Getting the ’40 ready for the road again, we decided to change the bushings on the coilovers because they hadn’t been done (that we could remember). The first challenge was loosening the lower mounting bolt. It’s not that it wouldn’t turn; it had attached itself quite strongly to the inner tube, and the whole assembly would just spin and spin. We soaked it, we hammered it, we impacted it… nothing was going to break the love that this little 1/2-20 bolt had with the tube it had got to know so well. We gave up being civil and cut the bolt in two.
Once the bolt was free (but severed), we popped the bushings out and here’s the damage:
Over time (though it would probably be more accurate to speak of “miles”), the bushing had worked itself into the grooves in the Aldan coilovers which are there to give you the option of running spherical bearings instead of bushings. The grooves are for a C clip to hold the bearing in place. No harm done; we just replaced the bushings and will go for another xx,xxx miles. I’m not sure exactly how long these coilovers have been installed, but it’s probably in the 30 000 mile range or more.
Moral of the story: check your bushings. Cold flow happens.
