Rivette's Rivette (no 56K)

I had a few days off this week so I decided to work on the Rivette (my sexy Riv), just tune up type things: plugs and wires, air filter (may as well gut the air box while I'm at it), oil change and filter - getting her ready for performance parts. Let me set the scene for you....Karma and I don't actually need a second car until April, so to save on insurance, we're storing the Rivette at his parents' place....and I had to dig her out of the snow drifts....good times. And a round of applause for Canadian winters.











Once she was finally in the shop and cooled down, I popped the hood and got started. My first encounter was with the furnace filter....er....air filter. WTF?! Some retard had "replaced" the air filter with this......It looked like it had been hot glued on!





Also, I did not swiss cheese the air box. The owner obviously knew just enough to be an idiot. With a proper K&N it's ok....at least the holes are under the filter.





After the air box was gutted and a K&N filter installed, I moved on to plugs and wires. It looked like the previous owner had only done the front three plugs and installed Bosch ones, as the rear ones looked even older and were NGK ones. The rear ones were really corroded, although they weren't as hard and everyone seems to think....I didn't have to do them from underneath...I just reached in from the top. There's considerably more room in the series II (since we don't have to worry about a vacuum box in the way).





The wires might also have been the original ones. Needless to say, she's running much better now....no engine shutters, no cylinder misfires (as was the case before), no hesitation....just a lot of good super charger wine!



In two weeks I might have to dig her out again...who knows. I might be doing the LIM gaskets (possibly port and polish the LIM while it's off....we'll see) and rear shocks....

Good work, I've seen that filter medium before. Back when I worked on buses. It is an Air filter medium, for HVAC systems. It comes in a 50' long roll, its also fairly inexpensive. Who ever did that was stupid as it doesn't filter to small particle size that a regular engine air filter. It's nice to see your car finally found a good home, and smart owners. Congrats on getting it running better.

Wow, you've got a lot of snow up there!

You might consider covering those holes in the airbox with HVAC tape. Otherwise, they will let in hot engine bay air to the air filter. You want the intake air to come from low in the fenderwell, like the GM engineers intended!

...or contact Ed Morad for a replacement airbox, they are not that much.

Albertj

Good job digging it out! I agree, I would look into replacing that airbox, or at least covering the holes. You want the air to come in from the holes in the fender aligned with the original inlet holes in the box. There is more than enough 'hole' to let air in even for a lightly modded engine from the stock openings.

It's amazing how badly some people will mangle something rather than order the right parts or learn a little more about what they are messing with.

Eventually I think I'll be doing a FWI, so I'll be swapping it out anyway... and for now, it's just pulling in cold air (because it's winter). Maybe I can get Karma's air box (since he's got the FWI he's not using his old one).

I'm also pulling in eng compartment air for now, since it's plenty cold outside. But I'll put my gutted box back on as soon as it starts to warm up here in another couple months. Don't wait til it's 70deg outside.

Yea really. This past month it's been almost a steady -10 deg. But 70 deg won't show up around here until the end of April, and hopefully by that time I'll have done the FWI.

don't say your cars last owner was a russian tho?
good that i did not find any spongebob in my airbox..

Spongebob!



Hey if the PO oiled the foam it might have kind of worked...

Sponge Bob, LOL!!!

FWI that shiz

but clean car

I hope that POS filter did not let enough dirt get by to damage the engine.
The air filter is very critical to engine life. Hopefully it was not run that way very long.


Bert

NICE! I couldnt deal with all that snow though... HA HA HA

I'm hoping the poor excuse for an air filter didn't get too much sand in my super charger. I have no idea how long it was there. The guy must have done it when he did the front plugs (I'm guessing) and they looked well used (see above photo of Bosch plugs).

And the car wasn't sitting in that spot very long....maybe a week and a half at most. I'm just hoping I won't have to dig it out again in another week and a half when I'll be back to work on it some more.

Rivette wrote:

....maybe a week and a half at most. I'm just hoping I won't have to dig it out again in another week and a half when I'll be back to work on it some more.

better but a colored LONG stick beside your car...my boss told me to do that....so i know which hill of snow is actualy my car..

btw ppl who don't have SNOWY winters...just don't know what they miss....good video here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOM7lzSwY8g

I know if I lived in that much snow there would be an automatic remote start...... Looks too cold for us texas boys.... I have an airbox off of a 1996, let me know if you interested...