Camaro subframe bushings
 

Hey guys I'm still building my 56 Chevy pickup. Long long story my good friends brother was suppose to be rebuilding it, frame swap from the lowered straight axle to the camaro clip frame, LS, new wiring, paint all that good stuff. Well needless to say he didn't touch it in the 2 years he had it. So now I have to start from square one again and a lawsuit. Sorry for the rant, so my question is I need to replace the bushings in the front for the camaro clip can you guys recommend a place to get those and how do I determine what year and stuff to get. Thanks guys. Any help is greatly appreciated

Re: Camaro subframe bushings
 

This is how it left and pretty much how I got it back from the impound

Re: Camaro subframe bushings
 

The front control arm bushings, ball joints and steering pieces are available at the regular parts house you frequent. No rocket science or special applications there just regular old suspension parts. Look for the better quality brands though.

You can also find them on Rock Auto and probably save a good chunk of change over buying locally unless you can get a buddy deal or good discount locally.

If it's a 73 early 74 front end the nuts may be tack welded on the shafts on the upper control arms. Some clown in purchasing at GM decided that the didn't need to pay extra for lock nuts for the upper control arms about that time and a lot came though without lock nuts and it wasn't long before the nuts started backing off. There was a recall at Pontiac at least where they sent out packages of lock nuts and washers and we changed them out on warranty. I changed a few hundred of them out that year.

You can get it apart the way it sits without an engine in it or the body on it but it will be pure hell to put the springs back in without the weight of the engine and body on the chassis to hold it down. It's near impossible to get the springs back in and the upper ball joint connected without the weight of the rest of the truck to help the process. I have never found a spring compressor that fits and works in that situation an of the thousands of GM front ends I had apart over the years I worked on them I never used a spring compressor on any of them. I used two truck tire irons to slip the spring in the lower control arm for years and then used two crow bars to do it later when I didn't have access to the truck tire irons anymore. If you are going to bag it it isn't a problem.

You need a ball joint press to change the lower ball joint and you can borrow/rent one at Autozone and not have to buy one. Harbor freight has cheap ones on sale once in a while if you want to buy one. The OTC unit I have cost about 250 when I bought it.

If I was going to take it all apart now an replace the bushings and what not an paint everything up I'd make some spacers to hold the truck at the ride height I wanted and put it back together without the springs and install the springs and shocks after the truck was far enough together to have the weight to help the process.

Re: Camaro subframe bushings
 

I agree with Mr48chev wait to put the springs in at a later date, mark them before you pull them out with a paint marker so you know how they sat in the spring pockets make notes to where the end of the coil is siting in the lower A frame arm prior to disassembly. mark top and bottom driver and passenger so they will go in much easier with no guess work.

Upper and lower A frame bushings should be the same for most year models. But bag and tag ea. one to measure before ordering new ones.

You can narrow the year by looking and measuring the spindles 73-78 would have smaller spindles, bearings ,and rotors will interchange on those years.

79-81 will have larger spindles and larger bearings, and rotors will interchange on those years .

Rockauto is great for finding parts , they will also in most cases have the dimensions of parts in the description, and will be about 1/3 of the price you would pay down the street at local store, just have to be able to wait a few days to get them.

Re: Camaro subframe bushings
 

This is Rock Auto's listing for the control arm bushings for a 75 Camaro. I'd go with the Moog pieces.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...m+bushing,7532

For comparison here is the listing from O'Reilly's with my local prices (you may have to put in your zip for prices)
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/se...ear=1975&make=

There is a bit of confusion because the show a couple of different offerings on the lowers. Looks to be more on how you want to buy the than size. but it might be worth studying.

On the sway bar bushings you need to measure the diameter of the sway bar as different models of Camaros had different sizes and some Trans Ams had bigger ones yet.

Re: Camaro subframe bushings
 

Ahh yes..it is coming back to me now, I used Oriels descriptions and part #s, other manufactures will use same part #s also.
The lower arms use a different part# on the lower front and lower rear.
A good investment would be to get a hyd.press off of Craig's list to press them in, can sell it when your done but is handy to have around, I think the small shop I had press mine in charged me $150 ,... I now have a press .

Re: Camaro subframe bushings
 

Wow I appreciate it. I have a buddy that builds these trucks going to help me. I just need to buy the parts. My goal now I'd to get the frame sandblasted and painted and he said replace the bushings. And then just get a motor to put in it for now so I can get it rolling so we can do the suspension, wiring, stuff like that. I was leaning towards air bags but now I think I'm going to do coilovers. Is there a good company out there that won't brake the bank for coilovers. I've seen the qa1 and ridetech, but I don't want to spend that much due to me needing all the other stuff again. Thanks guys I appreciate the help

Re: Camaro subframe bushings
 

What coilovers do you guys recommend using. I have the camaro front clip and I'll do a 4 link in the back