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Hi All, I have another question that's been going round and round in my head as I complete the tear down of my 81 and get ready to send off the heavy metal for rust treatment (what I'm going to do Dip vs Blast if a whole other thread a yet to be determined...). So I know the frame and bird cage will go, but what other odds and end should I have done vs replacing? I'm part is sort of a question of if I'm going to put dollars into restore how many more dollars are needed to upgrade and is it worth it. Going into I know I'm doing all new "wearable" parts, ball joints, bushings, tie rods, bearings... these are all going to be replaced with new without question, whether they come with some "kit" or bought one off is also yet to be figured out.
A little back ground, I'm going a LONG way restoring this thing but I'm not trying to build a race car, just a weekend driver / touring car that's got enough build underneath to have fun with. Here's what I know I want, good (not the best of the best) adjustable shocks and upgraded front springs, adjustable camber bars in the back, new mono leaf spring in the back (old one is damaged). I don't want to choose something just because its cheaper, looking for the right value balance.
Right now I'm wrestling with the front suspension - I figure to blast and re-paint or powder coat I'll have $30-$50 into each of the ones I have or the hours to do that myself. If I do re-use the ones I have I will want to go with the semi coil-over set-up with adjustable shocks that van steel has which is another $700. Add in ball joints and mounting rods I'm pushing having over a grand and still using the stock arms. I want to say there's a few all-new "kits" that have replacement a-arms, full coil overs, bushings and ball joints in the 2 to 3k range, if I take off the grand I wouldn't spent is worth that extra money for the upgrade? then the list goes on and on... hubs, knuckles, calipers, tie rod sleeves, strut rods.... making these decisions is getting to be the hardest part of the job
Looking to get some feedback from guys that have been down to this road and made these decisions, which way did you go, what was the deciding factor, would you do it different if you did it again?
I just went though re-doing my front end after about 18 years since I did a complete frame off restoration of my 73. I did it because the car always sat high and I finally decided to get it where I wanted it. I started out thinking I would use my stock A Arms and just add Viking Coil Overs with dual adjustable shocks. In reading instructions they recommend you have at least 3/16" thick metal in the shock mount area. Stock arms were about .130" at best including paint, so I decided to go the tubular A Arm route. After a lot of reading and searching, I bought Global West Tubual A Arms, both upper and lower. While there are other choices, it seemed they were the ones that required the least amount of modifications and changing other items. The only modification needed was to a clearance hole in my stock fan shroud on the passenger side. If you keep your stock upper A Arm you don't need to make that change. In hindsight I think keeping the stock upper arm is something to consider if your on a budget. The advantage of the Upper Tubular A Arm is you get more Caster. I got way more Caster with the Tubular than needed. I got around 5 degrees which is more than needed, but to get less I didn't have enough Camber adjustment to reduce it. I also tried a composite rear spring which I ended up not using as it was a TRW design and made the car sit higher than my 9 leaf. I ended up having Eaton Detroit rework my old spring. I also added the Viking adjustable shocks to the rear and now the car sits and handles like I always wanted. I think you need to define what function you want first, then decide on how to do it. There are a lot of posts on this site about trying to get the right ride height. Good luck... Unk Before After
Last edited by RU7376vettes; Apr 13, 2020 at 10:09 PM.
Reason: Error in name
Did you clean up and reuse your existing hubs/spindles/steering bars/brake calipers and brackets/strut rods or did you decide to go with all over the counter re-man stuff for these?
I just went though re-doing my front end after about 18 years since I did a complete frame off restoration of my 73. I did it because the car always sat high and I finally decided to get it where I wanted it. I started out thinking I would use my stock A Arms and just add Viking Coil Overs with dual adjustable shocks. In reading instructions they recommend you have at least 3/16" thick metal in the shock mount area. Stock arms were about .130" at best including paint, so I decided to go the tubular A Arm route. After a lot of reading and searching, I bought Global West Tubual A Arms, both upper and lower. While there are other choices, it seemed they were the ones that required the least amount of modifications and changing other items. The only modification needed was to a clearance hole in my stock fan shroud on the passenger side. If you keep your stock upper A Arm you don't need to make that change. In hindsight I think keeping the stock upper arm is something to consider if your on a budget. The advantage of the Upper Tubular A Arm is you get more Caster. I got way more Caster with the Tubular than needed. I got around 5 degrees which is more than needed, but to get less I didn't have enough Camber adjustment to reduce it. I also tried a composite rear spring which I ended up not using as it was a TRW design and made the car sit higher than my 9 leaf. I ended up having Eaton Detroit rework my old spring. I also added the Viking adjustable shocks to the rear and now the car sits and handles like I always wanted. I think you need to define what function you want first, then decide on how to do it. There are a lot of posts on this site about trying to get the right ride height. Good luck... Unk Before After
Bad ***...this photo should be required for every new C3 owner........the difference is dramatic.
I reused my spindles, rotors, calipers and trailing arms. When I did the frame off many years ago, I replaced calipers with SS sleeved units, new discs, bearings, seals and had the trailing arms rebuilt by Yogi. I had also replaced all the U Joints during the frame off as well as replacing one yoke and all the seals in the pumpkin plus added adjustable strut rods (Recommended change). Since I only had about 10,000 miles on them no need to replace them. I didn't have the front and rear sway bars hooked up yet in these photos. Unk
The front A-arms look great, so much better than the factory ones.
I've finally gotten my front arms mostly broken down including taking out the bushings (what a pain that was, took just about every tool I had to get it done....) So far they don't look bad I'm leaning at just sending with the frame and cage to get stripped. my thought on the rest of the front is to just clean up and home with some of the rust dissolver soaks since they are smaller pieces and aren't all that badly rusted. The next thing I need to do is drill rivets to separate the rotors from the front hubs.
I've heard of others sending out trailing arms for rebuild. Is there a reason people send them out vs tearing down and reassembling themselves like the front? Is there pressed together parts that can't be done without a press? These will be next on the bench, what am I getting into???
A good spindle/ bearing fit is a press on type , here I am pressing the inner bearing down the spindle to seat it up against the spacer/shims(thickness) that were calculated using a special tool . Don't know how you could do this without a proper press.That piece of pipe is machined on the end to just clear the axle so it presses on the inner race of the bearing only .
Setting up the bearings takes special tools and skill. Yogi's and others have been doing this for a long time and know what to do. They put in new bearings, seals, parking brake parts and also re-rivet the brake disc to the hub and turn it as an assembly to get the rotors true. They also powder coat the trailing arm and install new bushings. I can do a lot, but to me this was well worth the money plus you get a warranty. As for the stock A Arms, when I first did the car I bead blasted them and them painted with PPG DP-90 and clear coat. They looked like powder coating and held up very well and still look good after 18+ years. I also used DP-90 on the frame, looks like stock paint but durable and easy to repair if needed. I used poly graphite bushings on my 73 and stock rubber on the 76. Really couldn't tell much difference. I feel your pain, getting the old bushings out without damaging the A Arm is a chore. Here are pictures of the stock A Arms I took off when I put on the Tubular Arms..
Those look great for being in the car for 18 years!
I broke down and cleaned up the rest of the hubs, everything looks serviceable and can be addressed at home other then the A-arms which will go with the frame. Getting the rotors off wasn't to bad just took a little time, the bigger fight was getting what was left of the rivets out. now onto the rears.
I did a bit more research looking into the having the trailing arms re-build route and this seem to make the most sense, which explains why most people seem to do this way. I do have a little snag in my plans because they re-finish the arms and parts when they do them and I was hoping to do the suspension parts in a bright red to contrast the black frame. So I think I want my trailing arms to be the same red not the standard black. I have a message into Corvette Central, which turns out is less then a 2 hours drive from where I'm at, and I'm hoping I can work it out with them that I pull it all apart, get the pieces re-finished as I would like and them run over there and have them supply the bearings and stuff and do the re-assembly for me, maybe can even coordinate the when after house arrest and I can watch / help them do it to learn how its done. This way the only hard part I need to worry about is pushing the spindle from the hub. My bushings are totally shot, the rubber is 80% just gone so I'm sure I can work those out without an issue.
restore or replace
