Hey guys, Need to do my control arm bushings, but got a question. When getting the parts, they asked me if I had oval or round bushings....Well, honestly, cant really tell from under the car, and dont want to tear it all apart to find out(want to have the right part ready to go) What would I most likely have on a 71 Malibu(changing upper and lower)? Whos done this job before???any words of advice?

You can tell by looking at them, no tear-apart necessary. The rear side of the arms will be either oval or round, the front will be round.

It's a lot of work but not that difficult. I've found drilling out the existing rubber frees up the bushings for removal. Burning it out is too messy and smelly.

New ones should sit in the freezer overnight before installation, then press them in yourself or have a shop do it. (not that expensive)

Good luck!
P.S. Typo in your signature line.

Mark's correct.
I might add, the oval/round issue only involves the lower control arms and only then in the rear bushing.
The upper arm bushing are all round.

Your car (71 malibu) *should* have ovals, but that's not always true...

Look at the lower rear bushing, it's easy to tell if you know what to look for.

My '71 Chevelle Malibu had oval bushings in the rear of the front lower control arms. Had my control arms modified for round bushings though :) .

Found some pics:

Here's an oval bushing: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.yearone.com/images/parts/l/lb318.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.yearone.com/serverfiles/headline.asp%3Fhid%3D519AD49379&h=200&w=200&sz=4&tbnid=FWEC3Mz8L9UJ:&tbnh=99&tbnw=99&hl=en&start=7&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522round%2Bbushing%2522%26svnum%3D1 0%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26c2coff%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa %3DG

Here's a round bushing:http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.yearone.com/images/parts/l/lb318.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.yearone.com/serverfiles/headline.asp%3Fhid%3D519AD49379&h=200&w=200&sz=4&tbnid=FWEC3Mz8L9UJ:&tbnh=99&tbnw=99&hl=en&start=7&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522round%2Bbushing%2522%26svnum%3D1 0%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26c2coff%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa %3DG

(Sorry, both links keep reverting to round - see the oval bushing a little lower on the page or the thumbnail at the top)


Thanks, Bill for mentioning the LOWER control arm only! My understanding is that the ovals were used on the malibu models for a slightly less firm suspension, the round on the heavy-duty or F41 suspensions. But many times they've been swapped at the factory as parts were available, and on a 35 year old car someone else could also have switched control arms - it's possible, but unlikely, that you have one of each! Check both sides just to be safe.

My understanding is that the ovals were used on the malibu models for a slightly less firm suspension, the round on the heavy-duty or F41 suspensions. But many times they've been swapped at the factory as parts were available, and on a 35 year old car someone else could also have switched control arms - it's possible, but unlikely, that you have one of each! Check both sides just to be safe.

Mostly true. '70 was the first year of the ovals, so all previous years had round. on '70-72s SS cars got round, plain malibus got oval, (not sure about F-40 and F-41 cars) but like mentioned above, if they didn't have the right part in the bin, they assembled it with the wrong one. Some cars have been known to come with one of each :eek:

Alright thanks guys!!
Ive got Oval on the bottoms alright, (now that I know what to look for)
How costly would it be to swap control arms to have all round? and would it be worth it considering im going BB(extra weight on front??)

You can probably get a set of control arms for cheap from a variety of sources, like the junkyard or someone here. The "improvement" if I should call it that is probably not that noticeable, and you could get better results with a handling package like Hotchkis or similar - combination of springs, shocks and swaybar. I have the hotchkis package and love it - my car drives like it's on rails.

Don't forget you can't keep your stock springs if you're going Big Block.

Yeah, Going to BB springs, however, Im really liking how the front end sits kinda low, are there any springs out there that will keep it low like it is now and still SAFELY handle the BB?

There are a variety of ways to get the car low, safely, and keep your handling. Spindle swap, lowering springs, air ride instead of springs etc. You can also cut springs, but I don't think that's the BEST way - it will shorten the travel length of your A-arms