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Is this for your cutlass ? if so I would redo the entire front end – upper and lower control arm bushings , upper and lower ball joints , idler arm , tie rod ends , shocks and springs and sway bar bushings and end links. make sure to by quality parts ( I like Moog suspension components ) a ball joint press will make your life easier for removal of those parts ( I got mine at harbor freight- looks like a big c-clamp , been using it for many years – works great ) you can use this tool to remove the lower control arm bushings but you will need to make a spacer to go inside the arm itself ( where the bushing passes through ) otherwise you can crush the control arm in that area. the upper control arm bushings can be more challenging ( I usually mount the arm in a vise and drive the bushing out with an air chisle ) if the upper control arm on that car uses shims for alignment purposes keep track of where they were so you can put them back in the same place.
Use caution – when removing the coil springs ( they can bite ya ) I usually use a floor jack to slowly let the lower control arm down to remove the spring. some people have a different opinion on tightening the lower control arm mount bolts- I always wait to final tighten them when the car is on the ground. use antisieze on the new ball joints to ease installation. make sure to get an alignment when you are done. hope this info helps , let us know how the project goes.
To add to 619Dio’s post, don’t forget to use a torque wrench on any bolts that you have removed and will be reinstalling.
For the coil springs, you can loan out a coil spring tool that will compress the coil spring to make it easier to remove. Use caution though as those coil springs can be like missiles.
Good luck and keep us posted.
That is a LOT of work but if you’re looking to upgrade the suspension there really is no better way to go about it other than going with aluminum control arms. They actually make suspension kits that include all the bushings and parts mentioned for a complete rebuild, the control arm bushings are probably going to present the greatest challenge in my opinion, an air hammer helps a lot for this, for the entire job in fact as it works well to break off rivet heads as well. You might also consider a larger sway bar (and if you don’t have one in the back consider putting one there) as that will help it corner better and of course when you’re done you will need an alignment but to be honest get a set of tires first that way when the alignment is done you’ll have a fresh suspension as well as new tires, it’ll be the best alignment that car ever had. BTW worn tires can actually throw off the alignment hence the reason I suggest this and besides the tires are the most important component on the car and in my opinion deserve the MOST attention when upgrading performance.
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