I am picking up used boxed control arms and a sway bar for my Cutlass Saturday. I am going to purchase new bushings. Is there any other hardware I will need to install, or do I use the old hardware? Thanks for your help.

Tom

 

You will need bolts to attach the sway bar to the control arms, I went with stainless with nylock nuts. You might need new bolts for the control arms, as they often rust in the pocket.
Steve

 

I would get new proper style bolts (with the 'shoulders') for the control arms. GM still offers them (gmpartsdirect.com is a good online GM source), so does AMK Products, pn #9421430.

Also, on feebay... http://cgi.ebay.com/64-72-GM-CARS-CO...-/320686657946

Not sure on the sway bar bolts, but ILT offers repros (no grade markings on them though).

 

get some swaybar shims also if you can (alignment shims & body washers also work).

if there is a gap between the swawbar & arms when you lift it into place, you don't want the bolts pulling the control arms out of position when you tighten up the swawbar- thus the reason for the shims.

 

What Oldzy said....get the GM bolts or go get GRADE 8 bolts locally. Regular stainless bolts aren't anywhere close to Grade 8 and your suspension isn't a great place to install weaker-than-what-the-factory-used fasteners.

Most, if not all of the rear suspension bolts have a slightly wider shoulder on the shaft of the bolt just under the bolt head.....another reason to use factory type bolts.

Pay attention to what you pull off your car....on the lower control arm bolts that go through the frame (front mounting point of lower rear arms), you may find a very thick washer under the bolt head against the frame on those two positions. Reuse these if they are in decent shape.

Get Grade 8 bolts for the sway bar to control arm attachment also.

The factory type bolts aren't cheap. Yours may be fine if the car didn't live in the rust belt.

 

I went through this last year - see if any of this helps you out any...
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ancements.html

 

Thanks for everybodys input! I am ordering new bolts/shims today and hopefully will get this knocked out on Sunday. Rob, the pics on your thread will prove to be useful, a million words and all. Hope I can stick to one job
and not get the might as wells....a trap that seems to befall most. Thanks again! Tom

 

Hope the pics help out.
Luckily, the deep underside is not too important in shows. Now the underhood is another story, where I was driven off the path into a forest...
Good luck!

 

I will also add this. Take the bar off of the arms for inspection. I bought a set and after I got them apart the arms were badly rusted and not usable. I ended up having to buy inserts and weld them in my stock arms. The boxed ones I bought were only lightly piited everywhere else but rusted through where the sway bar bolts.