Tackled Springs and Calipers Today

Today saw the removal of the driver's side spring and brake caliper. I would have preferred to keep the caliper attached, but the spring removal was too risky and the caliper could have been damaged. Better to have it out of the way.

The first order of business once the speedometer cable was freed from the retaining bracket was capping the brake line and gently getting it out of the way of the spring. The configuration of the setup is strange, with the brake line snaking through the top rungs of the spring. Made me wonder what happens when the spring compresses during road travel. In any case, I used a bungee cord to get the brake line out of the way along with a NAPA vacuum cap to keep the cable from leaking fluid.

Once the brake caliper was off and safely across the garage on the bench, I moved on to the spring, but most of my time was taken up working with the coil compressor. The tool was the OEM-brand Internal Coil Compressor with the pressure plate and double internal hooks, I believe number 27035. With a little fiddling, it was easy enough to get the tool through the lower control arm into the coil, but then I ran into trouble. The central screw was far too tall and would begin hitting the top of the inside of the shock tower before it compressed sufficiently to get the coil loose.

It took two trips to the workbench with the vice and Dremel to shorten the bolt so we could get the coil out. Always always give the central bolt a good going over with anti-seize to prevent it from catching or stripping the threads under pressure.

Fortunately, once about 2.5 inches was removed from the top of the compressor screw, it was able to compress like a champ within the DeLorean shock tower. The old coil came out with the help of a hammer and some general caution - remember, these springs are dangerous when compressed!

 

Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the passenger side caliper and coil, and then hopefully get both Lower Control Arms off the car and begin the frame rust removal. Check out the height of the old coil compared to the new one! The DeLorean is going to look 100% better once the new control arms and springs are installed.