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Truth Matters Newsletters – May 2012 – Vol. 16 Issue 6 – Sons of Thunder? (Part Two) "You don't know What Spirit You are Of" By Rev. Robert S. Liichow
Discernment Ministries International
Sons of Thunder? (Part Two)
"You Don't Know What Spirit You are Of"
By Rev. Robert S. Liichow
E.W. Kenyon taught the concepts of (1) the creative power of words, (2) Jesus ministering as only a man anointed with/by the Holy Spirit, (3) Jesus defeating Satan as a born-again man, a man like you and I, (4) and Jesus was born again from sin (Jesus became an actual sinner according to Kenyon) into new divine life. These and several other bizarre, unbiblical and heretical concepts are rooted in Kenyon's ideas of what transpires when we become "new creations" in Christ.
Crowder is not teaching people what it means to live life as a Christian as normally understood for the last two thousand years. He is presenting the Kenyon concepts, which like all error has grown (Matthew 16:12) and developed far beyond Kenyon's nascent dreams of glory.
Crowder presents a theology of glory where the end time Christian mystic will simply walk in the manifest glory of God (the Shekinah of God), healing the sick, working miracles where needed, traveling back and forth between heaven and earth (more on this later), raising the dead, and ultimately defeating death itself in his own life, becoming immortal (1 Cor. 15:26). (14)
Dear readers, I know the above paragraph sounds beyond belief, who would really think that this was how God always meant for the church to operate? I have news for you, there are hundreds of thousands of professing Christians who believe exactly these things and many have simply been waiting for someone to "show" them how to do what they believe God has appointed for the church, especially in the last days.
Before the initial fervor of the last revival had died down people were already asking and even prophesying what God was going to do next. Tracy and I heard and have on video tape these prophetic words declared by no less than John Arnott's wife at TACF regarding when the "laughing stops," referring to the holy laughter revival which the soul-hucksters knew was warning. Crowder is on the move, gathering sign-seeking souls who are after their next "fix" of the divine.
PLEASE do not just file this information away under "wacko." Initially the orthodox Church ignored what was taking place on the wrong side of the tracks at a street called "Azusa." Today Pentecostalism is the fastest and largest segment of the visible Church today. Back then it was ignored and not studied and it grew and is growing still! We cannot afford to (1) be ignorant of what is taking place in the Church and (2) if it is wrong then we MUST speak out about it in Christian love and warning.
Gain A Historical Grid of Miracles & Mystics
This is probably the most honest statement in the advertisement. Crowder's grid is nothing more than an outline of the various accounts of Christian mystics and alleged miracle workers of the past. The point of providing this information is two-fold: (1) It demonstrates that God did this in the lives of past believers, He will do it for you; (2) these former mystics tapped into the divine, leaving us a roadmap to follow. They simply lived the "normal Christian life" according to their charismatic paradigm and we cn all enter into the glory realm. (15)
Church history is filed with wild accounts from various monks and nuns which form much of the basis for Crowder's historical grid. Tales of levitating monks (16) and statues that bleed" do not inspire me anymore than accounts of various stigmatic's wounds. No one in the Bible simply lifted 3 or 4 feet off the ground and hovered around a bit while in ecstatic prayer. The accounts he sites are from murky sources at best, written down during the Dark Ages and other times of great superstitions.
Yet for arguments sake let's say these things occurred. OK, so what benefit accrued to the Church because of these events? How was Jesus exalted? Were people brought to faith by such events? [If so, I would doubt their conversions, salvation is by faith alone, not by seeing miracles]. No Crowder is simply trying to buttress his faulty belief system by presenting what happened in past enthusiasts lives and trying to make these individuals the pattern we are to follow.
Be Activated in the Seer Realm, Prophecy, Spirit Travel
Here we go again being "activated" by Crowder and his anointed crew! But this time the activation is to be in three specific areas which require some explanation.
The Seer Realm:
Let us read directly from a modern "seer" and see how he explains this hitherto unknown "gift".
My personal journey into the seer realm has been progressive. Some seem to be "born with a full blown gift' – like Bob Jones, John Paul Jackson and a few others in our day and time. Others come forth step-by-step as I did over a period of months and years.
In the prophetic, I heard first in the Spirit before I ever saw. I was comfortable in this realm and the voice of the Lord spilled over into the fit of prophecy. Later on, I recognized that the feeling dimension had been active in my life all the time–I just seemed extra sensitive and emoted more than others—especially men. But there was no teaching on that realm so the "feeler" stayed at a certain level and found its primary expression as burdens from the Lord in the place of prayer. For me, the seer realm unfolded over time like a flower blossom–opening in the sunlight ever so slowly. Eventually, especially in the atmosphere of worship, I found the Lord giving me both internal and external visions. Dreams were multiplied and became a regular tool in which the Lord would speak to me. Being around the culture of the seer, hanging out with gifted people, enhanced my own hunger, gift and calling. Visitations were never daily with me, but I would come into seasons where encounters with a supernatural God were profuse and not rare at all. (17)
It is commonly taught that certain gifts of the Holy Spirit develop over time. One might have the gift of prophecy, but stumble at first and then with growth accuracy comes (of course the Bible recognizes no such process of development regarding the gifts). Seers' see' things in the spirit that the rest of us do not se either in an open vision (while awake) or in dreams (while asleep). The biblical examples of dreams and visions were exceedingly important, something today's so-called seers cannot claim. The Bible does speak about those who —
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. (18) Col. 2:18-20
Crowder and his ilk fit the category of "intruding into those things which he hath not seen." They are today's Gnostics teaching that there is insight and power hidden from common view, yet available via the adepts who have already trodden the path to ecstasy, all that is required is that one pay for the course and check their mind at the door.
Like tongues, prophecy is a verbal gift (the third verbal gift is the interpretation of tongues) and it is something that usually is not instantly in manifestation i.e. people who believe they receive the gift of tongues speak immediately, no one begins to immediately prophesy as did the disciples of John in Acts 19 when they received the Spirit. Most active charismatics have pro-fa-lied at some point in their Christian experience; certainly all of them have heard others give forth the "word of the Lord." (19) We have no recorded prophetic utterances over the last couple of hundred years which have increased the Church at all. We do have a vast repository of false and unfulfilled words given by Mr. Hinn, Copeland, Duplantis, Capps, Branham and a myriad of other liars and deceived deceivers. Those who can boldly stand up in a service and declare "thus saith the Lord" at the end of their spewing do not fear the Lord as they ought. It is the utmost of seriousness to stand and speak in the Lord's name (see James 3:1) and to teach His people anything.
From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; 1 Tim. 1:6-9 (20)
Leaving the path of charity Paul speaks of those who have swerved aside to worthless talk, speculation and jangling (3467 (mataiologia), n. fem.: = Str 3150; TDNT 4,524-LN 33.377 idle discussions, meaningless talk, empty talk (1 Ti 1:6+). This is certainly the case with Crowder and the others. They have no formal education in the Scriptures and they are either self-taught or the product of sitting under other unsound and heretical teachers and adding their own unique twist on things along the way. If one believes someone can "activate" them into the miraculous, then to learn how to utter a prophetic word is no big stretch. After all, this gift can be developed one may start off being only 20% accurate but over time grow to be maybe 80% right. The problem with this view is simply this: How does one know when the prophet is right or not? Whether to act on the "prophetic word" or not. Good intentions fall into hell's pit when one lies in the name of the Lord God Almighty.
Spirit Travel
Bilocation is the term our government used when testing people for the psychic ability of sitting in one location and seeing what is taking place somewhere else, often miles away. This is also called remote viewing among parapsychologists. The occult world is replete with accounts of so-called astral projection or soul travel. Paul Twitchell started a new age cult called Eckankar which is devoted to astral projection to other cosmic realms. What I find outrageous is that this darkest form of occultism is being openly taught and embraced by professing Christians! Like Paul I want to shout "who has bewitched you" (Gal. 3:1). Is there anything in the Bible that even tangentially brushes on the farthest twisting of any text to support astral travel? Oh sure, have you forgotten what Paul said to the Colossians—
For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. Col. 2:5 (22)
Paul said he was "beholding" their order and steadfastness in Christ in the spirit. He obviously was in one place physically BUT was literally watching them in another location via being in the spirit. (23) After all, The Apostle John was also in the spirit on the Lord's Day (see Rev. 1:10) when he went to heaven in the spirit while his body remained on Patmos. Lastly, we do have the account of Paul about a man who was caught up into the third heaven, whether he was in his body or not he did not know (see 2 Cor. 12:2). According to Crowder's crowd we have three "witnesses" and thus let a doctrine be established (a misread of 2 Cor. 13:1) promoting astral tripping.
Not only does Crowder have at least three potential texts to wrest he can also fall back on the charismatic belief that everything that Satan has and does is just a counterfeit of the genuine. Thus if New Age and occult people astral project to various realms and places by the devil's power. . . . How much MORE should God's children enjoy the benefits of such travel.
However what Crowder doe not reveal to us is what the benefit of such travel is for the church. KEEP THIS IN MIND: Whenever our Lord blesses us, it is never for only "us." He blesses us in order to bless others. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are to profit the Church, not the individual used in the gift. Their blessing comes from simply being God's chosen instrument of the moment. This is the principle of it is more blessed to give than to receive, Why? Because the implication is that the one giving has something to give to someone else who lacks that resource.
These people have no biblical authority or even Church tradition (much much lesser authority) to buttress this teaching on. Their primary sources are the alleged subjective accounts from people we would consider spiritual "flakes." Secondarily, they can appeal to the occult for other directions and insights along with their own fantasies of what transpired "in the spirit."
Receive Open Heavens & Revelatory Understanding
Unfamiliar with the term 'open heavens'? don't feel bad; enthusiasts have an entire coded language of esoteric phraseology that the uninitiated do not understand. An "open heaven" refers to the belief that there are times when God opens the gates of heaven and sort of layers heaven over the earthly. The heavens are often closed to us due to our own sins and we have no fellowship with God.
And your heaven that is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth that is under you shall be iron Deut. 28:13
And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: Lev. 26:19
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Isa. 59:2
However, there are times, when the spiritual condition have been met, when God can come down and fellowship with His children. There is often a lot of build-up in a service before the leaders declare the heavens to "be open" and an Acts 3:19 event can occur:
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3:19-21
It is during one of these services when there seems to be a great deal of paranormal manifestations that they declare an "open heaven." Naturally after holding a successful meeting a score of meetings/conferences pop-up declaring things like "Open Heavens Prophetic Conference." (24)
The concept of an "open heaven" comes into the church via the Vineyard false prophets especially Bob Jones, Paul Cain and Todd Bentley. Here is Todd (former child molester) Bentley's reasoning on an open heaven:
Bentley's main argument of an open heaven goes like this "If He's the same today, then why can't He visit me like He visited Abraham? If he's the same today, why can't He visit me like He visited Daniel? Why can't He visit me like He visited John? Why can't He visit me like He visited Isaiah? How about Ezekiel? Yes, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that makes what's available in "Bible days" available today. It's not just about healing and laying hands on the sick and seeing miracles, as great as these are, but it's also about supernatural encounters with God. Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus rose from the dead and over five hundred people saw Him for forty days in His resurrected body (1 Cor. 15:6)? Do you believe supernatural things can take place today? I'm asking this because we're okay with angels showing up and speaking to Mary and Joseph, but we're not okay with angels showing up and speaking to us. We're okay with Paul being taken into heaven, or what he called the third heaven – caught up into a place called paradise. We're okay with that. It's good for Paul, or it's good for Elijah. Yet both Paul and Elijah were men just like we are, and as you know, they're both in heaven today. So are Abraham and Isaiah. They aren't on earth anymore for God to interact with. But God, by His very nature, wants to interact with somebody supernaturally. My question is: Why not you? Why should anyone's experience in Christianity today be any different from what people experienced in Bible days?" (A Face to Face Encounter, Monday, November 19, 2007) http://acloserwalkwithgod.blogspot.com/2007/11/face-to-face-encounter.html ) (25)
An 'open heaven' is declared due to the mass number of enthusiasts in the thrall of various manifestations, all of which are attributed to the Holy Spirit. Those which have no biblical foundation are referred to as "new wine," and people are constantly reminded that the apostle John said that the bible does not contain everything Jesus said and did. Thus the things occurring now are ascribed to God. At no time are people warned to beware that Satan counterfeit's the genuine via his "angels of light" (2 Cor. 11:`14)
The sad thing is that these people, often sincere, are stripped of the only tool that can help them discern what is from the Lord and what is not. They are not encouraged to go and study the scriptures as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11) and to allow the bible alone to be their guide. On the contrary they are told just the opposite. I have personally heard John Arnott the "father" of the so-called holy laughter revival say that he has more confidence in God's ability to bless than in Satan's ability to deceive!
Sounds pious, but it is as deadly a lie as can be told to the Christian. Certainly God is more powerful than Satan, but then tell me why is the New Testament FILLED with warnings regarding being deceived and mislead? Those admonitions are not in the bible to fill up space, they are meant to make us aware of the reality of Satan and the deceptive nature of our fallen flesh which is against God (Rom 8:7) and is prone to accept anything that is in defiance of Him. Arnott, Crowder and all of the enthusiast SINisters are the arbiters of the genuine and counterfeit due to their own proclamations of having already paved the way, they are now guides to the seeking souls.
Revelatory insights! This has nothing to do with transmitting faithfully the doctrine of the Apostles already received by the church. Crowder is referring to 'new' insights versus the old tried-n-true religion. For them truth is progressive, what the scriptures may have meant to others in the past, today they can take on an entirely new meaning.
Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know ( them ), and be established in the present truth. 2 Peter 1:12
Benny Hinn made the following statement, "Man, I feel revelation knowledge already coming on me here. Lift your hands. Something new is going to happen here today. I felt it just as I walked down here. Holy Spirit, take over in the name of Jesus….God the Father, ladies and gentlemen, is a person; and He is a triune being by Himself separate from the son and the Holy Ghost. Say, what did you say? Hear it, hear it, hear it. See, God the Father is a person, God the Son is a person, God the Holy Ghost is a person. But each one of them is a triune being by Himself. If I can shock you–and maybe I should-there's nine of them. Huh, what did you say? Let me explain: God the Father, ladies and gentlemen, is a person with his own personal spirit, with his own personal soul, and his own personal spirit-body. You say, Huh, I never heard that. Well you think you're in this church to hear things you've heard for the last 50 yrs? (Benny Hinn, Benny Hinn program on TBN (October 3, 1991). (26)
Tommy Tenney in his bestselling book, "The God chasers" says: "God chasers have a lot in common. Primarily, they are not interested in camping out on some dusty truth known to everyone. They are after the fresh presence of the Almighty. . . If you're a God chaser, you won't be happy to simply follow God's tracks. You will follow them until you apprehend His presence. (27) DMI has already extensively covered the foul deception of the heretic Tenney who follows the error of Sabellius. The Bible is passé, yes it contains dusty truths, but what is being fostered is a false desire for something else, something new and fresh that can only be found outside of the Holy text. This is a very disturbing trend which my wife and I saw occurring within the sign-gift movement years ago.
We noted that many of our former teachers were beginning to reinterpret texts which had always meant something altogether different. When we questioned we were told that what they were teaching was "new" revelation and that we needed to be established in this present truth being revealed for these last days. Any questioning of these new teachings was met with hostility and suspicion.
Beliefs and practices which were totally outside the bible were passed off as 'John 21:25' events (things done by Jesus but not recorded) and we knew this how? Because a restored prophet or apostle told us so! They had become the source of correct understanding and as such they expected to be obeyed without question. At this point Tracy and I had our eyes opened by our Lord Jesus christ (thanks be to Him, who still seeks straying sheep!) and we left the madness.
Since the Lord delivered us from this madness I have dedicated my life to "Teaching Truth & Exposing Error." things have gone from being merely 'silly' to becoming overtly demonic and dark in many cases and few within the movement have ever risen up to shout out a warning.
I thought for awhile that I should become a Lutheran pastor and operate DMI in the background. I went back to seminary, this time in Fort Wayne and I benefited greatly by the experience. However, it seems as though this is not the path for me.
Instead, I am working towards creating a Recognized Service Organization (RSO) within the LCMS and thus hopefully be given invitations to come and teach their congregations about the dangers facing the church. As a mere LCMS "member" I have the freedom to speak from any pulpit (something as an LCMS pastor I could not do) that invites me to speak.
The point is this:
Until Christ Jesus calls me home, I will contine as the Lord provides to continue to stand on the "wall" and shout out a warning to God's people according to my meager abilities. To all those who support DMI —you have my heartfelt thanks!
Copyright © 2012 Robert S. Liichow
End Notes
14 The DMI scriptorium has a copy of an extremely rare book entitled "How to Raise the Dead" by Franklin Hall, written during the early days of the post WWII healing revival. His writings have impacted this generation of sigh seekers.
15. If you doubt this, simply go to Google and type in 'Christian Mystics' and over 4 million sites will pop up, this is a popular delusion which is gaining momentum.
16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Saints and levitation has a decent section on flying monks.
17. Obtained from http://www.enlijahlist.comwords/ display word/8462 Underline and bold type added for emphasis.
18. The Holy Bible King James Version, Electronic Editiion of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA; Logos Research Systems, Inc, 2009), Col 2:18-
19. In years past when I would speak forth a 'prophetic word' when I was finished I would often ask my wife Tracy if what I said was "alright" because when the few times I did speak publically I HAD LITTLE CONSCIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT I WAS SAYING, it was spewing forth from some other part of my brain. Naturally, I have shamefacedly repented of this foolishness long ago, begging the Lord's forgiveness for lying in His name and misleading His people.
20. The Holy Bible King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorize version (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc, 2009), 1 Tim 1:6-8
21. James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc, 1997).
22. The Holy Bible King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorize version (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc, 2009), Col 2:5
23. I always find it amazing when folks suddenly become literalists in biblical interpretation. Then when asked what about Jesus statement "this is My body," well that is not what He meant there. Their position demonstrates their unstable and shifting hermeneutic.
24. These folks will try to make a movement out of anything. See
25. Obtained from our good friends and fellow truth-tellers at Let us Reason, http://www.letusreason.org . Note his line of argumentation, which we have already considered (see folks, I do not have to make anything "up").
26. Obtained from http://defendchrist.org/false_teachers.html#hinn
27. Obtained from http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/GodChasers.htm


text:
The two young men had woefully little in common: one was a wealthy Mormon from Michigan, the other a middle-class Jew from Israel.
But in 1976, the lives of Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu intersected, briefly but indelibly, in the 16th-floor offices of the Boston Consulting Group, where both had been recruited as corporate advisers. At the most formative time of their careers, they sized each other up during the firm's weekly brainstorming sessions, absorbing the same profoundly analytical view of the world.
That shared experience decades ago led to a warm friendship, little known to outsiders, that is now rich with political intrigue. Mr. Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, is making the case for military action against Iran as Mr. Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, is attacking the Obama administration for not supporting Mr. Netanyahu more robustly.
The relationship between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Romney — nurtured over meals in Boston, New York and Jerusalem, strengthened by a network of mutual friends and heightened by their conservative ideologies — has resulted in an unusually frank exchange of advice and insights on topics like politics, economics and the Middle East.
When Mr. Romney was the governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Netanyahu offered him firsthand pointers on how to shrink the size of government. When Mr. Netanyahu wanted to encourage pension funds to divest from businesses tied to Iran, Mr. Romney counseled him on which American officials to meet with. And when Mr. Romney first ran for president, Mr. Netanyahu presciently asked him whether he thought Newt Gingrich would ever jump into the race.
Only a few weeks ago, on Super Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu delivered a personal briefing by telephone to Mr. Romney about the situation in Iran.
"We can almost speak in shorthand," Mr. Romney said in an interview. "We share common experiences and have a perspective and underpinning which is similar."
Mr. Netanyahu attributed their "easy communication" to what he called "B.C.G.'s intellectually rigorous boot camp."
"So despite our very different backgrounds," he said through an aide, "my sense is that we employ similar methods in analyzing problems and coming up with solutions for them."
The ties between Mr. Romney and Mr. Netanyahu stand out because there is little precedent for two politicians of their stature to have such a history together that predates their entry into government. And that history could well influence decision-making at a time when the United States may face crucial questions about whether to attack Iran's nuclear facilities or support Israel in such an action.
Mr. Romney has suggested that he would not make any significant policy decisions about Israel without consulting Mr. Netanyahu — a level of deference that could raise eyebrows given Mr. Netanyahu's polarizing reputation, even as it appeals to the neoconservatives and evangelical Christians who are fiercely protective of Israel.
In a telling exchange during a debate in December, Mr. Romney criticized Mr. Gingrich for making a disparaging remark about Palestinians, declaring: "Before I made a statement of that nature, I'd get on the phone to my friend Bibi Netanyahu and say: 'Would it help if I say this? What would you like me to do?' "
Martin S. Indyk, a United States ambassador to Israel in the Clinton administration, said that whether intentional or not, Mr. Romney's statement implied that he would "subcontract Middle East policy to Israel."
"That, of course, would be inappropriate," he added.
Mr. Netanyahu insists that he is neutral in the presidential election, but he has at best a fraught relationship with President Obama. For years, the prime minister has skillfully mobilized many Jewish groups and Congressional Republicans to pressure the Obama administration into taking a more confrontational approach against Iran.
"To the extent that their personal relationship would give Netanyahu entree to the Romney White House in a way that he doesn't now have to the Obama White House," Mr. Indyk said, "the prime minister would certainly consider that to be a significant advantage."
It was a quirk of history that the two men met at all. In the 1970s, both chose to attend business school in Boston — Harvard for Mr. Romney, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for Mr. Netanyahu. After graduating near the top of their classes, they had their pick of jobs at the nation's biggest and most prestigious consulting firms.
The Boston Consulting Group did not yet qualify as either. Its founder, Bruce D. Henderson, was considered brilliant but idiosyncratic; his unorthodox theories — about measuring a company's success by its market share, and dividing businesses into categories like "cash cows" and "dogs" — were then regarded as outside the mainstream of corporate consulting.
As Mr. Romney recalled, the faculty and students at Harvard Business School routinely mocked the firm's recruitment posters. "Boston Consulting was at the time a firm that seemed somewhat under siege," he said.
But the company's status as a pioneering upstart, nipping on the heels of bigger blue-chip firms like McKinsey and Booz Allen, fostered a deep camaraderie among its young employees, who traveled around the country advising clients like General Foods and the Mead Corporation.
Even in a firm of 100 M.B.A.'s, Mr. Romney and Mr. Netanyahu managed to stand apart, as much for their biography as for their brainpower. Mr. Romney's father, a former governor of Michigan, had sought the Republican presidential nomination a few years earlier. Mr. Netanyahu had his own exotic résumé: he had just completed a tour of duty in an elite special forces unit of the Israeli military.
"Both clearly had an aura around them," said Alan Weyl, who worked at the firm from 1975 to 1989.
Although they never worked closely on a project together, Mr. Romney and Mr. Netanyahu, competitive by nature, left deep impressions on each other, which appear to have only grown.
Mr. Romney, never known for his lack of self-confidence, still recalls the sense of envy he felt watching Mr. Netanyahu effortlessly hold court during the firm's Monday morning meetings, when consultants presented their work and fielded questions from their colleagues. The sessions were renowned for their sometimes grueling interrogations.
"He was a strong personality with a distinct point of view," Mr. Romney said. "I aspired to the same kind of perspective."
Over dinner years later, aides said, Mr. Netanyahu would reveal the depth of his own scorekeeping, when he quipped, with mostly playful chagrin, that Mr. Romney had been "Henderson's favorite."
"His star," the prime minister said of Mr. Romney's time at Boston Consulting, "had already risen."
Mr. Romney worked at the company from 1975 to 1977; Mr. Netanyahu was involved from 1976 to 1978. But a month after Mr. Netanyahu arrived, he returned to Israel to start an antiterrorism foundation in memory of his brother, an officer killed while leading the hostage rescue force at Entebbe, Uganda. An aide said he sporadically returned to the company over the rest of that two-year period.
Mr. Romney later decamped to Bain & Company, a rival of Boston Consulting. They did, however, maintain a significant link: at Bain, Mr. Romney worked closely with Fleur Cates, Mr. Netanyahu's second wife. (Ms. Cates and Mr. Netanyahu divorced in the mid-1980s, but she remains in touch with Mr. Romney.)
The men reconnected shortly after 2003 when Mr. Romney became the governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Netanyahu paid him a visit, eager to swap tales of government life.
Mr. Netanyahu, who had recently stepped down as Israel's finance minister, regaled Mr. Romney with stories of how, in the tradition of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, he had challenged unionized workers over control of their pensions, reduced taxes and privatized formerly government-run industries, reducing the role of government in private enterprise.
He encouraged Mr. Romney to look for ways to do the same. As Mr. Romney recalled, Mr. Netanyahu told him of a favorite memory from basic training about a soldier trying to race his comrades with a fat man atop his shoulders. Naturally, he loses.
"Government," Mr. Romney recalled him saying, "is the guy on your shoulders."
As governor, Mr. Romney said, he frequently repeated the story to the heads of various agencies, reminding them that their job as regulators was to "catch the bad guys, but also to encourage the good guys and to make business more successful in our state."
A few years later, Mr. Romney had dinner with Mr. Netanyahu at a private home in the Jewish quarter of the Old City, in central Jerusalem, where the two spent hours discussing the American and Israeli economies. When Mr. Netanyahu informed Mr. Romney of a personal campaign to persuade American pension funds to divest from businesses tied to Iran, Mr. Romney offered up his Rolodex.
Before he left Israel, Mr. Romney set up several meetings with government officials in the United States for his old colleague. "I immediately saw the wisdom of his thinking," Mr. Romney said.
Back in Massachusetts, Mr. Romney sent out letters to legislators requesting that the public pension funds they controlled sell off investments from corporations doing business with Iran.
Even as Mr. Netanyahu, a keen and eager student of American politics, has tried to avoid any hint of favoritism in the presidential election, friends say he has paid especially close attention to Mr. Romney's political fortunes in this campaign season.
And the prime minister keeps open lines of communication to the candidate. When it was Mr. Gingrich's turn to leap to the top of the polls, Mr. Netanyahu was startled in January by an article exploring why Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino executive and outspoken supporter of Israel, was devoting millions of dollars to back Mr. Gingrich. It described Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Adelson as close friends.
Mr. Netanyahu's office quickly relayed a message to a senior Romney adviser, Dan Senor: the prime minister had played no role in Mr. Adelson's decision to bankroll a Romney rival.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Millions of people around the country have been treated to the anti-debt ads run by one-time tobacco industry lobbyist Richard Berman. Mr. Berman, who has also worked to thwart minimum wage increases and managed to get on the opposite side of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is now working alongside the Wall Street types who wrecked the economy.
Wall Streeters, like billionaire fund manager Peter Peterson, want to use the government debt burden created by the collapse of their credit bubble as an excuse to slash Social Security and Medicare. Therefore, television viewers are being treated to an expensive ad campaign telling us that "debt stinks."
While the ad seems to imply that we should reduce or dispose of our debt by just writing off an entry on the government's accounting ledgers, in reality, getting rid of debt means cutting important programs like Social Security and Medicare. These programs are more important than ever for our seniors, now that the wreckage caused by the Wall Street crew has taken away much of the wealth they had accumulated in their homes or in the stock market.
We can also start to work down the debt by cutting back funding for the education of children, like the cute ones in the commercial. That will be great for future generations.
Of course, it is not just education that we provide to future generations; we give them a whole physical and social infrastructure. The quality of the society we pass on to our children is what determines their well being, not the government debt.
The generation that grew up in the decades after World War II was subjected to the largest debt burden in the history of the country. Yet, they also enjoyed three decades of extraordinarily rapid growth. There is no reason that the debt burdens being projected at present should depress the living standards of our children and grandchildren.
In fact, the best way to limit the burden of the government debt on the economy is to support policies that promote growth. The federal government's debt burden shrank from more than 110 percent of GDP immediately following World War II to less than 30 percent of GDP in 1980. This happened in spite of the fact that the government ran a deficit in all but eight years over this period. The debt burden shrank because the economy outgrew the debt.
In short, the key to keeping our debt at a sustainable level is running sound economic policies that foster growth. We also need to contain health care costs. Our broken health care system is threatening to wreck our economy. It will also lead to impossible debt burdens if it is not fixed. But as every economist knows, the issue here is fixing the health care system, not whining about government debt.
But, the Wall Street crew's agenda is not really about debt and deficits; it is about gutting Social Security and Medicare. They know that they cannot do this through normal Congressional procedures; after all, Congress is answerable to the people who depend on these programs. Instead, the Peter Peterson crew wants to do an end run around Congressional procedure. They want to set up a special commission that will come up with recommendations to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Under this scheme, the commission's report would be fast-tracked. There would be limited opportunity for debate, no amendments, and the vote would be taken by a lame duck Congress after the November 2010 elections. That may not sound fair, but what else should we expect from the tobacco lobbyist/Wall Street gang?
So, watch carefully for these folks. They have lots of money and they are prepared to use it to buy influence in Congress. They will use any conceivable tactic to achieve their goal of cutting Social Security and Medicare. (The commercial even tries to exploit nationalist sentiment by whining that half of the debt is owned by foreigners. The foreign debt is the result of the trade deficit and the over-valued dollar; it is not caused by the government debt.)
The people who depend on Social Security and Medicare (i.e. just about everyone) must realize that there is nothing benign about the Wall Streeters' deficit commission. This is an end run around the normal Congressional process to accomplish in backrooms what could never be done in full public view. If the public knew what is going on here, then "commission" would be a four-letter word.
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text:
Graphics card manufacturer AMD spent between $5m and $8m to secure its Battlefield 4 partnership, a new report has claimed.
Fudzilla claims to have word from multiple sources" that the company spent the huge sum to not only secure the game's bundling with its new range of graphics cards but also to convince EA to make a Mantle-friendly version of the PC shooter.
Mantle was revealed last week and is a new toolset that supposedly allows developers more direct access and control of a graphics card's architecture. It is being sold as a method to extract more performance form PC hardware than has until now been available.
The PC version of Battlefield 4, which releases on November 1st, will ship with Mantle support, giving AMD what it believes is a key marketing edge over rival Nvidia on what will be one of the biggest PC releases of the year.
AMD last week announced its next generation of graphics cards with the $599 R9 290X leading the pack. The top-level card is expected to rival or even surpass Nvidia's $999 GTX Titan in performance terms, although we're yet to see any benchmarks.


text:
- Services
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The base Camaro Suspension consists of springs, shocks and a front swaybar.
RPO F41 was an available option on the V8 Camaro called the Special Purpose (or Performance) Suspension. In addition to having higher rate springs and stiffer valved shocks, it would add a rear swaybar onto the car. The Z28 Camaro automatically got the F41 suspension but it differed from the standard F41 option package. The specific contents of this package vary from year to year and the specifications can be found in the yearly Camaro information.
Your cars frame and suspension is the foundation which the car rides on and it will determine the road handling characteristics of your car. By design, some cars come from the factory soggy. These cars handle this way so they have a nice comfy ride. Good handling from this cars standpoint is being able to drive over potholes and not spill your coffee in your lap. Some cars, like the Z28 came tightened up a little bit. Better handling than the base model, but still room for improvement.
Checking Trim (Ride) Height |
Chassis & Frame Dimensions & Measurements
Over time, the suspension integrity will wear out. Bushings fall apart, metal weakens & breaks, springs loose their spring. Shocks wear out. Not only will this make your car drive and handle poorly, but it could be dangerous. The car can squeek, flex, make knocking sounds, wear out steering components and tires quickly....
High Performance modifications are out of the scope of this document... but the fundamentals can be found under my performance handling section. This article will simply cover the disassembly, inspection, reconditioning and repair of the various suspension components. Some of my suggestions will ASSUME you wish to improve the performance above OEM... so my selection of bushings can be considered "performance". (i.e. polyurethane vs. stock rubber)
The steering system will be covered elsewhere, by either myself, or whoever wants to write it up. In a major restoration, you'll remove the steering system along with the suspension. It makes sense to restore/rebuild/replace the steering at this time.
Can you do this job little by little?
Yes - Maybe. You can focus on 1 section of the car at a time (subframe, front or rear springs) and barring any "unforseen issues" you may be able to complete the task in short order. However, it's possible you may run into problems and it'll take a day (or 30) to solve those problems. Read this guide thouroghly... I'm trying to sprinkle in little tips and hints on how to easily tackle these tasks with minimal fuss.
Preparation and planning goes a long way....
Camaro Subframe Information
You've probably heard of a "Frame Off" restoration. This generally indicates someone has completely disassembled the car and put it back together again (hopefully - correctly). Camaros don't have a full frame, they have subframes. While you can disconnect the subframe from the car and say you're doing a "frame off" restoration, it's not really necessary.
Subframe FAQ
This is what a (1974) subframe looks like.
Exploded diagram of a (typical) 1973 to 1975 subframe. This picture is interesting for 2 reasons... so you can see the location of the body mounts and so you can see the hardware size of the bolts & nuts.
During a complete restoration, you'll do the removal of these components, and sometime later, replace the components after they've been refurbished. If you are not doing a total restoration, you can probably sneak the majority of this work in a week.
Be carefull if your doing a rolling restoration - YOU SHOULD PLAN FOR UNFORSEEN SCREWUPS.
I removed the springs from my 1973 Z28. One of them was broken. This would have shut me down if I was doing a weekend project. I've recieved the WRONG springs, 3 times - over the course of time. I've accidentally broken stuff (solid eyelet bushings) during the reinstallation process, and the replacement had to be ordered.
On my 1980 Z28, I broke every caged nut, and j-clip I tried loosening. This required far more disassembly & effort to repair than I had budgetted time for. This would have completely screwed up a weekend quick fix.
How can you attack this deal in stages? Here's where your "plan" comes in handy. You've got a plan, right?
You can get new bushings from Summit/Jegs, performance outlets, restoration outlets... or simply general purpose automotive parts houses.
This will give you a number of options:
Rubber - stock, totally adaquate, usually complete, inexpensive, no problems.
Solid - No BS, allows to lower body if desired, permanent.
Urethane - May or may not contain sleeves, may or may not lower body...
Subframe bushing replacement
There are 6 subframe bushings. The 2 bushings which support the radiator support are easy. You can get to both sides of the nut/bolt with hand tools. The 4 bolts that secure the subframe to the body of the car are a little more difficult. These bolts go into a caged nut which is inaccessible if any problems arise, since the nut is actually in between 2 sheets of metal. What CAN happen is when you start undoing the bolt, you may break the caged nut, which is spot welded to the floor, free. Now, the bolt will turn forever and not come apart. This is another "whoops" the TV guys and the service manual don't tell you about. If you have to get to the caged nut for any reason, you'll have to cut a hole in the floor from above it, which means removing the seat, the rug, etc... hopefully this will work as designed and you won't have any problems.
Loosen all 4 nuts a fair amount. Now, go work on one side of the car. Remove the bolt.
Put a rubber pad, a towel, or a block of wood on the jackpad. Catch the body of the car and raise it up enough to remove the bushing. Replace the bushing with the new bushing. Lower the jack and the body back onto the frame. Replace the bolt.
Sounds simple right? THERE'S A TRICK TO THIS:
BEFORE you begin this task, LIBERALLY shoot the bushing bolts with PENATRATING FLUID (for a day or three) and let them soak.
READ your bushing directions - make sure you have all the pieces/parts INCLUDING THE SLEEVES. Many Urethane bushing kits DON'T COME WITH SLEEVES. The definition of "sleeve" is a steel tube that slides inside the top/bottom bushing pair and is clamped on both sides via the large washers. Stock rubber bushings will come with the steel sleeves installed, and quality solid bushing kits will contain sleeves as well.
You will want TWO or THREE floor jacks to do this task. Your body is sitting on top of the frame. When you loosen the bolt(s) you begin to stress the point where the bolt/frame/body met. This will put undue stress on that point and potentially break the cage, make it harder to unbolt, or reinstall and/or give incorrect torque readings when reassembling - since you're trying to clamp the body & frame back together while it's under stress. Using the floor jack(s) to keep those points unstressed will be helpful.
3 jacks is optional. here's how that works: It's easier to lift the body when ALL 4 BOLTS are loose. Put a floor jack between the bushings on 1 side of the car. LOOSEN both bolts. Move to the other side of the car. Put a floor jack in the center and Loosen both of those bolts as well. Move the floor jack to a point CLOSE to the bushing you're going to work on. Jack that point up. That'll take the stress off that point. Remove that bolt completely. Using the 3rd jack.... push the body up enough to remove/replace the bushing. Use ANTI-SIEZE on the bolt - reassemble and begin threading the bolt in. Make sure the upper/lower bushings are mated together correctly and almost snug the bolt. Move the "frame" jack to the next point, and repeat the process. Move to the other side of the car and repeat the process. Once all 4 bushings have been replaced - use the floor jack(s) to stress the front and rear bushing areas and TORQUE them to spec (approx 80 # ft.). Move to the other side and do the same.
The front radiator bushings require removing the battery tray. These are relatively straight forward... with the exception of you having to "persuade" the core support up. Oh, and some kits provide sleeves that are too big for the factory sleeve hole on the core support. These will need to be enlarged - with a die grinder, dremel tool, saw...
Lastly, my above method is done with the car sitting on the floor. It is not jacked up in the air sitting on jack stands.
Another key part of the Subframe is the Motor Mounts. Follow that link for a complete discussion about the mounts used.
Front Suspension Components
|Part #
|1970 - 1981
|Upper Control Arm
|1970 - 1976
|Lower Control Arm
|1977 - 1981
|Lower Control Arm
|1970 - 1976
|1977 - 1978
|1980 - 1981
|371675, 371676
Interchange considerations.
The above table lists the direct component interchange. 1970 to 1972 lower control arm takes smaller bushing bolts than used in 1973 - 1976.
Control arms - upper & lower:Control arms mount the front wheel spindle assembly to the frame. They're stamped steel. They're usually rusty, greasy and they'll be full of dirt and grime.
Ball joints - upper & lower:Ball joints join the steering knuckle or "spindle" to the control arms. The spindle is what the brake rotor is mounted to. To test your ball joints, jack up the front of your car and try and wiggle the tire. If the tire wiggles, the balljoints are shot. Ball joints are pressed into the lower control arm with a press. Upper ball joints are rivetted in from the factory, and bolted in when replaced.
Springs - Front Coils & Rear Leafs:The main purpose of the springs
is to hold the car up.
You can view the specific spring specifications by following these links:
Spring Charts by Year: 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981
You can read everything you ever wanted to know about springs in the suspension forum of the nastyz28.com message board.
Shock Absorbers: Shock absorbers dampen the effect of the springs. The Camaro has staggered shocks, where the right side shock is located in front of axle tube and the left shock is located behind the axle tube. This controls wheel hop. Shocks will almost invariably be worn out in a neglected or old car. Since the cost of replacement isn't really high ($20/each).... throw the old ones out and buy good new ones, like gas charged shocks. Oil filled shocks can be inspected by looking at the case of the shock. If there are any visible leaks, the shock is bad. The other way to test your shocks is bounce the corner of the car several times by hand. If the car keeps bouncing after you stop pushing, the shocks are bad. Trying to bounce the car will also give you an indication of how firm the suspension (springs) are.
Shock & swaybar usage codes
|Engine Type
|Front shock
|Rear shock
|Front swaybar
|Rear swaybar
|350 Z28 w/C60
|305 (Fed) w/C60
|350 (Fed) Z28
Swaybars, front (and rear, if car is equipped):Most, if not all
Camaros have a front swaybar. The rear swaybar was usually added only to
the performance models. The swaybar is a long metal bar that connects both
sides of the car together. The front bar is held in place on the frame and
connected to the lower control arms via end links.
The rear bar is mounted via stayrods that link the bar to the rear frame rails, and the ends of the bar are clamped onto the rear axle spring plate.
TIP:Be carefull, as I've not been able to find the inner bushings for the rear (stock) swaybar stayrods. The end bushings are readily available. Also, when purchasing a rear swaybar, make sure you get the stayrods which brace the swaybar to the frame.
The purpose of the swaybar(s) is to control or limit body-lean... when taking a corner, the car wants to lean over. The swaybar works to try and keep the car level (flat). Check the endlinks to make sure they're not broken, sometimes they are - which means the swaybar has become a decoration. Worn out bushings will also reduce the effectiveness of the swaybar.
"Snubbers": I call any rubber bump stop on the car a "snubber". The
purpose of these items is to prevent major parts of the suspension and/or
drivetrain from slamming into the floor of the car if the suspension bottoms
Snubbers can be found:
Above the center section of the rear end housing.
Mounted on the control arms.
Inside the rear wheel well where the axle can come into contact with the rear frame rail.
Make sure they're all present and in good condition.
Bushings:Bushings cushion the joint in which two metal parts meet. OEM bushings are made of rubber. After 10 or 15 years, they'll dry rot, crack and deteriorate so they will either not function properly, or won't functionat all. This is bad as it will cause slop and flex in your chassis. Slop & flex makes it impossible for your car to maintain its alignment, which translates into poor road handling characteristics.
You can replace your bushings with OEM rubber, or step up to polyurethane which is a harder material and has less give. Less give = less flex. Less flex = quicker suspension reaction to an event. In some cases, harder bushings will give a more firm or harsh ride.
This is where the fun and expense is. A full set of bushings from Energy Suspension, or the like, will run $200 or so. This will be the subframe bushings, control arm bushings, rear spring bushings, snubbers and sway bar bushings. Since the control arm bushings need to be farmed out usually, plan on this operation taking close to a week.
Bushing Tech Tips:
Installing rear spring shackle Polyurethane bushings can be frustrating. Freeze the bushings in the freezer for a while (a day or 4). The bushings which go into the spring don't need to be frozen because you can push them into the spring. The bushings which go into the frame rails on the car are the tough ones. They'll be a tight fit, even when frozen. On the inside of the frame rail (the side that the gas tank faces) you can drive these in with a mallet. On the outside where there's not much room to work, you can get the bushing started since it's frozen, then lever it in the rest of the way. Use the lip between the trunk floor/quarter panel as a place to lever off. This way you don't damage your 1/4 panel.
Getting the shackle bolt installed is a lot easier if you take the shackle and place it against the bushing (the shackle won't clear that lip if it's in front of it) - slobber the bolt with vaseline (oh my), then you can work the bolt through the bushing.
Tires: You know, the black round things. I won't talk about tires here, but they are probably the most important or influencial part of your suspension. Buy good tires that will perform correctly for your driving conditions or habits.
Rear Suspension Section
Rear Suspension FAQ
Rear Leaf Springs - All leaf springs were 5-leaf design, 56" long, 2.5" wide.
See yearly info for specific specifications.
1970 - 1981 Rear Axle Assembly
Rear Swaybar - exploded view
Restoration of Suspension
Let's get to work
While you're reconditioning everything, you can/should take the time to clean and repair any damage to the underside of the car. Fixing metal damage will be dealt with in another article.
**** Check out your plan. You should have all your parts & materials already obtained. I'm going to fix both the front and rear of the car in this article. You can handle either end of the car as your schedule permits, just be careful that you can complete the tasks before you need to drive the car again.
Jack the car up and set it up on jack stands. Try and get the car up as
high as possible to make things easier when reinstalling the springs.
"As high as possible" means make sure the lower control arm can almost
pivot straight up and down. This makes removing/installing the coil spring
a lot easier. Remember, you'll need to have a floor jack under the control
arm ball joint.
To support the front of the car, place jack stands on the subframe, as far forward as possible. To support the rear, you need to be carefull that you don't support the car on a part of the suspension that'll need to be removed. You also want to support the car in such a way that you can reach the suspension bolts with your tools easily. This usually means you'll need to support the rear of the car either off the bumper, or the very rear of the frame rail (just behind where the rear spring shackle mounts to the bottom of the car.
Also, make sure that the rear axle is completely hanging free. Once the spring(s) are disconnected, the rear axle will not hold your car up.
Once the car is jacked up, push it to make sure it won't fall on you when you get under the car. THIS IS IMPORTANT, as some of the beef you'll be using to break some of the bolts free will actually try and yank the car off the jackstands.
Remove the wheels.
Clean the underside of the car. You could have done this at the local steam cleaning place, but it's tough to clean under the car if it's not up in the air. So, now that the car IS up in the air, blast it with some cleaner and hose it down. Once the dirt, grime and crud is off the bottom of the car, you can inspect the floor and work with the various components without getting completely filthy.
Rear Springs:
A couple notes about the above photos. The gas tank is a (cheap) reproduction. Upon installation, that flap (on both sides of the tank) rubs on the spring. So it needed to be persuaded gently away from the shackle and spring with a HAMMER. Ideally this would have been done PRIOR to installing the springs, because once the spring(s) are in - you can't slam the tank into shape. (Un)fortunantly I had to remove my springs (for the 3rd time) because of the next point..... the 2nd photo shows what you MIGHT get as "correct". The 2 springs in view are "stock, 1973 Z28 springs" and a "performance spring". The "stock" springs came arched incorrectly and jacked the back of my car up 6 to 8 inches too high. The "performance" springs - should sit the car in the correct ride height.
Get your tape measure out:
The "right" spring measures 55" center to center on the eyelets, and the arch is 6.5" to the spring stack at the clamping bolt.
The "wrong" spring measures 51.5" center to center and the arch is 10" to the spring stack clamping bolt.
Here's another view of the 2 springs side by side.
Again - the incorrectly arched spring was provided as a "stock replacement piece". Trust, but verify.
Lastly, looking at the picture on the left - the tip to removing the springs without having to dick around with the gas tank, in case it's not really evident... undo the TOP shackle bolt, knock or lever the bolt out (moves away from gas tank), and the spring will be loose. Obviously, there's no way to remove the LOWER shackle bolt with the gas tank installed. You should have enough clearance to access the upper shackle bolt nut.
Back to work....
Tip: Work on one side of the car at a time. Assuming your rear axle was correctly centered before this procedure, working on one side at a time will ensure that the rear end is still centered after the work is done. Other benefits are you don't have to bench press the rear axle in/out of the car and drop it over the springs.
Unbolt the shock. You'll probably replace the shocks, so throw the old ones out.
Removing Shocks (both front and rear) are fun, especially if you
don't have air tools. Try and get the end of the shock that has one nut
attaching it to the car (in the back it's the lower . In the front, it's
the upper nut. The fronts are especially fun because if you start undoing
the nut and the shock shaft spins within the shock, you'll need to find a
creative way to clamp the rod and prevent it from spinning while undoing the
nut. This means trying to either attach vice grips to the top and using a
rachetting wrench on the nut or channel locks from within the coil spring....
This is the fun shtuff, the TV guys are doing while on commercial break.
Disconnect and remove the swaybar if equiped.Remove the spring perch. At this time, you'll probably find out if your spring is broken, as the smallest leaf may "fall down".
Put a jack right behind the front spring eye. This will catch the front spring. Remove the 3 bolts that hold the front perch to the floor. The front of the spring will now be free. Lower the jack and this will lower the front of the spring. Now there is no tension on the spring.
Be aware that your rear axle will probably do something funny....(kick upwards slightly).
Support the rear axle with a jackstand (this means you need 5 stands) so it doesn't fall on the ground while it's not connected to the springs.
Remove the rear spring shackle bolts. This is where this article is a good
read, as opposed to those smiley folks on TV who work on their cars (without
swearing or killing each other) or a service manual.
In reality, this is easier said than done.
It's often not easy to get to the bolts that hold the rear spring in, UNLESS YOU REMOVE THE GAS TANK. Be prepared to remove the gas tank.
Removing the gas tank opens up a whole nother can of worms. (more stuff to break when your removing things).
There's 2 bolts in play here... the lower bolt that goes through the spring eye, and the upper bolt that goes through the frame rail. Often, these bolts are 11/16ths. Which means the tools are large. And there's not much room. And there isn't enough room to get a big long socket in there, unless the gas tank is out of the way. The other fun thing you may run into is the nuts will be so rusted and frozen, they'll either NOT BUDGE, or they'll round off when you work on them. Due to this, try and hit the bolts with a 6 point socket and a liberal dose of Rust penetrant. To save you some time, you may want to simply disconnect the upper shackle bolt to remove the shackle and spring from the car, and then disconnect the shackle from the spring.
Now, this spring is out of the car.
The benefit of new springs is they SHOULD BE ready to be reinstalled in the car. The front bushing will be pressed in and all you have to do is clean up the front spring mounting bracket and the rear shackle.
If the spring will be re-used, clean it up with the wire brush inspect it for any fatigue, broken leafs within the clamps, etc...and paint it. If the spring is damaged, replace it. Hopefully any damaged spring will be the 1st spring you remove, since springs MUST BE REPLACED IN PAIRS.
To install the rear spring:
Install the rear shackle onto the frame. This may require some beating and pounding with a rubber mallet to get the bushing into the frame hole. Another good reason to have the gas tank out. The side of the bushing next to the 1/4 panel may need to be levered in with a breaker-bar.
Install the bolt that holds the shackle to the bushing. The only way this goes into the bushing is from the gas tank side. The nut is on the side facing the 1/4 panel.
Now the shackle is installed.
Raise the rear of the spring and install it into the shackle.
Jack the rear end up just a tiny bit, so it doesn't put any weight on the spring. You'll notice the spring will line up with the axle housing... which is goodness. If it doesn't.... move the spring to line up the assembly. Remember, if you're doing one side at a time, and the rear end was centered... you don't want to move the rear end to line stuff up. Move the spring.
Jack the front of the spring up so the perch mates with the holes in the floor.Secure these bolts.
Make sure the new upper spring pad is installed in the rear axle housing. Lower the rear axle. It will drop right into place on the spring. There's a hole in the spring pad which will fit around a "peg" on the spring. Allow the axle to come down onto the spring. Put the lower spring pad in place on the spring, and clamp it down with thespring clamp....
If the car has a rear swaybar....
J-bolts could be broken.
You're done with the rear.
Here is another very good article written up by a club member
Now lets work on the front of the car.
The 1st thing to note, is the front springs are considerably stiffer than the rears. The front coil springs can kill you if they get away from you while you're unbolting stuff.
Disconnect the swaybar. Start at the end links first. The nut will probably be run down about 2 or more inches onto the bolt, so deep sockets are necessary, or you can position a wrench on the nut and zip the bolt itself with a rachet from below. After a bunch of years, if you're lucky the end link will snap. Once the endlinks are disconnected, unbolt the frame bushings. Now the swaybar is out of the car.
TIP: Massive (large) swaybar could interfere with idler arm.
Disconnect the brake caliper and support it on the frame with some wire.
Put the floor jack under the lower control arm ball joint. Disconnect the tie rod from the steering knuckle. Turn the steering knuckle in such a way that you can get to the castle nut that secures the balljoint. Pull the cotter pin from the castle nut. Check the jack. It should put a little tension on the spring, but not enough to raise the car off the jack stand. For added safety, you can secure the spring with a chain, and/or compress the spring with a spring compressor.
Unbolt the nut from the balljoint. Now, you'll probably have to stand back and tap on the top of the balljoint with a hammer. This will force the ball joint out of the steering knuckle. This is the most dangerous part of the operation. When the balljoint and the spindle separate, there will be A BOOM as they snap apart. Fortunantly, nothing will go anywhere because the floor jack will immediately support the lower control arm and allow you to slowly control the lowering of thecontrol arm and relieve the coil spring tension. The spring should come out with the control arm. If the car isn't raised up enough, the lower control arm will pinch the jack while still under tension of the spring. At this point, you'll either have to compress the spring, or raise the car with another jack. Once the lower control arm is lowered sufficently, the spring will come out. If the upper spring pad hasn't completely deteriorated, it'll probably fall out, or you can remove it. It's stuck up inside the frame.
Disconnect the 2 bolts that hold the control arm to the subframe and remove the control arm. You may have to work the control arm up and down to separate the arm from the frame.
Move the spindle in such a way that you can access the upper control arm balljoint nut. Remove the cotter pin and nut. Separate the balljoint from the spindle. Now the spindle is free.
To remove the upper control arm, undo the 2 bolts that face the engine. These secure the control arm to the frame. Actually, the round bar that runs through the control arm is what's secured to the car. Undo these nuts. The bolts are splined and driven into the subframe. These bolts shouldn't be turned with a socket or you'll strip the splines. Once the nuts are off, notice the number of shims used to shim the control arm to the subframe. Remove these and make sure you keep track of them. It's helpful in getting your front end close in alignment so you can get the car to an alignment shop.
Now the front suspension is removed from the car.
Clean the spindle up. If you're not going to remove the rotor (dealt with under brake reconditioning) you won't be able to completely access the spindle to clean and paint it. Clean and inspect the springs if they're not going to be replaced.
Remove the balljoints from the control arms.
On the lower control arm, these need to be pressed out. This work is usually farmed out. While the lower control arms are farmed out, have the old bushings pressed out. Some shops will take the bushings out with an air hammer. Whatever.
On the upper control arm, the ball joint is rivitted in. If the ball joint was replaced in the past, it'll be bolted in. If the ball joint is rivitted in remove the balljoing this way. Using a center punch, punch an indentation in the center of the rivet. Drill a small hole in the head of the rivet, just enough to locate a larger drill bit on the rivet. The larger drill bit should be big enough to completely buzz the top of the head of the rivet off. Be carefull not to drill up the control arm. Once the head of the rivet is drilled up, you may be able to take a cold chisel and whack the head of the rivet off. Once the head of the rivet is gone, you can take a punch and drive the rivet out. Remove all 4 rivets this way. Once the rivets are out, the balljoint falls off.
Now you farm out the work if you're not doing it yourself.
When you get the pieces back, clean the control arms with the wire brush, then paint them.
Run the cleaned up control arms back to the shop and have the bushings and lower balljoints pressed in. I have my upper control arm bushings pressed in at the GM dealer since a "special tool" is (supposed to be) required to install the bushings.
While the work is being farmed out, wire brush as much of the subframe as possible.
Now we gotta put the stuff back together.
Installing the front coil spring. From an email I sent someone:
#1: as if you don't already know....Be carefull with a compressed spring, as it can take your head off.
Here's what I did.
Have the car jacked up high. I assume you have the lower control arm completely free and levered down as far as you can get it. YOU NEED THE INSIDE TYPE SPRING COMPRESSOR. Collapse the spring from the bottom, up. The spring may bend a little when it's compressed. This is good. Clamp that bitch down as tight as you can..... You want to catch about the 3rd row (from the top) of the spring, and the 2nd or 3rd row up on the spring.... so your actually flattening the center few coils. Clamp them nearly tight. Stick the spring in. Put a floor jack under the ball joint of the control arm. If you have any fat bitches around, now's the time for them to be standing on the engine support, as - when you jack the car up, it'll want to lift the car and not collapse the spring.
Now that the spring is in, try and have someone else muscle the upper control arm & spindle down into the lower control arm ball joint, and screw the thing in enough so it won't blow apart and take your head off. Once this is done, since you collapsed the spring in the center, with an inside type spring compressor clamp.... you can zap the bolt/threaded nut or whatever from the bottom using the shock access hole to undo the compressor, and since you caught the spring a couple turns up, the clamp will not be pinched in the lower control arm pocket. You may need to use a hammer and punch to pop the compressor finger towards a freer section of the spring so you can remove it. Then the upper portion of the compressor folds up and comes out, slick as sheet.
Since you've already been trying this... you know it's easier said than done.
It's a PITA, in addition to being potentially dangerous.
Hope this helps and good luck.
(apparently it did, cause I got this back....)
Hey Mike..............your instructions worked like a charm........aint it
funny how they leave this crap out of the assembly manuals??
every stepped worked fine (including the fat bitches) seems to be an abundance of them around here (lol).
Other stuff
Cleaning (aka "Bitch work")
I use a wire brush attachment on an electric drill to clean parts quickly. This is the "driveway" method. Other alternatives are to blast the part with some sort of blast media, or pressure wash the parts. Or, a combination of the above.
POR, Marine Clean, Metal Ready, POR. I want to remain product neutral in this article, but I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT POR. Use Restomotive (POR) products. You won't be disappointed.
I won't get into the usage of POR, because it comes with instructions, but the "Marine Clean" stuff, will clean ANYTHING. Hit the part with marine clean. Let it soak. Wash it off. Then zap it with the wire brush and the part is clean. Hit it with marine clean again, then use "metal ready" to prime/etch the part, then coat it with POR. This part is "done". You can hit it with a hammer, and it won't chip. You can pour gas on the part, and it won't discolor or mess up the coating. Furthermore, the part won't rust anymore (at least in my lifetime). One thing with POR is it'll fade if exposed to sunlight for any length of time. POR will resist future rust, gas, oil, etc.... I painted some other control arms with some "other stuff" and the crap wrinkled up and peels off.
My choice of paint is: OEM paints - "Chassis grey". I painted my rear springs grey. Believe it or not, Rustoleum seems to hold up well too, and is economical. It has a lot to do with the surface preparation of the part to be painted.
Safety disclaimer.
PLEASE be careful when working on cars. The author of this article will NOT be liable for any damage or injury suffered from reading this article. Protect your eyes, your hands, and your life. Wear goggles. Wear gloves. Use quality tools and jack stands. Have a helper handy. At a minimum, the helper should be able to operate a jack to raise the car off you or your fingers if bad things happen. Have a FUNCTIONAL fire extinguisher handy. Read and understand all directions.
other tips/hints
SAVE ALL THE HARDWARE - until your done reassembling the car.
Have a helper.
You need a pickle fork to help separate ball joints or tie rods.
Having 2 floor jacks, and/or more than 4 jack stands is nice.
MadMike's "PITA" nut/bolt/fastener Remedies
Face it. Sooner or later, you're going to come across a nut or bolt that "won't come out". Even when using the best tools, you may have to get creativeand improvise.
There are various solutions for dealing with this, and they should be approached in a logical order depending on severity of the screwup and the location and/or condition of the fastener.
Air tools are VERY handy, but power tools are the next best thing. BRAINS can often times solve a lack of air/power tools. Just chill and take it easy. Also, keep in mind, your car is probably disabled at this point in time, so you gotta walk to the store to get anything you need, assuming you don't have a ride.
1st up. Take a break and "think about it". Nail the fastener with rust penatrant. Allow it to soak for a while. You may want to hit every bolt you'll be dealing with, with penatrant before the job. Use a 6 point socket on difficult fasteners. Use LONG, 6 point, box end wrenches where possible. Using a 12 point socket and a lot of beef may round off all the corners of an old rusty bolt.
Have a combination of hand tools available. The long tools equals more leverage. A pipe (aka cheater bar) helps bust stuff free. So doesn't heat. Try a butane torch to loosen up parts. heat the bolt and then "tap" it with a hammer to free it up. If the thing rounds off, Grind the bolt off. Punch the bolt out with a punch. Zap it with a sawzall. Split the nut with a nut cracker - if you can reach it. Usually, I opt for a quicker way.
If you have a torch, you probably already know the above methods. Or, you can just melt the GD nut off and continue working after the area cools down.
Rebuilding your suspension will at a minimum, restore your cars ride to like new. If you "soup it up a little", your car will perform (handle) more precisely and quicker than original, possibly at the expense of ride comfort. During this activity, you may uncover and resolve any potentially dangerous suspension problems.
Author: MadMike Maciolek
North Georgia Classic Camaro
All rights reserved


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On the Groad
Gravel riding has exploded over the past few years. Frank Bures tries to figure out where it's going—and if that even matters.
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Not far out of the gates of the "Central Iowa Rock Road Endurance Metric" (or CIRREM as it's known in gravel circles), riders started going down on the dirt road in the middle of Iowa. A big guy on my left spilled hard and almost took me out. Another one up front went over and slammed his helmet into the ground. I slipped on the ice a few times, but managed to stay upright. In the lead pack, a rider broke away and the others started to chase him. Nearly all of them went over, too.
We were just a few miles into the late-February, 63.5-mile bike race that brings out the hardest of the hardcore groadies (gravel roadies). Gravel riding, or "gravel grinding" as it's known, is a different sort of race than the ones that came before. These are epic rides on forgotten, unpaved roads covered in crushed rock. They're more relaxed, more low-brow, and more hardcore than you average road crit.
Not only that, but they open up a vast new territory for cycling. At last count, there were 1.3 million miles of unpaved roads throughout the United States. Cyclists are just beginning to discover these as a new frontier where there are no rules, no governing bodies, and where you can just announce a race and people will show up to ride 60, 100, 200 miles or more.
"EVER SINCE 2005, IT'S been on the upswing," says Mark "Guitar Ted" Stevenson, who runs the 320-plus-mile Trans Iowa gravel race, as well as the Gravel Grinder News website. "It's been astounding to see the growth of it."
Stevenson says the number of gravel races was up by 50 percent last season, and the number of racers has exploded. Last year, for example, CIRREM made no opening announcement but filled up in 24 hours. The Almanzo, a 100/160-miler in Minnesota had 350 people in 2011 (only 170 finished), they registered 800 in 2012, and this year they've added the 400-mile "Nellie." Even the brutal, 200-mile Dirty Kanza in Kansas filled its 450 slots in two-and-a-half hours. Getting into the Trans Iowa these days has almost become as hard as the ride itself.
In Europe, too, new gravel races have popped up and taken off, like the Strade Bianche in Italy, the Dengie Marshes Tour in England, and the Gran Premio Canal de Castilla in Spain. "They've been catching on everywhere," says Ed Pickering, who covers European cycling for the U.K.-based Cycle Sport Magazine. "I think it's because Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders are held in such high esteem."
The Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders are two of the Spring Classics held in Europe early in the year. They're grueling and glorious, going through mud and over old cobblestone roads; they seem closer to the sport's pre-paved roots than other major road races, retaining all the romance of old-world cycling. "The appeal is retro," said Pickering. Now, with the fall of Lance Armstrong, and the pall he cast on the Tour de France, that appeal seems likely to grow.
"Everyone wants to be in Paris-Roubaix," says Drew Wilson, who went on to finish third at CIRREM. "That's what you dream about. But the USA Cycling-sanctioned road races have too many set-up costs and rules to stage a race on this same scale. So these gravel rides are as close as we can get to having classics-style courses."
COMPLAINTS ABOUT RED TAPE and over-administrating are common refrains in gravel circles, and those issues help explain why gravel riding attracts the cycling misfits who don't fit into any neat cycling box.
"Regular racing is extremely cost prohibitive," said Jeff Frane, a gravel racer who also works for All City Cycles. "But with gravel races you don't have to worry about getting your money's worth, because getting your money's worth is just about having fun. And if you had fun, you clearly got your money's worth. There's something about removing all the red tape and restrictions and regulations that brings cycling back to its roots in another way."
Most gravel rides are free, or close to it, which is part of the gravel scene's everyman ethos. Just get on your bike and ride: At CIRREM, I saw mountain bikes, cylcocross, fat bikes, and even tandems rolling through the Iowa hills. But with the scene growing so fast, companies have started coming out with gravel-specific bikes, like Salsa's Warbird, which has a longer wheel base, a lower bottom bracket, a taller head tube, and sealed cables to keep dust out. It also comes with three water bottle cages in case you get thirsty out around mile 150 or so.
As the sport gains in popularity and gravel-specific products become the norm, it would seem like the signs point to gravel going mainstream. But for now the camaraderie of the nascent scene remains part of the appeal—a camaraderie that stems from finishing something that's more adventure than race. Out on the gravel, it's up to you to get over the bumps, through the mud, and back to the finish line.
"If you have a mechanical problem, ain't nobody coming to pick your ass up," said Frane. "And there's something to be said for a person surviving by their wits, even if it's only for a couple of hours during a bike race."
That is no doubt the deeper allure of gravel racing: it's open to anyone who thinks they can ride 100 miles on whatever kind of bike they want. It gives every rider a chance to dig down and push past their everyday limits.
"Grown men cry like babies at the finish line at Dirty Kanza," says Jim Cummings. "And it's easy to assume the reason they're crying is because they've been suffering and the pain is over. But I don't think that's it. I think they cry because it gives them a chance to go inside themselves to a place where they don't normally get to go, and they like what they find there."
CIRREM WAS ON THE short side of the gravel spectrum, but it was still, as one of the organizers put it, "a solid kick in the junk." At about mile 45, I looked down at my chain to find it completely encased in frozen mud—the morning snow had melted and the afternoon roads were a cold, dirty swamp. Dead tired, and with only one gear working, I stopped to chip my cables loose. A few other riders passed me. A pickup pulled up, and the driver stuck his head out. "You want a ride?" he yelled.
"No thanks," I said.
"You headed to town?"
"That's a long ways."
"I know," I said, looking down the road to see just how long it was. "I'll make it,"
After waving him past, I managed to free up two more gears and got back on. Another 20 miles down the road, my bike creaked to a halt in front of a local bar in a tiny town just south of Des Moines. I walked across the finish line (the bar's front door), and a guy at a table asked for my race number and shouted out my time.
The bar was packed with dirty, happy cyclists, laughing, talking, and, this being a bar, drinking. I wandered around and found a few of the people I'd ridden with. I asked some of them how they did, but no one seemed all that concerned. Most of the riders just shrugged. After all, it didn't really matter how fast anyone went. What mattered, in the end, was just the ride.
Frank Bures is an award-winning writer based in Minneapolis who frequently reports from Africa. More at frankbures.com.


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Cancellation vs. Non-Renewal of Your Auto Policy
The difference between a canceled and non-renewed auto policy.
There is a big difference between when an auto insurance company cancels a policy and when it chooses not to renew it.
Insurance companies cannot cancel a policy that has been in force for more than 60 days except:
- If you fail to pay the premium.
- You have committed fraud or made serious misrepresentations on your application.
- Your driver's license has been revoked or suspended.
Non-renewal is a different matter.
Either you or your insurance company can decide not to renew the policy when it expires. Depending on the state you live in, your insurance company must give you a certain number of days notice and explain the reason for non-renewal before it drops your policy. If you think the reason is unfair or want a further explanation, call the insurance company's consumer affairs division. If you don't get an explanation, call your state insurance department.
We look forward to speaking with you and helping you understand your insurance and your options.