Pictures of Suspension State

Started the front suspension by installing the Shark Bite aluminum upper control arms.  This required that I remove the A/C Compressor from the bracket as well as the alternator and power steering pump.  Unfortunately, I had to remove the fans from my radiator as well.  Fortunately, all those things can go on and off quickly now and without fully disconnecting them.  Next I installed the spreader bar which is supposed to help maintain the frame's geometry.

Next I put on the new tubular lower control arms (disappointed that I couldn't get the aluminum ones...) and Shark Bite coil-over conversion using QA1 single adjustable shocks.  Removing the original control arms was nerve racking because of the spring, so I made a safety tool to help from 5/8" threaded steel rods.  Getting the shock into the lower control arm was fairly tricky because of the control arm's design.  The last piece of the front suspension was the sway bar.  Not much to installing that.  The sway bar looks upside down, but the spring height hasn't been adjusted yet.

Rather than finish up other things I've started (like the interior and gas pedal), I started working on the rear suspension.  First, I decided to get the bearings rebuilt, which led me to rebuild the trailing arms.  After doing some reading I decided to stick with standard trailing arms instead of getting offset ones since I probably will upgrade to 17" or 18" rims at some point.  Got rear bearing assemblies from Vtech Corvette and am now in the process of removing the old ones so I can do the core return.

The passenger side trailing arm was so rusted on that I had to cut the pivot bolt with a Sawsall to get it out.  I also had to go buy a good electric torque wrench to get most of the bolts out (not air because my compressor isn't large enough).  When I was putting the differential on and removing the trailing arm, I noticed that the strut bars were bent on both sides and the Shark Bite suspension kits do not include them.  After a bit of research, I decided to go with the HD smart struts from VB&P instead of standard strut bars.  Why not fix all the car's weak points/geometry issues, right?  Anyway, those are backordered but I'm also waiting on new trailing arm shims and pivot bolts.  During that time I'm still working on getting the rear bearing assemblies swapped out...

While taking the u-joint out of the halfshaft, I ended up denting it.  I now need to take it to a shop to make sure it's balanced enough so it won't vibrate.  If it's not good, I'll probably have to just buy a new one for $130 (I was extremely unhappy when I noticed I did that...).  With all the parts of the trailing arm apart, I cleaned them up with degreaser and stainless steel brushes before coating them in rust reformer and then brake caliper paint.  Brake caliper paint takes several days to fully cure, but it ends up very hard and resistant to pretty much everything.  Vtech does an epoxy paint when you get a trailing arm rebuilt by them, which I imagine is very close to the same thing.

I have 30 days to get my bearing assemblies back to Vtech, so expect more posts soon!  On a side note, the new black top is sitting on my dining room table...  I'm sure my wife is not thrilled I'm leaving it there.