Gramma's Car: the new project!

[njsteve]

Hey, I'm a slow learner... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

Well it's a little slow around here so I decided to take apart the front suspension on Gramma's car. At 80,000 miles I figured that it was about time. It's always the annoying little stuff that takes the longest...like getting 42 year old cotter pins out. UGH! Or removing the upper control frame nuts and then discovering that the upper control arm won't come off if the engine is there. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img] So, I had to tap the knurled bolts back out of the frame so the upper arms could come out.





Here's the pile of greasy old parts:

[njsteve]

And here is the problem for the day. I noticed that the driver's sde lower ball joint nut was really easy to remove (after spending 30 minutes getting the fused cotter pin out.). When I turned the spindle to get clearance I noticed that it moved on a stanrge arc instead of on a normal pivot.

Well here is the reason: the original lower ball joint stud had been loose for who knows how many decades. It probably was improperly installed from the factory, and it completely oblonged the mounting hole.

Does anyone have a spare driver's side second gen Camrao or Firebird spindle they want to get rid of?

[njsteve]

And here's another glitch. It seems that the factory had some issue over the upper control arm bushing nuts coming loose so they tack welded the front driver's side nut on. I have seen this on other 1975 cars. It is only on the front nut of the driver's side.




The passenger side does not have the tack weld but does have a different lock nut on the rear of the stud.

[njsteve]

Here's the bad spindle. The casting number is 371675.

[njsteve]

Well, the plot thickens. After perusing 42 years of old receipts it turns out that the Midas Muffler Shop my brother took the car to, replaced the driver's side spindle about 30 years ago when they did a brake job....and they used a 1978 spindle, and didn't bother to fully tighten the ball joint castle nut. Hence the &quot;D58&quot; date code on the spindle and the noticeably lighter duty casting than the passenger side spindle which is a 329354 spindle dated &quot;G25&quot;. So I guess I need a 329353 spindle in case anyone has one sitting on a coffee table somewhere. I believe that this spindle was used on just about every disc brake GM car from 1970 to 1976.

Driver's side 1978 spindle:



Original 1975 passenger spindle:

[njsteve]

One of the guys on the Performance Years website found this TSB. It talks about the welded nut on the control arm but doesn't give a reason for it being there.