Pontiac Owners Club UK

Hey guys well ive been cleaning the front susp up abit and noticed the control arms are bit nasty, i was wondering if it would be worth it to remove them so i can take them into work shotblast them and give them a powdercoat..

Not difficult to remove just the spring can be a pain to refit.

Amazing, i bought a clarke ball joint separator and as i was turning it, the bolt snapped in half.. Wasnt even that much pressure either.

Well finnaly got them off this evening, got the tool replaced and this time didnt snap the bolt in half. Stuck a jack underneath the control arm and lowered it down slightly to remove the compression off the spring till it was uncompressed and bashed it out with a block of wood. Cleaned the springs off best i could with a wirebrush and coated the whole thing in rust remover gel and bagged it up see what its like a few days. Cleaned the control arm up slightly but it looked like crap so i just strapped the thing to the back of bike ready to take into work where i can attack it with some stripper and sandblasting. The Stabilizer Bar Link is rusted solid and ive tried to remove it but the lower bolt is completly fused to the shaft so i think im just gonna cut it off and replace it. The ball joint i wont have to rmeove from the control arm as il just mask it up and paint round it. Well thats my update on the matter post some pics after i painted them.

- Will i need a spring compressor to put the spring back in or can i just use the floor jack to shove the control arm back up with the spring already in?

stabiliser/anti-roll links are cheap so best to replace them anyway (under £20)

you dont need a spring compresser, and there is not realy room to use one anyway.
just connect the inner arm bushes, pull the arm down then push the spring into place (you may need a lever to get it in) then jack it up till the balljoint can be connected

Cool.

Well ive been trying for ages to get this spring back in and it feels impossible... Ive attached the 2 pivot bolts and have the jack underneath the control arm ready, but getting the spring back into the socket is a def no go. Ive tried to use a pri-bar to compress the spring slightly but it just anit enough?

How can u get the spring back in without use of a spring compressor? Like you said there is no room for use of one only an internal one i think? which is CENSORED stupid money.

have you got the arm low enough?
you need to get the arm low as posible then lever spring over locating hump into socket
they always are a fight, WS6 and standard springs are worse than eibach etc lowering springs but do-able

Well i did it, but a differnt way..

I ended up putting the Jack directly underneath the control arm and raised it with the spring already in position. Attached 2 harness straps to the spring and strapped it to the car. Fixed the ball joint and nut.

Then i had to lineup the 4 pivot holes which was fun but not impossible, i used another jack a little bottle jack to make micro adjustments under each of the holes, once the two pivot points was bolted and stuff i was pretty much done. It was alot easier than trying to brute force the spring into place. I dont know how the hell you can do it that way

I utterly destoryed my paintwork i did on the control arm though.
Ah well least i know how to do the otherside..

done several, never found it that bad

Not an easy job that one