custom make your own parts one demand click here> http://www.rareparts.com/manufacturing/ or I have it set up to pull up buick riviera http://www.oldbuickparts.com/catalog/1963-up-riviera-c-19.html hope this helps :grin:
I'm sold. Where did you order your Bilsteins from and how long did it take to get them? Can you post a side profile picture of your ride? I would love to see your lowered 2" stance. I am in the middle of building the front end back up & was considering what you did. Thx
From memory (which is getting weaker): I called Bilstein directly to get info for my car; they said that they didn't make front and back shocks for the 1967 Riviera but they recommended I call Race Car Dynamics ("RCD"). Spoke with Jeff Yoder at RCD (619.588.4723) - good guy. Said he had the fronts but was worried about the fit in the back - he would check with his engineers because my car was lowered he wanted to make sure I had the right specs. That took a long time so I pushed forward without hearing from his engineers; fit and ride are fine. From RCD I bought the two fronts: part # 55-R027 - $94.99 a piece From OPGI I bought the two rears: OPGI part number is BR00148, but the Bilstein/RCD part number is: 55-R087 (these different part numbers for the same product are a pain). I think bought these from OPGI cause I had a coupon/they were cheaper there - $95.96 a piece. Note that the ones you buy on the OPGI have the RCD logo/sticker on it (they are painted black as opposed to the traditional Bilstein blue & gold). I will forward you some emails that had my measurements and pictures.
No offense, but Im not convinced that the Bilsteins you bought arent just rebranded Gabriel Classic series shocks painted black.
Why would Bilstein manufacture a shock absorber that fits a 66-70 Riviera? Both the front and rear shocks are unique to the car. Why would they tool up for it when they can buy the shock from Gabriel and put their sticker on it? You have definitely aroused my curiousity about this though. Im going to look into this. Im also curious what the difference would be between the Gabriels and these. The difference in price is extreme.
i see your point. but by the same token why would GM not use the same size shock in more than one model? i mentioned in my post that bilstein did not have info regarding what would fit the '67 Riv. and RCD wasnt sure either. also bilstein did direct me to rcd - dont think they would do that if rcd was ripping them off - but its possible i guess. additionally, i just installed the blue and gold bilsteins on my gto; they "feel" the same. whatever they are, they are far better than the monroes i had.
fastd, your cars stance is awesome. Looks great, is it 2" on the rear springs also? Hope my 65 ends up just as nice. Didn't read if you ended up finding a custom built set of Bilstein shocks with a shorter travel?? Or did you settle with the stock length shock? like I mentioned earlier, I am sold and want to order the Bilstein shocks as well as lower my 65 Riv 2 inches. It seems most guys who lower their front end 2 inches or less have minimal rubbing issues, if any at all or am I hallucinating? Do you rub due to your taller tire? How do you plan on fixing your tires rubbing issue As for how I plan on achieving the 2" drop? At first, cutting my stock springs sounded easy enough. Since I have my front end apart I also believe that an upgrade of parts is better than a simple replacement. So I was looking to go with the firmer GS springs. Which brings me to a lesson I got today about "spring rates" from the knowledgable staff (Israel) at Coil Spring Specialties | Classic Cars. He explained that for a lot of applications, including mine, there is a Standard Non A/C, A/C Equipped & Gran Sport spring. Each with different spring rates 300, 400 & 500. Spring rates are measured in the amount of pounds required to compress the given spring 1". This supplier only deals with manufacturing stock/custom coil springs and claims that when given all your application info (ie AC, non AC, manual/auto trans ...) he can pull up the proper spring specs (ie rates, thickness, ID "inside diameter", height) required for your car from the factory. That info is a base that the spring engineer will then build your spring with. In my case, I asked for GS springs and apparently the ID on GS springs is smaller than my stock spring?? So he said they can build my springs with GS specs but but with the stock ID to fit my car, minus whatever on height to achieve my desired ride stance. All that said, I forgot to ask about Variable Rate rear springs (a term I learned on this forum) I plan on calling tomorrow on that topic and possibly placing my order...unless you guys have conflicting info...dont mean to hijack hope this helps
i went with stock height shocks. i did the math and the 2" didnt add up to much given the long length of the rear shock. i bought the car already lowered so cant really help you with your other questions. i believe the guy i bought it from said he cut the front springs and used chevy s10 springs on the back but dont hold me to that. he said he spent a lot of time getting that right. it all seems to work. if i had to do it myself, dont like the idea of cutting springs. i have no tire rubbing issues. i bought it with some wide tires. 235/55/17 front, 275/50/17 back; no rubbing but the backs we very close. i replaced all the tires recently. same size on the front and 255/60/17 back. i little more well clearance and 1" taller. still no rubbing. ---------- Post added at 09:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 PM ---------- by the way, 2" is just my guess, dont know the amount of actual lowering.
