RE: Rear limit straps

["Graham Davis" <grahamldavis@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andy.

I did these on my bride's '89 spider summer before last.  Tried all
brands of rust penetrant with no success.  BTW, the best I've found is
available only from GM dealers; Rust Penetrant Inhibitor GM #1052627 @
$7.79 / 11oz. spray.  It wasn't that the screw threads were rusted in
place, but the screw shanks and the aluminum spacer blocks had welded
themselves by corrosive action (road salt) together.  I tried using an
impact screwdriver (shattered the tip) and just about everything else. 
One fellow wrote that he placed an old wheel bearing on the ground, the
screwdriver handle on the bearing and lowered the car to lock the driver
into the screw.  Then he used a wrench to turn the screwdriver.  With the
rear suspension in place, it would require one heck of screwdriver.  I
resorted to a saws-all first cutting horizontally through the
spacers along the bottom edge and then up two sides of each screw.  By
knocking out the pieces, I was able to use Vice-Grips to unscrew what was
left.  I only had to heat one stump to break the rust bond; the others
came out easily. You need 8mm x 1.25 thd. x 60mm flush-head screws. 
Alfa-Parts of Berkley number for the screw is 13304570.  IAP said that
they were no longer available from Alfa.  I found them with an internal
5mm hex socket (better) in black oxide finish (not so good but can be
plated) at a local industrial supply.  Fortunately, I was able to
salvage spacers and screws from a wreck and, needless to say I did not
spare the anti-seize on installation.

Graham L. Davis

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