Another Riv on the forum

Hey, just got my own '98 Riv yesterday. I have been watching Karma work on our daily driver for a while, hoping I could get my own. Excited to get working on it. Now I have a whole new appreciation for this site. This site has some great write-ups on the performance, repair and general maintenance mods for the Series II. Karma's leaving it up to me to do my own work on the car....which suits me fine. Maybe when I've figured out what I'm doing under the hood, we'll have to have a tete-a-tete on the quarter mile.....could be fun.

Got the white Riv yesterday, 3600$ (e-tested, certified, tax included, interior detailed, etc.) 158000 and change in kms, needs a few touch ups in the paint dept. and the general wires and plugs done, but other then that it's working great.

welcome. you may be male but from the " ette " im leaning towards your a riv women?

am i right, besides the fact welcome to the forum...be sure to tell about any kill stories

I am Karma's wife....should have specified sorry. I'm sure I'll have some pretty sick kill stories in the future, but any I have now have probably been posted by Karma. There have been a few instances with ricers in parking lots and at red lights >gins evily< I got one guy in an Infinity pulled over by a cop too >innocent smile< I'm sure my brunout at the light beside him had nothing to do with it.

Greetings!

Be sure and request that AA block you from seeing Shintsu's rant thread.
Bert

Welcome!!!!!!!

Welcome RIvette!!!

Guess I should try to get my girlfriend to sign up on the forum, too. She has a '97 SC she bought after I hesitated. I was thinking about buying it for my mom, and asked the girlfriend if she'd like to come test drive it (thinking her opinion would more likely be similar to my mom's than mine would). Well, she only got out of the driver's seat long enough to go into the office, sign the papers, and write the check!!!!! So I ended up finding another one for my mom!!

Again, welcome!!

congrats on ur own riv! welcome!

Boattail Bill wrote:

Well, she only got out of the driver's seat long enough to go into the office, sign the papers, and write the check!!!!!

That's awesome! She knows how to appreciate a good car! We need more girls who know power and style when they see it....

Good to have you Mrs. Karma
I hope you and Karma have your own computers

Welcome! There's plenty to learn here!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Forum

Welcome and good luck!

Thanks guys! I can't wait till spring when I can work on the car....I've been reading some of the articles here, and starting to get an idea of what to do with the engine....I've only ever done very basic mechanic stuff... like helping Karma with the wires and rear shocks on the '95 Riv (his Riv). So I guess I'll start with the basics - plugs, wires, probably shocks this year some time.... and figure my way around the engine bay a little. I think I'll want a 180 t-stat too this summer some time....I think Karma has an extra one kicking around somewhere. How much does a new paint job cost? Am I looking at a couple grand? It's white....but has a few paint chips in it....I donno if I should just redo it entirely or patch it....would it look terrible to just get the chipped areas done? Do people even do that? Or would it look better just to get the whole thing redone?

A good paint job is very time consuming to be done right and will cost a few thousand. A 'quick' or cheap paint job will make you happy for about 15 months then disappointed that you did it. I learned all this through experience with cheap paint jobs (not on the Riv!) and taking a few auto body classes. The _good_ work takes a lot of time!

Rivette wrote:

Thanks guys! I can't wait till spring when I can work on the car....I've been reading some of the articles here, and starting to get an idea of what to do with the engine....I've only ever done very basic mechanic stuff... like helping Karma with the wires and rear shocks on the '95 Riv (his Riv). So I guess I'll start with the basics - plugs, wires, probably shocks this year some time.... and figure my way around the engine bay a little. I think I'll want a 180 t-stat too this summer some time....I think Karma has an extra one kicking around somewhere. How much does a new paint job cost? Am I looking at a couple grand? It's white....but has a few paint chips in it....I donno if I should just redo it entirely or patch it....would it look terrible to just get the chipped areas done? Do people even do that? Or would it look better just to get the whole thing redone?

3.6 inch pulley on her.. and find someone near you to tune it.. Autolight 104 plugs (copper) cheap cheap ones... you'll beat your husband all day

AA will need to delete Karma's posts mentioning his girlfriends now!

HAHA!

....and welcome.

Karma wrote:

ewolfe0050 wrote:

AA will need to delete Karma's posts mentioning his girlfriends now!

It's ok....he might be lonely if I'm out working on my riv....drooling over my riv....polishing and waxing my riv....driving my riv....making my riv better than his....>smirk<

Deleted. Karma, you are in the clear.

AA wrote:

Deleted. Karma, you are in the clear.

lol, good stuff... but.. riviera owners helping other riviera owners... what happens in this situation?

Regarding chips in your paint... depends on the size of the chips and the quality job you want.

To have it look fine from 5 or more feet away a can of touch-up paint will get you started, along with good instructions. Most recent Haynes car repair manuals have an identical (usually with color pictures) section in the middle that actually has very good instructions for minor auto body repairs (rust and panel dings). However, you should have it made up for you at an auto paint shop; a good shop will be able to mix the paint for you and pack it into an aerosol can, custom. Not cheap (it will cost a good bit more than $3.00) but effective with a professional match for doing finish coats. Be aware that metallic paints are tough to match for touch-ups, it's really an art. And oh, you may also want a can of Dupli-Color clear coat. Anyway - then later, if for some reason your car goes into a body shop for some other reason consider having the paint re-done professionally then.

For stone chips (the little ones about the size of a pencil eraser or smaller) a 'paint pen' available from the dealer will work. Ask at the body shop if the parts counter guy looks at you and says "duh." If you're careful enough and use good paint (new paint that is not too thick) you can actually fill in the chips so they are level with the surrounding finish... they will be really tough to find, and once you are done you'll notice that if you glance at the car you can't tell.

Lastly, if you have some time on your hands consider getting a lightly dented or somewhat rusty one from a junkyard to practice on. Fixing it will 'school' you on how to do the repairs on the Riv better.

Albertj

Welcome to the site,Chantal!
It must be nice to have a wife with similar interests.
My wife got interested in my '65' when we took first place
at the Riv nationals last year (thank goodness).
Spending money on an old car is usually the last thing in a woman's mind.....