Here is my ride...new mods in the work

BLACK OUT THE CHROME!!!

MAN THAT THING IS LOOKIN UGGGGGLY

that is the epiphany of a badass car

Chicken- you're right. Natural Light is probably the worst tasting beer I have had. I am a fairly heavy beer drinker and could only manage to choke down two. But that's what the friend with the booth drinks and I rent the booth in beer. At least he isn't in to some exotic lager that costs $10/ 6pac. I think I got off easy with $11/ 30 pac!

IBx1- I was strongly considering blacking out the chrome especially if I went with the satin black look but I have heard horror stories about paint not adheiring well at all and I don't wan't the paint to start chipping- then i would be stuck either pepainting every couple months, or have to buy all new trim to go back to chrome.

Turtleman- I wince every time I see it like this... and to think it wasn't in too bad of shape to begine with. Once it is all said and done I think I will be much more pleased with it.



So what does everybody think-

Paint-
Glossy black paint with a hint of dark red pearl to give the lines a little highlight, keep the chrome, dark red pinstripe (same design and location as factory)

Wheels-
lip polished, paint wheels to match car (black with dark red pearl), the bolts on the wheels (not true 3 piece wheel but there for effect see photo) anodized dark red,


Windows and lenses-
Blacked out rear lense and corners, dark tint on the windows

Interior-
Black- dash pad, headliner (ultra suede), carpet, rear window deck carpet, door kick panel carpet
Black (ostridge leather)- seat inserts, door panel inserts
Brick red (see color in pic below)- Dash (below dash pad), center console, door panels and rear side panels, seats (leather)

everything you mentioned sounds great....and the dark red pearl is really going to give it alot of depth...

The Ostrich skin is going to look awesome....classy...not pimpy.

What materials/media are you going to use for the color change of the dash?

What are you going to sell it for when its done?

In that last picture, with the bumper off....that back end almost looks like a vette....

i personally liked it all black with those black rims...i like the going black carpet idea though. another thing that would kick everything off would be those smoked out tail lights

If I couldn't paint the wheels to match the car I wouldn't consider it but since they have to be refinished anyways... it's a possibility.

Also, I will be going to a more bolstered "racing" style reclining seat. similar to the one below. My interior guy will reform and cut the rear seats to better match the pattern and contour of these as well. I have also seen some heating elements that we can incorporate into the front seats so it retains the Riviera's luxury

those take some modification right?

Yes. There are different widths in the same sytle so I need to find to correct fitment. They have universal seat brackets available (which will need to be modified) or I might have someone local fab me up some.

That's so awesome! If this image were submitted for the calendar, I'd vote for it! Seriously!

AA wrote:

That's so awesome! If this image were submitted for the calendar, I'd vote for it! Seriously!

haha that is sexy.......... RIV in progress........

AA wrote:

That's so awesome! If this image were submitted for the calendar, I'd vote for it! Seriously!

ewolfe0050 wrote:

The car is finally in for paint. I started working on it Saturday 6:30 am through 6:30pm. Today I was at it again at 6:00am through 4:30pm. As of now, doors, hood, trunk lid, bumpers, triming, (and as of late tonight quarter glass and trim) everything but the front fenders are apart, sanded, etched (where needed), and primed (again where needed). The only thing broken in the dissambely was the corner lens on the inside of the driver's door. We are not painting the door jambs however we did remove all of the trim so it will hide any paint lines after reinstallation.

Next week we will do the final blocking and go over the car again with 600grit before sealer then base followed by clear. I will go with black however there are some wanting me to add a dark red pearl with the black basecoat. If I go with pearl, it would be a silver I think. It is a DD so I might just stay away from pearl all together. The following week we will put it all together and move it to a closer location for final sand and buff.

During this time the wheels will be sent in for refinishing and lip polishing. New Nitto 555's will be installed onto the rims after powdercoated. Chrome trim is in excellent condition and will be polished and the weather stripping and rubber trim will be replaced or reconditioned as needed.

After this is all done it goes in to have window tint removed and reinstalled (possible a little darker) and the cornering lenses and rear taillight blacked out with the vinyl coating mentioned in one of Chickens threads in exterior.

Estimated downtime 3-4wks.... then interior!

A friend who specialized in body repair and prep..

Looks GREAT!

Made a lot better progress than I did my first couple of days!

Even removed the doors, I guess since you are replacing the interior you aren't worried about protecting yours?

I see the mirrors hanging on the wall in this shot, I also have assembly pictures of those if you are going to take them apart?

I re-read the post about the rear wheel well molding, thought you needed the pass. side, if you don't get a reply from Ed the one on the drivers side on my parts car is in good shape, let me know.

I'll let you know about the rear window molding as soon as I can.

The rest of the project sounds good!

Looks GREAT!

Thanks Randall... your input has helped tremendously. I appreciate the part numbers for the clips, retainers, trim, and molding. It is really nice to have someone tread these waters before.

As far as the interior, we didn't really need to tape it off yet... lots of moving the car in and out. During sealer and paint, we will have everything taped up. Just dusty now. Interior will go in shortly after paint but I want to keep everything overspray free for anyone who may want the seats from me.

I would love to have assembly photos of the mirrors. That was an issue we put on the back burner until we figured out what we wanted to do with them.

Yes I am looking for both driver's side molding for the wheel well (front and back). Passenger side is fine.

Thanks again for the help.

AA- if the end of voting is early Sept, that might be the only picture I submit!

Eric , if one were to say pick up a SS intercooler and run a smaller heat exchanger , do you think there would be much of a clearance issue and would it still require cutting of the bumper?

I'm looking into an SS intercooler/3.2/Fuel rails as my next set of mods.

If I were you, I would use the largest heat transfer radiator possible. There isn't too much room regardless and you would still have to cut some space.

With the SS you shouldn't have any problems what so ever with hood clearance.

Good luck with the install.

TonySmooth89 wrote:

Eric , if one were to say pick up a SS intercooler and run a smaller heat exchanger , do you think there would be much of a clearance issue and would it still require cutting of the bumper?

I'm looking into an SS intercooler/3.2/Fuel rails as my next set of mods.

get a used Full size..... SS are for NEWBS......

other than the SS intercooler your next setup should be BOMB

98riviera98 wrote:

TonySmooth89 wrote:

Eric , if one were to say pick up a SS intercooler and run a smaller heat exchanger , do you think there would be much of a clearance issue and would it still require cutting of the bumper?

I'm looking into an SS intercooler/3.2/Fuel rails as my next set of mods.

get a used Full size..... SS are for NEWBS......

other than the SS intercooler your next setup should be BOMB

I'd go full size , but i wanna keep costs and ease of installation down. When i heard eric had hood clearance issues it turned me off because i'd rather not hack up my hood. Plus idk how well my trans would take to a full size intercooler right away. If i get the SS in place , i could always swap to a larger core and sell the SS core to recoup some of my expense.

Like Eric said, using a very large radiator will maximize the SS's effectiveness.

AA wrote:

Like Eric said, using a very large radiator will maximize the SS's effectiveness.

Not to mention look bad ass!

ewolfe0050 wrote:

I would love to have assembly photos of the mirrors. That was an issue we put on the back burner until we figured out what we wanted to do with them.

I'll post them on the "Write-Up: PAINT JOB" along with the other info that I've posted.
Hope they will be as helpful as the other posts, not great pictures but good info I hope!

ewolfe0050 wrote:

Yes I am looking for both driver's side molding for the wheel well (front and back). Passenger side is fine.

I have them on my parts car, let me know if you can't find any anywhere else and I'll see what I can do.

ewolfe0050 wrote:

Thanks again for the help.

You're welcome, as BAD ASS as your Riv is I'm glad I'll be able to say "and I helped!"

What was wrong with the rims that they need so much refinishing?

The manufacturer, MSR/Eagle, did not prep correctly and they are starting to chip badly around the polished lip. Their product warranty they advertise is worthless. I love the design of the wheels but because of the mfg and how they handled the situation I will not buy another set of their rims again.... Their customer service person basically told me I'm shyt out of luck and said it in a rude type of way... and to think I bought 2 set off of them within the past year and had planned on buying a set of 18" for auto X/winter and 16" for slicks...