Tmac Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 Im trying to finish up the sspension work and the sway bar is kicking my behind. if i attachthe frame bushings first the drivers side emd is touching the upper control arm and the pass side is about centered between the two. so i attached sway bar to the links first, now i cant get the drivers side frame bushing to push up far enough to get the bolts started into the frame. my question is do you think the sway bar is bent or the frame, or the loose nut behind the wrench? this is the pass side link. it doesnt rally line up well either. if i snug it down it turns the bushings into pie shaped instead of coming down semi uniform. 1 Quote
jft69z Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 All factory type parts? Lay the sway bar on the ground, see if it looks twisted (I imagine you did that already though). Sometimes I'll drop the weight of the car on the suspension to get the sway bar end links close enough to attach. Your situation with the end link bushings is about normal, they'll be deformed to some degree when tightened. 2 1 Quote
71MonteCarloMD Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 It helps to compare with old parts if you are replacing to see locations where they were. 2 Quote
Tmac Posted February 21, 2023 Author Posted February 21, 2023 1 hour ago, jft69z said: All factory type parts? Lay the sway bar on the ground, see if it looks twisted (I imagine you did that already though). Sometimes I'll drop the weight of the car on the suspension to get the sway bar end links close enough to attach. Your situation with the end link bushings is about normal, they'll be deformed to some degree when tightened. yes it is original to the car except the brakets were so beat up and bent the new bushings wouldnt fit in them. Quote
Tmac Posted February 21, 2023 Author Posted February 21, 2023 I also found this after the frame come back from paint. i have to do something with it. the motor mount doesnt fit right. probbly explaines why it was loose when i tore it apart!😁 Quote
Tmac Posted February 21, 2023 Author Posted February 21, 2023 1 hour ago, jft69z said: All factory type parts? Lay the sway bar on the ground, see if it looks twisted (I imagine you did that already though). Sometimes I'll drop the weight of the car on the suspension to get the sway bar end links close enough to attach. Your situation with the end link bushings is about normal, they'll be deformed to some degree when tightened. I did do that with the sway bar . i think, like you said, getting the wheels back on and get on the ground might be the ticket. 1 Quote
71MonteCarloMD Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 34 minutes ago, Tmac said: I also found this after the frame come back from paint. i have to do something with it. the motor mount doesnt fit right. probbly explaines why it was loose when i tore it apart!😁 You may be right as I haven’t gone that far yet! Others who went down this road may chime in with their experience. 1 Quote
Tmac Posted February 21, 2023 Author Posted February 21, 2023 33 minutes ago, 71MonteCarloMD said: You may be right as I haven’t gone that far yet! Others who went down this road may chime in with their experience. you just never look hard enough the first time! LOL im pretty sure that it was hit on its front right at one point. I did find a measurement chart from another thread to check frame squareness??? im gonna work on that tomorrow. Quote
Tmac Posted February 21, 2023 Author Posted February 21, 2023 13 hours ago, MC1of80 said: Hope this helps.. Ya, that's the one I saw yesterday and couldn't find it again!! Thanks, that's cool!!! 1 Quote
420ponies Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 Sometimes you have to get the suspension on the floor a bit before everything lines up. Been There , Done That! As for the motor mount , haven't seen that before. I'm thinking mount will have a space for it ? You do have the correct mount for the engine, right? I went with solid engine mounts on mine. Both chassis and engine mounts. Quote
stangeba Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 I read somewhere years ago that you should NOT tighten the A Arm nuts (or bolts) fully till you have the weight back in place and the tires on and body / frame lowered to the ground. Then you can fully torque the nuts. Anyone else know if this it true? I could picture tightening up everything then it wouldn't want to rotate. 2 Quote
jft69z Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 25 minutes ago, stangeba said: I read somewhere years ago that you should NOT tighten the A Arm nuts (or bolts) fully till you have the weight back in place and the tires on and body / frame lowered to the ground. Then you can fully torque the nuts. Anyone else know if this it true? I could picture tightening up everything then it wouldn't want to rotate. That's absolutely true. What we're saying is just put some weight on the suspension to get the sway bar end links started. This has nothing to do with tightening up the control arm to spec. Those would still be left loose until you get the full weight of the car on the suspension, then tighten to spec. This will help prevent stressing the control arm bushings, especially if they're rubber. 4 Quote
cny first gen 71 Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 32 minutes ago, stangeba said: I read somewhere years ago that you should NOT tighten the A Arm nuts (or bolts) fully till you have the weight back in place and the tires on and body / frame lowered to the ground. Then you can fully torque the nuts. Anyone else know if this it true? I could picture tightening up everything then it wouldn't want to rotate. Like Joe said 100% true, when I worked in the shop I used to leave them loose then drive car from my lift to alignment lift then tighten them up on alignment lift before alignment. 4 Quote
cny first gen 71 Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 17 hours ago, MC1of80 said: Hope this helps.. Would anyone happen to have one of these that may be downloadable so I could print it out? Or know of a way to get it. I wouldn't mind having it. Quote
jft69z Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 1 hour ago, cny first gen 71 said: Would anyone happen to have one of these that may be downloadable so I could print it out? Or know of a way to get it. I wouldn't mind having it. I have one that I snipped from that picture around here somewhere Steve. Once I find it, I'll post it up here. It might be a good one to put in the 'Technical' dropdown page somewhere too. I'll figure something out. 1 Quote
MC1of80 Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 If I remember correctly I purchased it off of eBay. 1 Quote
cny first gen 71 Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 I had one for my 64 chevelle but can't remember where I got it. Quote
jft69z Posted February 21, 2023 Posted February 21, 2023 Here are some pics of what I have. The one with the cross lines was when we were trying to show someone here how to measure for a bent frame. If I can find the original, I'll replace it. 1 Quote
DragCat Posted February 22, 2023 Posted February 22, 2023 1 hour ago, jft69z said: Here are some pics of what I have. The one with the cross lines was when we were trying to show someone here how to measure for a bent frame. If I can find the original, I'll replace it. Thats pretty much what I had, can't find it. It was in a thread I was asking about drive shaft loops and I couldn't find that either. 🙃 Also in this thread Quote
jft69z Posted February 22, 2023 Posted February 22, 2023 This page of frame measurements is available in the GM Factory Service manuals, for future reference. Frame MC-72.pdf 3 Quote
cny first gen 71 Posted February 23, 2023 Posted February 23, 2023 On 2/22/2023 at 9:29 AM, jft69z said: This page of frame measurements is available in the GM Factory Service manuals, for future reference. Frame MC-72.pdf 240.94 kB · 5 downloads Well that works much better but now I can't get my damn printer working. I don't like this technology crap 😡 3 Quote
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