 116 cars, including both upper and lower A-arm bushings,
all ball joints and lowering the front end, it will cost you A LOT OF
MONEY, no less than $600 I would think. But doing it yourself could be
frustrating and trying. It helps to ask for a way to best approach the
problem before doing it because I promise you it will be most
frustrating, especially with 20 year old 116 cars which have seized
parts. I was lucky that my wife wanted to help me out hehe 8-).

The reward is that handling and ride is much improved. So before anyone
jumps to the conclusion that the shocks are shot, I suggest inspecting
the balljoints and a-arm bushings.

Zamani
116/161 Ball joint "expert" 8-)

- -Balljoint press kit (www.harborfreighttools.com, $55)
- -pitmann puller (www.harborfreighttools.com, $7)
- -Lemforder balljoints (http://www.alfahurtienne.de/, same cost as
FRAP)
- -Misc. urethane suspension bushings (www.mastroalfa.com, new no press
install)
- -Balljoint discussion (www.gtv6.org in the forum and Mike Harris' race
GTV6 article)
Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
 

BTW the new retainer rings can be installed using a "6-lug axle nut
socket"
used for the Dana 70
series axle. You can get one of these sockets from AutoZone for about
$20,
#OEM 27046.
Unfortunately, I couldn't this tool to remove the old retainer. That one
had
to be cut out with a
dremel tool and screwdriver/pry bar.

Thanks in advance for any advice,
Rich Hirsch
St Louis MO USA

Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 12:56:25 -0500
From: Mark Denovich <mark@denovich.com>
Subject: Re: Beat It

Biba,

        Do you have the old one (rear trunion/gearbox bush) out yet?  
I've done 
two so far, and they are harder to get out than to get in.

        To remove:   Support the tranny with a jack, remove bolt
securing 
transaxle to chassis.  Remove parking brake cable from passenger side 
brake caliper.  Lower transaxle to allow access to bushing...  be 
careful not to damage flexible brake hose.   It should be long enough to 
allow access to the bushing.

        Now you need to attack the bushing which probably now has the
consistancy 
of tar.   I used a big drill bit, and turned it into swiss cheese.  You 
should be able to tear the center out of it.   Using a utility knife, or 
some other method clear away some of the rubber exposing the steel shell 
of the bushing (it's sandwiched in between the ribbed rubber/plastic 
outside, and the inner rubber bush.)   Take a cold chisel, get it under 
the lip of the shell, and hammer it up towards the center of the 
bushing.   This will cause it to tear away from the transaxle casting, 
and eventually you can pull it out.   You can also try a hacksaw, but 
I'm better with hammers.  (If you have a pnuematic hammer go for it...)

        To install:  First clean up the hole...   I used a small SS
brush on my 
die grinder to remove all the left over bits of rubber.   The hole 
should be nice and clean.   I then took a little dish soap, and water to 
help lubricate the new bushing.   Squeeze the new bushing in with a 
C-Clamp and some scrap wood to protect the bushing and transaxle.   Take 
care to make sure it goes in straight...   Make final adjustments with 
hammer.

        Should probably take less than 2 hours if you have some air
tools, and 
don't have any catastrophes along the way.

        For the front bushing (I assume you mean the deDion bush...) put
your OEM 
bush away, and call AlfaBill and order a polyurethane one.   It comes in 
two pieces and you just press 'em in with your hand.   Plus the 
polyurethane is theoretically better for handling anyway.   Installing 
the OEM dedion bush (in situ) is a real nut buster, and requires some 
creative pressing, hammering, swearing, etc.

Tip:  To remove watts link bushes, sway bar bushes etc...   Remove from 
car.   Use propane torch to gently heat the metal surrounding the bush. 
   As the plastic shell melts they will slide right out.   Do this 
outside cause the plastic will smoke/burn.   You don't need to get the 
metal very hot, so you don't have to worry about changing it's 
mechancial characteristics.

        --Mark
        --1988 Milano Verde