FAQ: Series I Performance Mods?

Pat_Czuba wrote:

robotennis61 wrote:

i think L67 meant a high flow exhaust. but if u want to port your manifold and heads. thats not as big a deal as u might think. if u ever have the opportunity to replace your head gaskets, then that would be a good time. why do u need an exploded view of the sc?

He wants an exploded view so he can take it apart and/or rebuild it. I'm not exactly sure on his intention I rememmber 2 months ago when i bought the car i brought it to him and when he was checking everything over he noticed some play, like you could wobble the supercharger back and forth a tiny bit and he told me he didn't think it was safe if i'm going to drive the shit out of my car at high speeds (which i'm bound to do)...it may be something really easy to fix he's just not sure exactly so he wants to see the parts in an exploded view thats all

SC's rarely fail or need extensive repair, the play youre describing seems to match up the a worn coupler which is like a twenty dollar part. Im not sure how hard is to do on the 95s but i know members on here have done it.

i replaced the coupler myself. it took about an hour all sed and done. i removed the cover,removed the coupler,replaced with the new one. i didnt do the rear bearing. it was in good working order...

robotennis61 wrote:

go to search and look up supercharger couplers. u can do this yourself,might as well. the riv will need maintenance sooner or later. best to get familiar with her.........

Yeah, i am slowly working on getting to know cars... i am into Death Metal and all that shit, i play guitar too thats more my background... i was looking for a sick whip and my friend pretty much said "3.8 Supercharged Buick... and its black!" before i bought the car, knowing that i had previously owned a 95 Regal and a 93 Lesabre so naturally i was in for it. Its treating me really nice i fuckin love it so far im going to drive it for a long time so yeah your right i need to get familiar with it it'l just take time i'l probably still ask a million questions anyways haha

On the subject of the S.C i think you guys might be right i didn't believe it was anything major if its moving a little bit i think i'l try what u said tomorrow if i can get ahold of my buddy

This might help you to visualize the Series I blower assembly: M62 Coupler Write-Up

well your in good company with other guitarist/car mechanics. jeff beck is a hot rod guy. just be careful with your hands.

hey boys, im new to this forum just picked up a 95 Riv SC, was wondering what kind of mods I should do to make this thing decently quick, I was thinking exhaust, aftermarket PCM, maybe a smaller pulley? Let me know what you think! thanks

Bump to the top for some 1995 input.
Have you spent some time reading through all the info posted specifically for the 95's
Anyone with a 95 care to chime in.

Hi, I recently bought a 95 Buick Riviera; it’s sexy burgundy red and red leather interior. I believe it has every option and it only has 89126miles. A little history on my rivi, Its had about $2k worth of work done to it before I bought it, including a new (reman) supercharger at (85185 miles) I think the coupler was bad by the sounds of what the tech said was wrong with it but W/E I’ll take a new one when its not on my bill . Then it had some intake gaskets and a coolant and oil leak fixed and a brand new A/C compressor put on. So with that all being said, this baby looks great and runs and drive great too.
But there a few things wrong with it.
First my traction off light comes on, sometimes. It’s really rather random, I’m guessing there’s a solenoid that needs replacing? Any Ideas on this one?

Second it’s lacking a little power so I’ve read up and decided on the following:
1. Get scanned for KR/knock if all is good (what are normal readings?) then on to the rest
2. FWI, now I was wondering if I ordered Link
Do I need the coupler thing with the iat bung in it to hook it up to my TB? And what do you use to hook your filter to the other end?
3. Autolite 104s and 180 stat
4. 2.5 or 2.55" pulley. My problem here I guess is where do I get one? vie checked the salvage yards here and no luck I guess I could call the ones an hour away but that seems like allot of work if I could just order one at reasonable price.
5 Exhaust, now I saw the glass pack thread and after considering it I looked at my 7month old daughter and thought hmm she likes to sleep in the car haha so I’m thinking dual muffler 2.25 pipe and some nice tips and push it to the sides.
Now on this which is quieter turbo mufflers or chambered?

Well there’s my first rant, any help and advice is much appreciated

Greetings. Welcome to the site. Hate to burst your bubble but there are not so many aftermarket parts or computer options for the '95. It's OBD-1.5, the later Rivs are OBD-2 and have more flexible computers. Also, it's a Series I 3800, most of the parts listed at intense-racing and other 3800 performance sites will not fit.

I'm not saying you are completely out of luck, but you do not have the same options available as the later years.

i agree with deek. i too have a 95 and have a whale of a time finding parts.i mostly have to improvise. just have confidence in the 95 mods already done here, and your good. there aren't that many but they work.
your daughter likes to sleep in the car? haha! its so quiet in there thats why! my cat naps in there too whenever he can lol

Charlie, I think you've got a good mod plan figured out. You can scan with the correct tool, and the INTENSE intake tube should work. 104s and 180 stat, no problem. And there are probably some SC pulleys out there if you look.

Search around and you'll find threads on the mufflers and traction/ABS lights.

I've read around on the site and i'm ok with the lack of parts, ive been fabing things up for years on other engines i'm sure i'll have some fun on this one too.
But if you guys read my post (which i'm not all that sure you did ) the only part i'm really searching for is pulley.
Oh and i noticed this car is quiet, thats why i want to do something about it i just want to livin it up a bit not make a drag car out of it

Cmurphy wrote:

Hi, I recently bought a 95 Buick Riviera; it’s sexy burgundy red and red leather interior. I believe it has every option and it only has 89126miles. A little history on my rivi, Its had about $2k worth of work done to it before I bought it, including a new (reman) supercharger at (85185 miles) I think the coupler was bad by the sounds of what the tech said was wrong with it but W/E I’ll take a new one when its not on my bill . Then it had some intake gaskets and a coolant and oil leak fixed and a brand new A/C compressor put on. So with that all being said, this baby looks great and runs and drive great too.
But there a few things wrong with it.
First my traction off light comes on, sometimes. It’s really rather random, I’m guessing there’s a solenoid that needs replacing? Any Ideas on this one?

Second it’s lacking a little power so I’ve read up and decided on the following:
1. Get scanned for KR/knock if all is good (what are normal readings?) then on to the rest
2. FWI, now I was wondering if I ordered Link
Do I need the coupler thing with the iat bung in it to hook it up to my TB? And what do you use to hook your filter to the other end?
3. Autolite 104s and 180 stat
4. 2.5 or 2.55" pulley. My problem here I guess is where do I get one? vie checked the salvage yards here and no luck I guess I could call the ones an hour away but that seems like allot of work if I could just order one at reasonable price.
5 Exhaust, now I saw the glass pack thread and after considering it I looked at my 7month old daughter and thought hmm she likes to sleep in the car haha so I’m thinking dual muffler 2.25 pipe and some nice tips and push it to the sides.
Now on this which is quieter turbo mufflers or chambered?

Well there’s my first rant, any help and advice is much appreciated

Welcome to the site!

1. Normal reading for KR, well, you want zero before modding for power. Info on scaning can be found here:
https://rivperformance.editboard.com/series-i-scans-tuning-f14/code-scanning-setup-for-the-1995-riviera-t144.htm

2. Your link from intense will work fine for hose. No fancy coupler needed. When I did mine I bought their entire kit for a 97, but it turned out that the 3.5" hose fits nicely on our throttle body, so the coupler with IAT bung is on the wife's 98. Its honestly much cheaper to buy 3' of hose, some clamps, and a filter separately. oh, and a coupler piece for the end of your hose to the filter. Some bit of 3.5" tube, that the end of the hose and filter clamps onto respectively. Most of what is in the threads on FWI carries over to the series one, only difference is that the IAT sensor wants to be closer to the filter on the series one.

3. 104's and 180 stat are great for the series one, the m62 supercharger makes lots of heat, so anything to help control it is good.

4. You want to be sure that everything is ship-shape before dropping a pulley on the series one. Since our SC is much smaller, we get proportionally more heat per .1" of a size drop than the series 2 m90s. This is probably the best list in one place of the areas to check out for the series one:
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=1660

For getting the drop when its time, there is:
http://www.pulleyboys.com/store/product.php?productid=39&cat=9&page=1

5. the glass packs are loud.... fortunately the stock exhaust is pretty free flowing.


And again, Welcome!

Karma, you're my hero
Thanks for the info thats what i needed to get started

The exhaust wasn't really a performance thing it more of aesthetics thing I guess, I think the factory stuff is kind of ugly plus I like to hear the rumble of my engine, but I guess the sound of the SC is great too so maybe just some repositioning and tips on the factory mufflers.

its more of a cackle than a rumble on these engines IMO. but i hear that a cherry bomb in place of the res,and 2 more cherrys out back sound kinda nice...

Cmurphy wrote:

I've read around on the site and i'm ok with the lack of parts, ive been fabing things up for years on other engines i'm sure i'll have some fun on this one too.
But if you guys read my post (which i'm not all that sure you did ) the only part i'm really searching for is pulley.
Oh and i noticed this car is quiet, thats why i want to do something about it i just want to livin it up a bit not make a drag car out of it

I think I was responding to someone else's comment, not yours. Our board admin is good at moving things to the correct larger thread, but I believe in this case it looks like I'm replying to you, which I'm not.

Have fun modding! And good luck!

Quote :

The exhaust wasn't really a performance thing it more of aesthetics thing I guess, I think the factory stuff is kind of ugly plus I like to hear the rumble of my engine, but I guess the sound of the SC is great too so maybe just some repositioning and tips on the factory mufflers.

It's generally agreed that our V-6 doesn't have the best rumble, but some do like it. I kept the OEM exhaust on from cat-back. It's good quality steel and so far has lasted a long time; also flows pretty well even with engine mods up to 300 HP. Maybe you just need a set of exhaust tips to make the add some flare to the back end.

For more on exhaust set-ups:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/series-ii-engine-transmission-f4/the-exhaust-thread-t2258.htm

Mufflers:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/series-ii-engine-transmission-f4/mufflers-t370.htm

Tips:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/exterior-f12/exhaust-tips-t1201.htm

You also may want to read this before swapping the SC pulley:

Link

robotennis61 wrote:

its more of a cackle than a rumble on these engines IMO. but i hear that a cherry bomb in place of the res,and 2 more cherrys out back sound kinda nice...

Hmm, maybe just one instead of the res?

deekster_caddy wrote:

Cmurphy wrote:

I've read around on the site and i'm ok with the lack of parts, ive been fabing things up for years on other engines i'm sure i'll have some fun on this one too.
But if you guys read my post (which i'm not all that sure you did ) the only part i'm really searching for is pulley.
Oh and i noticed this car is quiet, thats why i want to do something about it i just want to livin it up a bit not make a drag car out of it

I think I was responding to someone else's comment, not yours. Our board admin is good at moving things to the correct larger thread, but I believe in this case it looks like I'm replying to you, which I'm not.

Have fun modding! And good luck!

Ah sorry about that

I would need to do some plugs and a FWI before the pulley though right??

Here is a guide to modding basics for Series II. You won't be able to do all of the steps (not all parts are available for Series I), but it will give you some idea as to the order of operations:

Modding 101

For SC pulley sizes, you need to think of it as a percentage drop in size, rather than a measured amount. A stock Series II pulley is 3.8", so a 3.4" would be a 10.5% drop. 3.3" would be a 13.2% drop, and 3.2" would be a 15.8% drop.

The equivalent for Series I would be 2.55" for a 10.5% drop, 2.47" for a 13.2% drop, and 2.4" for a 15.8% drop. Hopefully it's clear that very small changes in pulley diameter can make a big difference in boost output from the M62 blower. So be careful, and see this link for more on choosing Series I SC pulley size:

Selecting Series I Pulley Size

I have my motor and tranny out of my car I was wondering what mods i could do? Im looking for a cam, some rockers ... What other mods are thier that I can do? And where can I find a shift kit or some way I can improve the shift my self. Im tryin to get around 275 to 300 hp help please trying to get every thing done this week while the cars still apart

Lots of stuff at wbodystore.com for the L67. May not get it done this week, but you can find rockers, cams, IC's, galore. Once my bank account will allow I plan on wasting a lot of money there.

Your username is winriv95. and since you posted in the series one section, I'm gonna guess that its a series one SC?

Parts are limited. Your gonna have to be creative and do lots of research to meet that number. If you don't know what you need, then assume that NOTHING from wbodystore, zzp, or intense will fit your car. (in reality some things will, but they are very few, and specific.)

There are series one rockers, but they are specific to series one(series 2 WON'T work) and must be special ordered. Cam you would need to custom order from Australia. Not going to happen in a week. Get your engine back together and do lots of research before pulling it out next time.

Ah, I should have looked at the SN. Haha, my bad. Yeah, wbodystore has nothing for you, sorry man.