Tom Austin

I decided a while ago that I wanted to swap out my poly rear trailing arm bushings for rubber. I spent the better part of last Sunday taking the rear suspension apart to get the trailing arms out. I figured the install would go much smoother with a bunch of help - so I called upon the best in the area - my buddies Sky65 (Tom Selby) and Bluestripe67 (Dennis King. A last minute invite included Paul Wilkinson who I met a few years ago from the Forum., and who just finished the restoration of his gorgeous 60 you'll see below.

With the new bushings in hand, and the install special tool on loan from "DAN70" (thanks again Dan - today was the day to get 'r done! Dennis & Tom showed up a little before 10 and we got after it and everything went smoothly. Paul showed up @ 11 and offered great supervision! The special tool worked great to not only compress the bushings in, but also to flare the one end of the inner tube.

Right about now Dennis said - "you better be taking some pictures"!!!



Dennis hard at work!



Of course we had a bit of a car show in the driveway (a cyclist even stopped to drool)







I just have to bleed the brakes and install the rear spring and I'll be done! Thanks again for the help today gents - couldn't have done it without you!

Tom

Bluestripe67

Glad to be able to help. We had a good time and acted as if we knew what we were doing. No one would know the difference anyhow. The special tool is easy to use and the results are easy to see. Paul's '60 was NICE Dennis

smacota1

Lots of good looking cars on that parking pad.....can someone say 'Car Show"

Kerrmudgeon

Sometimes it takes a village.

You're lucky those gents are close by to give you a hand. well done.

hcallaway

Eye Candy for the Neighborhood!!!!

rayvaflav

Great idea ! I am sure that all of youse early Corvette loons are looking for an avenue to locally share your expertise and get yer old plastic cars out for a "community service" function. I wish that this would happen more often, start it up in your town, I can rarely repair anything but that won't stop me from showing up and participating. I mean, somebody's gotta' bring some decent beer to these gigs …


Ray

Sky65

It was a fun mob attack on your car. The bushing tool worked well. Glad you had that! What's next?

Tom

elwood13

Frankie the Fink

Good job indeed and glad to know the tool worked.

As I posted last week, some previous neer'-do-well put poly bushing in the front of my 63 trailing arms and they crumbled into small hard bits three weeks ago. So, a friend and I will be tackling this job mid-June.....car is undriveable until then.

So - you did the right thing getting rid of that crappy poly.....when they go - they REALLY go...you can see the chunks down in the frame pocket in the second picture.... Resulting in an azz-clenching, carnival ride, 3 mile drive home at about 20mph...

Just be real careful working with that spring on your own. I ratchet strap the front of the trailing arm around the lift's drive-on ramp.....use a "C" clamp and a wood spacer to hold the bottle jack saddle from sliding.....works great with no drama and I won't put enough tension on the jacked up spring to the point it will dislodge the car on the jack stand using the ratchet strap..

I'm sure there are similar methods if working without a lift to ensure safety.

Jackfit

Pittsburgh coming up soon....amazing that you got the job done.....considering the help....lol...

Jack

Bluestripe67

I want to add something to this story that we discovered that could have created a big problem down the road. With the rotors removed but not indexed, I forgot to do it and the results are below. The passenger side would not go back on flush on the hub. I tried a couple of orientations and found that a very small, almost not seen lip existed 1/16" from the hub face. I had to look very close to see it. The first attempt of mounting the rotor, and holding it to the hub with lug nuts resulted in a very slight wobbling rotor. Since the half shafts were out, spining the hub was easy, so the wobble was clearly seen. If the half shafts had been installed we would have missed the wobble and the result would have been areated brake fluid and deminishing braking ability. Head scratching would then start.
So, anytime anyone takes any rotor off, index it first. Some rotors will be stuck for various reasons, but don't beat on the breaking surface. Once removed, check for any interference. Sand or file any rough surfaces as necessary. We fixed the issue by lightly filing the center of the rotor resulting in a perfect fit and zero wobble. I hope this helps others. Dennis

elwood13

Mikado463

good write up gents and nice to see fellowship amongst the Vette fraternity ! As for the beautiful '60 ....... my fav combo, black, silver cove and red interior !

Railroadman

So Dave, I presume I can put your name down for coming up to help when I pull the body off the '64?

Mikado463

yes you can Don, so long as you can work it around my schedule when I'm back home. Right now I'll be up 4th of July week

Railroadman

Well, I'm hoping to have it done by then, but you know how these things go! But we can get together then anyhow if time permits. It's only been.....39 years?

426 Hemi

That's cool as heck. Reminds me of some color sanding parties back in the early '70's.