> Thank you all very much for your advice. The advice was almost
identical,
> indicating that 3/8 rod is the technique of choice. Everyone advised
> caution with any technique because of the pressure on the front
springs.
> For the record, Russ's advice is in digest 1167.
> Many many thanks for the camaraderie.
I'd beg to differ.
The factory tool is the tool of choice.
While I don't think Simons Spider falls into this category, I
encountered a front spring situation today that threaded rod won't
protect you from.
I'm in the middle of taking apart a badly rusted '74 Spider parts car.
The spring pan on one side was pretty badly rusted. Normally you'd
remove two of the bolts, then install the factory tool, in this case I
felt kind of uneasy with the situation, so I removed one bolt, threaded
one side of the factory tool into it, and hooked the other side onto the
lower a-arm.
The factory tool uses a 4" - 5" pad to compress against the bottom of
the spring pan, I snugged it up.
Good thing - as soon as I started removing the opposite bolt the spring
pan let go.
Threaded rod ain't going to protect you from that. If you don't have
access to the factory tool, and your spring pan looks compromised or
rusted, then you should consider supplementing the threaded rods with
some spring compressors, or maybe drill a piece of metal plate to sit
across the bottom of the pan and supplement the threaded rod.
Work safe folks - those springs carry a *lot* of energy!
bs