Hi,
Glad to hear your car looks good. It's a nice feeling when you finish a
project like re-doing the interior, isn't it?
Now, on to the suspension!
If you see movement at the ball joint, it should be replaced. Most safety
inspections would fail you for excessive play in the front end.
Good news: the parts are relatively cheap ( around $60 for both ball
joints) and are relatively easy to install.
Get a spring compressor or make your own. You can not do this job without
a spring compressor. The preferred, no _required_ type of spring
compressor is a big threaded rod with big nuts and big washers on the top
and with a board or metal plate at the bottom - in place of the shock
absorber.
After rmoving the shock, the job is simple. Note: replace the upper "A"
arm bushings at the same time that you do this job. They _will_ be bad. I
recommend using urethane replacements - they last longer than the rubber
ones.
The tie rods should be replaced. Again, these are cheap - may $30 for a
pair of them, a bit more if you buy the Charles Runyan version _with a
grease fitting_...
The rack probably needs new bushings. When you buy the new ones, consider
spending the extra $30 or so and get new "clamp" thingies. The bolts
seem to rust out there and I've broken a few trying to get them apart
enough to replace the bushings. Think of it as "cheap insurance". If you
don't use them, you have some parts for your next project - a frame up
restoration!
For doing the above jobs, figure an hour or two for the ball joint
replacement and the upper inner A arm bushings (more if the stupid 3/32
cotter pins break off and you have to pull the "fulcrum pin" to drill
them out)... and figure about an hour tops for the tie rod ends. The rack
bushings are a little more involved, because you have to drain the
radiator and pull it out of the way to do the job right. You _might_ be
able to replace the rack bushings without removing the radiator, but it
would probably take more effort to do so. I would remove the radiator.
So, for less than $300 in parts and 6 hours of labor, your front end will
be "real tight". Now, if you had a car place do this work, figure about
$600 _if nothing else is bad_.
Don't forget to get the front end aligned when you're done.
The steering will feel much more precise when you're done (unless the
lower A arm bushings (inner and outer) are shot in which case it will
feel marginally better).
Note: your "wandering" is probably more due to your loose rack than the
ball joints, as when the rack is loose, the steering reference keeps
changing. Makes for some interesting "moments" when you're driving. I
just had to re-tighten my rack - I was driving to an autocross at a high
rate of speed when the car lurched dramatically left and then right after
I hit a minor pot-hole. I got my car in the air and played with it and
discovered about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of movement with the rack. Good thing I
had a change of underwear!
later,
rml
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