My girlfriend, her dad and I drove my '79 Pontiac Catalina to a flea market and then to an auction. We put close to 150 miles on the car in one day. It's the only car out of the 11 we have that is driveable and comfortable for more than two people. Haha.
I couldn't help but notice that the rear end really seemed to sag down with around 500 pounds worth of people inside. I assume these old boats should still stay relatively level with people and their cargo? We drove home with around 150 pounds worth of stuff from the auction, and it seemed to make it nose up slightly more. From the inside, it felt like peering over the bow of a speedboat. I attached a picture. This was with around 500 pounds in the car (two passengers and the takings at the auction). The white walls are only 1" below the bottom of the wheel wells or so. The shocks are shot, I bought new and will be installing shortly. To my knowledge, shocks don't affect a car's ride height, the springs do. I assume the rear springs are shot?
Putting my weight on the trunk lid, it'll drop around two inches, maybe a little more, and I'm only 130 pounds. Haha. The nose springs move maybe an inch with my weight on the fenders.
It's not unlikely the springs are weak after more than 40 years. There are outfits that can wind new springs to factory specs or do a custom setup if you want stiffer springs or increased ride height.
I bought new heavy-duty rear springs for my Ambassador wagon from Eaton Detroit Spring several years ago and have been happy with them.
https://www.eatondetroitspring.com/
I shopped around on the auto parts sites. O'Reilly has a few sets. Variable and constant rates. The higher priced model have a 1000 pound load capacity. Their variable rate is cheapest and only has 600 pounds of capacity.
I thought about looking at the Gross Rear Axle Weight and finding a spring that can carry the weight with two. How much did it cost to get custom springs made?
there's a button right on the page that Chuck linked: "request a quote"
actually they have a lookup tool so you can find your exact car. I didn't see Catalina so I picked something similar (Riviera), and it shows $224/pair. That's awesome!
They're really not all that expensive considering the high quality of the springs. If the exact model isn't listed you can always contact them. I'm sure that if Eaton can make springs for something as obscure as an early 1970s AMC Ambassador they would not have any problem doing it for a Pontiac.
I reached out for a quote. I'm sure they can do springs for this car. It was a GM badge engineering job on a platform shared with the Caprice, Impala, Malibu, Bonneville, and Oldsmobile Delta 88.
They got back with me much quicker than I expected! OEM heavy duty springs by them are $538 with shipping for all 4. That's not bad at all. I've thought about making this car ride a little more firm to the road like the police car models did back in the day.
I was going to suggest replacing all 4 springs with heavy duty jobs. That's a good price for all the springs, they make a very high quality product. You might also want to install some good KYB shocks to go along with the heavy-duty springs if the shocks on there are real old. Those old boats can actually handle pretty well when equipped with heavy-duty suspension.
I assume the rear springs are shot?
If they're original, definitely.
I assume these old boats should still stay relatively level with people and their cargo?
Not necessarily. Those old boats were designed for a soft, floaty ride.
Praise the Lowered!
