Well, in my seemingly ever-expanding restoration of my Riviera Ive decided to try and upgrade the front suspension. As most know, there's no such thing as aftermarket support for these cars. I've done a lot of research online and am looking at possibly adapting 71-76 Impala and/or 94-96 Impala suspension parts (A-Arms) to work. Ive been reading Mark Savitske's book "How to make your muscle car handle" to beef up on my suspension knowledge and its helped a lot but boy it is overwhelming. In a first step, I've removed the stock front suspension since i know I'll need new ball joints, bushings and tie-rods at a minimum. For a car that tracked straight and SEEMED to handle well, when i removed the arms and sway bar and saw all the bushings were cracked, dry and deteriorating i know that it will only get better from here. So, here are some pics with measurements that i will be using to work with a couple different companies to see if the Impala stuff is a match. Stay tuned for more.
Replacing ALL the WORN components with good USA made (NOT POLY) components will make a huge improvement over what you had. GOOD shocks. Not your normal Monroe or??? But KYB, Bilstein or Koni. Yes, the latter two are rather pricey but can't be beat. ALSO, much larger front & rear sway bars with poly end links, frame bushings & upper shock bushings. You'll be AMAZED at the diff. in handling even without HP tires. Tom T.
Tom, thanks. I have already replaced the shocks with Bilsteins to good effect and added an ADDCO rear sway bar on boxed stock lower control arms, which did help a lot with anchoring the car around turns but increased oversteer. I plan on swapping to a frame mounted, adjustable version for more tuneability along with a larger front bar. I was originally planning on replacing all the bushings with greaseable Delrin units and calling it a day but after reading this book and getting some knowledge i want to see if i can improve the stock geometries for better handling but we'll see. My patience to get the car back on the road is wearing thin.
I sent an email to Global West asking about application of these arms to a Riviera: http://www.globalwest.net/impala-tu...973-1974-1975-1976-1978-1979-global-west.html It's the first arm I've seen for a '71 Impala. They also offer arms for an air ride suspension that are listed for both a '71 Impala and a '71 Boattail (and corresponding years, of course). My question to them was if the air suspension arms fit a Riv, wouldn't the non-air coil spring versions fit as well? Just sent over the holiday and didn't get a response. You might want to call..... Air Ride versions listing Riviera here: http://www.globalwest.net/impala-biscayne-caprice-bel-air-suspension-coil-spring-1971-1996.html Pretty pricey, so second question after fit is do they offer increased handling performance per the Savitsky book (I have it as well and it's a great book, but definitely geometry and physics text). Otherwise, Tom is correct in simply replacing worn components has a major impact. I already did this on my '72 Riv.
Haha, yeah I saw those same arms but since you already have an email out them I wont double tap. I had planned on going directly to Mark since ive read that he is very open to discussions. I already plan on using roto-joints for the rear control arms and likely coilovers.
Some more info Rear Upper Control Arm Length - 11 1/8" center to center Rear Lower Control Arm Length - 22" center to center Bushings for the rear control arms are interchangeable with same year Chevy Caprice/Impala and more importantly, 94-96 Impala SS. I'm waiting on a reply from UMI on the lengths of their B-body trailing arms to see if they match up. If so, the only difference would be how the B-body bolts its sway bar to the lower trailing arms.I think it was Yardley or someone on here who adapted a 94-96 Impala rear sway bar to the stock arms so maybe if the B-Body arms work we'll have a whole package we can interchange.
B-Body Rear lowers will fit up just fine. If trying to fit a B-Body rear bar, it will need to be tweaked as it's close, but doesn't quite line up. I used to own a '96 Imp SS and still have the rear bar, so tried it- it's close. Not sure on B-body upper length, but adjustables would likely work out just fine. Of course, Addco makes a rear bar for your boattail.....
I have the Addco rear bar. The "plan" is to tray and adapt a Hellwig A-Body adjustable sway bar in the rear.
My Boattail's 1994-96 Chev Impala Police, genuine GM, slightly-modified, rear sway bar and mounting brackets. P/Ns 10207649 sway bar and 10191120 brackets (2).
Thanks!!! I knew i remembered seeing these pics before i just couldn't remember who it was! Hopefully, after all this we'll have some good options opening for us performance oriented Rivi owners.
Thanks, Steve, did you have a frame shop tweak the bar? or? I have a factory rear sway bar from my former '96SS as I put Herb Adams on it front and rear. I don't think those are available anymore (for a very long time). Hellwig makes a beefy sway bar for the '96SS. They also make a front bar for same. No idea if that would fit. That said, opting for a beefier rear bar and leaving the stock front could make for some exciting (in the wrong way) cornering.
Yeh, I had a local heavy-truck frame and alignment shop tweak the sway bar to my specs with the enormous press they have. It originally hung too low. I initially mounted the bar and made a small, L-shaped guide out of card stock as to the angle I wanted increased to get the bar to then fit up higher. Also, I believe those P/Ns are NLA from GM, but some folks have them NOS. Google the part numbers.
After a couple days correspondence with UMI and using the measurements from the stock arms and bushings for comparison i can now confirm that, technically, the upper and lower rear control arms from a 94-96 Impala SS will fit. The uppers are 1/8" longer center to center but with adjustable arms this isn't an issue. I don't know if the stock SS sway bar would bolt to the SS lowers in the Riv though. Next step will be to confirm the technical aspects by physically bolting then in...Now i just have to figure out which brand arms i want to go with and what kind of bushing material to use. I was leaning heavily toward using roto joints all round or doing the roto/poly mix in the rear but am open to suggestions.
BREAKTHROUGH!!!! After some part number comparison and looking at pictures i decided to bite the bullet and buy an upper and lower a-arm to compare them in person. The stampings are exactly the same. The ONLY difference is the lower ball joint on the Rivi's are larger diameter than the ones that come in the new ones. Oh and BTW, these are arms from a 94-96 Impala SS. This means we now have aftermarket tubular a-arms available to us Boattail owners along with these stock replacement stampings.
Well, ill have to return the lower arm. After reading up on it, the larger ball joint from the Riv wont fit in this arm without have the ring modified. Meanwhile, after reading through the Impala forum, it looks like the lower arms from the same year, RWD, Astro are exactly the same but with the 5/8" ball joint the Riv's spindles require.
I believe the Caprice with the 9C1 Police package also had the larger ball joint stud (5/8") and also the '96 model year SS.
Ah, didn't know that! Sold my Imp SS many years ago, so not up to date. Very cool to hear the Astro parts cross over!
Holy Crap! They are pricey pieces.I want to drop the Centurion ..Not sure if I want to bag it or get lowering springs from Detroit Spring.At least I know I have front suspension choices now..Expensive ones!
