Struts were unheard of in the '60s on domestic cars. You should have coil springs and upper and lower control arms. I have to confess that '63 models are a little before my time, but if you don't see coil springs, look for torsion bars. Do you know what I'm referring to? If not, we'll cover that later.
There were some struts in the '80s that had inserts that were replaced instead of the whole strut assembly. Volkswagen was one. You had to use a pipe cutter to cut the top of the body off, then remove the cartridge, some of the cooling oil, and install the new, larger cartridge. It was a much improved cartridge over the puny original design. The housings were already threaded inside for the new cap that came with the cartridge. They sure made servicing their cars a miserable job.
The first domestic car I'm aware of that used struts was the Omni / Horizon from Chrysler in '78 and the Chevy Citation in '80. Ford followed a few years later with their Escort disaster.
Caradiodoc
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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 4:59 PM
