replacing rear control arm bushings on '76 elodorado

[slider85]

I have a 1976 ElDorado that I am restoring. I am ordering the front end rebuild kit from Kanter, but there is nothing for the rear. The workshop manual says that the bushings are not replaceable and you have to replace the entire control arm. I know I can have new control arms made but i'm hoping someone knows how to fix the old ones. Haven't heard of any available w/o going custom. Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

[maxwedge]

Are the bushings bad? If so measure the diameter of the outer bushing and the hole size and see if you can match them up from another model, in urethane, they can be removed with some work. Or search for good used ones, but you may not get better than you have.

[slider85]

thanks for the response.... the originals are shot. I've had a friend recommend the urethane, but I was worried they would be too stiff and affect the ride adversely. Am i just nit picking?

[maxwedge]

Yes, with a soft sprung 5k car.

[slider85]

thanks for the advice... any suggestions to best place to find the urethane bushings... i talked to energy and they didn't even want to help... they said they were all model specific

[redmansioner]

Control arms bushings are rarely fitting in the other brands of car,its luck for you if you can find one and besides it would be normal that it would affect the ride.Maybe there some places who were selling good quality caddillac parts if you want to save a buck and besides there are mods that worth more than a new stuff.

[slider85]

thanks redmansioner!!... any suggestions on those mods. I was considering having control arms made that would have new bushings.

[fishes]

Originally Posted by redmansioner

Control arms bushings are rarely fitting in the other brands of car,its luck for you if you can find one and besides it would be normal that it would affect the ride.Maybe there some places who were selling good quality caddillac parts if you want to save a buck and besides there are mods that worth more than a new stuff.

Is there any chance that redmansioner is a robot? his posts are worded strangely and have links to commercial sites. Redmansioner, what do you say?

[maxwedge]

Personal profile says Belgium, that would explain the phrasing.

[fishes]

Yes it would.
I still can't "Find more posts by..."
but hey, I just tried and I can't on slider85 either.

Warning: mysql_query(): Unable to save result set in includes/class_core.php on line 405

to the technical pages I go.

[maxwedge]

That feature is not operational for now.