Is there a torque spec for the bolts that connect the front control arms to the K-member?

Reason I ask is because years ago I replaced the bushings with polyurethane (I DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER). I never drove the car with them. I pulled the engine & trans and it sat for several years like that.
I put the new engine in a couple weeks ago and the car still sits with the front up in the air. Makes no sense. So did I get those control arm bolts too tight and they're not allowing the front suspension to settle down?...

 

I think it just needs to settle.

 

It's a bit stuck from sitting. The struts can be stuck too. Move it around a little and it should settle a bit

 

This is ridiculous. It's been over a month and this thing has not settled one bit. I loosened the A-arm bolts and bounced it a few times, and no change. The springs appear to be seated in the upper pockets. Is it possible for struts to seize up and refuse to compress after sitting fully extended for 17 years?...

 

Yes, struts can seize up. But in your scenario I don't think that's the case, especially if there is give in the suspension when you push down on the car.

Has the car rolled at all? If not roll the car back and fourth a foot or two and it should settle. Just bouncing the car won't really do much..

One last thing, is the engine that went in the same one that came out?

 

Yeah, important clarification- is the car being driven or just sitting ? If it just sitting it isn't going to settle. "Settling" happens when the car is driven and the suspension is exercised. I doubt much will happen if the car isn't moving.

 

Yeah, just sitting right now Still need to get everything back together and break in the cam...

 

There's the prob. Gotta drive it!

 

Just never experienced this before. I did an engine swap in an old Ford about 12 years ago and it didn't do this. Of course it sat for 9 months with no engine, not 17 years...

 

 

New engine? same as before? Any other diet items, Aluminum heads etc? When you bounced it, were you able to move it up and down like you did before? If all you changed was the a arm bushings, and it still moves up and down when you bounce it, it should drop back down after a couple hundred miles. Shocks don't usually gain pressure by themselves... If they've been sitting forever, you might have lost pressure, but only gained if gas was added somehow or there was a net reduction in space inside the gas chamber(like happens when the shock is compressed), the pressure couldn't have increased.

 

Iron-headed 350, so no weight reduction there. I figure it's about 150 pounds light right now as there is no alt, P/S pump, A/C compressor, radiator, condenser, or hood installed yet. No AIR pump either but I'm ditching that.
But when I put my full weight on the car. It moves a quarter inch or less. . There's like 5 or 6 inches of space between the wheel arch and the top of the tire.. Guess I'll just have to get it all back together and drive it. Don't know what else to do..

 

When I swapped the engine in my car the front end was still sitting high even with the engine and trans sitting in the car fully dressed. kind of just forgot about it and it solved itself after I moved it in and out of the garage a couple times.

 

Thanks. That is encouraging...