I'm not the guy you asked but the process your mechanic describes is exactly how I did the bushings on my El Camino, with the addition of having to access a couple of the caged nuts.
BMR Frame Brace
- Thread starter Rgpmalibu
- Start date
So what about the radiator core support bushings? Did you replace those? Does this process have the front fenders and core off?
I just used a jack and jack stands and some 2x4 bracing. Someone here or on the Grand National forums has a good write up. I had several cage nuts that were shot, all four in the trunk, and the ones right behind the front tires. I had to take the plastic wheel wells off to get to those, and I had to can-opener the ones in the trunk to get to those. My wife and I did it, it took several hours, but it was no worse than replacing front coil springs. That's the worst job in the world.
I replaced them all. Even the number 5 position that comes on the GN's. I actually had ones from the factory on my '78 Malibu. You do not have to take off the fenders or core support for any of it, just the plastic inner fenders.
That is what I did but a too common complication is rust damage. Either the frame mount is rusted away and needs a chassis saver repair washer welded in, the caged nut seizing to the bolt breaking loose and free spins, or the body side mounting pad is rusted out and needs weld patches. For my Regal the passenger side #2 frame mount was rust damaged which is an extremely common G body issue,. So I had unbolt the front fenders and jack that corner of the body higher up so I could fit a MIG gun under it. Just expect that at least the passenger #2 mount will need weld repair as this is issue is caused by the poorly designed A/C drain dumping water on that area. All the body mount bolts on my Regal came out clean and were in reusable condition, but that one common spot on the frame was still damaged.
The thing that happened with me was, the inner fender well had been broken down at the bottom from a rock or something. It was never patched by the previous owner, so it had years of salt, sand, dirt and salt blown up into where the #2 bushing is. It was wrecked. The whole corner of the car was rusty, so I had to do some welding to fix the hole that went all the way into the passenger compartment. I'm glad that job is behind me, but changing the bushings totally changed how the car drove. I can't imagine doing any suspension upgrades without doing that job first. Not to mention the safety issues involved with having rusty bolts holding the body to the frame.
I performed the swap after wrecking the car so the entire front end was off, including the doors. I believe you can accomplish the task with everything in place, but the door/fender gaps may change now that the body can't sag like it used to. I hope to change the ones on the Cutlass some time this next year but will likely continue to procrastinate.
I removed one lower half bushing by the gas tank to inspect bolt and saw that the bolt was in very good shape... Caged nut appears fine in that location. I partially loosened the one forward of that location easily. I put it back the way I found it. I bought a set of urethane core support bushings so I can have it in my hand when I'm looking at the core support in daylight. I really got too many irons in the fire. Going to be a fun winter.
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