I have owned 3 chevelles and 1 el camino so far and at every one of them has had missing body bushings. Most often the ones missing are in the front behind the wheel well or in the rear in front of the wheel well. Where the heck are they going? I just can't believe that I am 0 for 4 on having a car with a full set of them.

Mike

Mike
I think only super sports and maybe convertibles had the additional two bushings.When you buy a standard set those two are extra.My 66 malibu did not have the ones in front of the rear wheels.

Rene
66-malibu

I'm not sure that's correct. My brother's 72 Malibu had 14 I believe. I don't know how many are (or ever were) on my '70 Malibu as I haven't taken the body off yet. That's next winter's project http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

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Dave Vanderputten
1970 Chevelle Malibu 307 (In Progress)
TC# 867
ACES# 3967
http://www.crosswinds.net/~daves70/index.htm

What I am saying here is there ARE missing body bushings where they should be. For example, there is one on the corner of the frame in the front by the brake proportioning valve BUT the one on the opposite side of the car is gone. There is a huge hole in the frame and a nut up inside the body, but no bolt and no body bushing.

Mike

WOW, that is very weird. Most folks cannot get the danged bolts out without breaking them and yours are falling out. Never heard of that before.

I parted out a ī68 Skylark for itīs frame and it did have those extra bushings,350-TH-350 car,just a average grocery getter.
HR

Just pulled the body off my67 frame no bushings or caged nut in front of rear wheels I thought this was strange as well??I will be adding some! Don't want to rip the body off when I floor it.I just found a 1970 454 that will be goin in soon good running one for $600 can. thats like 100 dollars american http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif

My Camino is missing the body mount bolt in front of the rear wheel, driver's side.

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70' El Camino SS 396 in pieces! Astro blue, black stripes someday.

If you think about it, the body bolts are not very tight. Normally, to prevent a bolt from loosening, you need to torque it to a certain spec or measure for stretch. This places tension on the bolt and the treads and prevents a properly tightened bolt from loosening. What probably is happening here is that when the bolts are new (and not rusted) the bushing compress and the bolt looses any tension on the threads, then the bolt starts working its way out from vibration. Once the bolt is out, the bushing eventually falls out due to body vibration. Just speculation.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dselko:
What probably is happening here is that when the bolts are new (and not rusted) the bushing compress and the bolt looses any tension on the threads, then the bolt starts working its way out from vibration. Once the bolt is out, the bushing eventually falls out due to body vibration. Just speculation.[/B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
May be so, I just wonder how many people actually check to see if they're all there.

Mike

Recently replaced mine on the 67, missing the bushing before the rear fender well also? the kit came with em' so now it has em'. It would be nice to know why they weren't installed at the factory.

As far as I know the 2 bushings in front the rear wheel are for convertibles. I don't know whether or not you should use them otherwise. I have been told that the stiffness of the coupe/sedan body could conflict with that of the frame, causing one to crack.

As for the correct positioning and number of bushings, check the assembly manual or service manual for YOUR year. They vary from year to year as to which goes where. It appears that the convertible did use a different bushing in the front of the cab than did the others (1972 info).

Missing body bushings are neither uncommon for GM, nor accidential. Every 94-96 Impala SS is missing 6 bushings. (now you would think this car would have every handling item the General could think of)

Okay, every Chevelle and El Camino owner that is registered at this site, go crawl under your rust-buckets right now and I want a tally of how many cars are missing body bushings. Ready.....GO! http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

Mike

missing body bushings - reminds me of an old girlfriend http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif

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Make it the way you like it, forget what the other guys say!

Just replaced all the body bushings on my '71 last week. All the old bushings were there, but the two rear-most bushings were missing the bolts.

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Stan Hanek
'71 SS - 454 4 sp.
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/stan71delivery.jpg

Just to add fuel to the fire...

While in college in Atlanta during the late 60's, a bunch of the guys in my dorm used to moonlight at the GM assembly plant. The stories that came back about how the cars were assembled, things bent, broken and left out, it's no wonder there are a few body mounts and bolts missing. These cars were almost literally thrown together. Adding 30 years, a few bumps and other life-as-a-car things and the others are accounted for. Our cars may be in better structural condition now than when new.

JMC

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John Chapman
jmchapman@aol.com
BCA 35894
1965 Skylark Convertible