My poor man's suspension ...

[TexasT]

I've read over the Charlief1 poor man's suspension thread more times than I'd care to admit. I want to do some of the mods as we are swapping frames on the ogT so I thought we might as well upgrade if we are swapping stuff anyway.
I put in an order for some ssm front upper arms. Looked into the 1/2" longer ball joints and actually purchased some rear hr parts upper and lower arms. Also got an energy suspension polyurethane body bushing kit but have come to the conclusion I will probably need some new bolts. As the kit doesn't come with new ones.

This will take some time so stay tuned if interested. I'll see what can ensue and post some pix.


Box of bushings


Bag of washers and spacers I guess. I'll have to see how they come out so I know how to put them back together. Will use some never sieze though I would hope to not take it apart again.


HR parts upper arms


Part number for the 2.5" studs, not sure if these will be long enough but I didn't want to have them be way too long and have to cut em off

[jonasterg]

Go for it!  I followed his thread and https://www.turbobuick.com/threads/suspension-and-steering-rebuild-for-beginners.376776/ when I redid my front end a few years ago.  With no prior experience, I got it done over the winter in a *cold* garage without much room to work.

Good luck!

[xpander343]

I followed his a couple years ago, and only complaint I have is, I went with the heavier springs, and kyb shocks.  I shoulda went I think with the bilsteins, I find when I go over a bump is has a bounce to it, like the kyb can't keep up with the jounce and rebound with the heavier springs. 

[Steve Wood]

KYBs are pretty bad.  I tried them twice and both times went to the Bilsteins

[TexasT]

I'll NEVER buy another kyb. I guess I might expect too much that they would warranty one that had spit the seal and leaked all the oil out but without a receipt I was sol. So no kyb for me.
I see the bilstein units on rock auto fairly reasonably priced.  Will most likely get the rears and debate in my mind those or a cheap brand for the front. I'm more of a drag racer and have used cheap monroe or gabriels over the yrs to let the front come up for weight transfer. But as I get older I don't go to the track near like I used to.
I'm not even sure I will do fancy front lower bushings yet though I am up for some fancy bushings for the rear though not sure which ones yet. Probably the energy suspension ones on rock auto or might hit speedway site and some others to see what is available.
I'm thinking I want to get the frame ready, swap the body into it , then do the quarter panel replacement so it will end up straight with the new frame. I have my eye in a gantry deal from northern tool for about $500 and think I can pick the whole body up and pull old frame out and slide new one under and bolt it down where I can with the new bushings. Then maybe a trip to the frame guy again to pull the body into shape if it needs it so the holes will line up.
Big dreams. Thanks for the replies and encouragement. Work has been crazy so I haven't even been able to get the roller chopped up yet. In due time I guess.

[TexasT]

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a pair of southside machine upper front arms. That look nice and claim to be made in usa. A little over $182 tax and all shipped to my door. I have to measure em and see if they are the 8" or 8.5" . They are both the same so not sure.
 
I'll have to do some home work on the taller ball joints. Not sure on whether to do the 1/2" upper or go all out and get the 1" taller upper. Not really into lowering the car but we will see how it launches and see what it needs. Kinda wanting to see something in the 1.20s or quicker but I'll be happy with it under 1.5s and I think that is not too much to ask. 

[xracerx13]

I was gonna get those from SSM and I am not sure if they are 8" or 8.5".
I did go with the ones from Gbody and I know those are 8.25" that's what Brian told me, but I used the SSM 1" taller balljoints. The upper arms do look very similar though. In other words the upper arms from gbody do NOT look like the ones he has pictured on his website they have the same fat shaft as the SSM's.

Only reason I went with Gbody was the package deal with UMI lowers which also came with new end links but I had Brian take off the upper ball joints for a $40 credit. In the package deal the uppers were stock size. I then applied the $40 credit to some HR parts Upper boxed non adjustable rear arms that also came with new rear end ear bushings.

I also was not interested in lowering the front end so I left stock size lower balljoints in place. 1/2" taller lowers would have brought the front down. The longer uppers do not lower the car at all but I am guessing you already know this.

Almost forgot to mention I use the Monroe sensatracs shocks. I recently just pulled the old ones that prolly had 20k on them and replaced them with the same I have had for 20 years brand new in the box sitting in my tool box.