suspension rebuild

[Paulprior]

When i refit the arms etc i guess i need to be careful what position everything is in before i tighten the bolts, i have refitted metalastic bushes so is it just a case of jacking up the assembly to get the lower wishbone horizontal and then tighten everything up?, anything else i need to consider?, i am aware of the need for the bolts to go the right way round, but lost my identification system for which arm went where,

[Steve_D]

What bushes are in the dampers?
If rose joints then you can do as you say and tighten the bolts with the bottom arm level before fitting the damper.
If they have silentbloc bushes then you must wait until the weight of the car is on the suspension before tightening any bolts through bushes.

Note to others...If using poly bushes you can tighten bolts through bushes at any stage of assembly.

Steve

[caduceus]

When I finally get my clutch working, I'll be running her up the road a little to get things settled. Then tighten up properly. At the moment they're just well nipped up after taking the weight of the engine and body.

[Richard 858]

Don't forget to fit thrust washers to the metallastic bushes.

[Paulprior]

Yes i have rose joints on the shocks, looking at them i can fully tighten theses straight away as only the centre of the joint will lock up and the rest will rotate freely, i have the thrust washers, i didnt have any from the bushes i removed, i have fitted the passenger side lower arm and shock, the upper arm will be a challenge, i seem to need a few more hands to keep everything in place, and the top arm doesnt want to line up, it looks about 1mm out of position to fit between the brackets, i dont want to start abusing it as i have spent weeks cleaning and painting, any thoughts?

[ClassicChimaera]

Which bit is one mm out,, the bushes are not always fitted to wishbones centrally, you may need to use a vice to move one or other inner sleeve of the wishbone bushes along a tad to get them to fit your chassis.
It is indeed very difficult to get the wishbones in place without scratching the paint im afraid, plenty of grease once you have what looks like a decent fit, I used a rubber mallet to tap them in.
Hope this helps

[Paulprior]

Both bushes fit in ok individually, but when i try to put both in then one of the inner sleeves doesnt fit, the inner sleeves are all installed centrally, i assume that trying to move one inner bush without moving the outer will damage the bush?, but also they should be central to allow fitting of the thrust washers?