Tom, remember that the '61 is a 1 year only for the brake rods behind the control arms not infront and a rear sump pan with the steering linkage in front of the crossmember. Not sure how much this changes things but its worth pointing out.
Tom and CTX, thanks for the great tips . Even though I did well on this car, I can't go whole hog too quick. I do have another beast (see the link to my clip) or two to feed. Good weather is almost over and maybe a good winter project for my daughter and I to save our scheckels and fazools for. It definitely needs a set of radials and a brake adjustment , pulls to the left pretty good, but tracks straight as an arrow otherwise. I will post some daylight Pics ASAP
I'd not mess with getting the front drums dialed back in, go straight the Disc conversion, its more money yes but a much greater investment in safety and availibility of parts. PM on the way.
daughters cell phone pic , when we picked it up in PA. I can't beleive this sat on this guys front lawn for days without getting sold.
CTX, my '61 LeSabre has the rods going to the front & the steering linkage is in the rear with a rear sump pan. The steering box is on the outside of the frame instead of inside like from'62 & up. The front suspension was changed from '60 to '61 . The front suspension basically stayed unchanged & the same from '61-'70. Tom T.
You are correct Tom, I pulled out the service manual and you are right, for some reason I rememberd it being differentwith a rear mounted strut bar. What do you recommend for bushings for the larger 7/8" H2 Riviera front sway bar I'm going to be putting on my '64? If you don't want to clutter this thread up with 1st Gen Riv stuff I have a thread that no one has replied to about putting the H2 suspension stuff onto my Riv with questions about shocks, end links, and swaybar bushings. Thanks,
Personnally I wouldn't waste my energy or whatever $$$ it will take to install a bar that's only 1/8th. inch heavier. I have installed a 1 5/16ths. bar in the front & a 1" bar on the rear of my '64 Riv. Of course over 40 years ago I had Koni make me shocks that are still on the car. I know you will eventually be installing a lighter V-6 but that doesn't solve the handling, although being lighter it naturally will handle better. Stock length links with poly bushings are the way to go. Or if your into suspension "tuning" you can go shorter or longer depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Poly bushings for the rear track bar are extremely helpful as well as poly for the sway bay frame bushings. I don't like the ones with grease fittings but you will have to grease them yearly. Poly bushings modified from another car & cut shorter will give you more positive caster without many shims in one side & little or no shims on the other side. More positive caster gives the car a more stable feeling driving down the road, the steering wheel returns to center easier, is more resistent to cross winds & now the car is being lead by the front wheels instead of being pushed by the rear. Poly bushings for the top of the shocks. All in all a very pleasureable car to drive that will handle with most that are out there. It only takes time & money. Of course I've had over 40 years to spread it all out. Tom T.
Where did you get the 1 5/16 front bar? I've seen the 1" bars available afrom Addco and Rare Products or something from Advance. The main reason I'm getting the bar right now is that its $50 more than the springs. I can still tell him to stop packing the sway bar which will save me on shipping too but I dont' want to pass up on a bar if I can't get the larger bar. Thanks for the help,
The aluminium drums are quite good. My daily driver has them and I can't complain about their performance, and I'm not too concerned about the replacement parts, I have plenty of them and so do some of my friends! It's much easier to get these drums than rotors for my Riviera... I drive fast and I often drive in stop and go trafic and I never had problems with them. I'm more concerned about the single master cylinder but I didn't replace it with a dual master cylinder. I just make sure that the brake hoses, brake lines and wheel cylinders are good and that the lines are not rubbing against anything like it happened in two of my other cars because of badly installed exhausts... About the wheels, those on the Riviera parts car seem to be 71 or newer (the remaining caps are from a 1971 or newer), look at how near the drum fins are from the wheels, they should be at the same distance from the rim as they are on the '61 Electra, if they are closer, they aren't pre-71 wheels. Closer pics would also help to identify them but I don't think they would fit a 1961 Buick. And in my opinion, the 1961 Buick hubcaps like the ones on your Electra look very nice! :TU:
71+ Riv rims shouldn't fit on the 1st gen without spacers I don't think. Also the early Riv wheels I think used the same center cap bore as teh later 71+ caps. I also like the wheels and hubcaps. I don't disagree that the aluminum drums work great, its just that I've never been able to get parts matching enough on them to get the a car to stop pulling once it starts. I'm keeping mine till I do my disc swap and they work great, just disc work better than drums and if you are swapping the MC for a dual chamber anyway might aswell go for the discs. Eventaully the drums will dry up.
They'll fit without spacers in the the 1965-70 Full size Buicks but they'll narrow the track of 1/2" each side and they'll be very close to the drum fins if not touching them. The larger pre-1965 hubs could cause problems (I never tried). In 1971, the wheels were redesigned with a smaller tube to fit the 1971 hubs and no register ring like there was in the 1965-70 wheels.
When nailhead took the car he confirmed they were 71 wheels . Does anyone know if these will fit a 72 Sportwagon.
