Progress On Front Suspension

Note: To avoid having to remove the front shock assembly, install the headlights before proceeding.

Manned with the Birkin Assembly Guide, we made some progress on the front suspension, which consisted of attaching the upper and lower A-arms, dampers, knuckles, calipers and end links.

The kit a-arms went in with a bit of persuasion. The manufacturing tolerances seemed fair so far.

After snugging everything up, we checked for any excess play at the mounting points and were prepared to add extra washers where necessary, per the guide's instructions. There turned out to be no need, as everything had very little play - one side tighter than the other. We're figuring that the tight tolerances were due to the new bushings and would loosen up slightly once on the road.

The dampers slid in without a hitch. Our chassis came with machined aluminum washers and spacers as a placeholder where the top and bottom of the dampers mounted. We retained the washer within the top mount to occupy the small amount of play present. The bottom damper mounting tabs were fine. The dampers allow for height adjustment which will be handy when corner weighting the car once fully assembled. *Please note that despite everything looking great at this point, you'll need to remove the top mount of each damper to install the headlight assemblies later on.

Next were the knuckles, which came as a unit, complete with bearing, hub and rotor installed. The top and bottom ball joints slid into the knuckle and we snugged everything up. The beefy Wilwood style calipers bolted easily into place and our Hawk pads slid into position.

We ended up being short the otter tie rod ends. Evidently, Dick has them in the mail. So as soon as they show, the front suspension will be ready to rock!