Finally made some time for the garage and the little truck. Went through a few cutting discs and one cutting blade from my Fein tool. Very happy with the result. Have to go to the local fab shop now and get some new channels made up. Then see if I can find a buddy who wants to practice his welding skills.
Making 2 hoods into one..can't seem to find a clean one,so have to cut one up. One has a good nose...other has a good body. Glued the good nose on the good body for the last couple of nights. Drilling spot welds is a pain in the !!!!
Making 2 hoods into one..can't seem to find a clean one,so have to cut one up. One has a good nose...other has a good body. Glued the good nose on the good body for the last couple of nights. Drilling spot welds is a pain in the !!!!
Sacrifice Bad/better
Don't you just love cut & paste arts & crafts projects???
Over the course of owning my 68 Grande, I knew the day would come when I would need to replace the worn out front end suspension bushings. You could see the rubber was squishing out of the top shaft and the shafts were no where near centered anymore on the top A arm. I also wanted to upgrade the front brakes to a C3 system, so I figured I would tackle that all at the same time and really give myself a challenge. I have been collecting suspension and brake parts for a while now and finally found the time to get going on this project, which I must say is a little daunting. Nevertheless, I finally tore the old girl`s front end apart and here is what I have found so far.
Here is the before picture with the drum brake and spindle in place. It looks like the drums were painted black at one point. It the pic you can also see a tree stump,....... there is no way this thing is going to fall on me during this project.
The springs are 17 inches long and with some surface rust. They look ok although there is a some surface rust and not heavy corrosion. I was hoping to find an original factory part tag but I wasn't so lucky. One spring seems to be slightly less that the other, maybe about 1/16th, but basically they would be pretty much the same size.
What should the length be on these front springs? If I look at Rock Auto, they list an AC Delco HD spring 45H0006 at 16.9 inches and a Moog 658A HD with air at 16.89 inches. Mine are 17 inches so I am thinking maybe I just clean them up and toss them back in?
The upper A arm bushing is clearly worn out. It is not even close to being centered anymore. All four were pretty much like this.
Here are the control arms, and the top cross shaft and the lowers. I would love to put some fancy tubular arms in the 68 but the budget is not allowing for that at the moment. I have all the replacement suspension parts already as well so I think I am going to just put it back together with the stock AC Delco parts from Rock Auto. I am on a budget so the AC Delco will have to do for now.
The upper ball joints were riveted onto the arm so that would suggest that the upper ball joints were factory, would they not? I cut the rivets off with a side grinder and knocked them out with a punch.
The stabilizer bar is 13/16 and I have some new bushings as well. Has anyone ever put in a large diameter bar in as an a upgrade? Was there an option that one could order a heavier bar, particularly for a big block car? Will it stiffen up the ride a bit?
Here is a pic of the passenger side without the suspension. The top bumper stop has seen better days so that will get replaced. Overall, the frame and pockets are not too rusty but I will give it a wire wheel treatment while apart. I buffed off the surface rust the control arms and will give them a shot of rust paint before going back together.
Looks like I am also going to need a new brake line that comes across to the passenger side, has anyone sourced one of these frame hugging lines lately for a 67 / 68? I think it will be time to replace this line as well while I am at it.
I hope to keep going here as I have the week off and hope to get this 68 a new front end!
-- Edited by 68 Grande on Monday 8th of July 2019 04:37:11 PM
Over the course of owning my 68 Grande, I knew the day would come when I would need to replace the worn out front end suspension bushings. You could see the rubber was squishing out of the top shaft and the shafts were no where near centered anymore on the top A arm. I also wanted to upgrade the front brakes to a C3 system, so I figured I would tackle that all at the same time and really give myself a challenge. I have been collecting suspension and brake parts for a while now and finally found the time to get going on this project, which I must say is a little daunting. Nevertheless, I finally tore the old girl`s front end apart and here is what I have found so far.
Here is the before picture with the drum brake and spindle in place. It looks like the drums were painted black at one point. It the pic you can also see a tree stump,....... there is no way this thing is going to fall on me during this project.
The springs are 17 inches long and with some surface rust. They look ok although there is a some surface rust and not heavy corrosion. I was hoping to find an original factory part tag but I wasn't so lucky. One spring seems to be slightly less that the other, maybe about 1/16th, but basically they would be pretty much the same size.
What should the length be on these front springs? If I look at Rock Auto, they list an AC Delco HD spring 45H0006 at 16.9 inches and a Moog 658A HD with air at 16.89 inches. Mine are 17 inches so I am thinking maybe I just clean them up and toss them back in?
Lots of guys will say otherwise but if it was me and I was happy with the springs up to this point, I'd put them back in. With the universal coverage they try to do with front springs now (manufacturers seem to make as few part numbers as possible for a wide spectrum of applications) I'd stick with what I know to be good. You may end up with the front end too high/too low, or else too mushy/too stiff.
The upper A arm bushing is clearly worn out. It is not even close to being centered anymore. All four were pretty much like this.
Here are the control arms, and the top cross shaft and the lowers. I would love to put some fancy tubular arms in the 68 but the budget is not allowing for that at the moment. I have all the replacement suspension parts already as well so I think I am going to just put it back together with the stock AC Delco parts from Rock Auto. I am on a budget so the AC Delco will have to do for now.
The upper ball joints were riveted onto the arm so that would suggest that the upper ball joints were factory, would they not? Yes, riveted ball joints are original. The replacements are always bolted in. I cut the rivets off with a side grinder and knocked them out with a punch.
The stabilizer bar is 13/16 and I have some new bushings as well. Has anyone ever put in a large diameter bar in as an a upgrade? I think I have a spare factory 15/16" front bar if you want to go up to that. Was there an option that one could order a heavier bar, particularly for a big block car? Will it stiffen up the ride a bit? I'm not sure you'd notice a difference in ride as such but I'm sure you'd notice less lean in corners. A rear bar to go along with the bigger front bar would be a great team.
Here is a pic of the passenger side without the suspension. The top bumper stop has seen better days so that will get replaced. Overall, the frame and pockets are not too rusty but I will give it a wire wheel treatment while apart. I buffed off the surface rust the control arms and will give them a shot of rust paint before going back together.
Looks like I am also going to need a new brake line that comes across to the passenger side, has anyone sourced one of these frame hugging lines lately for a 67 / 68? I think it will be time to replace this line as well while I am at it.
I hope to keep going here as I have the week off and hope to get this 68 a new front end!
__________________
1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)
Playing with brakes on the c-10......anyone see a problem?!!
Hi Jim
I hope there was a bearing that you left out of the picture?
Luppy
Drum is split in 2!!! Part of drum and spring is still attached to spindle....rest is stuck to rim/hub! 2 part epoxy or weld it to stick it back together?
