I am in the process of tearing down my project..This car has been sitting awhile and every bushing I have seen is worn cracked and split...
I checked the #2 body mounts, the bird cage seems fine however there is some rust on the bottoms around the bushings and nuts...
How big of a pain us it going to be replacing all the body bushings?

 

I did all the rubber body mount bushings on my 77 about a year ago. In a small one car garage with hand tools.
Check your number 1 and number 4 mounts. Those were the really bad ones on my car.
That said, it was a job I put off as long as I could. And WOW, Were they bad!
Back to the question. How big a pain is this job?
On a scale of 1-10, this job is a 18.
Good news is my thumb did finally heal!

 

I am kinda worried about this job..I am in the same position as you were . A one car garage and hand tools. I will check the fry and rear mounts first...I thought that it might be.posssible to slip a saws all blade in betwen the body and frame and cut the bolt. Is that a possibility ? Thanks
​​​​​​I am happy your thumb healed

 

Just quickly looking at your profile I can see your fairly new on here. Of course I have absolutely no idea how many years experience you have with C2 and C3 Corvette's.
Myself, I've been involved with them for, oh gawd, nearly 50 years. WOW, Where did the time go?
Been on this forum for about 18 years now I think.
Over that time I have seen numerous threads on this very topic. Replacing the rubber body mounts.
Reading so many threads on the topic is the main reason I put it off way to long. To the point where I finally had to say to myself, I MUST change these or I am going to be going around a corner and my body is going to fly off the frame!
Thinking that perhaps this is a bad thing.
And still armed with the excellent excuse that I simply don't have the room, tools, equipment, etc to do this job, but one day........
No, no more one day's! My body is going to leave my frame if I don't do this.
Case in point.

Passengers side number 1 mount after removal.

Passengers side number one mount as found.
just look at the corrosion on that number 1 bolt!
Numbers 2 and 3 on both sides were in really good shape. They are out of the weather! Number 4's get all the spray off the rear wheels. WOW! Lots of people need to do welding back there. I was fairly lucky. But I did need to replace the reinforcement cages on both number 4's which is a job!
Bottom line, do a Google search of C3 Corvette body mount replacement. Lots of the hits will take you right back to this forum. Tons of reading for you to do.
Go to Zip Corvette's Web site. In addition to selling Corvette parts they also have a number of videos pertaining to Corvette repairs. I looked at a few all over the net. I'll save you a little time here. The Zip Corvette instructions work really well for the little guy at home, using the scissor jack that comes with the car to lift the body! Bloody brilliant!
I used one really small floor jack. And I borrowed another med. sized floor jack, so 2 floor jacks. And the scissors jack that comes with the car and a few hunks of wood.
Took me about a month, I work 6 days a week so, spare time. Lots of time soaking bolts.
The BEST penetrating oil hands down, is ATF Mixed with acetone 50/50. Mix some up because you are definitely NOT getting a sawsall blade in there!
Do a TON of homework! Keep in mind if I can do it in a tiny one car garage in my spare time, So can you!
Did I mention I am also very old?
You can do this!

 

Thank you for your reply.It really helps with my decision. I know I am going to have to tackle this job, after all I signed up for it when I decided to save this car..
The car is a Fla native but all the rust I have seen so far is surface rust. The birdcage at the #2 mounts is very clean except some corrosion at the very bottom..This is what scared me.
.My bushings are not as bad as yours were but are still flat and dried out..I will try to get visual on the rest tonite.
Age is a state of mind.I I am.old too (66) but I refuse to act my age or grow up...

 

Nice write up.

Any opinion regarding replacing aluminum body mounts with rubber?

Thanks

 

When it comes to converting a early C3 over to rubber bushings I only know what I have read.
C3 rubber mounts are thicker than aluminium. Raises the body slightly. Alignment issues with steering column/steering box?
I read on here at one time that C2 bushings could be used and are thinner than C3 bushings but have no way to confirm that.
Good quality rubber isn't as easy to get nowadays as it once was. Regulations have changed the way manufacturers are making rubber parts. And not for the good.
I purchased my replacement rubber mounts from Bairs Corvettes. Fingers crossed that they last!

 

I wonder how much improvement in comfort/ride quality you would get, if any, when switching from aluminum to rubber?

Thanks

 

I checked my mounts tonight..#s 1 and 2 are crusty as expected 3 and 4 are very worn but not much rust..Eased my mind some
Thanks guys I was almost panicked last night

 

Sounds good. Number 4's are notorious for rust due to the spray off the rear wheels. My number one bolts looked good until I removed them. It's like the rubber of the mount held in moisture.
Best of luck getting everything unbolted. My thumb got badly damaged on one of the front frame extension bolts. Just takes one bolt that doesn't want to play nice to turn this into a real job!

 

I tackled the same project this past year and created a discussion thread in the forum's General topic. I show the details other posters here described...cutting body cushion bolts, accessing the #4 mount internally and the challenges. Take a look as you explore your project.

And the link:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...t-removal.html

 

Hello again 4-vettes!
Doesn't corrosion go backwards down under? The toilets flow backwards so why not the Corrosion. That would bring us all down under... I liked your statement about the acetone/ATF combination works, I have read several places it works very well and they say it is actually better than Kroil that I use. I still believe inand use Heat and Kroil Oil. This has been my go to since the early 1970's. The heat has changed and now I use a good hot air gun to heat up many parts versus breaking out the oxy/acetylene Torch like I have used for decades.

My car came with the aluminum spacers but a previous owner who just happened to own a Body shop replaced all the spacers with newer rubber bushings and tightened it all back up. He replaced the spacers at roughly 10-15 years into the cars life. The earlier C3's don't have much if any metal in the floors and I would be really careful lifting the body without a lift to help. They said that the aluminum spacers made the paint crack and did other bad things to the original body.

This is the ONE place where I actually lucked out due to a previous owner doing something properly! Thank you where ever you are...

 

Absolutely! Corrosion goes backwards here down under! That's why I moved here. I'm originally from Northern Wisconsin, land of snow and ice and salt on the roads. So I moved to the land of Oz and now my car is gradually getting un-rusty! Bloody Brilliant!
.
.
.
.Sure. ....


I wish.
Makes about as much sense as the toilets turning backwards.
Sorry to break it to you, thats also not true.

 

The water going down the drain goes backwards south of the equator. I have lived in Turkey, Viet Nam, Bolivia, Guatemala, Colombia and finally Ethiopia and I got to see it several times. I lived in Bolivia at near 14,100' above Sea level. UN-Rusting or De-corroding would be a great reason to head south. Besides all the pretty girls down under...

I hope that you are all healed up from your recent experience. It is always good to see evidence that you are here helping out where you can. I started life as a Motorcycle Mechanic was led astray. The Honda's of the late 1960's and early 1970's were the main things I worked on. I am getting too old for my little Yamaha 2 stroke RZ350 here in the US and RD350LC to the rest of the world. It weighs less than 300 pounds and makes over 63 horsepower and goes from 6k to 10k in a blink of an eye in any gear. It sure embarrass the Ducati boys who spent all the money to watch the taillights of a 40 year old 350 with someone who knows how to ride it.

 

I have bought the c2 rubber mounts and placed them side by side with my aluminum 72 mounts. Almost identical in height. Both roughly 1/2" The later 73+ rubber mounts are 1" high and cause fan blade to shroud issues and at steering column. Plus you see more frame under the side under door mouldings.
Solid mounts would have more buzzing and vibration and noises. The rubber helps cut that down.

 

Thank you for the information on the thickness changes made for the various years. I was not aware that they changed the thickness during the production run. Mine look taller than 1/2" so maybe he did something wacko but it works.

I will have to measure the Body Bushings in my C3 as they were changed a long time ago to Rubber from the Aluminum Spacers. The man owned a body shop and he changed the bushings to rubber and painted the car Daytona Yellow which is a 1967 and 1969 color. The Sunflower Yellow is long gone. I got more flack from fellow 1968 owners who think someone did a "horrible" thing making the car a brighter more vibrant yellow. I like it this way, if I had to repaint it I might use the newer Vivid Yellows used on the Corvettes and Camaro's as I love that shade.

 

Found my pics
Here are my oem 72 aluminum mounts vs the c2 rubber mounts

al = .385" high vs c2 rubber = .585" high

73-82 rubber mounts below

roughly 1" high

 

I just removed the #2 mounts I have the bolt out and the upper rubber..The bushing and lower rubber are still.in both sides..
Question is should I remove all 8 bolts and mounts before I try to lift a side to change the mounts or will doing it throw everything out of alignment?

 

Leave at least 2 bolts in, but loosely, on the side you are not lifting, so the body will not slide terribly and damage something.
More than likely you will need to purchase one or two long "drifts" (8-10") to fit into the factory body/frame alignment holes underneath the sill plate. One on each side.
And at least check to see if it shifted.

 

Thank you ..I appreciate the advise