I thought I'd take this on myself. After reading the service manual, it seemed pretty straight forward. Then I got the box of bits form Kanter and I'm thinking what the heck am I doing? I'll give it a shot. I've got you guys to back me up right....? So should I take the time to paint the Control Arms and other pieces? Their pretty rusty. Is a rattle can job good enough? It's just a driver but I'm pretty proud of her. Thanks in advance
Definitely clean and shoot everything - otherwise you might just as well send it to the shop - cuz they won't clean and shoot. Last one I did was with rattle cans. Came out fine. Some of the guys will suggest one of the "harder" paints like POR 15 to stand up to the road abuse. If you can enlist a buddy who knows the job to help you, have air tools including a chisel, a pressure washer, maybe a cutting torch for rivet removal and bushing burning, access to a shop press (although I used a five pound sledge for my pressing) :Brow: this job will take you two days. On Monday you're driving to the alignment shop. I think it is a cool DIY job. Impressive to tell people you can rebuild front ends.
I did mine years ago with a spray can and it turned out fine. Think of it as practice - if you get a few runs, no one will notice. If I were to do it today, I'd use POR-15, then topcoat it. Definitely a DIY job. Have fun.
I got it all apart. Man am I sore. Found some missing bolts and bushings. That might have been part of my pulling problem. The upper ball joints were spot welded in place instead of rivetted like the service manual said. I've dropped off the arms at my mechanic's to have them press out the joints and bushings. Now I have time to paint and polish before reassembling this weekend.
After spending hours cleaning the front end for paint, I went with POR 15 because I don't want to do it again. The parts came out good (great for me but only just good for someone with skill). I hope to have it together this Saturday.
My son and I got it together Saturday. Connecting the sway bar was one of the trickier parts but with the help of a wood clamp we were able to squeeze the bushings enough to get the nut on. when it was all together I pushed down on the fender and was concerned with how springy it seemed. Driving it showed me my concerns were unfounded. What a huge difference this has made in the ride of the car using stock replacement parts with the exception of 1.5 inch drop in spring height and sens-a-trac shocks. It no longer pulls hard to the left when you break. No more working the tiller like it was a sail boat. Breaking is much more efficient. The front end no longer dives. Embarrassing clunks are gone when you drive over rough pavement. Rear springs should be here next week and am looking forward to getting them installed. Thanks to all for your encouragement. This was a great project and a fun thing to do with my 14 year old. I can't to cruise next summer! :bglasses:
Thanks Bill! I got them from Eaton www.eaton.com. you give them your car specs and tell them what you want. It sounds like a 10 key is smokin' on the other end and they come back with what they can do. I asked for an inch and a half. the car measured 9.5inches off the ground behind the wheel well. Now it's 8". I'm impressed.
mike: now that u have your son interested , maybe another old buick (restoration?)could be in the works as a father & son project . rebuilding a front end is a lot of dirty work but once it is done , u have pride of completion of a good job and u have gained a lot of experience !
Brad, it took a day to get it apart and half a day to put it back together... plus several evenings of scraping and cleaning and painting. gerry, you're right it would be a blast but we're out of space so it's not in the near future.
John, I didn't stop to take pictures putting it together. I should have. the lower control arm does turn up there. It's like it flattens out to be parallel with the upper. I don't have my camera with me but will try to get a shot tonight for you.