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I've decided to go ahead and rebuild the front end while I'm tinkering and taking the gas tank out for cleaning. Looked at the tie rod ends, every boot has broken from old age.

Anyone have the following info:
Tie rod ends required, inner & outer (interchangeability with Bus/Vanagon)
replacement shocks
Other rubber bushings
brake lines, front and rear
or other suggestions while I rebuilding the front end.

I plan to photo document this for the club, like Ecdez has done with the gas tank refurb

I'm in the same boat. Here's some of the stuff I found so far.

http://www.evwparts.com/Merchant2/merch ... e4FrontEnd

wheel bearings


and tie rod ends


I definately plan on going with Ray's suggestion and using the rabbit rack. I've also been playing around with the idea of mounting a whole different suspension. This is going to sound crazy, but here goes. I just happen to have a few extra 914 front suspensions laying around ,when I say that out loud it sounds kind of funny, anyway I was contemplating weather there is a way to make a bracket that bolts to the original 3 mount points on the car and also bolts to the suspension. Basically a big adapter. I havn't crawled under there to see if it is even possible, but I have been tossing the idea around. The 914 parts are not cheap, but at least you can find them, and they handle great (on a 914 anyway).

O.K. now you can bash me for my idea

allo 67t1 i am living at mtl canada and i do same ting on my 412 -73 go to the classic garage.com and they have good parts , send me private message if you d,ont find the classic page ,albert

The only tough part to really get right now....are the ball joints. The tie rod ends arfe type 1 and type 3 parts. Don't worry about the tie rod ends with the bends in the center. They are uncessary.

I think the front system from a 914 will be too ligght and very short. It may be more trouble than its worth. But...its worth looking into. I hope to sit down when this job is over....meaning November...and look into making front end kits. As long as you have good strut tubes and springs...its a really easy kit. Ray

Has anyone called Parts Place in Michigan to see if they indeed have ball joints? I order stuff from them from time to time for my Golf, but I always forget to ask. They actually have have them listed in their catalog !

Say, do you have a number or URL for Parts Place in Michigan?

Thanks, Justin

Never mind - found it. Google doesn't return the site in the top 30 or so hits, but Yahoo! does.

- Justin

Oh, so they do have some web stuff now? I haven't checked. If you order something from them, they send a catalog. Anyway, check the vendors post, I think pretty much all the place I know of are in there.

Thanks for the info guys. I'll check the sites listed, and record what I find for future reference.

That's a negative for Parts Place. No ball joints. They sort of chuckled about it too. Ray's rebuild instructions may have to suffice.

Erik H wrote:That's a negative for Parts Place. No ball joints. They sort of chuckled about it too. Ray's rebuild instructions may have to suffice.

Hmm, wonder why they put the damn things in the catalog then-the owner can be a real jerk sometimes...

I bought ball joints from this place: Wolfgang Sell, Saybrook Imports, Inc.
saybrook@cinti.net, http://www.importautopart.com about 1,5 years ago via eBay. You might want to check if they have left any.
Good luck, Jan Peter

Also a negative at importautoparts. Checked with them some time ago, and again today. No go.