105 Trailing Arms - Interchangeablility

[gbeston@eagle.ca (George Beston)]

In a restoration project I completed two years ago, I had the opportunity
to gain some experience with this subject.  On round-tail spiders, the
transition from the trailing arms with small front bushings to the larger
bushings was made after the introduction of the 1750 spider.  Although all
lhd 1750 Spiders (other than US versions)  are classified as 105.57, the
early cars had some features similar to Duettos such as a parking light on
the front fender behind the front wheel, air cleaner cannister on the
exhaust side and fuse blocks located in the engine compartment .  These
early cars had the trailing arms with the smaller bushings.  In fact the
front end of the trailing arms is signficantly smaller, too.  The floorpan
of the early 1750's is shaped to accomodate the original smaller trailing
arms, and there is not enough clearance for the later trailing arms to bolt
on without significant modifications.  I ended up using the trailing arms
which matched the chassis.

George Beston
1976 Alfetta
1970 Spider Jr