two riv's meet at Riviera st.

From what I've read late model Regals have a floppy chassis and don't handle well without a bunch of extra bracing welded on. Basically they have two advantages on the Riv - they're lighter and they come with a better stock stereo. Everything else is advantage: Riviera in a big way. And since anyone who cares about car stereo is going to ditch the stock stereo anyway, the Regal's only advantage is that it's lighter.

AA - yes, and it does hurt, doesn't it?

Well, Regal GSes are more GTP mod friendly since they're basically the same car. Our cars require more custom modding to make them work with our stuff and if you don't have a '97 or newer Riv then there are even less mods made that you can use.

Shintsu , i really don't understand where you get this riv being unfriendly to mods... The only thing we don't have is an intake and motor mounts , both of which can be custom made easily enough...The only advantage to having a 97+ riv is the transmission . Have you seen erics riv? does it seem like he had a hard time modding the thing?

Ok so yeah some things have to be custom , but what do you plan on doing that can't be done on a riv?

My car will probably be in the 13s within a year if my financial situation will allow it. I don't see why you think its not mod friendly.


The riv has plenty of mods , more than most vehicles i'd say.

I don't know anything about your alls level of mechanical skill but it seems most everone has more than I do. I don't know half the stuff some of you do and a lot of you have shops you can take your car and mechanics who'll help you out and access to speciality equipment. I have NOTHING. I have an air compressor, lots of hand tools, and a steeply slanted back yard that's the only other place I could work on the car than in the driveway.

The fact that most of these mods require fiddling around under the hood makes shit more difficult. Whereas a GTP you could buy a CAI kit that just fits in place, ours has to be custom fabricated. Some people made good CAIs others made crappy ones, it's all dependent on what you do and it's not like you can do it exactly the same way.

GTP = Easy to mod and since GTP = Regal GS that makes them both better candidates for mods. Don't forget the stronger suspension and bigger rotors on the '97+ Rivs as well. As simple as the air box gutting should've been it was still a pain in the ass. That one old bolt was stuck and I couldn't get the bottom piece out of there no matter what. My S/C belt is somewhat tattered on the edges where it jumped off the pulley and I need to replace it but unlike the fairly simple GTP layout, ours requires even more extra BS work.

Well if you ever read on regalgs.org , you'd know that believe it or not , they run into problems too! Any mod you do , no matter how simple it seems will require work. There are very few mods that are simple plug and play on any car.

Matt and I ( mostly matt ) put both new belts on in about an hour and twenty minutes... it can be done. Gutting the airbox is no better on a regal i'm sure, and from what i've seen , its probably harder.

The rivs factory airbox isn't all that bad. Whereas the GTPs and regals , their boxes suck.

Its a 12 year old car , bolts will get stuck... thats why there is PB blaster.

What kind of mods do you want to do that are so much easier on a gtp? Spark plugs? easier on a g-body , tstat , same , intake- building your own is not as tough as it seems. just need something to cut the fenderwell. Headers- easier in the riv . strut tower brace- about 40 bucks and an hours work ( for me anyway) Brakes- same effort for F-body upgrade in 97+ rivs , 96 , ok its a slightly less mod friendly year... for a 96 regal? can it even be done? I think i've proved my point.

What are your goals? Mine is low 14s by the end of the year... which i should be at when my p/p blower gets here. but we'll see.

Don't blame your mechanical incompetence on the Riv , its not that hard to work on really... Sure i've messed some things up , as most people who work on their own cars will , especially when the goal is going fast. You wanna go fast? either work for a nice car thats fast enough from the factory , pay someone to do things for you or you mod it yourself , and when you do that , expect problems and expect things to break. I usually attempt something before taking to a mechanic. a lot of times there are things i can't do. I'm not happy about it , but at least i can say i tried. I'm probably a terrible mechanic , but i make up for it by being creative. Matt has seen my engine bay and know what i'm talking about...

It does help to have a friend around , sometimes one person has better luck with threading a bolt than others.

Ever worked on an 80s G-body v8 cutlass? If not , then you have no idea what difficult is. It took me 3 hours to change valve cover gaskets because of all the vaccuum lines and emissions control crap. ( however my dads 305 GP was much easier) Spark plugs took me about an hour and a half as three of the plugs are virtually inaccessible with a ratchet. the water pump i didn't even try , it took my mechanic 4 hours in labor , as the AC compressor , alternator and something else ( it was a while ago) needed to come off in order to change it... Which means it wouldve taken me probably six hours. I didn't even think about trying to install headers , but i probably will ( if i had a helping hand and some money of course) with the riv.

From what i've seen , most of working on the riv is pretty straightforward , just a little intimidating. All cars have things that are easier and others that are harder to fix than others. Get used to it.

Quote :

The riv has plenty of mods , more than most vehicles i'd say.

This is what it comes down to, really. When you consider we have a stock power adder, and that there are turbo and blower kits for the NA engines, it's really not that big of a deal that the parts are specific to W-Body.

Those who are used to working on W-bodies will say the G-body is more difficult because they aren't used to working on Rivieras. Me, I say the opposite because I don't work on W-Bodies! I know this much though: there's a LOT more room under my hood, and I can install rear spark plugs without rocking the engine forward. Also, the Riv has some advantages to its design - pulley routing, for example, is superior to the Regal's. I'm not an auto mechanic, but I have some patience and some common sense to make things work. Part of the fun in working on cars is accomplishing, especially if it takes the occasional custom fab here or there.

Personally, I'd rather have a Riviera because it's the more expensive, unique, luxurious, and better-built car. The W-body platform is an old design for the smaller, 4-door sedans. I like the larger coupe, even if it is heavier. When you consider the Riv's shear size and weight, it's a much better sleeper than a Regal, which also says "supercharged" on the back. A Regal also has a "GS" badge to signify it's faster, which the Riviera does not. The Riv has better weight distribution, too. It's not exactly neutral-handling, but it's not as front heavy as the W-body is. And its low resonant frequency makes it a supreme high-speed cruiser. The G-body FWD platform is relatively new, and technologically advanced compared to the W-body. It's also very strong and safe.

But my biggest love of the Riv comes from the styling, which was made specifically for it, yet Riviera style trickled down from the top to all the other Buick models. It kills me when Regal owners make fun of the Riv's styling, calling it a jelly bean, because they basically have a shrunken-down version of the same styling theme! Look at LeSabre, Park Ave, Century... they all have Riviera style. Personally, I'd rather be driving the original.

Please elaborate on "the lower resonant frequency".
That sounds vewy, vewy interesting.

thanks

Bert

I've had one person mistake my car for a Park Ave coupe but that's understandable they at least look more related than a Regal.

Now Regals and Centurys, I've had problems myself separating the two back in the day. Now I know what to look for.

Quote :

Please elaborate on "the lower resonant frequency"

From Wikipedia:

"The G-body featured a four-wheel independent suspension and an extremely resilient structure. For its time, the G-body was one of the strongest unibody car frames in production (25hz). This fact did not go untouted as GM literature made light of the need to use a 'frame crusher' designed to test heavy-duty truck frames to finally break the G-body structure in their crush-to-failure procedures."

Motortrend, on the '98 Vette:

"One of the most useful chassis stiffness references is a vehicle's natural frequency of vibration. Measured in Hertz (cycles per second), the higher the resonant frequency, the stiffer the car. The old Corvette convertible had a miserably low resonant frequency of just 13 Hz. The new '98 Corvette convertible achieves a remarkable natural frequency of 21 Hz-the coupe is even stiffer. And the new Vette is an unbelievable four and a half times stiffer torsionally, physically larger, yet weighs about 100 pounds less."

So I was wrong about it being lower - actually you want a higher res frequency in a chassis, which the Riviera definitely has at 25Hz. This is thanks to the hydroformed frame rails.

THE most depressing case of mistaken identity for my Riv was in court for my Reckless by 89 in a 55 when the judge said i was in a Buick Regal.....YOU CAN'T CORRECT THE MAN SUSPENDING YOUR LICENSE!

I've been there, HotRat, but in my case it was a lot higher than 89. Live and learn... at least my judge knew what a Riviera was!

The officer that caught me complimented me on my Regal before writing the ticket(which he put under 90 so it wouldn't be endangerment, I was spotted doin 95-100 he said); couldn't correct him either.

I'd say you made out pretty well then. If my officer had been so nice, I coulda cared less if he called it a Regal.

It was a love/hate traffic stop.

Mr.Riviera wrote:

yea, i've had friends say "oh, i saw a Riviera, like yours, except the back door was messed up" and i'm like "WHAT?!? back door? YOU FAIL! "
or i get the "I didnt know they made 2 door regals...."

yeah funny thing is, ive told soo many people the name of the car and they are like, uhhh whats that? so i say well basically its a two door aurora. then theyre like...oh! i think ive seen one then. duh its only one the nicest cars GM put out

cool sign !! two beautiful rivieras !!

Yeah so i visited my sister's new apartment today and found out that she lives on Riviera street , just not the one depicted in this thread.

And thank you!

Edit: Man i sure got corey good in this thread on page 1.

TonySmooth89 wrote:

palermocorey90 wrote:

AWWWWW how cute

Isn't it though?

Just don't be jealous because no one wants to take pictures on regal street.