New to Restoration (& Chevy Team!)

[Tim Audley]

Hello all,
I'm in the process of trying to learn the right way to go about restoring my '72 Chevelle Malibu. I've been working on rebuilding the wheel cylinders so I can at least get it on the road to see how it runs. The front-end upper control arms need replacement bushings, and I am looking for reference material to guide me through it. Do I, and how do I, remove the upper ball joint? And if so, how do I know if it is still good or should be replaced?
Any words of advice will be greatly appreciated.
Tim

[Philip]

Welcome to the site Tim. There are 2 sources of information for your Mailbu that will prove to be invaluable. One is the factory service manuals. They are available from Helm (http://www.helminc.com) in printed form and from Detroit Iron (http://www.detroitironis.com/) on CD rom.
I have both for my 72 El Camino. I print pages off the CD when making repairs to keep the printed service manual clean, but use the printed manual a lot for quick reference.
The other is here and at Chevelles.com (http://www.chevelles.com). The folks that frequent these Team sites are knowlegable, friendly and love to help.
The control arm bushings are pressed in and can be changed on the car with the right tools, but may be a lot easier the first time if removed and taken to a shop that has a press and the right fixtures to support the arm. The factory upper ball joints are fastened with rivits, replacements use bolts to secure them to the control arms. If your 72 still has the factory upper ball joints chances are they need replaced.
After changing your wheel cylinders the system will need to be bled to remove all the air.

[Screw_driver2001]

WELCOME to ChevyTeam!!:beers:

We've just purchased the "super" front end kit (w/OEM Rubber) from NPD as well as new upper and lower control arms and new coils. I figured after reading about others' projects that since this vehicle is over 40 years young, replacing the control arms ain't no biggee when compared to one (possibly) failing while driving.
Replacing Ball Joints is one good thing yet one should also look at the Control Arms because of age, stress, possible cracks(?). These checks also depend upon how the vehicle is driven or to be driven.

[Gloryhound]

Welcome to the site! A good place to start is figuring out what kind of restoration you are performing. I'm doing a frame (or subframe since it is a Nova) off restoration. You don't tend to get the instant gratification of driving as you go, but the end is normally a cleaner car. Also this type of restoration tends to cost a lot more! Also are you trying to keep the car all origional, origional in appearance only, lightly custom, or heavily customized? What do you plan on using the car for? Drag strip, road trips, cruiser, daily driver, show.... All of these need to be decided before you really start working on the car. Then you lay out a plan of attack. The hobby has gotten expensive and you don't want to end up paying for something you are going to change out later!

Good Luck!