Project Wheels and Stance

[Blitz]

That's gonna look so nice. Might be the start of something big.

[PhillipM]

Yep, 275s would be SNUG as that bodyline cuts into the space just a little. It might have fit but rub every time the suspension articulated for a driveway, etc. I know, waaaaaa

Dang thats a bummer. I won't lie, ours rubbs pretty hard now that the car is 3" lower. I will be cutting the back sides of the wheel wells to create more room in there. Will send pics when finished.

[1offwizard]

Pics?!?!?!?!

[Hotchkis]

Looking good so far! Can't wait to see the Buick on the Autocross!

[JayR]

Sorry for the delay, Guys! We were slamming on the car doing very late nights and then catching up on work by day.

I'm flattered by everyone watch this project come together!

Here's what happened since the last post.

Did I mention the Hotchkis kit is COMPLETE! It even come with Bilstein shocks made to their specs to perfectly compliment the suspension.
If you know shock technology, you know Bilsteins built to your specific application are about as good as it gets!



Got it on the ground with all the new parts and took some careful measurements all the way around to determine what it would take to nail the stance.



Once we determined how much I wanted it to come down, we pulled the springs and started carefully cutting a little at a time using Hotchkis' formula; one inch of spring height equals two inches of drop.

After cutting and reinstalling them a few times, this is what ended up on the floor. 1.25" coils.

I dig these little stamped factory spring holders. A quick coat of semi-gloss black and some new hardware and they're right back where they were placed 45 years ago.

[JayR]

Check the cool tie-rod connectors that come with the kit. These are a little more confidence inspiring than the crappy originals!

There's Howard hard at work

[JayR]

Remember how original this car was when I bought it a few months ago?

Look what came with it! The original Owner's Manual and "Owner's Protection Plan" booklet complete with the Protect-O-Plate still in it with the original owner's name and address still there and they lived about a half mile from my front door!



Dig the cool artwork in the Owner's Manual

[JayR]

In all the thrashing, I almost forgot to mention the Lee quick-ratio steering box from Mark at SC&C. I would be a bit numb to all the suspension upgrades done without this key part!

[JayR]

And one month later with the help from my friends, Jared, Howard, Chris and Dave in our spare time with basic tools, here's what you can do with a clean craigslist find and parts available from the amazing aftermarket we have at our fingertips.


The target completion date of this exercise was last weekend to have a cool car to drive at the local Good Guys show in Puyallup that I've gone to every year on foot because my cars were too new for the cut off year that used to be 64 and then recently bumped to 72. That all changed this year and I rocked the Buick all weekend!

[JayR]

Driving it feels familiar because of the seating, pedals and steering wheel location but EVERYTHING else feels so different from the cornering prowess, the ride quality, the stopping distance, driving hard with confidence and no body lean. I'm still getting used to it and feeling it out and this project is far from over but it's going to be getting driven a lot this summer and any mod that takes place between now and October is only going to take a day or less because I'm not missing any more fun!

I'll keep the thread going with driving reviews, action shots, updates, parts swaps, etc so stay tuned and look for me in Western, WA this summer!

[Krazed]

Excellent! THe car looks awesome! Job well done I'd say.

Next up... Twin Turbo LS7?

[eric1967]

Jason the car looks killer. Great stance. Thanks Eric

[68400BIRD]

Looks great, I love the stance. I really appreciate people who can envision what something is going to look like in the end. It's not always easy but you sure nailed it on this car. Now the last thing you need to do is go look up the original owners and pay them a visit.

[JayR]

Looks great, I love the stance. I really appreciate people who can envision what something is going to look like in the end. It's not always easy but you sure nailed it on this car. Now the last thing you need to do is go look up the original owners and pay them a visit.

Thanks for that! I definitely knew how it would look but it wasn't easy convincing everyone who thinks Chevelles are the only A-Body that matters. If you go back to my original post in this thread made barely a month ago, it will hopefully serve to remind what I set out to do in the first place; Take a clean car and utilize the great offerings from today's aftermarket and have fun with a not quite mainstream car that happens to use all the parts readily available for A-Bodies. There's lots of not quite as popular models that will take all the aftermarket offerings from their popular sister cars so check your local craigslist with an open mind and get wrenchin'!

I looked up the original owners and found a bunch of people in the area who share the last name but not the husband and wife who bought the car and considering they could afford a Buick 45 years ago, they probably didn't age as well as their car so they may not be around anymore. Through a series of coincidences including leaving the Protect-O-Plate in their manual and selling the car to someone who cared, they will always be remembered and their car well taken care of for years to come. Thanks Bart and Jane!

[89cobraysi]

Thats nice. Very unique car, and the wheels look killer.... Nice project, looking forward to reading about it more.

[Blitz]

If you could hear me yelling, "Daaaanng!" Stance NAILED! That's nice as hell if I may say so myself. Like I said, may be the start of something big. I can not express how gorgeous that car is. Big ol' thumbs up!

[jackfrost]

Like I said, may be the start of something big. I can not express how gorgeous that car is. Big ol' thumbs up!

definitely. nicely done, Jason. I would love to have a car like this as a summer DD.

[twosaturns]

IMO, this is just how a PT car should be- keep the great stuff and get rid of the chrappy stuff . nice job.

[Blitz]

I've been studying this and I'm somewhat surprised noone's mentioned it yet but the spokes on the wheels somewhat emulate the three accent pieces in the side trim on the car. Coincidence? Hmmmm.

[marc_b]

very nice.