Rusty But Trusty

Having read the title, you’re probably thinking, a whole suspension rebuild & upgrade on the cheap? Well, yeah, and here’s how it works out. This is actually a fairly straightforward operation if you’re persistent in spending the time… I also did a few extra things like cleaning and repainting to make it look prettier, but you can skip that if you’re feeling the pinch of cost and/or time. The cost of new bushings was about $100, lightly used shocks were about $20 on eBay (score!), GTV6 rear springs were about $60, and I think I paid my mechanic about $100 to replace the big bushing at the front of the deDion triangle. So counting that up, it’s about $300 including bits & pieces (I chose to replace all the bolts holding on the half shafts since I needed to disconnect them to drop the deDion).  You could, of course, drop it to $200ish by replacing the bushing yourself.

As I mentioned, the procedure is pretty simple. Be ready to sacrifice some blood or at least some skin, but it’s basically a matter of unbolting everything to get your suspension bits out, replacing the bushings and then putting them back in. Oversimplify? Me? While I was in there, I also replaced my transaxle mounts, which cured a driveshaft vibration and some clunking. One of the mounts had completely fallen apart! Finally, I replaced my clutch and brake lines – it’s amazing how something so cracked up after 30 years can still work.

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