Front and rear swaybars

Picked up a pair of NOS turn six sway bars for the fiesta. I mounted the front sway bar. It bolts onto the front tie bars with 4 hd bushings. I'll have to wait until I put on the exhaust to mount the rear sway bar. The tail pipe gets in the way... It's straight out the back of the muffler.

Rear Bearings and a hiccup

As expected the Rotunda tools turned an impossible job into one that took no time at all.  The first set of rear bearings took me about 30 mins to get it all installed and greased, and sealed up.  Mainly because I was fumbling around with the tools and how best to hold the drum.  The second drum took a grand total of 5 minutes to completely install.

Mounting the first bearing cup

Forgot to add the outside bearing cup.
They can both be installed together

Cups Installed

On to second Drum, All tools and bearing cups,
and seal laid out prior to  installation

Seal on Rotunda Seal Replacer Tool 1109-B

Seal driven home

Greased and Ready to install...another day

Both Drums complete and ready for installation

The right front suspension was acting a little wonkey, so I tore into replacing the lower control arm bushing and lower ball joint on the right front wheel.  I got everything disassembled fairly quickly but I did not have a hydraulic press to coax the bushing in and out.  So I finally got the right combination of Rotunda tools, dish soap, a couple extra sockets and a bench vise (which I had to mount prior to use).

To install the new Moog lower control arm bushing, I used the bench vise to press the Moog bushing into the control arm until it bottomed out, then I added Rotunda 3069-A4 into the bushing and Rotunda 3069-A3 under the control arm and turned the vise to fully seat the bushing.

I road tested my work and it made a huge difference in handling.  The ball joint was starting to fail, so the combination of new ball joint and control arm bushing really sorted out the right side.

I took off the left wheel, and the rotor is all discolored...and the bearing sounds like there is gravel in it...must have cooked my left wheel bearings.  They are now on order, and I'll do the ball joint, bushing and left side bearings next weekend.

The right tool for the job

When the majority of peoples that inhabited this earth were dependent on the oral transfer of knowledge, nuggets of knowledge were created as a rhyme or saying to make them easy to remember and pass along to others.  While "Use the right tool for the job" doesn't rhyme, it holds very true.  So I followed that advise and procured a set of 1977 fiesta specialty tools made by Rotunda.  These pop up on ebay all the time.  The big set on the left is all about transmission work and engine work, while the set on the right is all about suspension, steering, bearings, bushings, seals and gas tank sending units.  It did not cost a great deal, but I will pay for the set in time and money saved.  In fact one job I couldn't do last spring was installing the new bearings in the new rear brake drums. I now have the right tools to get it done properly and quickly.  Also up on the docket is installing all new bushings in the front and rear suspension...need to get those ordered. I can't wait to tear into this on sunday.