1977 Cordoba front suspension
 

So it has been brought ot my attention the B-bodies work on torsion bars rather then springs up front? weird design.. Say i need to replace this.. how do i do it? what cars have usable front ends?

All your help would be appreciated.. The front end lies on the ground :( it makes me sad!

or can i get it from parts stores?

have you tried adjusting the torsion bar?

with the amount of rust underneath this bastard, i just assumed it was busted... Adjusting? how does one accomplish this? the car is in Toronto and i am some 200 kms north. Having it shipped up next week... its my late-grandfathers car. I want to keep it going in his honour. He loved this beauty.

I will be able to check it out next wednesday for sure.

Say it is FUBAR where can i get a replacement?

every car is rusted
as long as the parts are still solid, you can work with them
post some pics of the suspension, and we'll help you from there

Guys I got the car coming up on Wednesday :) I AM SO EXCITED!! this car has been my grandmothers since spring of 1977. One owner, clean title, never had an accident.. and up till about 11 years ago was taken real good care of.. Until my Poppy got cancer and passed on :( I want to get this car going in his memory and have it last another couple years for me :) I think its what needs to be done. TIA guys! I will take a billion pictures for you all! :P

you can get the torsion bars pretty easy from various places.

To remove them; 1. Soak the adjusting screws with some very good penetrating oil {this is important, let soak for 24 hrsw at least}.
2. If you can ge them broke loose, unscrew the adjusting screws all
all the way
3. Remove the retaining clip in the back of the bar.[towards the
back of the car]
4. Since it seems like your bars are shot anyway, clamp something
to them [heavy vise-grips] so you have something to pound on
with a hammer and tap them out towards the rear of the car.
5. if all else fails, torch them out with oxy/acet. torch.

The Cordoba's were noted for having a very soft ride so I'm not surprised that they may have failed from sitting on them. If they dont look like they are broken, it may be possible that they copuld be adjusted up {if you are lucky}. Just turn the adjusting screws clockwise instead of counter- clockwise. To find the adjusting screws, just look at the lower controls arm, towards the center of the car, in the middle of the arm. They have a 3/4" hex on them.

well i got the car up here at the gf's house.. and got the front end up on some blocks. There doesn't seem to be anything broken underneath the car.. so i don't know why it sags in the front end..?

Tried to get it going yesterday too, turned the key dash lights came on, radio came on.. turned the key, got a click and nothing happened. Had my gf turn the key while investigating click underhood. Found a relay and traced its wires.. One went to the starter, one to the battery, a ground im assuming, and one to the ignition switch... the battery one was disconnected, so i hooked it back up and tried it all over. got the starter to engage but then it just hangs and buzzes.. so i thought hey! i had this problem with the VW and all it needed was more juice to the solenoid to tell it to turn over! So i tried manually jumping the solenoid wire with direct 12V and i got the starter to jump around.. then i thought to myself, shit the engine is seized! so i gout out a big socket and wrench and a good sized breaker bar..and proceeded to turn the engine with ease... not seized.. starter must be seized.. but then i got looking at the starter torque itself when i tried to start it.. It definitely doesn't look like its properly bolted in there.. its moving back and forth pretty good when you try and start it...

SO now what I'm thinking is maybe it is a power issue.. Say the starter isn't properly bolted to the engine.. not creating a perfect ground.. there may not be 12v getting to it to make it turn right? I think my next step is bolting it down tight, and seeing if that helps at all...if not, starter rebuild :) lol

OOooh actually what cars starters will work as replacement? any 360 and 400 motors or what? Are they even the same block?

if the car has sat for years, crank the engine over my hand first before cranking it by the starter motor

X2, plus some marvel mystery oil or similar in the cylinders for a few days first.

Hmm.. Well I did get the engine to turn by hand, because i wanted to verify that it wasn't the engine itself that was seized.. (i said this in my last post i think??)

I was using a 3' breaker bar... I dunno.. If it were really seized would it have turned at all???

I have never seen a starter jump around like that though... lol

i sounds like the starter is loose. check that before you ruin the flywheel.

if the engine turned, it isn't seized
how much resistance did you feel?
2x, tighten the starter

uhh there was enough so that i couldn't turn it with the 1/2" socket by itself.. but with the breaker bar it turned all right..

wait a second... it turned about a 1/4 turn one way with the socket alone first... but i wanted to go the same way the starter was trying to go... so i used a breaker bar! lol and it turned ok.