Poor mans suspension upgrade info.

[good2win22]

Charlie is correct.  I do have most of this poor man's suspension recipe installed on my TB.  I went with a 1/2 inch longer upper ball joint and ended up only lowering the front of the car about 1/2 inch.  I also decided on the lighter set of springs.  That being said, the rear spring that is part of the lighter set, Moog 6377,is no longer available from Moog.  I went with a rear Moog spring 5379 that had similiar numbers.  The rear of the car sits about a 1/2 inch higher than the front.  Not that big of a deal but I do notice the rake the car has and I don't really car for it.  Would prefer that she sit level.  I removed the isolators from the rear springs and it brought it down to where she is sitting now.  Still need to work on the rear ride height.
 
I also intalled the S10 Blazer steering knuckle and brake setup at the same time as well as the bump steer kit.
 
As for the ride...  Night and day.  I had original 27 year old components in my suspension on the front.  In the rear, I had already purchased UMI upper and lower control arms with poly bushings.  I did keep the lowers arms but replaced the uppers with the baseline suspension kit.  Shocks all around are the Bilsteins that I ordered from Oreilly's.  Saved about 48 bucks on the shocks compared to other vendors
 
I owned, sold about a month ago, a 1989 Pontiac GTA optioned with the 350 and the WS6 suspension package and I can honestly say that my TB now handles as well if not better then the GTA did and doesn't give as harsh of a ride as the GTA did.
 
Now I just need to get to the track and see if this thing will hook up...
 
I've attached a list of what parts I used and where I got them from.  Keep in mind that this didn't come together in a day or week for that matter.  I don't do projects unless I have everything(or at least think I have everything) needed to complete it.  Took about a 4 months to get it all together and another month waiting to get over to Charlie's shop for an alignment.  Big thanks to Charlie for putting this recipe together!

[jonasterg]

I followed this thread and the "Rebuild for Beginners" thread on TB.com to rebuild my suspension and steering.

Everything is going well, except I tweaked / bent my front passenger LCA when I pressed out the rear bushing.  If I can't straighten the LCA & bushing hole, I may replace the LCAs with new ones.

Any recommendation for some inexpensive LCAs?  I've already got bushing and ball joints, per the recommendation s earlier in this thread.  I'd rather get some empty LCAs and use the bushings / ball joints that I got from Speedway and Rock Auto.

Thanks.

[Charlief1]

All of the GM S series pickups have the same lower arm as well as the 3rd gen F body's.
Any of them will replace the lower arm and you can also find them from speedway motors. To the best of my knowledge no one is reproducing them so far. When you press the new bushings in you need to support the arm with a brace in the middle so you don't crush the mounting area.

[good2win22]

Hit the junkyard!  If not able to due to weather or location, let me know and I'll snag you one out of my local treasure trove

[jonasterg]

Charlie, thanks for the info.  I'm going to see if I can use a mallet and flat backing-plate to straighten my tweaked arm.  While pressing out the bushing, I had a brace in the center of the C-channel but I obviously didn't line things up correctly.  I'll be more careful on the driver's side, and when pressing in the new parts.


Jason, I'll see what I can do here before I bother you.  Thanks very much for the offer.  There aren't many yards around me (DC suburbs) so I'll keep trying to fix what I've got.

[Charlief1]

I use an air chistle to get the bushings out Jon. A little noisy but it's faster and doesn't damage the arm as easily as a press can.

[jonasterg]

Good advice.  Unfortunately I don't have access to any air tools so I'm stuck with my press.  I'll drill out the rubber first, for the driver's side bushing.  I'll also use a healthy dose of Kroil to loosen things up.
 
I also found some LCAs from a Chevy S10 Pickup (RWD) that look like they'll fit nicely.  If I can't get my arm flattened, or the driver's side gives me trouble, I might go that route instead.

[Charlief1]

If you have access to a torch you can burn the rubber out and then collapse the sleeve to get it out.

[good2win22]

If you have access to a torch you can burn the rubber out and then collapse the sleeve to get it out.

That's how I got mine out

[jonasterg]

A 2lb sledge, some scrap wood (as a backing plate), and patience... the control arm looks much better now.  I'm going to CAREFULLY press in, then out, the old bushing to see if the hole is in good shape.  If so, I'll put in the new parts tonight.  If not, I'll pick up an S10 control arm from Rock Auto and see how that goes.


Thanks everyone for your input and guidance.  I'll be much more careful when I tackle the driver's side suspension.


A special thank you to Charlief1 - between my Navy engineer salary and my wife's med residency, this is a very affordable way to rebuild my front end.  I sincerely appreciate the guidance here and on the "other board."

[Charlief1]

Oh crap!!! I helped a squid? I may never live this down. Glad I could help and if you feel like driving to Texas we'll show you a good time at the Texas Buick Nationals on May 9th.

[jonasterg]

Not a squid, I'm a civilian - someone's gotta do the lab work.  (...nerd!)  I try to make the ships survivable, so every squid that goes out comes back alive.

I'll actually be in Austin at the end of March for a vacation, but won't make it down in May.  Enjoy the May meet! 

[Handyman]

I was reading similar info on a S-10 forum and I believe someone indicated that if you use a longer lower bj it helps the bumpsteer and raises roll center which has more positive effect than just doing the extended upper. They also said if you do both extended bj's a tubular upper control arm is a must.

Is this true? Has anyone tried this?

[TexasT]

Maybe jason/good2winn22 will chime in as he had a car with most of the mods including the fancy arms. I was just gonna do the longer upper 1/2" in the stock arm but haven't done it yet.

[good2win22]

I was reading similar info on a S-10 forum and I believe someone indicated that if you use a longer lower bj it helps the bumpsteer and raises roll center which has more positive effect than just doing the extended upper. They also said if you do both extended bj's a tubular upper control arm is a must.

Is this true? Has anyone tried this?

You'll need to get at least a 1/2 inch longer upper control arm. If not, it really puts the upper ball joint at an extreme angle at normal ride height. I'm going from memory as I know longer own the car with all those mods. Good luck!