MakoJoe

I tried the Air Chisel and a 3 Pound BF Hammer then found the only way these parts are coming out is to press them out with a tool. I got the rear half of the bolt out and modified my other tool but need to buy a bolt so I do not destroy the original bolt. I need to grind it down to fit into the hole just a tad too large. Bought a 6 Inch grinder today and also a wire wheel for the grinder to clean up parts to paint. Sometimes you have to use tools you have to modify other tools to do the job or buy new tools. In this case I will modify a tool I have to fit my needs instead of buying another tool.





Once I buy a new bolt grind down the area that needs to fit I can press out the Shock Mount Side. Already tried my BF Hammer and Air Chisel this is not moving without pressing it out.

AboveTheLogic

Yeah you have a lot more rust there than I did, and I still didn't have any luck until I sprayed PB blaster everyday for a week and tried again.

Good job again, getting it out. I remember the aches from the all the BFH impacts I made.

MakoJoe

Next I had to remove what was left of the Strut/Shock Mount. For this I made a tool which is shown here. By using Double Nuts on the end it helps a lot and can be used like a bolt. Since I did not know how much pressure it was going to take to press them out I modified a Tie Rod Removal Tool to fit on the parts tight.









The old Chamber Strut Arms that I had to cut out of the car.



Nice load pop when the metal broke loose and required a heck of a lot of less effort then a BFH or the Air Chisel which did not move them at all.

I probably could have used a C-Clamp to hold the parts together while I applied lots of pressure on the Home Pin Removal Tool I made. I knew it would take a lot of pressure to get them out since a BFH and Air Chisel did not move them at all. Only took a few minutes with the tool I made.

Now I can start to put it back together again.

AboveTheLogic

Great idea. I was under there with a air hammer and my BFH and PB blaster for a while to get mine out.

MakoJoe

I Did that for about 30 minutes than said I have to do something else. I like to work smarter most of the time not harder since everything on this car is almost all original on the suspension and drive train and many parts have never been removed in the 38 years this car came off the factory floor. I can say the 4 bolts that hold the Strut Arm Bracket Dropped out pretty easily with just a light turn from a 2 foot breaker bar.

I have found everything on this car takes lots of patience and time to take it apart. I think I enjoy putting it back together more. But the challenge of figure out best way to ease my life taking it apart is also fun. Allows me to be creative

On C3 Forum in Facebook we have many mechanics that have a full service shop telling that is not so bad and I am like Not all of have a full service shop with all the cool tools to work with many of us guys are backyard mechanics with what we know how to use and have at our disposal of our garages sometimes we will buy a new tool but many times just use what we have We have to work smarter and many times harder since we do not always have what we need

MakoJoe

Decided this evening to find out why the Mount was so hard to remove as if I already did not know. The pin the Strut Rod rides on was very rusted and frozen then took some effort to pound it apart.

MakoJoe

Going to start putting the car back together this coming weekend. I will be using a Silicone Based Grease to reassemble the moving parts for 2 reasons. Silicone will not absorb water like Petroleum Based Greases do and stay pliable longer than does not dry out like it either 2nd reason mostly because I am installing Poly Urethane Bushings that Petroleum Based Grease will soften and eat into.

I have a few parts to paint than I can start to put it all back together again.

MakoJoe

Installing the Strut Arms require some muscle to get them installed. I got one side installed on passenger Side. The pin since it is notched requires it to go in just right. I greased it all down with a Silicone Grease on the new parts. Two reasons Silicone Grease resists water then prevent future corrosion and will stay pliable for years plus Marine and other Petroleum Based Greases will eat into Poly Bushings than soften them. Reason for using Poly Urethane Bushings it is to stiffen the suspension.

I will take some pictures when I have them and an explanation how it was done.

MakoJoe

Took me about an Hour to install the new Adjustable Strut back in the Corvette. I had to try a few things to make my life easier.

First thing I did was cut a Block of wood to get my rear suspension close to ride height on both sides. By doing this you will reduce the amount of binding while you install the parts.



Next I put the Shock/Strut mount into my vice and used a File to increase the Taper at the End. I could have used my new Grinder but would have taken me longer since it is not mounted to my bench or plugged in yet.



Once I tapered the Pin it took a lot less time to get it installed. I fought with it for a few minutes and said to myself it is only missing by about a 1/16 of an inch. I used a 16 oz hammer to pound it in. Before installing them into the car I liberally spread on Silicone Grease because it is a moving part. This will prevent future rust and silicone grease is will stay pliable and good in temps from -5 to 400 Degrees. If you look close at the Strut Arms you will see the Copper Anti-Seize Compound I put on the movable parts. When using this product coat both the Bolt Going in and Put a large dab on the inside of the Threads then spread it evenly. This make sure you have even coverage on all parts. Also when looking at this assembly this is the Drivers Side which is the left side of the car on the Passenger Side it will say Right this makes sure when the Alignment Tech that will readjust the Chamber Settings will not get confused on which way to turn the Adjustable Strut Arm when they tune your Alignment. They can crank down or loosen both sides in the same directions while they adjust your Chamber on the Rear Suspension.



Do not install the Center Mount yet because you will fight with it if you do need to be able to move the parts side to side and up and down to install the Mounts at the Wheel Hubs. I has set the length on the
locking nuts then had to loosen each side about a 1/2 of an inch to increase the length to give me more working room on the parts.



Left the extra length while I bolted in the Center Mount.



Than almost have tightened it all down. Install the Shock at this point so it aligns the Pin and Shock mount before you crank down on the nut to pull the Nurled Mount into place. This will prevent the Pin from being slightly misaligned since there is a little play in the new parts. Now I have to re-install a Mono Leaf Spring which I have not purchased yet. May take a few weeks to get this installed since I am waiting to pay off all my other parts I purchased.

AboveTheLogic

Are those new strut mounts or are you reusing your old ones?

When I did my suspension, I reused my old mounts. This is what happened:

Attachment 48364247

The mount turned in its socket and let the shock pop out. I noticed some extra bounciness in the rear and peeked under to see that.

I ordered new mounts and hardware and its been fine ever since. Thankfully I didn't damage my brand new bilstein shocks!

MakoJoe

I had to cut out my old Strut/Shock mounts since they were so rusted I had to go through extra steps to remove them. I created a tool to press the old mount out. Read back a little and you will see all my steps.





When you read the first page of my post you will see the extra steps I went through to get them removed.

AboveTheLogic

Oh right, I remember that now. That mount you posted a picture of looked dirty and scuffed up so I just wanted help you not repeat the same mistake I did.

MakoJoe

I made the down turn mistake on my first mount on the driver side when I started to draw in the knurled Mount. I had to press it back out again. this is what makes us amateurs back yard garage Mechanics so I am attempting to help others not make the same mistakes I made with my tips on how to do it right.

A buddy of mine has so much crap in his garage he cannot pull his toys in LOL He has to do in the driveway

MakoJoe

Figure I would show installing the shock and how it will align the Mount.

When installing the shock install the upper shock bolt first and leave it loose because you will need the extra play to install the lower shock to the mount. I had to buy all new hardware for this because I did not want to reuse the old rusted hardware. I spread an even coat of Silicone Grease on the upper bolt and the lower mount since these are moving parts that will seize many years later.




I than used a BF Hammer to set the Nurled Pin into place between banging it in a bit and setting the shock I will not encounter the problem of movement I had the first time I attempted to draw the Mount in to the Suspension. You can see the excess Silicone Grease oozing from the Mount as I hit with the 3 Pound BFH. It would take to long to pound that mount in because it takes a lot of hammering so I used the old Nut on the outside to draw it in using a 2 foot breaker bar. I could use the impact but that could also strip the threads with the amount of pressure it takes to press in the new Mount so I chose the manual labor method on both sides.

mooncricket

I just did that strut rod removal job. After a few good whacks with a brass hammer on one of them I decided to get the tool to hammer on instead. I looked on Zip's website and stumbled into this version of the tool instead, I had no idea this even existed:

http://www.zip-corvette.com/catalog/...-removal-tool/

So I ordered up one and went to my local Harbor Freight for one of these (the reviews were actually pretty good):

http://www.harborfreight.com/medium-...mer-69866.html

I soaked them in Kroil a couple of times while I waited for the ZIP order to arrive. They hammered right out after I ran the air pressure all the way up to 140 and turned the regulator on the air hammer all the way up. That cheap little hammer has some serious *****. They were rusted in about as much as yours having been in there since 1968. I had them out in about 30 seconds each side.

I figure $55 plus $15 for the gun would be $70. If I started cutting them up and smashing them out with a BFH I'd be buying new ones that would be Chinese for the going rate of $45 each, so figure $90 plus a ton of my time.

Then I put the chisel that came with the gun back in and unfolded the knurls on my cross-member cushions... I was able to chisel a cut line along the back of the tab, and then fold them right up with the chisel.

Too late for you since you licked it already but some food for thought for others...

MakoJoe

Great Advice to others about to take on this project

Non of those would have helped me out since everything was frozen tight with rust Everything on this car since it came out of Michigan and sat for many years has not been easy on the suspension replacements. I am dealing with more rust than others on the parts. I do know others that do not care about the cost and spending way more than I am restoring 1975 through 1982 Corvettes knowing they will never get the cost out of them if they ever sell these cars. I will own it till I die so I am a Die hard C3 Owner

I seem to be showing the worst case on both of my front and rear suspension replacements. It takes me weeks to months to perform the work instead of days.

MakoJoe

I still cannot get my Shock mounts to seat all the way in by pulling them in with the nut only destroyed the nut and stripped it out since the mount is forged Steel and did not damage the threads on it. Pounding them in with a BFH is not working either. Guess I will have to get inventive again and find a tool I have to press them in. Just another thing when installing new parts.

How do you get this new part to install? Because this and other things I have tried are not getting it to seat in there. Yup asking for help on this one since the new part is not seating on both sides.

Do any of you guys have a tool Idea that I cannot seem to figure out yet? C-Clamp slips off tried it this evening. Other tools I have are not long enough that I used to remove the parts.

Thanks

MakoJoe

Did a little more work today to prepare for the new Mono Spring which should be here about Wednesday of next week. I purchased all new mounting hardware since I really could not reuse the old parts. If you look at the line where the spring sat on the center mount you will see the spring moved about 3/8 of an inch off center over the last 38 years. The Upper Cups that held the bushings were so wallowed because the spring had moved in the center mount out I had to pry them out of the car. I showing the Lower Bushing Cup in the Middle with the 2 wallowed out Bushing Cups on either side of the one I could probably reuse.


If you look really close you can see how far it had moved over the years and the center mount is no longer useable and really warped. Hard to take a picture of how warped it is.



There is about a 1/8 inch uneven gap when I put the center mount into the Vise.



The cup was so wallowed out I had to use a pry bar pounding it in and lubing it with WD 40



The lower Bushing Mount Cup is in the center with the 2 Wallowed out Upper Cups are on either side of a still fairly good mounting cup.

LS4 PILOT

I also like the way you work , dividing the project into smaller ones. This allows you to not get burnt out tearing it down into a million pieces all at once and enjoy your car some in the mean time after completing a job. Not to mention breaking the bank all at once.

I enjoy your rebuild projects.

MakoJoe

Thanks LS4, I enjoy the work and do like to do a little at a time even though my projects take weeks or months to complete. Some Health problems also keep from working all day long on the car so I only spend an hour or 3 at a time working on it so I do not hurt myself.

I will have it road worthy next weekend rest of the parts are on the way and be here mid week.

Next project is a Monster TH350 Transmission this I will also post online since there is some special tools needed. Guy on Facebook owns a transmission shop and advised me on the best tools to have and procedure on replacing it. Mean while I will keep away at the car until it is restored.