We’ve had a very busy Fall, and I’m falling behind keeping up with the blog posts! Another car we’ve been working on is a Lusso that needed new rear suspension bushings.

Vintage Ferrari rear springs are notoriously dangerous to work with. They are pre-tensioned and will form the shape of a “U” when unsprung.

Getting them off the car is not as bad as getting them back in, but there’s always a little excitement when doing the springs!

Ferrari used a very soft material for the spring eye bushings that disintegrated over time. Without the bushing material, the steel sleeves and bushings cause the rear suspension to deflect and give unpredictable handling.

We’ll make new bushings and replace the missing pieces. I’ve seen people replace these bushings with solid rubber silent block bushings like you would find in a shock, but we feel these are incorrect for the application in the spring eye. Making a bushing that slides in the spring eye is probably more like the way this bushing was designed.

We currently have two rear suspensions apart at the shop. The Lusso needs new spring bushings, while an Ellena needed new bearings for the differential. All the new bearings arrived in the mail so Francois began setting up the gear lash.

With the excessive bearing wear we found in the differential, we’re hoping the ring and pinion didn’t withstand any major damage or wear. So far, the gears looks good and seem to be contacting one another correctly.

With these two differentials about to back into their respective cars in the next couple of weeks, I would imagine we should get some good practice putting the rear springs back in on a Vintage Ferrari. Stay tuned!

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