I am trying to help my friend make a buying decision on a 61 LeSabre and am trying to make sure he will be able to make this car acceptable to him. Cars of that era are known for floaty suspensions and vague, over boosted power steering. He wants to lower it and improve the handling and braking first. Here are my questions. 1. Who makes suspension parts such as sway bars for these cars, as well as lowering springs? 2. Does anyone make a quick ratio steering box for these cars? What can be adapted? I checked Borgeson and it didn't look like they had anything. 3. Are there other issues we should be aware of? Thanks Rock
Min is air bagged and I daily drive it...have done for 11 years. Not floaty at all. Kanter makes full front end replacement kits. Jamco makes a really good lowering kit
I had my '59 power steering box rebuilt to a faster ratio, so it's do-able. Sway bar I'm pretty sure you have to have one made. For '59 at least, the repro sway bar bushings are poor - not tight at all. I cross-referenced a modern bushing that's properly tight- so watch that.
I have front & rear sway bars. Front bars use Poly links. I can get KYB OR Bilstein shocks. Steering box mounts to outside of frame so will have to be converted to faster ratio. Carhex boxes are the smaller A-Body boxes NOT the "808" boxes the full size cars use. I can supply Poly strut rod/reaction bar bushings along with Poly rear track bar/Panhard rod bushings. Tom T.
It looks like Addco also makes sway bars for this car. Who do you recommend to rebuild the steering box with quicker gears?
I thought you only had sway bars for Rivs. Do they interchange? I would love a stiffer sway bar on the front of my 62 one in back as well.
The guy I spoke to at Lares did not recommend the quick ratio conversion for this steering box. He said I would lose turning radius and I'm sure I would. He could not tell me how much, however. Anybody have any experience with this? Also, I ordered 2" drop spindles from FatMan, new springs and double adjustable shocks from Eaton Detroit Spring and a sway bar from Addco. The drop spindle uses the 12" dia., 1" thick rotor from mid 80's C10 to maintain the 5 on 5 lug pattern. I really had to piece all this together but I think this will give me a good handling platform when I'm done.
Thanks Tom, now I just need to figure out what I want/need. I'll measure my current diameter sway bar and go from there.
Once I finish up my AC install, I will be installing the following components to upgrade my suspension. Fat Man 2 in. dropped spindles C10 front rotors and discs with Chevelle calipers Eaton Detroit springs - std. in front and 2"drop in rear Viking double adjustable shocks- front and rear Addco 1 1/8 front sway bar I will see how this works first. I may end up adding the Addco rear sway bar but this is a good start.
Addco only makes a 1" rear bar for this car. The front bar should be 25% bigger than the rear bar so that would require the front to be 1 1/4". That's what I have on my '61 LeSabre. Tom T.
Darn. For such a big car, this thing has limited available space in the engine compartment. I got the brake booster and the master cylinder figured out but the plumbing for the disc brakes is going to be a pain.
Plumb in a prop valve....ideal if front disc / drum rear. I have one and makes it way easier to plumb using existing lines
I got the MC and booster mounted and all the hard plumbing done today. Why does this car have the big vacuum tank? None of my other cars do and I think I am going to eliminate it unless someone has a darn good reason not to. I haven't checked the manifold vacuum yet but a stock 364 ought to have 16-18", shouldn't it?
Well, the Buick Gods keep pushing me back but I am going to win. Once I got the front spindles off, I learned that I needed lower ball joints. Apparently, they are 2 year only ball joints, so the search began. None of the usual suppliers had any, so then the internet search began and finally I found a pair of NOS GM replacements in sealed containers on eBay. I bought them from a guy in Duluth, GA. He shipped them USPS. They went to the Atlanta bulk center, then shipped to the local Greensboro, NC facility the next day.( It is less than 10 miles away from me.) From there it got shipped to Champaign, IL, so I continue to wait for them and hope that they will find their way to me by early next week. Jesus. Nothing has been easy on this build but my list is much shorter and I am going to have a nice ride when I am done.
Ok. I got the Fat Man dropped spindles installed with new lower ball joints, springs and double adjustable shocks. This kit uses C10 12 inch rotors and Chevelle calipers to retain 5 x 5 lug pattern. The double adjustable shocks require some small mods. The front shocks require you to enlarge the opening in the bottom of the lower control arm enough to pass the 2 knobs through. Otherwise, you will have to install the shocks and springs at the same time and, trust me, you don't want to do that. The rear shocks required widening the clevis that the shocks mount in, so that it can articulate through its needed range. I came up with a pretty simple way to do that using some 1 1/4 x 1/8 flat bar. Tom is getting me some HD sway bars that will take another 2-4 weeks. After I drive it a little and let the new front springs settle in, I will take it to the alignment shop. After that, I will install the lower rear springs. I want to make sure the alignment shop can get their sensors on the rear wheels. Been there, done that before.
