MakoJoe

Removed the Drivers Side Spring this evening which really does not require much effort just a long pry bar. You can probably do it without a pry bar with more effort.



Inserted the pry bar towards the front of the car and applied very little downwards pressure to get it out



The spring has now been removed.




Now that spring has been removed I will spray the lower Control Arm Bolts with PB Blaster and let it soak until tomorrow. As you can again see I am fighting a lot of rusted parts since my car came from the Great Lakes Area and now lives in Colorado.

After I performed a VIN Search on Google.com I found an EBAY AD on a Site from Michigan so this car saw lots of rain, snow and salt over it's lifetime.


This is as far I will go today At the moment rust is preventing me from removing the Upper and Lower Control Arms.

MakoJoe

Finally removed the Lower Control Arm with lots of hammering since the rear bolt was rusted frozen to the mounting arm. Then put it up on the Vice.




Broke the nut free on the Ball Joint with my 2 Foot Breaker bar and left the nut on.



Installed the Cheap Ball Joint Tool and cranked down on it. Persuaded it with a hammer, cranked down some more persuaded with the hammer. Did this about 4 times to break it free.



Removed the Spindle Assembly



Removed the Bushing Bolts with a little persuasion from the rubber mallet since I did not want to muscle them loose.

MakoJoe

Decided to use a Coping Saw this time to cut the Rubber Bushings away.



Peeled them away and used a utility knife to cut the rest free.



Heated up the Bushing Sleeves



Than Beat on them with my Wood Chisel to bend them away from the Control Arm and break them loose



Than used my Air hammer Chisel and more Heat by melting the rubber bushings to remove them.

MakoJoe

The Inner Sleeve was still rusted solid to the mounting arm.



Used my Wood Chisel to spread it open and sprayed a bunch of PB Blaster on the Sleeve.
Than used my Wood Chisel to pound them off.



Used the Plumbers 120 Grit Emory Cloth and a Wire Brush to clean up the mounting arms.



This took about 2 hours this afternoon and is as far as I am going to work on this weekend.

The Upper Control Arm Mounting Bolts are still Frozen in place with rust so I need to do a bunch of pound on those to get them out.

Bad Bird

Great thread! I will archive this one away for when the time comes...

MakoJoe

Thanks

Looked at removing the Upper Control Arm on the Drivers side. I will need to remove the Alternator and Bracket to get it out than push the Fan Shroud as far away as I can without removing it and the Radiator. Pictures to come when I perform the task.

There is just no clearance so I should have removed it before I started on unbolting the Upper Control Arm



I have moved the Fan Shroud out of the way also to get more clearance. If you remember early on I removed the fan for clearance on the passengers side.

MakoJoe

Tonight was the easiest night I have had tearing stuff apart.

I took apart the Left Front Spindle Assembly and since it did not have the rust the passenger side had I used my air impact to remove the bolts.



Pulled everything apart and put it on the drivers side of the car so I do not mix up parts. Removed the Ball Joints from both upper and lower control arms again put the parts on the side of the car they belong on.



I than moved the Alternator out of my way



Than removed the Drivers Side Upper Control Arm. Note to self and others move the alternator before unbolting this sides upper control arm the room is needed. Also remove the Fan, the Air Intake Snorkel, and loosen the Fan Shroud Dudes because you need the extra room if all this stuff is still in the car.



Removed the Ball Joint this time since I am going to media blast the control arms and spindle assemblies.



Shocked the bushing bolts loose with a Rubber Mallet.



This Upper Control Arm was not as rusted as the Passenger Side so I went straight for the Air Hammer Chisel. Man this was the easiest of all the parts I have removed so far.



Worked it on both sides with the air hammer chisel and took my time with a few hammers on each side until it moved out.





It popped loose so easy I was happy.



Just used a Wire Brush First then cleaned up the rusted areas with the Emory Cloth 120 grit sand paper.




Parts put on the drivers side of the car so I do not mix up any parts.



Done for the evening and now ready to Media Blast all the parts and start to repaint them. Next time you see stuff is after they are painted. This weekend is supposed to be nice on Saturday so will not work on it again until then

MakoJoe

Now before I Media Blast All the parts you can tell my how much I sucked using cheap tools and showing you how I used them and totally disassembled the front suspension on my 1977 Corvette.

It was about 20 hours to get where i am at now and Media Blasting this weekend will only take about 2 hours then as long as the temps stay warm I will also prime and paint all the parts this weekend with no pictures on the process.


The Next time this post will be updated is when I start to assemble all the parts again with all the new parts I purchased.

MakoJoe

Figured I would show you the prep work before media blasting the suspension parts. Wrapped the hell out of the spindles with tape.

First I used Brake Cleaner and got all the oil and grease off the Spindles.




Then I wrapped them with a butt load of tape.





Tomorrow I will put a layer of Duct Tape over the other tape but used the painters tape first since I do not want Glue Stuck to all the parts. I broke down today and bought one of those Cheap Harbor Freight Media Blast Cabinets for about $100.00 Bucks with a 20% discount coupon since they were on Sale. Thought about standing there with a hood and heavy clothing than said buy the cabinet and wear a good dust mask instead of breathing sand or spending lots of bucks on other protective stuff.

http://www.harborfreight.com/abrasiv...net-42202.html

Then I will Media Blast all the parts and paint them since it will be the last nice day in the low 70s for awhile. We have rain coming in on Sunday and Monday then the rest of next week is going to be to cold to paint. Next weekend I will be able to start Reassembly of the Front Suspension so more pictures to come as I put all this stuff back on the car

MakoJoe

Media Blasting took much longer than I thought today so only have some of the parts painted after about 7 hours worth of work.

I can be inventive and used my car ramps to hang my parts outside the garage. Then painted the parts today. Wish I got further but cleaning parts takes lots of time.

Painting not so bad as long as i waited 15 min between coats and did it in a 1 hour period with the paints I used I put 3 coats of paint on all parts. Yup read the instructions on the rattle can.



This is far as I got today with media blasting and paint the passenger side stuff.




Since I hung all my parts on a rod I was able to move them inside for the evening

MakoJoe

Using an old technique to remove rust from bolts called White Vinegar which is 5% acidic and from all my reading works great if you have a couple of days.

First I cleaned all the Oil and Grease off the Bolts with Brake Cleaner and shook them up a bit to agitate the parts in a Tub. Then wiped off the excess oil and grease.



Next I took two more tubs and put the parts in them than covered them up with the Vinegar.








I will let these sit until Friday inside the house at room temperature and will show you the results then. It will either clean the parts like all articles and posts I have read or not. Now I wait

MakoJoe

Bolt Restoration is Tedious and takes time. After Soaking the bolts I need that I could not find replacements for about 60 hours all the rust was removed but Vinegar will leave a Black Scale on the parts when Soaked this long to remove the really deep down rust.

So I took my Variable Speed Drill with a Wire Wheel on it at very low RPMs and removed the Scaling.



I gave the parts a bath in Brake Cleaner to remove the stuff.



Cleaned parts ready for paint to prevent future rust. I will paint the bolts with a Rust Inhibiting Black Paint.



tomorrow I will finish Media Blasting my Front Suspension parts and get them painted and will be able to start some reassembly.

MakoJoe

Well I did not finish Sand Blasting all the parts today. I need to get a Dryer to remove the water from the lines for the Air Compressor so I was fighting moisture all day today.

While I got a the Drivers Side Spindle Assembly Media Blasted still have not been able to get to the Control Arms. I ran out of day light and even though I purchased a Blast Cabinet it still has to be used outside.

Great thing about a Media Blast Cabinet is you only need to wear a really good filter mask so you do not coat your lungs with the dust.

I did prep my bolts for paint since I do not want them to rust in the future. Poked some holes in some cardboard so the areas I want to paint are exposed.



Still plugging away at so I can finish painting.

MakoJoe

While it was in the high 60 temps on Sunday I painted the nuts and bolts than moved them inside so the paint will cure which takes 72 hours. There is 4 coats of paint on all these parts with a Rust Inhibiting Semi Gloss Black Paint.

Good thing I watch the weather since the weather went to crap today high right now is 15 Degrees outside and not much warmer in the garage which is in the low 40s.



On Sunday I also purchased a better Dryer/Filter for my Air Compressor and installed it. While Colorado is generally Dry and Arid we have had moisture in the air which kept me from sand blasting all my parts in Saturday. I struggled for about 3 hours trying to get parts sand blasted. Water in the lines kept me from doing it in the time frame I wanted. I also had to run by Sears to buy some new ceramic nozzles for the sand blaster. The one that came with the Cheap Harbor Freight Cabinets sucks everything but sand so I am using the Blaster I bought about 5 years ago from Sears and it works much better. All this stuff is made in China but the quality of the Sears Sand Blaster Nozzle is much better then the HF Tools nozzle. Sucks up the sand and Blows the rust off.

Will not be able to work on the car again until next weekend which will be in the low 50 to high 40 degrees outside to finish sand blasting the control arms and drivers side spindle parts.

MakoJoe

Since it was too cold this evening to really do anything else I reassembled my Right Front Spindle Assembly

I bought a new seal for the spindle and placed it on.



Reviewed my tear down pictures since it has been weeks than reassembled the Dust Shield, Tie Rod, Disk Brake Bracket and Spindle.



You may not see it but bent the Tab that hold the last bolt in place



Damn this stuff looks almost brand new now.

I will bring it indoors and hit the exposed threads with Rust Inhibiting Black Paint to prevent future rust tomorrow after the parts get up to room temps. I will show how I paint indoors later but it will include a huge box so I do not get over spray everywhere. Wish it was warm enough outside to paint but we have to go into the lower levels of the house when it gets too cold outside.

Tomorrow is going to be in the mid 30s and it might snow so hoping to do some more sand blasting of the drivers side parts.

phat87

Keep them cards and letters comin'. I'm subscribed to your thread and absorbing it all like a sponge.

Thanks taking the time and effort to do this post. Much appreciated believe me. I'll be doing my front suspension in a few weeks. I'm just starting on the rear now.

MakoJoe

Your Welcome

I enjoy posting almost as much as I enjoy performing the work. It does take a little extra time to take the pictures while I perform the work but it also provides me a record of how I tore it down than also helps me when I go to put it back together again since it has been weeks since I started the project.

The Weather Gods at local news lied to me yesterday. It was 27 Degrees and clear skies when I woke up this morning then it went to hell in just a few hours Temps Dropped and it started to snow. Was not supposed to Snow until evening and temps were supposed to be in the 30s today. By noon it was 15 Degrees outside and started to snow around 10 AM. Very little work done on the car today. Cleaned of some parts and brought inside so I can paint them on Sunday downstairs. Puts me a week behind the schedule I set for myself. Hopefully next weekend I can blast and paint the Control Arms since I am taking off Turkey Week and borrowing a Club Members Repair Shop Garage to press my bushings in than reassemble the Suspension. he has all the equipment I need to press in the new bushings.

Great Guy and Owns One Stop Garage in downtown Castle Rock CO. I have to give him a plugin since he is helping me out by allowing me to use his shop for a few hours. If any of you live in the area I suggest you look this shop up for repairs because they are an honest shop and do not take advantage of you. I have paid his shop for repairs on my other daily driver and they worked with me very well. If your going to pay someone to do work find an honest shop. I have worked with dishonest shops before that try to up sell me on repairs. This company does not do that.

http://www.1stoptireandauto.com/



Putting it together again will not take long and have to buy some more parts this week so I have them by next weekend.

tejasak

Love this thread, this is my "Winter Project" this year. I in fact I just ordered all of my parts. I am just curious why you didn't just media blast the bolts.

I look forward to more post.

MakoJoe

I generally do not think it is a good idea for 3 reasons. First the bolts are too hard to hold while blasting them and the media/sand would be too course to get into the threads than also might damage the parts. Also you cannot blast the nuts and washers So since I like to work smarter and not harder I chose to use Vinegar to remove the rust

I probably could have just put the bolts in my vice and used a variable speed drill with a wire wheel but it would have taken a long time per bolt since mine were so rusted. I did finish them up with a wire wheel but I like to not work very hard and have time to wait.

My bench is kind of a mess right now and I need to clean it up one day But there a few beers on it while I work. Always have an extra lined up so I can limit my trips to the fridge


I Assembled the Drivers Side Spindle Assembly this evening.

Installed the new Dust Shield.



Then bolted it back together again. Showing both sides so you can see where the Caliper Bracket and Tie Rod Mount is installed. There are 2 bolt sizes and the longer bolt goes on the Tie Rod mounting arm side.

MakoJoe

I did move the snow in front of my garage on Sunday and break out my $120 Harbor Freight Blast Cabinet to Sand Blast my Passenger Side Upper and Lower Control Arms. They are a tight fit in the smaller cabinet but fit in there and with a little manipulation they can be blasted in this cabinet.

It was Freezing Snow ***** cold outside about 25 Degrees so I only worked until my Toes got cold and ran out of Sunlight.

There was still water in my pressure lines even after I installed a new Dryer/Filter on my air compressor so it took about about an hour to get all the water out of my lines that kept freezing then took a total of 2.5 hours to get these mostly cleaned up and will have to throw them back in for some touch up Blasting when it is warmer outside this coming weekend.

Yup this is me for working outside in those cold temps.

I am now at a stand still and cannot progress any further until all the Control Arms are Sand Blasted and painted which I expect to have done on Saturday. I am taking off the whole Turkey Day week so expect to be able to reassemble the car starting on Turkey Day and Black Friday. We have no family coming into town and not going anywhere this year.

I will take pictures of me pressing the new bushings in hopefully on Tuesday November 25th after the paint cures/hardens inside the house for a couple of days and need to call my buddy at the One Stop Auto to let him know which day I will come in and borrow his Press and Tools.