I haven't posted here in a long time but I find myself suddenly making some progress on the '69 Riviera GS resto. I'm tearing the frame down completely and will be getting it blasted and powder coated (found a good local source for this) soon along with all of the suspension components. As I'm pressing out ball joints and bushings, I've verifying that I can still get replacements. I have found several sources that carry individual parts or kits but am seeing some discrepancies or just plain not listed on some of the parts as I'm comparing to what came off the car. See table below that I've put together for these parts. In particular issues: Front Upper Ball Joint - the only source seems to be OPGI and is a bit expensive. Anyone have an alternative part number? From Moog? Sites and kits claim that the rear lower and upper control arms all have the same bushings. The listed parts for the rear lower control arms look correct to my originals but my upper control arm (the single "verneer" type) original bushings look a lot longer than the lowers. The only brake reaction (strut) rod bushings I can find are polyurethane. I'd rather stick to rubber since this is a Riviera(not looking for rough/loud/squeaky ride). Anyone know of a rubber alternative? I can't find any application specific suspension rubber bumpers. I've seen some that look similar so I may just start buying them and trying the fitment. Anyone else have more insight here? There are several little metal (and one plastic) spring clips sprinkled around the frame for things like fuel lines, brake lines, and trans cooler lines. Does anyone have a source for new ones of these? I can post pictures if the style is needed. My original left rear lower control arm is quite bent/twisted. I can either try and straighten it and weld in some plate on the bottom to strengthen, or try and find an aftermarket application that will fit. Speedway has a square-tubular unit for a 73-77 A-Body application and their measurements show it to be 1/4" longer than my original as I've measured. That seems minimal? It's cheap ($40) so I may just buy one and test fit it. If it works, buy a second. Speedway 73-77 A-Body Rear LCA: https://www.speedwaymotors.com/GM-1973-77-A-Body-Lower-Rear-Control-Arm,27097.html
I believe I found the fuel, brake and trans line clips for a Camaro are the same as my 68 Wildcat. I ordered from Classic Industries for a reasonable price.
Thanks for the tip @bostoncat68! I'm starting to get somewhere. There are several of these "horn" shaped clips in the Riv frame: https://www.classicindustries.com/product/mn2298.html And these one of these double line clips in this set: https://www.classicindustries.com/product/1969/chevrolet/camaro/parts/e222.html The Riv frame also has two single line clips that are the same spring style as the double in the above link but I've yet to find those. There's also one plastic clip, I think it was broken on mine, but looks a bit like this wire harness clips from OPGI (except mine is black): https://www.opgi.com/ignition-elect...e-retainer-frame-1967-72-riviera-br01511.html I'll keep looking...
Since the strut rod bushings don't move or rotate they will not squeak or cause a rough ride. Normally the upper ball joints don't wear out. As you can see they are welded in place from the factory. IF they aren't loose & rubbly they should be OK. Don't replace anything with the Chinese replacements as they will wear out before the old ones that are in there already. Don't forget about the panhard rod bushings in the rear. They can also be replaced with poly with no fear of squeaking or additional ride roughness. You could also contact James at BestOfferCounts as he specializes in Buick things/stuff. Tom T.
Thanks for the feedback, and the suggestion of BestOfferCounts! I hadn't ever heard of that and there are some good things available there. Here are some pictures of the clips and bumpers I'm trying to find suitable replacements for: Clips: Bumpers(Left are the front upper(had been squished from being bottomed out from an unloaded suspension for years) and lower control arm ones, right is the rear frame one for the axle tube):
I confirmed that the rear lower control arm bushings to not work in the upper control arm. The lower bushings are much shorter but also smaller diameter than the upper control arm bushings. I got the upper ones pressed out this evening and the replacement lower bushing just falls right into the upper control arm. Kits seem to suggest that they're all the same. Anyone else experience this? See pics below.
It looks like the 1st Gen Rivs have the same issue and use the same bushings. The lowers are 2.4" long and the uppers need to be 3.258" Judging by the $85/ea price tag, Rare Parts is extremely proud of it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/294532909855?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28 Alternatively, some people added a spacer to a Cadillac bushing: https://forums.aaca.org/topic/226485-disturbing-details65-riv-trailing-arm-bushings/ This thread has some good pics of the Caddy bushing/spacer installed and toward the end, a guy posted pics of the result his ingenious idea to take the arm and old bushing to a machinist and having urethane cut to fit: https://forums.aaca.org/topic/241814-control-arm-bushing-set-64/
Nice, lots of options! Thanks! Yes, that are proud of that one bushing. Maybe it's new-old stock? I have a lathe and mill at home so I could easily make some spacers or mod some poly bushings if need be. I was able to straighten out the one bent rear lower control arm decently enough. The center to center length is matching now and it's no longer a banana. See pics. I got in the control arm and axle bumpers that I bought. I think the front uppers are a match. The front lowers are close enough that that'll work thought they're a little shorter than original. The rear ones for the frame to axle tube are the right profile but no where near as wide(extruded length). I could almost split one down the middle and install it inline with another and that would be about the right width.
I also got in the Speedway Motors 73-77 A-Body Rear LCA and pressed Riviera application bushings into it. I bought A-Body bushings but they were dimensionally identical to the Riv ones except the through hole was just barely too small to fit the original bolt. They turned out to be only 1/4" longer than the Riv original (22" vs 22.25"). I'm thinking that's not that much and the upper arm adjustment would get the pinion angle back where it needs to be. Thoughts on that? See pics. I also just this morning found this arm that I guess would be a direct bolt in since it's 22" long (or so it claims). It's also a lot more $$ than the Speedway part and has poly bushings (I think? I'm not sure what "R-Joint Technology" is) and I was preferring rubber. https://www.ridetech.com/product/19...e-strongarm-control-arms-rear-lower_11144499/
It may not be necessary but if it were my car, I would want the left-hand & right-hand to be the same length. With different lengths, I'd be concerned that one of them would bind or wear more quickly. Whatever angle the quarter inch difference equates to is the direction the wheels will point (e.g., if 0 degrees is dead nuts straight, with different lengths they'd be pointing at 1 degree or whatever). If you buy a matching control arm that's 1/4" longer, the wheels will move 1/4" closer to the rear of the wheel well. I do not know if any of that would have a significant impact or even happen, but I do know that I will not be using my car as a test case to find out when I replace the control arms in my '71 Riv next month. It looks like the R-Joint is kind of like a ball joint to allow left/right rotation on the horizontal plane. I'm sure there's something I don't understand about the system but it seems like it would encourage the kind of twist that people buy sway bars to stop. I also wonder how/if the increase in the uneven-ness of the applied force impacts pin/bolt wear (more focused load on left/top & right/bottom when turning right and left/bottom & right/top when turning left) or if the displacement would eventually induce fretting. Here's another option but they're 22.5" measured from the center of one bushing hole to the center of the other hole. Even though they're out of stock of the ones in the link below, it may be worth calling them to see if they have something that will work for you. https://metcomotorsports.com/mca0007 HRPartsNstuff might be able to help too https://gbodyparts.com
@Tomahawk , Those are some slick lower arms, thanks for the links. Sorry if I wasn't clear initially. I certainly wouldn't mix and match two different control arms. I'm just showing the aftermarket next to the OE one in the photo as a comparison. I only bought one arm to begin with to test fit and make sure there weren't clearance issues where each end engages instead of buying two and possibly wasting twice as much money. If that passed the test then I plan to buy a second and use them as a matched set, all be it 1/4" longer than OE. I doubt 1/4" will be noticeable in the wheel well? It obviously will rotate the pinion down when one considers geometry; but the upper arm should back that back out. The other thing would be panhard(track) bar being "out of plane" and the shocks slightly rotated? Though if I thought about the arc the axle goes through during normal suspension compression it's a similar repositioning? I'm going to go ahead and have the OE arms blasted and powder coated in case for some reason this doesn't work out. The way the drivers side one was bent made that one shorter by some amount as it was though I have no idea when this occurred, from when it was on the road, or from when it had been moved several times. It's interesting that the 68 parts car has the same one bent in a similar way. Maybe since they ride so low to the ground they are the first thing to contact in low clearance situations?
I dropped everything off this morning with the powder coater! I'm excited to get the results back. I'm hoping the powder coat will hold up well. I went with a 20% Matte finish not wanting anything too flashy but something better than factory in general.
Powder coating done and it turned out really good! The guy was very thorough getting up inside all of the boxed in areas like the tunnel and the front crossmember. I've very pleased. It will be enjoyable to reassemble everything now that it's starting so fresh.
