1981 Camaro Z28

[TSTONE]

Worse come to worse - you're not reusing the springs, just cut them

[JoeliusZ28]

^yep that'll do the trick. Theyre sagged out anyway right?

[MP81]

I mean, I'm hoping so - but they're also still under quite a bit of compression...cutting them sounds terrifying.

I think "The Hammer" may be my best option. I'm hoping they don't have all of their 365 lb/in spring rate, so that if it does shift a bit, it's not 10 feet into my face.

[JoeliusZ28]

I mean id have have safety goggles underneath a face shield, and some thick clothing on but "are you silly? Im still gonna send it."

I would recommend cutting 2/3 through the coil and then giving it a good blast with a BFH and hopefully the pressure/shock finishes it off the rest of the way from a safe distance.

[MP81]

I'm hoping BFH just allows it to come out in the slightly less sketchy way of lowering the jack.

[DynoDave]

Not quite sure I follow what you're wrestling with, but if you are trying to remove an old spring that is still somewhat compressed....how about heating the spring, like you were going to lower it...I've watched it done in-car....heat, heat, heat, and when it hits that magic temp, the car will drop. Doing it just the amount you want is the trick in those situations. But for you? Do it in 2 or 3 spots, and let it collapse. Not cutting it through, just collapsing it.

[MP81]

That's not a bad idea either. I still have my buddy's MAPP torch.

[JoeliusZ28]

good idea. you could also set an acetylene torch next to it and just wait for it to cut while you stand 30 feet away.

[MP81]

That sounds fun.

I also thought of just having left the ball joint nut off, and drop the jack entirely, and leaving it there and waiting for it to eventually blow the LCA down.

But with my luck, it'd wait until I was walking back over.

[s.reef]

This thing isn't done yet?!

[MP81]

Hell no! I don't work on it for very long, and really only on the weekends - basically the time between lunch and dinner. I get dirty enough that I have to immediately go take a shower, and then I don't want to go back out.

But given the roads are in complete disrepair, and it seems to keep snowing, I still have a good amount of time. Once I get this stupid spring out, it's just removing the LCA and replacing it (which, on the other side was not too difficult - but this side has proven to be more of a *****), then swapping the front sway bar (which is like...four bolts, and the end links, which are already attached to the LCA via spherical bushings at the end). Then I can replace the inner/outer tie rods, the center link and the idler arm, as well as the tie-rod adjusters (Proforged sells a package of all of the above, and their stuff really seems to be top notch - it comes with their billet adjusters I was going to get anyway, instead of the crappy clamp-style, and their idler arm seems to have the smaller rotational joint that my swaybar requires - Moog is too large and will rub).

Then that's it for the front end, and moving on to the leaf springs. Rear sway bar requires quite a bit of drilling, so if push comes to shove, that can wait.

[s.reef]

Hell no! I don't work on it for very long, and really only on the weekends - basically the time between lunch and dinner. I get dirty enough that I have to immediately go take a shower, and then I don't want to go back out.

But given the roads are in complete disrepair, and it seems to keep snowing, I still have a good amount of time. Once I get this stupid spring out, it's just removing the LCA and replacing it (which, on the other side was not too difficult - but this side has proven to be more of a *****), then swapping the front sway bar (which is like...four bolts, and the end links, which are already attached to the LCA via spherical bushings at the end). Then I can replace the inner/outer tie rods, the center link and the idler arm, as well as the tie-rod adjusters (Proforged sells a package of all of the above, and their stuff really seems to be top notch - it comes with their billet adjusters I was going to get anyway, instead of the crappy clamp-style, and their idler arm seems to have the smaller rotational joint that my swaybar requires - Moog is too large and will rub).

Then that's it for the front end, and moving on to the leaf springs. Rear sway bar requires quite a bit of drilling, so if push comes to shove, that can wait.

Well if you need a hand let me know

[MP81]

Well if you need a hand let me know

Oh, I definitely will let you know.

Facebook just reminded me with one of the pics from working on the Monte:

[MP81]

I didn't get a chance to get any pics before we went down to Georgia, but got all the new Proforged steering components (including Billet aluminum tie rod sleeves - much better looking than the stock style), as well as (another) new pair of wiper blades (these will clear the hood - the ones I bought prior don't). All the suspension components are greasable, as well, which is what I was looking for, to replace what are definitely original components.

[MP81]

Was able to (finally) get back out into the garage and work on the car today. You know, whenever you're having trouble on something, and deem something "totally not the problem, no way it could possibly be"...it's likely the problem.

Deadlifted the spindle off the ball joint (after using my shiny new safety chain to secure the spring, to put my fears of getting hit in the face to rest) and watched the control arm drop exactly as I expected it to. Pulled the jack out and one more good hit to the control arm (as the spring still had a slight bit of compression to it) and it "popped" (pop is a bit of an understatement - I was happy to have put the chain on it!) right out. Got the lower control arm out, and put all the new parts in. Having a bit extra time/motivation/energy to play with, I removed the stock sway bar and got the driver side tie rod out of the spindle, and the cotter pin/nut out of the pitman arm and called it a day.

I'm just happy to be done with the coil springs, finally.

Old versus new:



Stock lower control arm - bushings are pretty far shot, and that bump stop is toast.




All buttoned up:





Stock sway bar. Those bushings look...wonderful.