A-arm rebuild continued
I never imagined the a-arm bushing removal and installating would be such a royal pain! First, it looks like the lower bushings have been replaced before because whoever did them buggered up the joints a bunch. That's not helping. But, I did stumble across some penetrating fluid from Gunk that has PTFE in it and it made things workable. It took a lot of hammering and vice work to get them out, but out they came. Putting them back in was just as much fun.
Left upper a-arm before tear down
Underneath the a-arm, rusty and the ball joints are toast
Drill out the rivets in the ball joints and then use a chisel to knock off the tops
Lower a-arm. The ball joints on the lowers had a lot of slop both side to side and up and down. This contributes to a loose ride and must be replaced.
So, got the right side bushings and ball joints removed and reinstalled the new ones from Bairs. I will say this about my estimation on the need to do a frame off. The play in the lower ball joints on both sides was significant including some up and down play. Not good but better now that it's done. The left side a-arms are degreased and prep'ed for the same process tomorrow.
More news on the parts front. The wife picked up the trailing arms from VanSteel today. Nothing unexpected in that job internally with the spindle. But, I knew going into the rebuild of them that the parking brake was a mess and of course the bushings were rust welded. VanSteel found that one arm was a little off of true and straightened that out. And, they also found the rotor was too thin. The rotor had been removed before because the rivets were drilled out. So, someone had turned these puppies a few too many times in the past years. Ended up with the $390 per arm job from VanSteel which is the basic rebuild plus the stainless steel rotors. I still figured that the parts on the job would have ended up at about $280 an arm if I had done them. And based on the amount of time I'm putting into just the a-arms, I would have been working on the t-arms for a veeeerrrrryyyy long time.
On the parts front, I got the parts I ordered from Zip today. That means I have everything now to complete the front suspension and steering rebuild. I ordered a power steering valve and ram rebuild kit, and new hoses since the PS was leaking before I started the rebuild. It was not a small leak either.
Goals for tomorrow:
* Finish putting together the right side suspension a-arms on the frame
* Ditto for the left side
* Re-attach the sway bar
* Do the re-build on the PS valve and ram
* Clean up the steering box
The on Sunday afternoon I can hopefully put the tie rods, PS, and the steering box all together and hook up to the suspension. I should also be able to put the rear trailing arms on but we'll have to see how that goes. I still have on the short list for the rear suspension the following:
* Crack open the diff to see how it looks and if it needs any rebuild. It's spinning pretty good and it wasn't slipping or making weird thumps on the pre-resto test drives. However, the diff is a ROYAL pain to get to once the body of a car is back on the frame and therefore deserves a solid look since I'm this far. Another case of "while I'm at it"!
* Intall the bushings in the strut rods (I got new poly bushings in this case)
* Clean the half-shafts and install the new u-joints
* Rebuild the original rear spring. This one I'm stuck. One annoying thing about Corvette Central is they always seem to have something not in stock. The spring rebuild kit I ordered was one of those things. Until it get's here I can't complete the full backend assembly.
So, those things may have to wait until next weekend to do. I've got another trip with the job out the California next week which is going to put a crimp in the progress. But, with any luck I"ll have a solid weekend again the following. My goal of a rolling chassis this weekend looks a little slim unless some stuff just flows tomorrow......not likely. But, I'd have to say it looks pretty good for the following weekend. I'm pumped up about the rolling chassis because that means getting to the motor is just around the corner. Just what every Vette freak talks about, the motor. The frame off is nice but it's the motor everyone wants to know about!
Left upper a-arm before tear down
Underneath the a-arm, rusty and the ball joints are toast
Drill out the rivets in the ball joints and then use a chisel to knock off the tops
Lower a-arm. The ball joints on the lowers had a lot of slop both side to side and up and down. This contributes to a loose ride and must be replaced.
So, got the right side bushings and ball joints removed and reinstalled the new ones from Bairs. I will say this about my estimation on the need to do a frame off. The play in the lower ball joints on both sides was significant including some up and down play. Not good but better now that it's done. The left side a-arms are degreased and prep'ed for the same process tomorrow.
More news on the parts front. The wife picked up the trailing arms from VanSteel today. Nothing unexpected in that job internally with the spindle. But, I knew going into the rebuild of them that the parking brake was a mess and of course the bushings were rust welded. VanSteel found that one arm was a little off of true and straightened that out. And, they also found the rotor was too thin. The rotor had been removed before because the rivets were drilled out. So, someone had turned these puppies a few too many times in the past years. Ended up with the $390 per arm job from VanSteel which is the basic rebuild plus the stainless steel rotors. I still figured that the parts on the job would have ended up at about $280 an arm if I had done them. And based on the amount of time I'm putting into just the a-arms, I would have been working on the t-arms for a veeeerrrrryyyy long time.
On the parts front, I got the parts I ordered from Zip today. That means I have everything now to complete the front suspension and steering rebuild. I ordered a power steering valve and ram rebuild kit, and new hoses since the PS was leaking before I started the rebuild. It was not a small leak either.
Goals for tomorrow:
* Finish putting together the right side suspension a-arms on the frame
* Ditto for the left side
* Re-attach the sway bar
* Do the re-build on the PS valve and ram
* Clean up the steering box
The on Sunday afternoon I can hopefully put the tie rods, PS, and the steering box all together and hook up to the suspension. I should also be able to put the rear trailing arms on but we'll have to see how that goes. I still have on the short list for the rear suspension the following:
* Crack open the diff to see how it looks and if it needs any rebuild. It's spinning pretty good and it wasn't slipping or making weird thumps on the pre-resto test drives. However, the diff is a ROYAL pain to get to once the body of a car is back on the frame and therefore deserves a solid look since I'm this far. Another case of "while I'm at it"!
* Intall the bushings in the strut rods (I got new poly bushings in this case)
* Clean the half-shafts and install the new u-joints
* Rebuild the original rear spring. This one I'm stuck. One annoying thing about Corvette Central is they always seem to have something not in stock. The spring rebuild kit I ordered was one of those things. Until it get's here I can't complete the full backend assembly.
So, those things may have to wait until next weekend to do. I've got another trip with the job out the California next week which is going to put a crimp in the progress. But, with any luck I"ll have a solid weekend again the following. My goal of a rolling chassis this weekend looks a little slim unless some stuff just flows tomorrow......not likely. But, I'd have to say it looks pretty good for the following weekend. I'm pumped up about the rolling chassis because that means getting to the motor is just around the corner. Just what every Vette freak talks about, the motor. The frame off is nice but it's the motor everyone wants to know about!
posted by Steve at 7:58 PM
2 Comments:
Just a tip on the differential. There should be no more than .020-.030 inches of end play on the side yokes. Mushrooming of the side yoke ends is a common problem. When do we find out more on the engine? John
Thanks for the tip on the diff. I'll be getting to the motor in about 2 weeks once I wrap up the suspension.
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