Real Life - C3 Corvette Lower Control Arm Removal, Restore, and Re-Install Part 1 - 1977 C3 Corvette
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- This video shows the removal process of a lower control arm of a typical C3 Corvette - 1968-1982 Models. You will see the removal of the wheel hub assembly, removal of the front shock, the front coil spring, steering knuckle, ball joints, tie rod end, plus the actual removal of the lower control arm. Shown in this video is a 2 owner, low mileage daily driver which is being brought back in a progression of stages to a non-daily driver and what I would call a "fair weather only" driver (no rain, dry roads only). My goal is to refresh/restore all original parts where applicable and show the process step by step so other people can learn the techniques and see how this can be done. Control arms with old and worn out bushing are definitely things that need to be fixed and restored.
Part 2 video will show the removal of the old bushings, bushing sleeves, control arm restoration, and installation of new bushings.
Oh wow.... this was great. My son and myself have just started taking down the front suspension of a 1978 C3 25th anniversary Corvette we bought for a project car. This answered so many questions for us. Thumbs up on this video.... thanks for posting
Very cool! That's awesome. I think you could progress pretty quickly with the both of your working on it. I almost bought a 25th Anniversary C3 in around 2014. The car had less than 4000 miles on it and barely used. They were asking $18,000 at the time....which in retrospect was a good deal...it was a perfect C3. Enjoy yours, I love those anniversary cars.
Thank you. I appreciate that you show how to remove the spring safely. I am rebuilding a 1975 C3 corvette and want to do as much as possible on my own.
this video is ...will be a lot of help.
That's excellent and my main reason for doing these videos..to share experience and techniques so other people learn something and give it a shot if they feel comfortable with it. I'll have more on the control arms very very soon.
Picking up my 75 on Saturdays, can't wait.
Wow! Great video. I am starting the same job on my 1980 and this really helps me get the order of part removal right. Thank you!
Good luck! It's a big job, made even bigger if you decide to strip down the parts and refresh to look as close to new as possible. It was time for my Corvette as the bushing were shot. Thanks for your comment btw.
Great video.....very detailed. I am planning on this job and I think I can do it myself thanks to your video. Thank you!
You can do it! The hardest part for me is the refresh portion...the overhaul of the parts to make look as new as possible. I'll be installing everything in June 2023
In the beginning the castle nuts should never be removed when removing other components off the spindle assembly. The tapers could giveaway under spring pressure.
Thanks for letting me know. I'll be taking off the left control arms and accessories pretty soon, so good info to know. I really tried hard to be safe and had no surprises. Thank you for the comment and for watching the videos. J
OMG, Jonathan! this video was awesome, i just finished doing my corvette and am kicking myself wishing I had watched your video prior to doing mine. Awesome video and I love how you are addressing all the different things that need to be done to get a 40+ year old Corvette up to par. Mahalo for making these videos, I will be subscribing and catching up on all your videos.
Thankyou for the positive comment. I really appreciate it. I've got tons of work I need (well want) to get done on this C3. I planned on keeping it off the road for 12-16 months max to do all the work myself. It's super cold where I am right now (-20C this morning- Jan 8th 2022), so work in the garage is slow going. I do have a heated garage and no doubt will fire the heater on and get on with more projects. I really need to get them done!
Great video series as always!
It’s a bit late to the party… but watching you struggling with cotter pins with needle nose pliers… try a pair of medium to large side cutters to grip (not cut) the cotter pin to pull it out. You can use them to straighten the legs of the pins too.
Thanks for the comment and the tip. Not too late at all as I've still got to do the left side. Thanks again for watching ! J
thank you
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
I’ll be starting a frame off restoration/ modernization on a ‘79 soon. I want to keep as much old hardware as possible but replace all the squishy bits with New and improved during the rebuild.
That's about my situation as well. Honestly, I didn't need to do it, but at the same time, it was time to do it purely for safety reasons. Last year I drove this car for at least 2000miles and everything worked OK, but I knew things could be way better and the time to do a refresh was ASAP. I'll be way happier with the car post refresh. Good luck with your 79.
@@Motorcycology I’m not interested in making a hot Rod. I’m looking to refresh the engine, with some improvements but nothing drastic. Replace all the worn stuff to make it last another 45 years. I’m the end I see myself as the white haired uncle with a country place that no one knows about. They say it used to be a farm. Before the motor laws (queue the guitar solo).
@@Motorcycology I've just finished this process from the shop for about 2k
Excellent. Show us how to do rear strut rods Aligment please.
Thank you for the video, helped me a lot. However I think, from a tutorial perspective, you didn't mention you used a spring compressor until very late in the video, which can lead people to loose the spindle nuts without it and possibly have an accident.
I appreciate your input and will make sure to mention that when I do the other side. Thanks for your comments and support.
Not familiar with the corvette frames, but the bottom of frame running aft from the wheel well looks cracked, though maybe not, hard to tell
Not cracked, but definitely a flaw in the design and not even welded the entire seem. C3 are very cool , but original factory workmanship and quality was not that good. Thanks for watching and for sending in the comment. J
That was kind of dangerous working on the lower ball joint with the upper A arm castle nut removed, no? It the upper ball joint decided to let go, you could have gotten seriously injured.
I hear you on that! I try and be as careful as possible and do my best. I didn't experience any excessive built up tension or spring pressure while doing this, in fact I had to push down on the control arm to release the spring. I had my jack under the control arm to manage the spring release tension. J
Question on this video. When did you compress the spring? How much of this can you safely do before spring compression is necessary? Also is there a reason to disassemble the hub or can you just take the whole steering knuckle, hub and spindle assembly off in one piece?
I compressed the spring once I removed the shock absorber, keeping in mid that the control arm assembly was raised up by the jack and in doing so, compressed the spring a certain amount. I used to spring compressor to not only compress the spring, but also to keep it compressed while I lowered the control arm off. I needed to remove the hub so I could take off the backing plate and access the bolts as part of the process of taking off the steering knuckle.
Pretty important task to skip . If someone followed your steps and didn’t know they could get really hurt.
I can teach you a better way and easy.
I'll be doing this, can you give some details?