Hello from Ky

Hey ya'll. Brady here in central Ky.
I just picked up a Pearl White '98 Riv with only 75k miles on it. Got it for a hell of a deal and I love it. I was inspired to buy this car because my Dad has the same one with 145k miles on his and his car's been bulletproof. I never thought I'd go domestic but I love this car. I love the mix of luxury and performance (not to mention the potential performance!).

Of course I'm going to have to get it repainted before it becomes patches of gray primer, but I expected that when I was shopping for one.
The only real 'maintenance' thing I need to do for it is replace the passenger's exterior door handle (the front pin on the hinge is broken/bending and I have to be gentle when opening the door for my gf) which has been difficult (at best) to find w/out going to the dealer.

This site is great. I've been lurking all afternoon and reading the tips and tricks and seeing the fully modded rides (great pics and vids) and the sleeper monsters
-brady

Welcome, Brady. Congrats on acquiring the Pearl Riv, and glad to hear you like the site. Here's some info that may help you with the door handle:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/exterior-f12/write-up-fixing-outside-door-handle-t1757.htm#18671

Best of luck, and see you around the forums!

AA

welcome to the riv family
what are your plans for mods so far?

Welcome!

Welcome to the site! Many of us have had to replace that door opener (not a handle, don't pull on it!!). I don't remember the exact price but it was pretty reasonable from the dealer. Problem with a used one is that it's probably in the same condition as the one you are replacing!!

Search around, somebody recently posted an excellent repair job to one of those door handles using some metal fab to line the plastic pull-thingy.

AA & Deekster, thanks on the heads up. I'll start doing some searching for that write-up and I'll check that link.

Mr. Riv (great avatar.. ironically, my brother's getting married in March and it's going to be a Pirate themed wedding in Florida on a "Pirate ship" at sea.. should be lots of fun). My planned mods are fairly mild. FWI and some exhaust work (while trying to keep the sound down, I want to improve flow.. been researching the best method there).. probably going with the 3" downpipe, cat bypass and into a mandrel bent T pipe. Not sure about past that yet, but going to try to find a good deal on some Borla mufflers and since the factory rear bumper "hides" the exhaust, I see no reason to put pretty tips on.. I'll just clean up the factory ones (I like how they're an oval shape similar to the rest of the car's styling..) I'm pretty sure I'm going with Borla because I've never heard a bad sounding borla muffler on anything. They all have a nice open rumble that doesn't blatt or whine.
I'm not planning on any boost mods yet. I don't have the budget to strengthen internals (or the right tools to pull stuff apart myself). I AM looking for a decent prom/chip/programmer for the computer.. Taking a road trip yesterday with the gf through some serious backwoods country roads (with some great ridgetop straights) I bumped the 108mph limit a couple times.. I don't speed often, but when I do, I don't want to be confined damnit.
I'll be doing some 20% tinting soon and I'm moving my Clifford alarm over and installing my stereo system, 6 channels of soundstream goodness powering boston accoustic door and dash speakers and 2 alpine type r 12" subs stiffened by a 1fd cap. It's a clean and versatile system. I'm selling my eclipse 5435 hu with my honda and replacing it with an eclipse 8455 hu.

Thanks again ya'll.. looking to really enjoy this car for quite some time.

Good to see another KY boy here! Where are you at? I'm on the western end, a couple hours north of Nashville.

Jack the R wrote:

Good to see another KY boy here! Where are you at? I'm on the western end, a couple hours north of Nashville.

Hey Neighbor. I'm in central Ky just south of Lexington in Wilmore.

Gotta say, your blacked out riv looks sweet. Just saw the vid of your EQ in the dash and that looks like a great way to fill the double din space. I've been thinking about frosting and stenciling "Riviera" on a piece of dark dark tinted lexan (so it just looks like a black panel when the lights are off) and backlighting it with low intensity LEDs tied in with the dash lights.

You've got me confused with someone else - my stereo is horribly stock. My car is silvermist - the cars in my sig are all Photoshop fantasies.

Confused. Retarded.. it's all the same.. I may have been thinking about Turtle's ride.

soooo.. I like your center photoshop fantasy.

Welcome! Pearl white is a beautiful color on the Riv! I know you'll love it, I've had mine for eleven years now and I still enjoy it as much as I did when I first bought it.

Welcome to the site! Good to have yet another pearl white Riv in the family. Hope you enjoy the info available as much as I do...

Welcome to the Forum

Hello, and welcome.

Thats my favorite color.

You Kentuckians should check out the Buick GS Nationals in Bowling Green this May.

Bert

Maybe. I'm only a few hours away.

Hi there!

Also these motors are not like import motors that need to have strengthened motor internal to add more boost or be faster. These motors have gone well into the 11 second quartermile range on a stock block.

*stroking chin mischievously*

ohhhh ho ho really.....

Yup, As for the exhaust you are better spending your money on headers, which include a 3 inch downpipe. The stock catback on these cars is good enough to get you into the mid 13 second quarter mile. Then it is recomended to upgrade to a 3 inch catback and that will caryy you in the 11 sec range in the sense of exhaust.

Brady, keep in mind, if you choose to push your car into the 11-12 sec range... it will not resemble the Riv you have now, and it will cost a lot to get there. Although it's possible to do, there are cons to consider as well. And there's something nice about a quiet lux coupe with a little extra grunt.

AA wrote:

Brady, keep in mind, if you choose to push your car into the 11-12 sec range... it will not resemble the Riv you have now, and it will cost a lot to get there. Although it's possible to do, there are cons to consider as well. And there's something nice about a quiet lux coupe with a little extra grunt.

psh........ ill do 10's and stil be my daily driver

98riviera98 wrote:

psh........ ill do 10's and stil be my daily driver

wont be street legal, and i bet you wont be taking anyone to prom in it

LOL.. no no no.. I'm not going to be doing anything wild.. i've got a 10 second motorcycle (nothing spectacular by motorcycle standards, but I've got zip when I want it)... I'd just like to give this thing a hair more oomph... I'll look into the downpipe and cat-be-gone, thanks.

Mr.Riviera wrote:

98riviera98 wrote:

psh........ ill do 10's and stil be my daily driver

wont be street legal, and i bet you wont be taking anyone to prom in it

nah if i ever mod er' i would be more than happy witha LOW 13 second pass.

Mr.Riviera wrote:

98riviera98 wrote:

psh........ ill do 10's and stil be my daily driver

wont be street legal, and i bet you wont be taking anyone to prom in it

he couldnt get a date anyway for prom...so no problem there for him

Hey, welcome to the forums! Good to see another from KY! I'm up around Louisville so I doubt you'll be seeing me, though!