alrighty....i have turned the corner, & its time for the fun part...the front end re-assembly with new and/or cleaned parts....mmmm...i have a factory chassis manual for torque specs, but was just wondering, since i went with poly bushings up front, does that change control arm torque specs at all??....and i still wait till the car is on the ground to take the bolts from just snug to the full torque spec?...yes?

Torque specs are the same and yes,wait until the weight is on them for final torquing. Be sure to use plenty of lube on those bushings or they will squeak.

Actually, with poly bushings it doesn't matter if the weight is on it or not when you torque them down. With poly, the sleeve rotates inside the bushing and it will not have any preload if you tighten it in droop or compression. With rubber bushings, the inner sleeve and outer shell are both bonded to the rubber, and all suspension movement twists the rubber between the sleeve and shell, so they have to be at static ride height when you tighten them, or it's preload will effect your ride height, and bushing life will be severely shortened.

What should the torque specs be for the lower contol arms?

I believe it is 80 ft lbs but I could be wrong.

Be sure to use a lock nut or at least a lockwasher with a nut.

Brian

I put down some stuff on this with a couple of torque settings for a 1969, if you're interested on page two of this section under (upper control arm bolt loose).

Rob