SUSPENSION

I should have started with the removed A-arms and uncleaned suspension components to show you some of the work involved prior to this stage. The truth is, you have to remove these, dissassemble, clean, sandblast and install bushings if you want them to look like this. Yes, you can simply swap from the donor Corvette but the Prothane urethane bushings used here really improve the overall stability of the suspension. At this stage in the photos I've finished the sandblasting and installed the bushings. The bushing installation required a 12 to 20 ton press, various adapters and patience. Some of the bushings wanted to slip out and fly across the garage. Others required that I burn the rubber off the metal components of the Corvette bushings and use the metal pieces with the new urethane bushings. The bushing kit was a bit of a puzzle. When you first get it, there's alot of pieces that look pretty close to the same. Take your time and doublecheck bushing width, washer placement and orientation. This turned out to be a little more time consuming than I thought.

DON'T FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL WHEN YOU MOUNT YOUR SHOCKS. DO A GOOGLE SEARCH FOR "GTM SHOCKS UPSIDE DOWN" AND RESEARCH THIS ISSUE THAT NEVER MADE IT TO THE MANUAL! I didn't and had all four corners installed before I realized all shocks were upside down IAW the GTM assembly manual. When I found out I had to remove them all and re install. Not all shocks can run upside down. These Koni's don't because of their design. The photos show correct installation with the spring on the top.

On most components I used Torque Stripe which can be purchased at Aircraft Spruce or Amazon. It is a Laquer based anti sabotage paint used as an indicator that hardware has not loosened. It also provides a means to track the hardware you have torqued which is useful when not all hardware in a particular area is complete.....or when you forget.