Ginky Weeds Restoration Project

[telriv]

Problem is, depending on how strong the MG's are, can damage your liver. The cure is sometimes worse than the deisese.

Back to cars. I have removed poly from LOTS of customers cars because of the harshness of ride. I myself don't like them for all suspension parts. I DO use them for the sway bar bushings & end links. I also use them for the top of the front shocks. On some I have used them on the lower control arms ONLY as there is more weight for jounce & rebound to help offset the harshness of the ride on the front.
On my Riv. I also use them for the strut rod & rear panhard rod bushings. Makes for a better handling car & there is little to no movement of the components while riding down the road.
Just remember to tighten all suspension bolts when the components are at ride height or else the rubber gets torn up rather quickly.
Just my opinions.


Tom T.

[cwmcobra]

Thanks for the great tips, Tom.  So in my case, you're saying that the suspension bolts shouldn't be tightened until the body is back on the frame, correct?  If so, thanks, I wouldn't have thought of that.

Chuck

[Loren At 65GS]

Thanks for the great tips, Tom.  So in my case, you're saying that the suspension bolts shouldn't be tightened until the body is back on the frame, correct?  If so, thanks, I wouldn't have thought of that.

Chuck

I've always understood it is best to tighten the suspension after everything is together, including drive train installed, so full weight of car is on the suspension.

My approach is to have the front on ramps and the rear end on jack stands. Then torque bolts to spec.

  Loren

[Mark Ascher]

I waited until the car was finished and had gas in the tank before snugging down the front and rear control arm bolts.
I did this just as Loren described.

Mark

[Brian]

As a side note to the discussion on tightening the bolts in the suspension bushings, if you use the polyurethane suspension bushings, you don't have to wait until they are loaded to tighten them down.  Polyurethane bushings are designed to rotate inside of the metal sleeve (they have really sticky synthetic grease on them).   So you can tighten them down at any position in the suspension travel. 
  I have the poly bushings in my 64 and in my 65 GS.  Big difference in handling and the difference in the ride harshness is not noticeable to me with radial tires on the car.  If you have bias tires, it will ride rougher.    Another benefit of the poly bushings on a driver car is it cuts out a lot of the wheel hop with a posi rear end if you happen to get the rear tires turning faster than the car is moving! 

[cwmcobra]

Thanks for your comments Brian.  Now I'm torn.  Do your poly bushings creak and squeak?  That's something I noticed in the past with a production car with poly bushings.  It creaked every time I turned right.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[Brian]

I don't hear any creaks in mine and it has the newer bushings that have the synthetic grease in them.   Of course, I have only put 2000 miles on my car since I finished restoring it 10 years ago!  Plus I have 40 series flow master mufflers and 2.5" pipes on the car, so that is the predominant sound!   I have heard cars with the older bushings creak as you are describing, but I don't hear that in my 65.   

[cwmcobra]

Thanks Brian.  I assume your poly bushings were from Energy?

And did you use poly body bushings also?

[cwmcobra]

At the risk of blaspheming, has anyone installed a cruise control on a 65 GS?  I expect this to be a road car and would appreciate that convenience.  Are there factory setups from other cars or other years that might work?  I'd like to avoid an aftermarket approach if possible.

First air conditioning, now cruise control.  What will I think of next?  I know.....a GPS Nav screen!  No thanks....

 

Chuck

[GS66]

Cruise control - not in a 65 GS but I have Dakota Digital cruise control in our 57 Dodge pickup. We have driven it through about 20 or more states when doing the Power Tour and it works great! The way you sit in the small truck cab would cause my ankle to hurt or stiffen up after just a few hours of driving. The cruise control was a godsend.

[elagache]

Dear Chuck, Jim, and mid-60s fans of modern conveniences, . . .

At the risk of blaspheming, has anyone installed a cruise control on a 65 GS?

. . . .

Cruise control - not in a 65 GS but I have Dakota Digital cruise control in our 57 Dodge pickup. We have driven it through about 20 or more states when doing the Power Tour and it works great! The way you sit in the small truck cab would cause my ankle to hurt or stiffen up after just a few hours of driving. The cruise control was a godsend.

I just hunted down the link from Dakota Digital and . . . . Wow!

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=46/prd46.htm

Looks like a really neat product and since they supply a stalk mounted controller, it could be added to almost any car without too much pain.  Alas, their controller just won't work in my wagon . . . .



Don't these silly guys know that I need a stalk-mounted cruise controller in - CHROME!!!! . . . . 

First air conditioning, now cruise control.  What will I think of next?  I know.....a GPS Nav screen!  No thanks....

Okay no GPS screen, but you could consider something close that could be still discreetly hidden.  At least the Apple iPhone can speak to you the driving directions.  I'm sure that isn't as convenient as a display, but it should get you there if you are listening carefully.  If you get lost you can pull off the road and then consult your phone to see where you went wrong.  I'm not up on android phones but there may be something similar by now.

I think it is about as close as you can easily get to having that cake and eating it too.  Another idea that I've been pondering is to incorporate a phone stand into a console that on a bench seat would be in between the front passengers.  When you aren't using the phone, the stand could be folded into the console to avoid the high-tech intrusion.  On a car with bucket seats, you might have more options to hide a smart-phone support while keeping the original console.

Food for thought, . . . .

Edouard

[cwmcobra]

Edouard,

No chrome, but how about polished aluminum?

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=55/category_id=-1/mode=prod/prd55.htm

Chuck

[WkillGS]

Poly vs rubber bushings....
The upper front A-arms already have STEEL bushings, so they won't deflect much!
If you add a larger diameter front swaybar with poly bushings, it should keep things under control if you use rubber lower A-arm bushings and still maintain a nice ride. Most of the weight is carried by the lower arms anyway.
I like Tom's suggestion of using poly bushings on the shocks... that should allow the shock to perform its job better.

Are you putting a swaybar on in the rear? It will require boxed lower control arms. Once again, that will keep the rear from moving around too much.

Hot Rod magazine did an article on modifying a '66 GS for strip use, 'Blueprinting Buicks for Action', April '66 issue.
To stiffen the rear bushings, they drove 1/16" to 1/8" 'nails' into them!
http://wildaboutcarsonline.com/cgi-bin/pub9990262549620.cgi?categoryid=9980384637237&action=viewad&itemid=9990398172817

I'd also suggest the 'control arm reinforcements'. There are some posts on the subject here:
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?73629-CONTROL-ARM-BRACES-Don-t-leave-home-without-em

You have a choice of aftermarket ones, or ones similar to the original GTO 4 speed ones.

[cwmcobra]

Thanks Walt.  Interesting and helping to hone my approach.  The person that did the previous restoration of my car did a couple of things to the suspension.  First, he put a very large diameter sway bar in the front, over 1 1/4" diameter.  I think he said it was from a Firebird, but I'm not sure about that.  Second, the car does have a rear sway bar that is bolted into boxed rear control arms.  Since I have some of the improvements for my suspension, I think I'll take the advice from you and Tom.  Poly on the front sway bar and shock tops and rubber on everything else.  Sounds like a "best of both worlds" approach that I'm willing to give a try!

Now, does anyone have a comment on poly body bushings? 

Have great weekend!

 

Chuck

[dsags]

Now, does anyone have a comment on poly body bushings? 

My suggestion is to use the factory version - rubber. Walt did a review of all the various manufacturers a while back and it is posted on here someplace. Just have to do a search.

Dan