64 Wildcat front suspension rebuild

For the past couple of years my 64 Wildcat has had a low frequency vibration (about once per second) between 45-55 mph at the left front wheel. I've known the radius arm bushings and the sway bar bushings have seen their better days as they have 50 years on them. What I didn't know was that I can move the lower control arm about 1/4" to either side of center with the car up in the air. :shock:

Time for a suspension rebuild :Brow: I purchased a deluxe suspension and steering kit from PST that includes everything from control arm bushings and shafts to ball joints and tie rod ends. I also bought a new center link from them and a heavy duty sway bar to improve the handling over stock. While I am "in there" I plan to replace the wheel bearings, brakes, brake hoses and lines (all 50 year old "OE" believe it or not) shocks, and anything else that I find.

To date I have torn it down, including the steering and PS box, which has a big leak at the input shaft. I took the dirty parts to be reused to a local media blaster and they were more than happy to make my wallet $150 lighter. What I got in return was parts ready to paint in less than 24 hours :laugh:. I am using Chassis Shield from Summit Racing that is a 2-part system that goes on like POR-15 but doesn't need a top coat and can be stored longer (unmixed) if needed. I plan to clean the chassis and coat it as well. That will be a lot of work on the left side due to the PS box leak.

My next battle is to remove the lower control arm bushings. They are big and bad and no commercial specialty puller is available to my knowledge.

 

Very nice! I've been lucky with mine. At some point I need to replace the lower RF ball joint, and idler arm, and give it alignment, but otherwise it's solid. I look forward to your progress!

 

I just replaced the OE steering coupler which was soaked with PS fluid due to a bad leak at the PS box input shaft. This was not as easy as planned as the OE coupling is riveted to the flange on the steering column. Even with the PS box, exhaust pipe, and brake lines out of the way it was still difficult to get my hands and a grinder with cut-off wheel in there. Without a lift I would have probably removed the column to do this. I had to cut into the old rag disk and through the rivets. The rubber clogged my cut-off wheel and I had to replace it between rivets. Once the coupler was off of the column I had to grind the rivets flush with the flange and then drive them out. The body of the shouldered rivet is larger than the hole in the flange. The new coupler bolts on with two 5/16 lock nuts.

I was then able to install the reman steering box, lines, and reman PS pump. My PS leaks should be gone for the rest of my life. :TU:

 

The upper control arm rebuild went as planned. There are two small welds on the OE upper ball joint which were hidden by years of grease and dirt that must be removed before pressing out the old ball joints. Care must be taken when installing the new ball joints from PST as they are threaded on the stud side and can be damaged during the press in operation. The new ball joints have a large hex (2-1/8 inch across flats) ring that helps retain the ball joint in the control arm so that welding is not required. A nice touch.


The upper control arms shafts can be a bear since they are the metal bushing type. Be sure to center the shafts in the control arm. I used the same shims that were on the OE shafts when I reattached them to the frame. I figure this is a good starting point for the alignment.

 

The lower control arm ball joints are a simple press out the old and in the new. A hydraulic press and the correct adaptors will help considerably. The lower control arm bushings, on the other hand, are pressed in the frame's cross member directly beneath the engine. I could not find a suitable puller to buy so I made one. The made a 1.5" OD x 1.00" ID x 1" long steel adaptor to fit the small side of the bushing. I trimmed off the rubber that is beyond the outer shell to expose the inner sleeve. The puller adaptor fits over this nicely and keeps it from getting hung up in the frame.


I used ball joint puller adaptors on the large side of the bushing and used 5/8" threaded rod along with grade 8 nuts and washers to make the rest of the puller.


Holding the nuts on the small side while using an air impact on the large side pulled the stubborn bushing through the frame. They were very tight and required max air pressure to come out. I put the new bushings in the freezer overnight to help with their install. I more or less reversed the puller set up and pulled the new bushings into the frame, being sure to bottom out the shoulder (which should face the front) the same as the old ones. I was then able to hang the lower control arms but left the pivot bolts loose for now.

 

I've been planning on doing the front end on my 66 wildcat but have been unable to find any US made replacement parts. I looked at the PST kits but was hesitant as i believe they are likely off shore sourced. How does the quality of the parts seem to you?

 

Tom,

The quality seems top notch. Some of the parts have identification and others do not. The inner tie rods are actually sourced from Rare Parts which are USA made and pricey. The front sway bar is from Addco, another quality source. I'd definitely buy from them again.

 

I re did the front end on my Electra last summer. I used the Kanter kit and a centerlink from carpartsdiscount (which turned out to be from rareparts) I replaced the tie rod boots with poly ones because one ripped. I have come to find out the rubber on today's stuff just doesn't last for some reason. I confirmed with an old timer alignment guy that it is a common problem on ball joint boots as well. There are 4 completely different versions of the strut rod bushing and I HATE the newest version one so good thing the kanter kit came with an older version.

I plan on replacing the rear control arm bushings in the next month or so too. d

I highly recommend using poly sway bar bushings to tighten things up a little and will not effect the ride much at all.

 

great information, thanks for the feed back. i wasn't aware that anyone was offering Poly bushings for the big cars, all i have ever seen was the stock type rubber bushings.

 

I'm not aware of any poly bushings for the full size cars except for the sway bar bushings. I have yet to install the Addco heavy sway bar so I might get a poly kit if the bushings that came with it are not poly. I hope the new parts last 1/2 as long as the OE, which gets me to 73 years old, so I may never have to do them again. I like to spray all of the rubber components every spring with a quality silicon spray.

Once I get more pictures downloaded I will update the thread. I've now got the front suspension complete, less sway bar. I will also have to mention the lift bridges I made to allow my 2 post lift to work with an X-frame car.

I have all of the parts to do the rear suspension too but will tackle that next winter. The rear control arm bushings are form Rare Parts.

 

This weekend I installed the springs, knuckles, shocks and radius rods. Let me say from the outset that I hate spring compressors. That being said getting the springs reinstalled is a test of patience. I did the left side with a compressor loaned from Advance Auto Parts. It has equal length hooks on both ends and at best hooks the spring at both ends with only 1 hook. This is very unsafe as the slightest bump allowed the spring to fully or part way release. It's a good thing that the spring only needs compressed about 2-3 inches to engage the lower tang in the control arm with it fully down.</SPAN>
Once I got the spring started in the seat I then used a safety chain to restrict the spring movement in case of a problem. I then started to raise the outer end of the lower control arm to compress the spring using the cars weight. This worked until the spring was about 50% seated on the lower control arm and then the screw in the compressor bottomed out on the shock tower. I had to remove the spring compressor in pieces from inside the spring at this point. Lets just say the pucker factor was high. :eek2:
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After removing the compressor I was able to fully compress the spring and install the left knuckle. The right side was a little more problematic. At least 3 times the spring accidentally released from the Advanced Auto spring compressor while trying to get it seating in the lower control arm. Fortunately my hands were out of the way when that occurred. I then went to OReillys Auto Parts and borrowed their spring compressor which has two unequal length hooks at one end and a tapered plate at the other. This type gripped the spring much better and I was actually able to leave the compressor in the spring until it was fully seated on the control arm. It was also easier to disassemble and the larger section fit through the shock hole. I finished compressing the spring and installed the right knuckle.</SPAN>

Speaking of shocks, the previous owner had installed new Monroe OE type shocks about 3-4 years ago. I want better performance and ordered a set of KYB Gas-Adjust shocks that fit 65 and later big GM cars. The length is close and the mounting similar, but they will not fit. The mounting bar on the bottom side is about inch too short for the 64 mounting holes. I ended up putting the Monroes back in. I will come up with a fix to mount the KYBs in the future and will report on that in this thread. </SPAN>:idea2:

The next step is to install the new radius rod bushings and radius rods. I have heard there are several types of these bushings available. I had two sets at my disposal, one set from PST and a set from Cars, Inc. In my case they were identical. So I chose the PST set and put the others on the shelf for future use or trading stock. With the new bushings in place and the rods through them there is not enough threads extending from the bushing to start the nut. I used two C-clamp style Vise Grip tools to compress the bushings about inch as shown. Be sure to place the Vice Grip on the washer on the back side.</SPAN>

I used new 9/16-18 castle nuts to replace a lost OE nut (the only part I lost to date in this process) and torqued them to 70 foot pounds. For some reason they did not go far enough to reach the OE pin holes in the treaded portion. I dont know if this is due to the bushings (they are different than what was left of the OE bushings), nuts, or I ended up drilling a 1/8 hole as shown for the cotter pins after torqueing the nuts to spec. Once that end was done I used an alignment punch to install the OE bolts and nuts to the lower control arm along with new bumpers.</SPAN>

:Smarty: One last thing for today, I reused all of the OE fasteners except for the 9/16-18 nuts mentioned above. The main reason for this is that the OE bolts are generally of better quality that what is available today. I figure that they lasted for 50 years and would likely last for 50 more. A few minutes with a wire brush works wonders. </SPAN>

 

you are gonna hate me but I think you have dem brake reaction rod bushings in backwards. They appear to be the "cone into donut" style and if thats the case the donut side is at the front of the car. I put mine in backwards as I wasn't able to get them to thread on (just like you LOL) the other way.

 

Just wanted to know the front springs part number used for your system? I need to replace the
ones in my LeSabre 455. Nice job on your car. Yeah, springs will give you a pucker or two.

 

They are the "cone into donut" style and I do have the donut on the front, per the directions. Thanks for the tip though because I will double check just to be sure.

 

The springs are OE. They were in good shape so they just got sand blasted and painted. I believe that they are specific to a convertible with AC. I did replace the insulators up in the spring pocket.

 

The radius rod bushings are in correctly :TU:

This weekend's job was to install the aftermarket sway bar and remaining steering linkage. The sway bar install was cancelled because the incorrect one was sent by PST. The heavier sway bar is incorrectly listed by Addco for both a '64 Wildcat and Riviera, but it is 2" short of the OE bar. This is the Addco #2062 bar that is 1-1/4 diameter. The correct Addco bar is their #530 bar whcih is shared with the Electra and is 1-1/8 diameter. I am now working with PST and Addco to get the correct bar.

The steering linkage install was mostly trouble free except that you have to install the center link with either the pitman arm or the drag link not installed. The center link will hit on the engine oil pan if you try to install it with both the pitman arm and drag link in place. I found out the hard way.uzzled: The tie rod ends were installed, torqued to spec, and pinned. I measured the old tie rods and set up the new to the same length, using the grease fittings as my guide. I will use a string or other method to fine tune my steering geometry to get me to the alignment shop.

 

I used one of those measuring tapes tailors use and got my tie rods pretty darn close LOL. Only had a short drive to my alignment guy though. I did my front end in my parking spot of my apartment. I wish I had a garage to work in.

How much is the sway bar? I used the stock sway bar but used poly bushings and it made a pretty decent difference in controlling the roll. what type of shocks are you going to use? I will be converting to disc brakes in the next month or so and I think I am going to go with the bilstein shocks.

 

I am using the Monroes that were on the car when I bought it ~4 years ago. They were new then. I have some KYB Gas Adjust shocks that I must modify to fit. Not too many options for the full size cars.

The sway bar was about $200. I am working with PST to return it with a refund. More about that later...

I am also going the OE sway bar with poly bushings and end links for now. I can use the $200 towards a new exhaust :Brow:

 

the latest kanter catalog has a listing for bilstein shocks for the full size cars.

 

After much struggling to get the correct performance sway bay, end links and/or bushings I have finally got the last piece of the puzzle for the suspension rebuild. I settled on using the OE sway bar but with new poly end links and bushings from Energy Suspension. As you can see they look good and fit right:


She is just about ready for a shake-down drive once I get the aligment close enough to safely drive to the alignment shop. I will do a quick check of all fasteners to be sure I haven't missed anything.