Darren guided me to these aswell, got them ordered the other day, as soon as he gets some time well knock out this deal too!.

great post! the pics are very good and informative, thanks!

 

Did you use offset cross bars on this rebuild? The ones that attach to the upper control arms? Is it important to use offset versions? or can you live with standard ones? What real gain do you get with offset?

 

Only need the offset ones if you are having frame sag problems and have issues getting it up to alignment specs.

 

I`m doing a frame off resto on a `71 Velle with my 16yr son. Talked to a friend last night at a local cruise in and he told me about PST bushings he used on his rebuild. So I come home did a search on our site and what do ya know... found this wonderful write up by Tom... I must say this site and community never I mean never fails on anything I and we need. I`m for sure going with the PST complete kit on our `71. What great reviews ya`ll are giving. The knowledge and time spent on posting articles on anything about our cars (vells one and all) is absolutey amazing. I want to thank everyone for what they do for all of us. Someday I can`t wait to post the pics of our Velle when it`s finally done, so everyone can see the finished product of all the help they have givin us. Thanks again for the best community out there. K.Miller

 

hi tom, great pics and write up.. i'm about to be doing that in the next month... jeff

 

Thanks for good words guys. Might be more stuff along this line coming up soon.

 

Hadn't seen this thread before. Good writeup Tom. Wish I'd known about the tuning fork for air hammers, and air hammering the bushings out but I know now. I intend to do this job to my drag car, so it should be a piece of cake with one under my belt and the air hammer knowledge.

I just installed their polygraphite superkit on my 64 sleeper a couple weeks ago(before I saw this thead). It wasn't bad, I own a press and I bought a front end service set to get the tie rods out of the centerlink. I've never done any front end work before, always hired that crap done. If I can do it anyone can. However I had pulled my front clip(never had done that either) because I was on a goober cleaning mission so that made my front end job a lot easier probly.

I didn't have any trouble with the springs. What's trouble is getting rivets out of upper bj's but I finally got the hang of that. Grind a flat spot, drill a hole half the way down, grind the head off and hit it with a punch in the hole you drilled. Use the same drill to drill the rubber out of your old bushings so all you have to extract is the shell. I pressed mine out, talk about a wrestlin match.

Now to teach myself how to do a home alignment. Thinking about ebaying an old alignment setup. Also thinking these upper control arms aren't going to be fun to work with setting caster and camber. Found some good videos on ehow.com that succeeded in beating the concepts into my head and I think I can align it fine, just need the engine in and some measurememnt tooling. Need different front springs, thinking trick springs. Had an old set of 3 way shocks I stuck in it to replace the 64 originals.

 

Tim,

google around awhile on DIY front end alignment. there's a million articles and pics out there. I did my own.

 

Crud, my article on DIY alignment is MIA. wonder what happened to it?

 

yeah I saw you had done your own align, then no more mention of it. Oh I've been tearing google up on frt end align. That's what gave me the idea to ebay a setup was one of the writeups that came up in a google search. If I'm gonna do it, I'll own the crap to do it right as this 1 car won't be the last. I also have the drag car and a 55 too.

 

I found all the pics on my photobucket acct. I need to re-write the posts.

Truth be told, caster/camber gauges and tram bars are available so cheap it hardly makes sense to use the old DIY methods.

 

see this sample on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEV...-w-MAGNETIC-ADAPTER-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ110572579066QQptZRaceQ5fCarQ5fParts

looks pretty typical of the bunch. about $100.

here's the toe-in bar or tram gauge, didn't find it on the first pass

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Long...End-Alignment-79620-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ130403259566QQptZRaceQ5fCarQ5fParts

 

Darren,

I did mine in 2 steps, had another set of control arms, blasted and painted, installed all the stuff, had it all done. Then on another day jacked the car up and did the big switcheroo. A lot of work is what it was.

 

Excellent work, Tom.

I didn't see this when it was "new"; I'm glad I saw it tonight.

I'm most impressed that you showed the spacers for protecting the control arms during the bushing press operations. Most guys don't bother, and then the control arm is permanently distorted. I use polyurethane bushings, and I don't remove the steel outer shells--I just polish them and slide the new poly bushing and inner sleeve into the original shell--so no press needed.

One suggestion: I put my picklefork/air hammer away after borrowing this tool set from NAPA--p/n SER 41690. It was part of their "Loaner Tool" program. I liked it so much I bought the thing instead of returning it. It will separate tapers--ball joint, tie rod end, idler arm, etc--without damage to the rubber boots or steel/iron parts. A similar set is available from other parts stores as part of a "loaner" program. Try it, you'll like it... (It's available from many sources with other part numbers--for example, Amazon.com: OTC 6295 Front End Service Tool Set - 5 Pc.: Automotive)

 

Goodbye clunk! Thanks for the step-by-step. I just finished rebuilding the front end on my 64. The pictures here helped a lot.

 

nice article I've had my 71 Chevelle frontend apart for sometime now and can't remember which end of the springs go up. One end is ground sorta flat. Thanks for the help. Flager

 

flat end up, blunt end in the -Arm.

 

Hey Guys, I did this a while back with the PST kit but havent driven much. I threw on comp engineering 90/10 shocks and new Moog # 5372 front spring. I torqued everything back to spec...it seems to sit higher in the front then others cars on here with the same spring/setup....is it possible somethig is a little tight and now allowing it to squat all the way? Heres a pic of how she is sitting now...about a 4"+ gap..

 

I torqued everything back to spec...it seems to sit higher in the front then others cars on here with the same spring/setup....is it possible somethig is a little tight and now allowing it to squat all the way?

Rubber bushings? Was the suspension at normal ride height when you torqued the center bolts?

If you used polyurethane bushings, it doesn't matter what position the suspension is in when the bolts are torqued, but rubber bushings will be destroyed in short order if they're torqued with the suspension drooping.

 

Yes, it was down on the ground when we torqued them. They are the PST Polygraphite bushings. Everything was done to spec, coil sits in the proper position etc... Others I see have much less wheel gap...and I was hoping for less as well..

 

cut a coil off that spring.

sure the spring is seated properly up in the frame? It's easy to get it hooked on the locator tabs sticking down. It'll raise the car near 2". Hard to see up in there but but get a light and check it.

 

I will check that tonight...When we installed it we checked everything and it looked ok....but you never know...

 

Brandon, how did you come out on this? Any updates?

 

great write up im fix'n to replace all the supension parts lay out really helps air chisel wont hurt either!

 

get one of these before you start. some stores have them for rental now. worth it at any reasonable price.

 

Tom, thanks for the advice and photos, nice job. I am definitely going tackle the job, my only fear is the coil springs. Any advice on the best way to use a compression tool to remove them?

Will

 

get the right tool, the one in the pic above. put the hooks part up in the spring towards the top. unscrew the bolt till you can slip the fork part through the coil as low as you can. start tightening. I/2" drive air impact is good, but you can do it with a ratchet, best to find a long handled one. Notice the position of the hooks and fork and which way the spring is curved.

going back in I I set the thing up so it will curve the spring the way I need it. don't get the fork part too low or it could get trapped against the A-arm. I usually have the spindle hanging from the upper arm and the nut for the lower ball joint handy.