Any interest in boxed lower control arms for the 66-70 Riviera's? I found these guys on eBay. http://stores.ebay.com/PMT-Fabricat...589779018&_sid=97508718&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322 They are located about 5hrs North of me. They make and sell boxed and tube rear control arms for various cars, including the Skylark. I contacted them, and they said that they can make a set for the 66-70 Riviera. I have to get some measurements off of the control arms first. They need length, width, bolt center to bolt center measurements, and bushing width, along with a couple pictures. The estimate at the moment is around $300.00. Could be more, could be less. Before I procede any further I decided to ask here and see if there was any interest. The picture and info below is from one of their auctions for the Skylark control arms just to give an idea of what they look like.
Brian, Looks interesting, but with those years Rivs there's just the one upper control arm and it's adjustable for length to set the pinion angle. I'm not sure, but I was told by someone that the lowers on the 66 - 70 Rivs were the same as lowers on (I'm guessing here) 68 - 72 A bodies. If that's the case, they've no doubt got lowers already that would fit the Rivs. But it's quite possible that this is just another of those things that I know that aren't factual. Happens more and more the older I get.
I heard somewhere that the lowers from the first gen Chevelle's were the same as well, but I have no way of being sure. Maybe someone else can confirm that the A-body lowers are the same as the Rivieras??
I'm fairly certain that they'll fit length-wise, but also fairly certain the sway bar bolts horizontally on A-body arms and vertically on Riv/Big Car arms.
I could be completely mistaken, but I don't think my Riviera has a rear sway bar. I've had the lower control arms out before and can only remember pulling out the bolts for the bushings. That said, would it be possible to mount the Riv's sway bar horizontally on the A-body arms? Or, could a sway bar from an A-body fit the Riv, or is the Riv too heavy a car for the A-body sway bar? Then again, it may just be easier to adapt the boxed arms to accept the Riv sway bar rather than trying to make the sway bar fit the arms.
The 66 - 70 Rivs didn't have rear sway bars. I think Addco or somebody makes one that can be made to fit (Yardley has one on his 69, maybe not from Addco, but he has one). But I did find this link that talks about 64 - 67 A body rear control arms and how they might fit Rivs: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=184908&highlight=Riviera+Lower+control+arms I'm going to go check my 68 parts manual and see what P/Ns were used on the B and E bodies.
I have a '72 Riv, so I wasn't sure about sway bars on the earlier Riv's. I'm surprised they didn't have one as an option. You learn something new everyday... Here's a link to Yardley's site with regard to the Addco bar.
Found the answer here: http://v8buick.com/showthread.php?p=1772595&posted=1#post1772595 Thanks Mark! Now that we know that we don't need a set custom made, we can just order the A-body arms. Much cheaper than a custom made set too: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/67-C...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories Thanks. I knew I had asked before, but never got a clear and definate answer.
Addco does make a sway bar, but its vertical mount and $180, you can even get it on summit. It seems like it would be kind of doing a halfway job if you only got the boxed arm from these guys and no rear sway bar. Looks like two options, ask the guys to build the same length arms as the already are, only with vertical sway bar mounts or...what seems like a cheaper solution to me, just box the ones you already have on your car (or from another car) with your own vertical mounts for the bar. Unless these boxed arms are for some reason super special, seems like getting em welded would be a lot cheaper It shows in detail on yards site.
The same company that carries the A-body control arms, also carries a 1" rear sway bar for the A-bodies. It is horizontal mount, which means that it fits the A-body control arms. Being that the Riviera is wider than an A-body, I doubt the distance between the left and right control arm will be the same between each car. By any chance, would anybody happen to know the distance between the control arms on an A-body from sway bar bolt hole(s) to bolt holes? Otherwise, I may just follow Yardleys route and make some brackets and use the Addco bar.
Why not just weld up the ones you have on the car, put new bushings and the addco bar and call it a day? I'm not arguing I'm just curious if spending the extra 200 for these is worth it VS just boxing stock for almost free. I ask cause I am in the process of part collecting for a complete rebuild of my rear suspension
I contacted them about measurements of the A-body sway bar that they carry. They already know that I have a Riviera and have shown an interest in the A-body control arms fitting the Riviera. Here's their response: I think what they are saying is that if I get the measurements for mine, they can put together a sway bar to fit the Riviera's using the horizontal mount A-body control arms. While not completely rusted, my lowers do show some light pitting from rust on them. Nothing to worry about though. I've already cleaned them up and painted them black. I have also changed the bushings in them about a year ago. How much of a difference in thickness will the stock arms have versus the aftermarket A-body arms? Does that mean that they are stronger if they are of a thicker metal, or will the stock boxed arms reach that point that it won't matter how thick they are, and that they will both do the job just the same? I still have some questions as well, but am also exploring other options for our cars. The only sway bar at the moment for the Riv's is the Addco bar that Yardley used. While I don't have a problem going that route, I do like the idea of a direct bolt-in sway bar and knowing that other parts fit and will work in place of the stock parts. It's another option for those of us with Riviera's, and we all know that when it comes to aftermarket performance parts for our suspension, we are pretty much limited to boxing our stock arms and just changing all of the bushings.
I see. That's awesome, I will definitely be getting this as a kit if they do a sway bar combo too, it will totally open up posibilities for a lot of riv owners. Not to mention it would look pretty clean with those bitchin control arms they're producing.
