The final 500 suspension
 

As all you know I have #40 of the last #500. The body has as it sits 235,xxx k miles. I'm just going to say a lot of the suspension parts are looking pretty old and the bushings are dry and are cracking. So I went online and ordered a ton of parts. Here is the list. Control arms, tie rod ends, all four wheel bearing hubs, all four quick struts, cross members, and trailing arms for the rear. Since that was a big order I have to get paid again to get the rack, and the sway bar bushings. I'll keep you all up to date on what I purchase and when I start on the car. I'll be posting pictures of the work and all the old parts that come off. Here is a picture of the new parts so far.

Me likey

I'm kinda surprised you didn't hunt for a set of aluminum control arms and w body rear lateral bars...

I can't tell from the pictures but did you go f body front brakes?

I have a set of aluminum control arms from baby blue. I'm just getting stock stuff for now. Just to know everything is replaced and good. Yes, I have the f body front brakes. Go big or go home!:p

Awesome!! :) my thoughts exactly... Go big or gtfo lmao

good job!

Thanks!

I am trying to start this project in the next few weeks! With this warmer weather it will help to work on the car. Because who wants to work on a car in the cold?!?! But i'm much closer to getting all the parts. I just picked up brake hardware(front and back), and Front sway bar end link bushings. Hopefully getting the rack here next week and rear sway bar bushings. I just can't wait to dive into this and share the experience with everyone on here.

Where did you get the drilled rear rotors from?

Rockauto probably

NOPE!

I got them off Ebay. I have had good experience buying them from there so far...This set was from a company called SMD Autoparts. I do have a set of Hawk HPS pads I will be putting on for the front and rear. I'm not sure I want to keep these ones in particular because of the finish on them.

Zinc coated rotors are the best imo. Wont rust where pad doesnt contact.

Had a set on mine.

Same here. I'm most likely going to just buy new ones and have those as a spare set.

That's going to be one nice riding and handling Alero.

That's what I was thinking :coolio:

if the control arm bushings are shot better take look a look at sway bar end links and bushings while your there. Can't be far behind.

I have brand new sway bar end links from the local chevy dealer. $35 a piece lol. I'm going to pick up the sway bar bushings when I go buy the rack.

Quite the pile o parts there. Looking good. Wish my parts pile was as clean and new looking lol.

Thanks! it kills me to see these new parts sitting around and not on the her...But When I don't want to start replacing stuff till I have every piece to the puzzle.

You sound like me but then i get impatient and half ass stuff then have to redo it to get it right... My car is half torn apart again to fix things and hopefully get her out again this spring for a few trips then get down to work on finishing everything... The goal is to have her back to one colour before next winter...

Gonna ride smooth as silk when it's all said and done.

I can't wait to see the finishing product!





That's the plan!



Just a small update...I jacked up the rear end and started spraying the bolts holding all the suspension parts with pb blaster to break some of the rust down on the bolts. I decided to take a look at my parking brake cables because the driver side doesn't seem to hold when the brake is up. From what I saw, the cable is seized and doesn't do a thing when the parking brake is up or down. So I went ahead and ordered two new cables, because why replace just one?

of course. Might as well replace both while you're under there doing everything else and all the suspension pieces are out of the way.

It'll be fun. I'm doing all those parts + calipers tie, rod ends, fuel pump, valve cover gasket, so on on the intrigue. It's so much easier to work on than the alero. Sway bar bushings are easy to get to go to, took 20 minuets for them all. I have access to a hydrolic press and drill press at work so I replaced the ball joints and bushings on the control arms. Never again, you were smart just getting new arms.

I'm really excited to get started. Just need the rack and some sway bar bushings in the rear. Money is a little tight after buying all those parts so I have to wait to buy the rack. Also it would be silly to put in all those parts and not replace the rack..The car has 235k on it and that rack looks like it has about that many miles on it too. But I wanted to polish my aluminum control arms and insert new bushings from babyblue and use them. I started a new shift at work so I'm finding it hard to make time for myself lately. When I do start working on her and replacing all the parts I will be posting TONS of pictures of before and after, and the car itself etc.

Got the new parking brake lines in! I might just put these on this weekend with the rear wheel bearings, rotors, and pads. Get a little jump start on the project.

Okay, I went ahead and replaced the rear wheel bearings, parking brake lines, rotors, and pads. While I was at that I cleaned up as much as I could. There was a lot of brake dust, grease etc on everything. Also before anyone says anything about how bad the old components/parts are...I know. I did not have a whole lot of money to throw around. It took me awhile to save after getting the six speed put in there. Anyways, Here are pictures of the work I did. There are a lot of them...
Old and New Rotors


Old and New Parking Brake lines


While I was down there I went ahead and sanded down and painted where the parking brake cables get inserted. I didn't get a before picture but it was pretty rusty.




Old and New Brake Pads




New Brake hardware


These next few will be some before and after of the heat shield, Parking Brake bracket, and caliper brackets.












Here is a pic of all the bolts and parking brake cylinder cleaned up


I did find out I did need to order new springs for the parking brake....


Old and New wheel bearings.





New Parking brake cables on.







New setup on...




And when I was under there Look what I found! Something doesn't look right...



That's all I got for now. I hope you enjoyed checking out the pictures and the work I have been putting into the car. There is much more to do and I'm looking forward to doing it!!!

Those laterals look toast!!! Are you upgrading to the w body rear lateral arms? I got mine off rock auto for $130 cdn shipped to my door... Just a thought since you're upgrading everything ;)

I did order some and I just went with stock for now.

Before I get into the work, I never want to replace a rack again lol. There is no room what so ever down there. I will first post pictures of the rear end. Some before and afters. Comparison pictures etc.









Bent ass lateral arm...







Okay, There are some pics of the rear end...If you would like more let me know! Here are some of the front end work....





















Here some other random things I did. More of a clean up in the engine bay and some repainting to make the engine bay look cleaner...

Polished the t-stat housing a little.



Some Before













And some after shots of everything painted and finished...

A picture of her the other day after being cleaned up a little,



And just for the fun of it a picture of my two favorite dogs..

Raven


Magnum


Well there ya have it! the whole suspension is replaced front and back! after getting her alignment it was a joy to drive down the road. I'm looking forward to starting my next BIG project on this car. It makes me happy to be able to bring one of the final 500 back to life again!

Nice job Parker!!!

So what's next?

I would like to get interior cleaned up. But engine wise exhaust. I'm gonna try to get that done in the next few weeks.

I know what you mean about the rack. I replaced mine shortly after the homecoming you brought the blue one too. When I installed the non-exsistant front sway bar I ended up taking it back out to slide the bar in, then re-stalling. I'm over doing work like that. I also replaced a trailing arm bent like yours, what on earth were people doing with these cars!
Looking good :thumb:

People think the trailing arm and the lateral links are good pull points to get out of a situation where they are stuck. I see it all the time. I had to replace a lateral link on my Alero because of this. Driver rear one. Funny thing is, the aftermarket link is thicker and has a better bushing than the factory one.

First of all lemme tip my hat to u sir. That's an amazing amount of work and it looks sooo clean I'm so impressed. It's exactly the project I've been attempting for a year and a half LMAO. I was wondering what brand of struts u went with. I also have the quick strut my fronts are Moog Problem Solver. I was gonna do the whole suspension in Moog Problem Solver. Good idea? Bad idea? Suggestions please. Thanx!