A Fabricobbler's Guide to the Turbo Buick Galaxy- Cutlass Rehash

[81cutlass]

Blasted the front suspension apart tonight.

Both uca's are stripped and ready for bushings and ball joints

Lca's still need to be stripped.

Goal is to pressure wash and paint the stuff I'm saving tomorrow and have it ready to press new stuff in Thursday.

The only thing not oem is the passenger lower ball joint that broke on my when I was 16 and the front shocks (and f41 sway bar stuff but that didn't count)

The Monroe sensatrac front shocks with maybe 15k on them are totally shot, the other lower ball joint fell apart in my press when I was trying to get it apart (cage is still in and everything else fell out the bottom), everything rubber is cracked.

So it was time!

 

[Texas82GP]

Blasted the front suspension apart tonight.

Both uca's are stripped and ready for bushings and ball joints

Lca's still need to be stripped.

Goal is to pressure wash and paint the stuff I'm saving tomorrow and have it ready to press new stuff in Thursday.

The only thing not oem is the passenger lower ball joint that broke on my when I was 16 and the front shocks (and f41 sway bar stuff but that didn't count)

The Monroe sensatrac front shocks with maybe 15k on them are totally shot, the other lower ball joint fell apart in my press when I was trying to get it apart (cage is still in and everything else fell out the bottom), everything rubber is cracked.

So it was time!

View attachment 185689
View attachment 185690

It's good to see that Cutlass getting some love.

 

[motorheadmike]

Yeah that's what I have on my 2+2. I'm doing it again on the Cutlass because I like the results. I'd probably go 5662 or 5664 on the 2+2 Because it's so heavy but the turbo V6 setup is a lot lighter.

5664 seem out of stock at most places and 62's seem limited stock at many places.

Glad I didn't scrap my like new 5660s. Sheesh.

5664s are good for everything. A basic iron turbo V6 weighs the same as an all-aluminum LS.

 

[81cutlass]

Glad I didn't scrap my like new 5660s. Sheesh.

5664s are good for everything. A basic iron turbo V6 weighs the same as an all-aluminum LS.

5664's are out of stock at summit and rock. I thought about trying them but I only found 1-2 eBay resellers asking deep $100+ for them...

 

[motorheadmike]

5664's are out of stock at summit and rock. I thought about trying them but I only found 1-2 eBay resellers asking deep $100+ for them...

It's okay. They are waiting on one of the 100+ ships sitting off the coast of California. We should get them in 1-2 years. Thanks to the EPA.

 

[mclellan83]

Nothing pleases me more than someone getting back to their first love. Speaking from personal experience it is weird how these special cars get put on the back-burner while we get distracted by new interests.

EDIT: I ended up with Monte Carlo SS as a teenager because I couldn't afford a Turbo Buick. Sure I got one a few years later... but, I kept the Monte.

Looking forward to seeing this come back together since I am just catching this thread, hoping to one day have something similar on the GTO to actually get the power I have always wanted to put into it

 

[81cutlass]

Holy hell, getting these bushings out of the LCA's is a beotch.

Last of the parts arrived today and I knocked the bushings and ball joints out of the lowers. The ball joints fell out but the LCA bushings took like 2hrs to pull out. Had the best success divoting the side with a chisel and then pulling one out with a bolt and the other one with a load of hammer and chisel work to walk them out.

Pressing them in was much easier. I'm for sure set up for this with a lathe, press, and tools to get it done but I can for sure understand why getting entirely new arms for an S10 makes sense for a lot of people.

I also pressure washed the arms off. I need to get some paint off them tomorrow and drop the ball joints in and then get them on the car Saturday.


Usually the lower bushings don't go out but they were on this car!

Cleaned

Under pressure

What a mess

Yup

 

[Turbo Zach]

The trick to replacing those bushings is: a cutting torch. Start the rubber on fire. Once it is burning good. Knock the center out with a punch and hammer. Then cut the iner race part. Knock those peices out. Flap wheel the hole and press new ones in. No big deal, but it tends to piss everyone around you off though.

 

[81cutlass]

The trick to replacing those bushings is: a cutting torch. Start the rubber on fire. Once it is burning good. Knock the center out with a punch and hammer. Then cut the iner race part. Knock those peices out. Flap wheel the hole and press new ones in. No big deal, but it tends to piss everyone around you off though.

Not a bad method. I'll keep that in mind in the future.

I've only ever changed rear arm bushings which are easy since they fit in a press. The fronts don't fit in a press (mine anyways) since they are so tall so I was figuring it out as I went.

I was sore this morning and the spot on my hand that a whalloped with my 3lb hammer when I missed the chisel was cursing me from how hard I struggled 🤣

 

[Rktpwrd]

The other method that works really well is to drill multiple 3/8” holes around the perimeter of the middle insert. Knock the insert out, then collapse the rubber in on itself with the void left, knock it out, then repeat the collapsing technique with the outer shell.

The whole process can be done in less than 5-10 minutes per bushing.