one4theroad

Hi guys. I have two 69 cutlasses. The first I bought back in '89. It was a nice 442 clone daily driver in college. Then I graduated, got married, had the first kid and parked my car under a tree in the grass and left it there for 10 years. What? Isn't that the best way to store a car in northern IL? Yes, it went downhill rapidly. In '04 I bought another '69 cutlass. Not in very good condition as it has some rust behind all 4 wheels but it has a much better chance than the first one. I can even wash and wax it, which is more than I can say for the other one. This one is kept in the garage and thankfully doesn't look any worse than it did 5 years ago when I picked it up.
The old clone car has been great for fixing this one up. Right away I rebuilt the motor from the old car and swapped in the engine and trans(455/th400). Also, swapped the bumpers (442 rear bumper), tail lights, grill (442), glove box door (442), steering gear box (less turns), tilt steering column (no column shift), steering wheel (I think all the steering was from a Trans Am), and Hurst "slap stick" shifter. The old 442 clone also donated many other goodies like rear view mirror with map light, glove box light, trunk light, etc.
I drove it around very little from '04 to '07 and hated it because it had 4-wheel manual drum brakes. So in '07 I decided to take the spindles and booster from the other car so I could have power disc brakes. Ended up sitting on jack stands for 2 years due to lack of time and $. Finally put it back on the road a couple weeks ago with new control arm bushings and hardware, springs, shocks, ss brake lines, master cylinder, etc. It's nice to have brakes that don't involve a hope and a prayer!
So I drove it around a couple days and decided I don't like the rear end. Mainly I didn't like bouncing out of my seat due to being too stiff with ladder bars, but I also miss the quicker gear. Back to the old donor car. I'm taking out the type "o" 3.08 posi and putting in the other car's rear which is a chevy type "c" 3.73 posi. and also has the boxed lower control arms and sway bar I want. With the help of a friend I did manage to pull both units out the other night. What a nightmare! Right now I'm sandblasting and painting everything that's going into the "good" car. And I'm going to have all the bushings replaced. I really have no knowlegde or experience with swapping rear ends so I'm hoping someone in the know may be able to give me some pointers or even their recommended step by step procedure on installing these units with the least headache. Thanks in advance. Sorry about the long post. And thanks for letting me join the forum.

svnt442

It's pretty straight forward from the point you are at now. Since you are replacing the lower control arms all you need to do is bolt them in place and then slide the axle under the car. If you can do this on a jack that would be best. Bolt in the 4 control arm bolts and then the lower shock bolts. Then you can hook up the brake lines and then finally bleed the system. It's not all that difficult.
Once all the control arms are bolted up you can install the sway bar at any point, but I would wait until you were done with the brakes just so it's not in the way.

Jamesbo

Welcome aboard

When it get's light on the west coast Citcapp will be rising to find another 69 er on our forum.

Oh yeah, I should say if the ole Geezer gets up.

Post some pics. It'll drive crazy

Oldsguy

Hey you can't blame Pat for that, it's the way God made him. Besides I am right up there too so am defending myself as well. Welcome to CO. You may want to contact Monzas he has some experience with third members and would be able to help you with specifics.

citcapp

I'm awake now yawn,

Welcome to the site glad to have you aboard. 69's are ok sort of, at least they are a member of the Olds family 57's are better and faster and 48's are faster still.

one4theroad

Thanks for the responses. Trying to post a pic. Hopefully it works, I'm not too good with computers. Some people like the color. I personally hate it. To me it looks like something that should be on an old Ford. I call it the smurfbobile. I decided to focus on drivetrain/suspension (almost there) then I'll worry about body/paint.
As far as the rear end goes I guess my concern was whether I should try to attach lower arms first or upper. When I took the rears out I put jacks on either side of the pumpkin and then removed the upper bolts first. Took alot of beating on them but when they came out the unit shifted slightly and I thought to myself how difficult it would be to get them back in. Then I lowered the jacks, removed the springs, and lastly removed the lower arm to frame bolts and slid out the unit with lower arms still attached. I guess if I were to reverse the procedure I used to remove them I would attach the lower arms, set the springs in place, raise the jacks, and hope I can get the upper bolts in place? Is this the way to go? I guess I could be making a big deal out of this in my head and it will go smoothly. Yeah, right. I don't seem to live on Easy St. in Perfecttown, USA. Since I need to put both rears back in I'll get to practice with the parts car first. I just hate when I do the same job twice and the first time it takes all day and the second time it takes 20 minutes. Uggh.

one4theroad

Still trying to attach pic.

Jamesbo

When you reply make sure you are in “Advanced” If it says post a “Quick reply” hit “Advanced”

Scroll down below the box you type in and hit “ Manage Attachments” A new box will pop up.

Hit “Browse”

The hit “Upload” and wait a few secs for the pics to up load. Then close this box.
Next you can hit “Preview Post and your pictures should be there.

There is a size limit on pics

svnt442

Insert image....

BIGJERR

Looks good.......

one4theroad

I voted for you bigjerr. I think some others should have considered a different pic. Who wants to see the neighbors houses or even worse the neighbors late model car in the background. Yours seems better being just a plain background (brick wall). Of course I like your "show" pic above. That would be an easy choice.

Bluevista

Welcome,
That color isn't that bad, it would have looked a lot better with a black vinyl top IMO, did it have one? A very nice car in any case.
It sort of looks like robin's egg blue to me.

one4theroad

bluevista- looks like the car originally had a black vinyl top and was a dark blue. The chrome trim is still in place where the vinyl top transitions to body. I've thought about painting the top black cause I think it would look better (anything to make more of that baby blue disappear).

BIGJERR

thanks!

Willidog

Would look close to this with a black vinyl top. My car is Nassau blue, which looks close to what yours is.

Oldsguy

I moved this thread as it had a lot of good stuff in it that shouldn't be lost in the newbie section. Notice the new title....

J-(Chicago)

Where in N. IL Are you?

one4theroad

@j-(chicago)- I'm in McHenry.
@svnt442- thanks for posting the big pic of my car...how'd you do that?
I did install the type "o" 12 bolt into the parts car. Went in super easy, thankfully. The chevy 12 bolt and the control arms have been blasted and primed and are going in tomorrow to get new bushings installed. Hopefully I'll have her back together by this time next week.

svnt442

Easy peasy

mugzilla

Did you change the proportioning valve..? this is a must ...

I had a friend bet me I could not install a rear end with a sway bar by myself ...

The problem being the bolts bind ...

Put frame on jack stands ...

I put a jack under the center with a chunk of wood that lets the r.end sit level ...

I bolt the bottoms first and then raise or lower the r.end until the upper holes line up ...

Jack up one side of the axle to put in first spring. Then put a wheels on the sprung side, take off jackstand next to sprung side, then jack up the other side to put on the other spring , ...

Install shocks. The hard part with the shocks is backing off the bolts which are in between a plate and the body... I have small vicegrips which work but I have put tape on a box end wrench so they grab the bolt head ...

one4theroad

Yes, I did swap the proportioning valves when I swapped spindles/brake systems. I went with the stainless line kit from inline tubes. Not the stock kit but the kit that moves the proportioning valve onto a bracket mounted directly below the master. So far a perfect fit and easy install for the front lines. There is an issue with loops in the lines being right in front of the dipstick. Kind of a mess but I can still pull the stick out and check the oil easy enough. Will be using the ss front to back line and the rear axle lines that came with the set now that the rears are being swapped. I did request that the kit had the rear lines for a chevy in case they are different.

When I put in the "o" rear I had a helper and I used 2 jacks, actually 3. One on each side of the center. Attached both lower arms. Set springs in place. Raised both jacks a bit til upper bolts were close. Then used a 3rd little floor jack under the center and rotated the unit a bit to line up the upper bolts. Went in real easy, couldn't complain, took about 30 mins. Then I screwed up while bleeding the brakes. Went a little too long without topping off the master and sucked air into the system. Sucky. Was taking a long time to get any pedal after that so I ended up pulling off the master and bench bleeding it. Then business as usual. Ended up taking much longer to bleed the brakes than installing the rear. Lesson learned.
Yeah, those upper shock bolts were a hassle. Glad they weren't too rusty on either car or it could have gotten ugly. I had the shocks installed up top first and hanging there while I put the rear in. I hate working in tight places. My wife has a 5spd turbo subaru baja. I'm still trying to find the motor!

mugzilla

I bought shocks from sears once and they had a $10 installation special , so I said "Have at it " ...

I got to watch the mechanic swear for a good hour ...

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