chuckfmtexas Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 (edited) I can finally reveal my 1969 Riviera I bought in late May. The car has been completely restored inside and out and all mechanical running gear including new springs, front and back. The car also had steel wheels and hubcaps. What was immediately noticeable was the car was sitting too high, see the first photo shown below. It was 3 inches high in the front and 2.5 in the rear. The end result to get the car back to original factory height was to remove the 2.5 inch spacers someone had put in the rear springs and order front springs that were 1.5 inches lower than stock springs. We installed a new set of stock front springs when we installed the rears but the car still sat 1.5 inches too high in the front. By installing the 1.5 inch below stock spring height in front today the car is now at factory level. Also installed the four rallye wheels I bought and had re-chromed and powder coated. With new Firestone 78 R 15 whitewalls the car now looks original. Looking forward to driving and showing the car. Chuck Edited August 22, 2020 by chuckfmtexas (see edit history) 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PWB Posted August 20, 2020 Share Posted August 20, 2020 Simply awesome. So who sold the correct front springs? Kudos to them as well. Floor shift? Thanks for the pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckfmtexas Posted August 22, 2020 Author Share Posted August 22, 2020 On 8/20/2020 at 5:15 PM, PWB said: Simply awesome. So who sold the correct front springs? Kudos to them as well. Floor shift? Thanks for the pics! Coil Springs Specialties in Saint Marys, Kansas sold me an OEM set and then when we were still 1.5 inches too high they made the 1.5 inch shorter ones and gave me credit back for the OEM springs. I am gathering all the console and steering column parts to make the car a console shift. It has buckets and a small console now. Always something to spend money on! Chuck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychostang Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 You do realize, that springs take about 1.5 to 2 months to "settle"! The car is going to drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckfmtexas Posted August 27, 2020 Author Share Posted August 27, 2020 The car had a brand new set of Eaton OEM springs in it when I bought it that had been in it for 8+ years but no mileage on them. They did not drop sitting there for 8 years. The Coil Springs Specialties OEM springs were 1.5 inches high like I said above. The Eaton sales person I talked with about 4 weeks ago said once in a while they saw cars with new Eaton springs in them that were too high and no one could explain it. I thought the restorer had originally put heavy duty front springs in the front and I thought the Coil Spring Specialities OEM springs would bring it down to OEM height but they were still too high. We shall see how it works out after I start driving the car for 4-6 months. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimera Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 Excellent. What paint color is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckfmtexas Posted August 29, 2020 Author Share Posted August 29, 2020 Paint is Twilight Blue Iridescent GM 1969 Riviera color #51 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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