Like one would expect from a $262 21 year old car my electra needs some maintenance.

I make it a habit to perform upgrades whenever I do routine repairs. The car came with a cracked radiator so I replaced the stock skinny rad with a thicker one from a later model car. The exhaust was falling apart so I replaced it with a 2 1/2" exhaust instead of the stock 2".


After looking around the salvage yard this weekend at the different make and model cars on this platform I have a rough plan for some upgrades that I can do when I replace various worn parts.

Front strut bars are common on later cars so I'll grab one along with the rear sway bar from a bonnie SSEI. It looks to be the biggest one available on these cars. Dose any one know if the fronts are different (larger) on any particular car? I didn't notice any difference.

I would like to upgrade the front brakes when I change the pads/rotors.
I saw some cars with larger rotors and think they will bolt right on if I take the entire spindle assembly. Are there any issues with just swaping the whole assembly like that?

I also noticed none of the cars had rear discs? Did these ever come with discs?

I'm still thinking about the bonniville ssei struts but no one so far has given their opinion on that. Are the struts different? Will ssei springs be stiffer or lower than buick springs?

Thanks for any info or advice .

The strut towers and upper mount'* look identical between the cars. So if there is a difference that'll keep the SSEI struts from bolting up it'll be where they bolt to the spindle.

If I swap the late model spindle'* to get larger brakes that should take care of it.
I'm wondering tho if they have the same spline count through the production run or if they changed that in the later years or with the */C'd versions.

I was surprised to find that the SSEI has air ride like the electra and the two cars look identical underneath besides the rear sway bar.

To clarify my car is the same generation as the third bonni in your sig and the SSEI I was looking at is the same as the second (white) bonneville.

OK I was wondering what chassis I had. So what cars are C and H body'*?

So what are the differences I need to look out for?

I have seen all those names on cars that look nearly identical to mine so is it just a trim thing? Or are there hard parts that are different?

Good to know. Thanks.

I'll be sure to double check everything against the earlier cars at the yard before I buy.