61 special suspension

[61special]

Yes i've been thinking about the front as well while i was paging through the napa parts catalog at work looking for Ford lower shock mounts for a customers explorer. And what do you know light buld!! I can use these shock mounts and move the shock to the back side of the lower control arm and find a good spot on the unibody to use another shock mount for the top of the shock. Now i'm obviously going have to strengthen the mounting points to distribute the stress evenly and safely. But again thanks alot SammaS and all you other guys this forum is really the bees knees, friendly people and good advice!

[SammaS]

Good call, I'll have to take a look at those mounts. I was thinking I might use something like Toyota trucks use on the rear axle. They would be easy enough to make, and couldn't be any more low profile. I just haven't looked into clearances and articulation with having a shock outside of the spring. I've been keeping a look out on craigslist for ridetech stuff though.

[61special]

well i've been talking with tom parkinson from airbag it. with a 4 way vavle system a lot of guys are getting away with out front shocks, the logic seems to make sense there is no air transfer from airbag to airbag on cornering like there is on a two valve setup. but i think i'm gonna run shock on the outside of the lower control arm to a fabricated mount on the unibody. i will post pictures of this when i get to that point still wating on a few parts to show up and i gotta pick up the rotissere!

[61special]

just got my viar 5 gallon tank for the air ride many more parts to come!!

[jdanielshea]

Pat,
I've got a '62 Special and have done some neat work on it. When it comes to bagging it, the guys that worked at Stroked Out Customs are now on their own. The Buick specialist, pun intended, of the pair of guys that worked there is Roger Lynskey and his e-mail address is in2junk@msn.com.
The front bagging job is all custom. You have have to cut the lower a-arm to create the lower bag mount. You eliminate the sway bar as it is not needed due to having an air bag suspension. The sway bar mount on the lower control arm becomes the lower shock mount and a new upper mount has to be frabricated.
As the car is so light, Roger recommends the Air Ride RidePRO Analog 2-way system to be split to the front and rear. Air Ride recommends the RidePRO 4-way analog system so as to have better control at all four corners. My opinion is that if you are just cruizing and not racing or running the street course at Good Guys then Roger's recommendation is OK.
If you are going to do some serious work on this car hit me on my e-mail at jdanielshea1@yahoo.com or at Facebook via the same address. I've got a whole photo log on work I've done and can probably save you some time and headache.
One KEY resource is Mark at D&D Fabrication, at www.aluiminumv8.com. He is the certified expert on the BOPs of '62-'63 and anything 215 ci v-8. Feel free to call me if you have questions on front discs, changing the mastercylinder, 4-lug to 5-lug or other fun subjects!
Dan Shea

[jdanielshea]

Hey Pat,
What is your NAPA store location? I'm one of the NAPA Tool & Equipment reps for Dallas. Always looking out for a fellow NAPA guy!

[61special]

Well Dan I'm very interested in seeing pics of your special! And I'd love to get the info for the front disc and 5 lug conversion, the rear 5 lug conversion doesn't seem too bad either I've heard of guys welding up the stud holes and having the axle flange redrilled at local machine shop, now if there is an even better way to do it I'm all ears! I'll shoot you an e-mail after work today if you don't mind. Now for the bag set up I'm not to worried about the fab work at all, but I'd love to see pics for ideas. I will be going with a 4 valve set up though, the main reason for this would be my buddy has access to dealer pricing on air suspension components (little luck has come my way). Again thanks for all the info! Nice meeting decent people willing to answer a buick newbies questions.

[61special]

Oh JD I use napa as a parts supplier for the shop I work at in West Chester, PA. I'm a technician buy trade but it's always nice to meet new people in the industry!