Rebuilding the rear suspension on a spider

[droptop]

I have almost all the parts gathered  up for my suspensionrebuild front and rear.
Now the front appears straightforward, but I chanced to look up my Haynes manual regarding the rear setup and my goodness, it appears to be a pit of hardship!
Is the process as difficult, or more correctly, time consuming as described or am I reading too much into it?
The sum total of the parts will be less than the total cost of coffee, asprin and band aids if I'm following the text correctly!

[HFStuart]

The rear is pretty straightforward to be honest. Much easier if you can drop the crossmember off with everything attached.

The biggest problem you will have is bolts seized in place and that's just a matter of perseverance. The long bolts through the struts can be a pain as the middle of the bolt is exposed and corrodes until it's larger than the holes. Attack them a few times with a wire brush and they will come out.

The other bits to the carful of are the studs the crossmember bolts to. They're captive in the chassis rail  - if they have to be replaced you have to cut holes in the rail. Wirebrush, plus gas and heat will help. If you do strip the threads you can get an M9x1.25 die nut on them and re cut them.

[droptop]

All of my series 1 car was liberally coated with underseal at the time of original sale and as it's an irish car from new, it has never seen road salt and so far all nuts and bolts have come out effortlessly.
the only corrosion I encountered was the two metal sheilds or whatever you call them under the wings which cover the end of the gearbox on one side and the pulley area on the other but luckily i got a set of near perfect ones from my "collection" so that was that.
Hopefully I won't encounter too much difficulty but an M9 bolt is a rare thing isn't it?

[HFStuart]

M9 is unusual - used on French cars quite a lot in the 70s & 80s though. Also found on Lotus Esprit gearboxes for the same reason.

http://shop.citroenclassics.co.uk/fasteners-14-c.asp

They also used M7 and M11....

With the history of your car it sounds like you shouldn't have any problems  - the strut pinch bolts might still put up a fight though.

[droptop]

THAT'S where I saw those odd metric sizes before!
I had a Renault 14 TS many years ago and it was very comfortable to sit and lounge in while you were waiting for a tow truck. When you got it home you needed the 7,9,11 and 15mm wrenches to get it to go the next few miles
VAG are now using bespoke bolts with patented head patterns and unique thread forms. You HAVE to go to the main stealer if you need work carried out.
I have a friend who owns a tool and fastener supply business and he was telling me of this.

[rossocorsa]

One thing to be aware of is that there are at least three different arrangements for the arms/fixings the early and late ones are straightforward but for some time in the middle lancia fitted a concentric bolt system and arms of fixed length on these cars both arms will be pressed, late cars have two adjustable fabricated arms and tow pressed, early cars have 4 fabricated arms two of which are adjustable. If for any reason you want to be able to adjust camber you can retro fit 4 adjustable arms.

[droptop]

As far as I know my S1 has the fixed arms with the cam adjustment as I had an issue with one of the rear arms being distorted due to someone apparently using it as a jacking point and consequentially, when I went over a hard bump or speed ramp it caused a metallic grinding as it caught in the swing arm.
i got under it and straightened it sufficiently to remove the noise but I'm sure it's distorted.
The car has only covered maybe 4,500 miles since so not enough to cause noticable adverse tyre wear but I must investigate it when I'm in there.
I'd forgotten about it altogether till you mentioned the variety of linkages available

[rossocorsa]

I think you'll find your car is an S2 pre facelift (??)

[lukasdeopalenica]

I dismantled the rear suspension recently and had no problem with slackening the bolts at all. I can even say that the bolts were in much better condition than in my wife's contemporary opel astra...
Now all the parts are refurbished (new bushings, sandblasted and powder coated elements, bolts and nuts regalvanized) and ready for assembly 

[droptop]

I think you'll find your car is an S2 pre facelift (??)

The car I'm tackilng the rear suspension on is a '78 with the tan/brown interior and highly contoured seats but I seem to recall that the earlier ones (series 1?) had no tops on the doors with the glass "sealing" against the lift-off roof?
I sort of thought all the cars with the one piece headlamps and tan/brown interior were S1 and the twin headlamp/black interior were S2 like the one I just bought but I presume they are S2 facelift cars and the later ones without the fuel filler flap are S3?
Every day is a school day! 

[droptop]

I dismantled the rear suspension recently and had no problem with slackening the bolts at all. I can even say that the bolts were in much better condition than in my wife's contemporary opel astra...
Now all the parts are refurbished (new bushings, sandblasted and powder coated elements, bolts and nuts regalvanized) and ready for assembly 

That's exactly what I am planning for mine and as soon as I have the last few pieces, I'll tackle it but not before.
I hate leaving anything dismantled for a prolonged period while attempting to find a source of sone small part or other and as I tend to be less than organized at times, I could find myself looking for parts i already have1