Greetings . . .

I am in the midst of restoring the my '49 fast back. I decided to start in the back with a 3.55 rear gear swap. While I have the rear end out of the car and torn down I decided to clean everything up and detail it.

One of the challenges I encountered was how to remove the worn 'Inlox' bushings from the leaf spring front eyes:

as I found a source for new replacements.

I did some reading and found many who had tried the BFH approach - only to be foiled. Not sure how they thought they would get the new ones back in without trashing them!

The shop manual shows a special tool (49-54 Shop Manual Section 4) pretty much impossible to locate these days.

So I decided to fabricate a minimalist 'press' that could be clamped in a vise and powered by a small bottle jack:


I went to the local hardware and bought a 36" piece of 3/8" flat stock and a 48" piece of 1/4" angle iron - plus four 1/2x1-1/2" grade 8 bolts/nuts/locks. Cut the flat stock in half and the angle iron into quarters - drill and bolt up!

I was surprised at how tight those bushings were held in the spring eyes:

they broke loose with a crack!

Guess I'll throw a coat of paint on the new press and hang it on a hook in the shop until rebuild time . . .

regards,
stock49

[Linked Image from 49fastback.com]