<VV> Front suspension rebuild advice

[Edelstein and Payne]

     My son and I did this on his car about a year ago.  I disagree with the advice about taking as much off the front axle/cross member while it's in the car.  While we took all the brake components off before we dropped the cross member, we disassembled and re-assembled everthing else off the car.  If you have a good set of spring compressors, its not that hard.  Maybe if you have a lift to use, it makes sense to do the work on the car, but we don't have that luxury.  When the car is only about 20 inches or so off the ground on jack stands, it ain't fun trying to torque bolts all the time lying on your back.
     I do strongly recommend taking lots of pictures as you take things apart.  We have a whole notebook filled with pictures of the details of the car before it was disassembled, and the various sub-parts as we took them apart.  I can't tell you how many times we have gone back to the pictures and occasionally even printed them out again as enlargements, to determine the right way to put something back together.  The service manual is helpful, but your own pictures will fill in the gaps. 

                         Travis Payne    65 Monza coupe
                         Raleigh, NC     65 500 coupe