1937-1957 Buick Oldsmobile Pontiac suspension upgrade
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The original idea came from an article in Rodder's Digest magazine that showed a suspension upgrade for a '55 Pontiac. Reading this article, which has some decent pictures, will get you thinking in the right direction: [http://www.pontiacsafari.com/L1Garage/BallJointConversion.pdf Project Strat-O-Streak]. | The original idea came from an article in Rodder's Digest magazine that showed a suspension upgrade for a '55 Pontiac. Reading this article, which has some decent pictures, will get you thinking in the right direction: [http://www.pontiacsafari.com/L1Garage/BallJointConversion.pdf Project Strat-O-Streak]. | ||
| − | The upgrade discussed in the article will work on all 37-57 BOP's, because they all have the same basic setup. The '58 Pontiac lower control arms are the key. They are a direct bolt in, exactly the same as the originals, but with ball joints instead of king pins. '59 and later BOP’s went to a completely different control arm mount. '58 Buick lower control arms are not symmetrical, so they won’t work. ''(waiting for someone to confirm that '37-'57 Buicks are the same as BOP's, right now it is unconfirmed)''. | + | The upgrade discussed in the article will work on all 37-57 BOP's, because they all have the same basic setup. The '58 Pontiac lower control arms are the key. They are a direct bolt in, exactly the same as the originals, but with ball joints instead of king pins. '59 and later BOP’s went to a completely different control arm mount. '58 Buick lower control arms are not symmetrical, so they won’t work. ''(waiting for someone to confirm that '37-'57 Buicks are the same as BOP's, right now it is unconfirmed)''. Update - Have a contribution that the 41 Buick lower control arm is 20 inches long, rather than 18 like the Pont/Olds. Other measurements are the same, so upgrade should still work, with redrilled mounting holes. |
Also, we do not have a '58 Olds to check those lower control arms. What we do know is '57 is king pins, and '59 is all-new. So 58 is it. We used the '58 Pontiac upper control arms simply because we got the whole front end. Several uppers will work, as it looks like '58 to '60 BOP's all had the same basic dimensions on their upper control arms. In fact, the '58 Buick uppers we used on one conversion had some built in twist that allowed us to add more anti dive than we could get with the Pontiac uppers. | Also, we do not have a '58 Olds to check those lower control arms. What we do know is '57 is king pins, and '59 is all-new. So 58 is it. We used the '58 Pontiac upper control arms simply because we got the whole front end. Several uppers will work, as it looks like '58 to '60 BOP's all had the same basic dimensions on their upper control arms. In fact, the '58 Buick uppers we used on one conversion had some built in twist that allowed us to add more anti dive than we could get with the Pontiac uppers. | ||
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