My '95 Riviera

if its plastic i believe it cant be done. if its pot metal or steel it can be done. is it plastic? if it is it can be chrome painted with very good results. all that is required is close attention to the prep...

I believe it's plastic. The problem is that it is glued to the taillight assembly.
Glued extremely well from what I'm told.

I have a few idea for the chrome and if any of them work I'll be posting here ASAP. It is plastic, BUT, it is still chrome to a degree. I'll let you all know what happens...

robotennis61 wrote:

if its plastic i believe it cant be done. if its pot metal or steel it can be done. is it plastic? if it is it can be chrome painted with very good results. all that is required is close attention to the prep...

Chromed plastic can be sent out for rechrome just as anything else these days.
They apply a copper plate to the plastic to make it electrically conductive so the subsequent coats of plating can be applied as would be done for any metal.
Just requires more care when handling these pieces.

why dont u ask that dude with the black regal and black riv who blacked out his "chrome" accents?

Z-type wrote:

Oh and palermocorey90, I don't mind you mentioning why the paint does what it does - I am actually interested. I heard it was a combination of being old, the sun, and bad clear coat from the 90's? I heard somewhere that government regulations accidentally lead to bad batches of clear coat from all companies.

back in the mid 90s. when paint companys had to get very strict on the VOCs. Dupont, one of the paint car paint and clear coat manufactures. they were in a bunch to make something quick. and it turns out it had a very shitty UV resistance. which is why its faded and peeling away and such. which is why it sucked cawk. just wait till 2010 when the regulate water base paint only

deekster_caddy wrote:

Very nice work with the wet sanding! Looks great.

You should give the paint more time to cure before you wax it though.

more like 3 monthes, sorry buddy paint will look all hazy now. because the solvents wont escape. which will cause it look hazy. this goes to wax only not rubbing compund

Thanks palermocorey90 - That's what I had read along with what Albert said. Very interesting stuff. And I haven't waxed it yet - I actually did remember that and am going to wait until about the middle of November to do it, when the weather starts getting iffy. I did wax the parts I haven't painted though - no doubt that will benefit.

Speaking of paint, New Paint = +15 Horsepower! Right?....Right?? ( ) Anyway, here's some pictures of it out in the open. The sun wasn't cooperating but didn't need it for my purposes. I think the car turned out alright...doesn't look like it unless you're in person, but it could be a lot better. Then again, I'm the epitome of amateur!







If you've been following the post you'll notice this is a far cry from what it was a few days ago/when I first bought it. Not perfect, but it wasn't really meant to be. I'll be driving it in the winter . Hope you like it!

looks good! and she likes her suroundings too!

Grand prix black cherry sorry LMAO

What color is that?

Dark Cherry Metallic I believe is its real name. It's one of my favorite - when I saw the car it was actually one of the selling points! Usually that doesn't happen when I car shop, but since my dad has an '86 Regal T-type of the same color I couldnt help but love it!

Time to update again - Been running around in the Riv for a while now making sure everything is ok. I'm still getting a more infrequent intermittent SES light but I'm getting that checked out MOST LIKELY tomorrow. I also go a K&N drop in filter and took out the 'debris collector' in my air box, changed the intake hose to something very INTENSE like, and wham-o! Instant supercharger scream. I love it. I can't decide if the filter is 'making' any more power but that sound is totally worth the cost of the filter...

Another update - I finally got the SES light checked out. The verdict? The scanner can't communicate with the computer. Wonderful.

In other news, I found out what the noise was coming from my front passenger wheel - broken sway bar end link. Broken in HALF...it was pretty gnarly. So I replaced those the other morning and forgot to pick up my supercharger/manifold gasket.

I did, however, change my supercharger coupler thanks to a few write-ups on this website, which I greatly appreciate the authors doing. The exhaust heat shield part was confusing but it came off. i can't wait to start putting vacuum lines back together...even labeled it should be fun. The coupler in the supercharger itself was extremely worn out. I didn't get a picture but the holes are noticeably out of round and should definitely be the source of my idle rattling. Can't wait to idle in peace...

good work!

Thanks Scott! While putting the top end of the engine back together today and noticed a broken vacuum line. Turns out that was my problem with the cruise control, so now it works.

My rattle/grinding at idle is gone as far as I can tell, and everything else is still going well! The only things I have left on my list are some small interior things and my SES light.

Alright - another problem.

Until today, my SES light has been intermittent (only turned on when idling for a minute or two) and I would have LOVED to have gotten that checked out and fixed but NO ONE around here seems to be able to scan it. With that being the case, today when I started the car (it was warm) it sputtered a little and 'idle-searched' between 200 rpms (400-600rpm). I gave it a little gas while in Park and eventually it settled down at 650 rpms. The service engine light remains on at all times now but other than starting the car (hot or cold) it runs perfectly fine, even when idling at a light or something. My gas mileage could be better as well. Does this sound like an oxygen sensor? Any other suggestions? Any suggestions for getting the code pulled? Thanks very much everyone...

my suggestion is to get a haynes or chilton manual on your car. Every car Ive worked on, I've encouraged the owner to get a manual. They give you just about any and every info on your car as well as how to fix certain things like the issue your dealing with. They give you the exact way to get codes from your car and a list of the codes to explain the problem. Hope that helps.

My suggestion is you've got to find a mechanic who can scan your car. It may not be free, but any shop with a bigger computer system (think bear or hunter), or a GM dealer should be able to scan it. Without that code, you are shooting in the dark. It _might_ be anything!

Wolfmaster579 wrote:

my suggestion is to get a haynes or chilton manual on your car. Every car Ive worked on, I've encouraged the owner to get a manual. They give you just about any and every info on your car as well as how to fix certain things like the issue your dealing with. They give you the exact way to get codes from your car and a list of the codes to explain the problem. Hope that helps.

Where have you seen a Haynes or Chilton for the '95-'99 Riv? Please? That'd be useful.

Albertj

I forgot to look around for a manual today while I was out. I took a risk and went to the bank with the Riv, and sure enough, the SES light went out and the car was fine. However when I got home, the light came on and the idle is getting fishy. Not bad, but noticably getting rough audibly. Physically it's smooth but what's happening is rather mild as far as I'm concerned. I'm still banking on O2 sensor.

There's a garage down the road that says they can scan the car, but we'll see. Getting that done tomorrow.

Z-type from what I understand all Auto Zones carry the basic scan tool and can read a code for you no charge, you sometimes have to wait a few minutes if they're short on employees but they've done it for me

I've tried that too actually, BKRIV . No one's machines around here work or they're being borrowed. It's really disheartening and I'm getting impatient, which is rare.

Finally....got someone to scan the car. Looks like it's code PO171. I know there's a lot of possibilities of what is wrong to throw this code, but the car is acting like an oxygen sensor going bad. It would explain my less-than-desirable fuel mileage. Before I ask someone to change it though, I think I'm going to look for more vacuum leaks. I know how to do the leak test, but would it make more sense to use throttle body cleaner rather than carb cleaner, seeing as these cars tend not to have carbs ?

Among other thing, I added a boost gauge to the car! Woo! Pretty sweet little addition. It's an AutoGage model 2310. matches the car's other gauges PERFECTLY. It also lights up green! How cool is that! Here's some pics:

http://www.zamiska.net/z/DSC02222.jpg

http://www.zamiska.net/z/DSC02224.jpg

I haven't gotten a holder for it yet, but it's on the way. I think. Anyway, it functions great and during a hot day, I get about 6 lbs of boost. Seems accurate enough!