Late 73 TA lower control arm bushings - WTF?
 

These 73's are really "special". I ordered delalum bushings for a 73 TA and received lower bushings that were approx 1.351" OD and 1.644" OD with a 1/2" bolt holes.

My car has 9/16" holes in the frame mounting and the lower control arms have 1.644"OD and 1.879" OD holes. This dog isn't going to hunt. (FYI the upper control arms fit fine)

Global West says they shipped the right parts for a 73 TA but my car has 74 control arms and mountings.

Is this correct? There is a bit of a dispute about returning the parts since they say they shipped 73 TA parts and it has been awhile since I purchased the parts. I also want to make sure I get the correct parts this time.

To the best of my knowledge, the larger bushing OD was implemented in 74. Your 73 should have the smaller bushings and bolts. Sounds like GW may have the story correct and your car was updated with later parts. Possibly damaged a subframe in an accident and replaced it with a complete one from a 74?

I wonder if there if this was part of the early 73 - late 73 change over. All the other front end componets are 73 parts including those one-year-only radiator support pucks. Even the front and side spoilers are the original pieces. These would have been totaled in a front end collision big enough to need a frame replacement.

have any 73 guys run into this situation?

My 6/73 built '73 T/A has the larger lower control arm bushings.

I got bushings from Pro-Touring Fbody. I had to measure my originals when I placed the order to be sure I got the correct ones. I don't remember the size, but I know there are several different ones depending on production date for all of the 70-73 models.

Should be a "NOTE" on UPC #3 ( near the front) on a redesign on the lower control arm in the 73 assy manual. It appears, based on a very old camaro assy manual that in may there was a re design, there is a bunch of notes I cant read and it appears the actual pages were not replaced as it was late in the year. There should be a subframe update page as well since it got bigger holes when on the jig. It did upgrade the torque specs to 80-85 lbs at Z height , and mentions more than once the bolts can go in either way.
I had a june built 73 Z-28 with the bigger bolts.

Global West solved my problem
 

Paul at GW cleared this up. Their website has a clear warning about the mid-year 1973 firebird change to the bigger bushings on the lower control arm. The uppers are 1973 bushings and the lowers are 1974 bushings with the 9/16" bolt. All other suspension geometry was the same as the early 73's.

Global West is going to exchange the bushings... even though it has been SIX YEARS since I purchased the parts. I don't know many other vendors that would fix a problem so long after an order. I also purchased their sub-frame connectors and body bushings. Very pleased with the quality.

My July build 1973 for sure had the larger lower control arm bushings used in the 74's

"Early" bushings in "Late" control arms look like this..kinda loose....

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...m/DSC01810.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...m/DSC01809.jpg

Chuck I think 07A was the very end of the line for the 73's as retooling started right around that time. How is your headliner? ( now that the control arm has been addressed)
I do not see many late 73's, Bruce

My '73 was just like your Bird Brock. I gave GW my control arm dimensions and Doug said I had '73 Uppers and '74 Lowers. My Esprit was a late-73 build and had some of the '74 design changes.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...Del-A-Lum3.jpg
[IMG]http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...stall_014b.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...nstall_005.jpg

To complicate things a little more, I've also changed the entire steering linkage over to the late-75 to '81 design.

Ken

Live & learn. Just ran into the same problem with my 73 Formula.

Wow, old thread. I had this same problem about two months ago. Late '73 build Formula with 73 Upper Control Arms and '74 lower control arms. Had to call back and return the smaller bushings for the larger later bushings.

Flipping through my old Moog catalog it shows K6110 for 70-73 & K6109 for 74-81

If you look up Camaro it shows K6109 fits 73-81

I'll throw in a shot of my old bushings just for kicks.

http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/...psic41u4bg.jpg

Absolutely trashed.

I ran into this on my late-build 73 TA when we did the front end last year.

I can't read my door tag but my hood has 6/18/73 scribbled on it. I'm assuming that was done on the assembly line.

My door tag reads Manufactured in 07/73. The ship date on my PHS in July 10, 1973.

My 73's trim tag shows a build date of 07C.

delalum bushings function as bearings and allow a much quicker response to road bumps when used with a gas shock. This is whats needed to really run the year one 17" wheels with minimal sidewall, if you want a real ride. Its about as close to a strut as we can get while keeping it stock.

Next move is tubular for me. Right now I'll settle for safe.