Quote:
Originally Posted by Hib Halverson
I skimmed through this entire thread and no where did I see that the trim height of this car is being measured the way the Service Manual says to do it, so, if it were me, I'd do that before anything else.
Also, I read one post saying urethane bushings were installed in the rear.
Bad idea.
C4 trailing and lateral arms need to be able to twist somewhat as the suspension moves. Urethane won't allow them to twist that will bind the suspension at the far ends of the travel.
Now, that's ok for a track car on smooth tracks but a bad idea for a street car.
You either need to go back to rubber or change to spherical bearings.
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Just to update and thank all participants again. First to clear up a myth or two: You cannot install the strut rods backward. Urethane bushings work just fine when installed correctly. This was my downfall. Hib was on the right track though. While I was trying to correctly establish ride height. The suspension was bound up due to the fact that you have to torque the connections when it is loaded, near ride height (FSM). I am sure that I tightened everything up at droop years back. Doom on Mikey. To recap:
The spring was reversed and reinstalled, the sway bar was not bent, but I did re-bush it, the strut rods were lubricated and reinstalled - note somehow the cast part numbers on them appear to be randomly applied - there must have been several molds that had the numbers located in them differently. Lubed the tie rods and set the spring bolts to original stock length. Replaced the half shaft u-joints (note if you want to use the correct ones - plan well ahead, no one seems to have them in stock. Found correct AC Delco units at Rockauto, appear identical to original Spicer. Tightened everything up to spec at normal ride height and boom! the car sits and rides correctly.