BETTY RUMBLE - '87 Cutlass

[Injectedcutty]

got her front jacked up, wheels off, and ready to go on round 2. Pulled the sway bar, shocks, and almost got the steering linkage. Can't get it to separate from the pitman arm, can't get a big enough swing with the hammer, and I realized I never bought a pickle fork, so she'll have to sit for now. The tierod ends looked and felt pretty wiped out.

protip: move the diagonal frame braces out of the way or the sway bar won't come out.

View attachment 70370

Looking good! Somehow i managed to get my old sway bar out, and beefy BMR unit back in without removing the frame braces! I do attest however, it was a PITA maneuvering the bigger bar into place.

Now is the perfect time to upgrade to blazer brakes since it's already apart 🙂!

 

[pagrunt]

installed w/ sway bar... I discovered the one on my GP is different, fatter and goes straight across vs. wrapping around the acorn. Not sure what that bar would be off of

I have one of the "U" rear bars (as I call them.) I got it off a '79 W30 in a junkyard over 20 years ago. I have been told those are Olds bars.

 

[GP403]

Got everything but the upper a arms out now. Soaking those with wd40 for a while.

Can't stress enough what a dangerous op pulling those front springs is. The last one we carefully set down, put a board on top and had my kid kneel on it and start unwinding the compressor. Basically as soon as he starts turning it....

BANG.

the fricking thing comes loose and nearly takes off. Glad I had him use the board or it could have been a lot worse.

The umi springs look like they don't need to be compressed much to go in, which will be nice. Because they're a much thicker coil and probably would be hard anyway.

 

[kalidromos13]

Hey GP403 are you using UMI 2" lowering springs in the front? I had a heck of a time getting them in, maybe it was because I'm using umi lower arms and the spring pocket is different, I couldn't get the spring to sit in the pocket even after going all the way up on the compressor, but I came up with a handy tool that will help get those springs in. I'll post a pic of it when I get some time.
The cutlass looks great BTW, I don't think it looked too bad with the rear lowered haha when are you going to start on the GP?

 

[GP403]

Yep. 2" UMI and stock arms. Will definitely let you know how they go in. Waiting on my press to be delivered so I can start on the bushings.


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[kalidromos13]

Sounds good! Good luck! I look forward to your progress.

 

[GP403]

So I was playing around with the new steering linkage, and noticed the inner tierod ends are different from the new parts. I double checked the new part numbers (acdelco 45A0196) and that appears to be correct.

Notice the angle on the ball joint. Is this going to be a concern wrt alignment? No big deal? Not sure if this affects the geometry at all. Anyone know what's up? Just a design change or what...

 

[kalidromos13]

I noticed that too when i did tie rods, if i remember correctly the outer tie rod (Moog) had a different angle so i decided not to use it. I thought it was because i ordered parts for an S-10, but i do remember the inner tie rod having a slightly different design. I cant remember the exact details as it was a year ago.

 

[GP403]

I noticed that too when i did tie rods, if i remember correctly the outer tie rod (Moog) had a different angle so i decided not to use it. I thought it was because i ordered parts for an S-10, but i do remember the inner tie rod having a slightly different design. I cant remember the exact details as it was a year ago.

the part # shows up as a replacement for the S10 AND G-body..... Not surprising really given the similarities, but still, don't want to find something binding up or whatever. I'll go ahead and use it, and if it turns out to be a problem I'll just put different ones in I guess. *shrug* what else am I going to do.

 

[kalidromos13]

That's why I decided to go with my stock outer arms there was something definitely different which why I didn't use them but inner tie rods I did replace and they look like the ones you have. No issues with those, I'll dig through my parts I'm sure I still have the outers and I'll compare them again.
It's probably not an issue just variations in the manufacturing process.
Proforged makes tie rods they might be better quality than Moog replacements and they say they are for 78-95 GM
Link
Exactly, not much we can do but try to make sure the parts are a close replacement and if they're not we should let the manufacturer know.