New from Washington

Hi everyone.   Been a car guy all my life, my grandfather was a pure Buick guy, my dad was a  Mopar man, I have had a little of everything.

Today I picked up  96 Buick Riviera.  Supercharged 3.8, 1 owner, always dealer maintained. All service records.

Haven't driven a car like this for a while, a real road Cruiser.  Reminds me of the big 60s or 70s Chryslers, great car.

Washington as in State, or Washington as in DC?

I also have a 1996 Riviera  (Diamond White with Ruby interior) which is the last year without the nanny-state fluorescent orange seat buckle markers which annoy me so much.  

I got mine from the second owner in May 2005 with 98k miles on it and have enjoyed the car greatly.  I  think it's a great car even today.

Can you provide any pictures of your car?

Welcome aboard! Sounds like you found a winner!

brutusk1 wrote:

Washington as in State, or Washington as in DC?

I also have a 1996 Riviera  (Diamond White with Ruby interior) which is the last year without the nanny-state fluorescent orange seat buckle markers which annoy me so much.  

I got mine from the second owner in May 2005 with 98k miles on it and have enjoyed the car greatly.  I  think it's a great car even today.

Can you provide any pictures of your car?

Its Washington State, Snohomish county for anyone near by. i tried posting pics when i was on my phone but it didnt work.

I had no idea there was so much stuff you could do to these engines, i was under it yesterday, new exhaust it a must, and a cold air intake.

Rp23g7 wrote:

I had no idea there was so much stuff you could do to these engines, i was under it yesterday, new exhaust it a must, and a cold air intake.

Same here when I bought mine. I liked the styling and it had great ratings for reliablity and build quality, but I had no idea how good it actually was. It's a vastly underrated gem.

Hello Steve. Welcome.
Nice. Last time i saw a black Riv was back in the 1800's.
Chrome is good looking too on black.
Welcome.

That Riv looks very clean. The wheel center caps look like the generics available for about $50+ each. Sad that the originals come apart (like mine).
Anyone know how to fix them, that is, the mounting mechanisms? Plastic failure is the problem.
Nice Riv all around.

Plastic has to be welded.

Nice to see you in the forum!

Nice looking Riv.

I noticed you have an odd coil on your coil pack.  I suggest you check your ignition wires.  You're looking for loose terminals and issues inside the terminals like partially cut center conductors.  Also, I suggest you use a meter to check the primary and secondary resistances of the coils.  If they do not match consider getting a matching set of SC coils. (the ACDelco D576).  An easy way to do that is go to a junkyard and pull a set off any other GM SC 3800 with that style pack that looks like it has the original coils.

...install the three from all your coils that have matching resistance and you'll be OK; the three with matching low resistance (and no leakage) will be the ones putting out the most whomp. (ha ha 'whomp' is indeed a technical term) ...and that mild lope your engine (probably) has will magically and dramatically vanish.

The Riv's OE coils for the SC engine are about the highest output coils put on a production car.  I have had terminals vanish due to ablation, and conductors break at the crimps.

So - I am not saying these are your problems necessarily.  It's just that the money shot of your engine was nice but for me that white coil really stuck out like a flag.

Albertj

It actually does have a rough spot in the idle. I will check the coils out

Rp23g7 wrote:

It actually does have a rough spot in the idle.  I will check the coils out

I had a coil fail while traveling and the shop (a Firestone) replaced it with a Standard. It took a while to even notice the engine loped - it was a really subtle lope, and I did not give it much thought given the 3800's reputation as not being the smoothest. The Riviera is kind of a nod to the old Studebaker Whiskey Six - including the load leveling air shocks so your car keep trim in spite of those kegs in the trunk (the Studes just had much, much heavier springs)... but I digress...

There had been an extensive discussion of coils on this site. This was years (almost a decade I think) after that coil replacement. I think the AleroMods site actually summed it up well: "Guys have tested both GM and aftermarket all the way up to the LS platforms and the GM (D576) coils not only tested having more power, but longevity of said coils far surpasses that of the aftermarket ones. The GM ones are pricey, but they are the best." I was doing maintenance anyway, and decided that since people had talked about junkyard coils being just fine I decided if they were cheap enough I'd get a set that still had the numbers stenciled on (not so smart on my part - I wash my engine, the numbers wash off after a couple years use anyway). I pulled a coil set off a 99 Park Ave, measured the primaries and secondaries of all the coils I had... and found the Standard coil was way off the other two. So I wondered, which one was broken. It was hard to get the specs but once I had them I found out that the Standard coil was on the NA engine spec and the other coils were on spec for my SC engine. Sooooo...... I checked the pulled coils, turns out they were all on spec, and I then installed three that had numbers still on them, on the ignition module. I start the engine and whaaaaat?

The idle was really smooth. Reallysmooth. SO smooth I balanced a nickel on the engine cover, on edge, and it just stood there. I can still do that.

So... no kidding what you are looking for is a set of Delco's D576 coils, new or used. Used? For $5 to $15 or whatever at the pick and pull, get ridda that lope.

That looks totally neat inside and out! Nice find