What should I do first?

[72Sting]

This is my first post. Great site! Purchased a 72 Coupe last May. Love it! Had a great summer with it. I have a to do list given to me last summer by a Vette specialist (whom I trust)...been in business for 25 yrs. What should I do first, and what kind of cost am I looking at for each?
-Universal joint
-Rear inner strut rod bushings
-Front suspension bushings
-Tachometer (not working)
Not exactly "Mr. Fix It" here....and not too proud to admit it...so I'm at the mercy of my mechanic...any advice is appreciated.

 

[Dave L.]

If it was my car,without a doubt I would be taking care of any U-joint problem I had. You don't want to even know what damage a drive shaft can do to fiberglass if that thing comes off. As far as price goes,can't even wager a guess,but to remove either the half shafts or the drive shaft is not that complicated.
After that I would go front suspension,rear strut bushings,tach.

Dave

 

[SolidLifters]

I assume from your comments that you're paying someone to do the work. Obviously the rear is the most potentially expensive if you ignore it. When the rear gets out of alignment on the camber (worn strut rod bushings) it can accelerate wear on the yokes in the rear. Has your mechanic evaluated the yoke end play and the wheel bearings? Have the bearings been done fairly recently? It would be best to do any rear end service all at once to avoid duplication of some required removal steps, especially if your mechanic is honest enough where he doesn't "flat rate manual" you to death and charge full individual labor rates anyway.

If the car hasn't had the service done, it's likely to need the wheel bearings, trailing arm bushings, all 4 strut rod bushings, the 4 rubber biscuits that link the spring and trailing arms, the U joints, and rear end serviced also, which can involve anything from changing the fluid, to clutch pack, to yokes, to full replacement. It just depends on what's been done in the past and the miles. If the car's got the original rear leaf spring it'll likely need to be replaced also to get the proper ride height and alignment.

As far as the prices, a lot depends on what's involved in the differential itself.

 

[72Sting]

Thanks for the quick replies guy's. Makes sense....take care of the rear end all at once. Don't believe the bearings have been done recently, and I recall paying for that about 20 yrs. ago with my '75 I had at the time.

 

[68Roadster]

72Sting,
I agree with the others....take care of the rear first.....
Recently someone posted a pic of a half shaft that had come loose, it tore up some fibreglass.
Most of these jobs can be taken care of by yourself if you have access to a hydraulic press, an assembly manual and the Chevrolet Chassis Service Manual. You may have to get a local machine shop to do some of the bushing staking (trailing arms) but the rest should be fairly easy.....
If you aren't comfortable doing the work yourself, do what you can, buy your own parts (if Customs charges aren't too steep) and see if your mechanic will install them for you. I recently re-bushed the whole front end (bushings/ball joints, etc) and the kit was 199.00 US.
U-joints are readily available most anywhere and are not that expensive.
As for the tach, do a search of posts for "tachometer". Alot of guys have been posting recently about places to have them worked on and the average has been around 100 bucks.

 

[72Sting]

Thanks for the quick replies guy's. Makes sense....take care of the rear end all at once. Don't believe the bearings have been done recently, and I recall paying for that about 20 yrs. ago with my '75 I had at the time.

 

[72Sting]

You said it 68Roadster... customs charges can be a killer, never mind the exchange rate.
Where did you get the front end kit?

 

[68Roadster]

All that Customs crap gripes my *$$. I work for a Canadian company and deal with that every day. Drive over to Winnipeg, I'll send some parts up with a helicopter engine......

I got my bushings at www.volvette.com
Jst about everybody has them, Ecklers, Mid America, etc.
You just have to choose between factory rubber (least expensive) and polyurethane (more expensive). I'm a purist so I went with stock rubber.
Some even have different kits for how much rebuilding you want to do. You can get just rubber or you can get the whole shooting match, i.e ball joints, tie rods, etc. I went all out because the bushings were shot and I added power steering. Wanted the whole front end fresh.....

While your at it, come get this BS weather that has come down from the Great White North, eh!!! We have been holed up until today because of about 3 inches of ice, finally melting....OK, it was moisture from the Gulf or someplace out West but the cold air came from Canada.

Good luck, let us know what you end up doing.

 

[BORDERBUM]

72sting,

BY FAR, the rear end, just as everyone here I think would vote. I havent seen what a half shaft can do to fiberglass, but i did see a driveshaft fall off a jeep! It destroyed the muffler, pipes, dented every piece of body within range. It was a mess to metal so fiberglass, would make me cry.

The rear strut rod bushings I think I got for around $30. in polyurathane. I bought then through COrvette Central, but if you need the camber adjustment bolt, I saw that VBP has them for $13. That's like half the price of others.

I saw a post, that has most of the distributors etc., get them and good luck with your vette. It grows in your blood then it becomes your blood! I have two and a half, and my first isn't totally finished yet! I keep finding more.

Good luck and welcome to CAC, There is a whole lot of knowledge here, and you might find that you can do a lot of this work yourself, even if you don't think so.

GIT R DONE___________________________BORDERBUM

 

[C3forME]

If it were me I'd do it in the order that you have it listed.

 

[72Sting]

Thanks all for your input....guess I did have it in the right order in my original post anyway. Spoke to my mechanic today as a matter of fact, and will have her in the shop in a couple weeks so I'm ready to go in April.
68Roadster....sorry buddy...no sympathy from me...thought we weren't having too bad a winter here (Greater Toronto Area)(nowhere near Winnepeg) up until the last few weeks...have had a couple of heavy snow falls the last 2 weeks...now this winter can't end soon enough....just have to get through March, and I'll feel better.

 

[68Roadster]

I hear that bro.....at least you have some of that good Canadian beer to keep the antifreeze level up.....

Good luck with the ride, hope it doesn't take all the "loonies"

Cee