Sunday Night Wrenching

"MM54" (mm54mk2) 01/29/2017 at 20:15 • Filed to: '71Chevelle

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Got the old rear shocks off the Chevelle. Two of the upper bolts were a pain, the other two, once cracked loose, came off with one finger on the bolt holding it and the other spinning the nut off. One of the lower studs spun in the bushing too, but the big channellocks took care of that.

Fully compressed with great ease and no interest in returning to an extended length.

They dead. New OEM replacements will go on... soon. They’re in the living room right now. If they didn’t come with upper hardware, I’ll have to pick that up first (old stuff is in reusable condition but I’d rather not).

Nothing > MM54 01/29/2017 at 20:40

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Nice. I did the shocks on the Cougar a while ago, but in typical 50 year old car fashion, I basically need to replace everything else too. I’m working up the courage to order up the front end this week.

The bottom of your car looks great, too. I checked out your post from Wednesday. I need to tackle that, too.

MM54 > Nothing 01/29/2017 at 20:48

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Thanks! Bushings and such are definitely worth replacing at this age; when I did the front end of the chevelle a few years ago the bushings were coming apart in chunks and every ball joint / rod end was super loose (but no play). I can’t wait to see what the rear bushings look like when I take them out soon!

This car was in Western PA its entire life (until I moved to NE Ohio...) - I’m the second owner if you don’t count the original owner’s estate. The only thing that saved it from being a pile of rust like most cars that spend that long around here is that it was obscenely well undercoated - and clearly regularly touched up. It’s over 1/8" thick in some places! Unfortunately at some point somewhat recently the maintenance stopped so there is some peeling/etc and surface rust underneath, so I’ve been removing the old undercoat in favor of POR15 - now that this car is relegated to clear weather and zero salt, it should be fine.