Suspension again

I am getting ready to tear out the entire front suspension, and quick.  The trip to DC got a bit scary at points due to larger diameter and width tires.

I have procured the following parts already, and I included the brand in order to source the correct vendors for anyone closely following this part of the process:

Febi Upper Ball Joints (2)
Lennor Lower Ball Joints (2)
Lennor Inner Tie Rods (2)
Outer Tie Rods (2)
Van Cafe Radius Arm sleeves (2)
Van Cafe Radius Arm Bushings (set of 4)
Van Cafe Radius Arm cups (4)
Van Cafe Radius Arm Nuts (4)
Powerflex Upper Control Arm bushings (set)
Powerflex Lower Control Arm bushings (set)
Powerflex Steering Rack bushings (set)
Powerflex Roll Bar bushings (set)
Powerflex End link Eye bushings (set)
Powerflex End link drop bushings
Upper Control Arm bolt hardware (2 sets)
Grade 10.9 Ball joint adapter bolt kits (6)
Grade 10.9 lower control arm bolt kit (2)

Already have the springs, upper spring pads and shocks.  Scratching my head to determine if I have forgotten anything?

Will need to get me some correct hardware.  Searching the Bentley for sizes and grades, then the usual suspects to see who has them.  Speaking of which - need to plug my source for Powerflex bushings and some of the hardware; T3 Technique out on the West Coast.  Chris knows his T3's, has good parts and great customer service.  When I ordered most of this stuff last summer, Van Cafe was the only source I could find for the radius arm items.  Have never used Lennor, nor can I find any information on them.  Guess I have to hope they are not on par with a Meyle product? (Cause they suck!)

Going to yank the front arms off the parts van, sandblast them and rebuild those for a quick turnaround on this project.

Need to contemplate the variables . . .

edit - Did order the power steering rack bellows tonight.  No sense pulling it all apart to re use anything inexpensive like the rack bellows.

Washington DC

So we packed up the Thingamajigger last week and headed to DC for some camping and monument hopping.  Prior to this I got a couple things accomplished:

I have installed a 500 lumen LED reverse light to the rear panel.  It was made by Vision X and I got it offline for around $75.  It is waterproof with a waterproof electrical connector as well.  I wired in to existing wiring by attaching the ground wire to the standard ground stud on drivers engine wall and the power wire to the black w/ blue chaser coming from the trans axle reverse switch in the electrical black box.  Really quite slick, made backing up into camp spots in DC that much easier.

 In my endless search for a decent cup holder, I bough these last winter and have just gotten around to installing them.  They are stainless steel, without funny crevices (read easy to clean) and have larger arms allowing my big ass iced tea cups, the wife's Snapple bottles and appropriate sized water bottles.

I thought I needed to include this picture as its amusing to me.  What it illustrates is the difference between the Weitec springs I removed (in foreground) and the Go Westy zero lift springs that replaced them.  Three of them are installed, while drivers front is not yet replaced.  The Weitecs are already spoken for and are going to an acquaintance in Pennsylvania.

This picture was taken after the flares were installed, but before the springs were changed out.  The 18 inch AMG wheels and 255/45 tires that are on there are too big, they made the Zetec feel like a WBX.  Completely robbed the power of the van.  Rode well though - the Pilot Sport Michelin's are a great tire.

Going to have to order up some new tires for the other rims this week.



So what about Washington DC?  Well aside from leaving on Marathon Monday, the heinous events that took place that day in Boston, and the subsequent three dozen texts and emails that ensued from co -workers, clients and friends around the country making sure we were alright; it was great. Nice to know we have good people around us who were thinking of us.

Camping weather was great.  We were parked next to a nice couple from the Netherlands.  They were wrapping up a year long tour of the US in a California edition Eurovan and were getting ready to ship the EV back through the Baltimore harbor at tail end of the week.

We chose the campground due to proximity to the city, my brother in law and that it was on the bus route to the Metro.  We did not use the Metro though as it turned out.  The first day we went to the zoo and parked on Connecticut Avenue right out side the park entrance.  Allowed us to eat lunch quick and easy right in the van.

The second and third day we parked in an all day lot on K and 5th that cost only $15.  We walked 10 minutes to the Natural History Museum and monuments the first day and them the Air and Space museum and Capitol building the second day.

Some weather was coming in, blustery and rainy.  Ended up with storm warnings so we moved ourselves to Baltimore and grabbed a hotel for a night.  Saw the aquarium and the Children's Discovery Museum the following day.

On our way out, we ran across some Confederate soldiers!  Well they looked the part, and old enough to be from the Civil War.  They had a precession walking down the street to the Baltimore Civil War museum.  They say the south will rise again, but I am not so sure?  But of course that is coming from a Bostonian whose family has been in Boston since the early 1600's.

So our final stop on the journey was to meet up with some fellow Vanagoners\ Vanagonauts in Maryland for a little camaraderie.

Dave O offered up and arranged his yard for a dozen VW's to park and do the Meet and Greet.  We stayed up until 12:30 telling VW stories and called it quits.  As of 7 am, we were on our way back to Massachusetts.