New rides added 9/14/13

Thanks! The idea to swap over a charcoal interior has crossed my mind many times. I have a local guy scanning the yards for one so I can swap it over. Only cruddy thing is that they didn't get dual htd seats on those models but there's no reason why I could swap that panel off a 98+ and paint it that charcoal color.

I had also considered a 95 w/black interior swap into my black 98 but the the interior on that car wasn't as nice as mine. The 95 seats weren't heated like you stated in your post but that would be cool though! How about recovering the stock seats in new black leather and then paint the interior pieces and then an aluminum accent kit. I just love black and chrome(polished aluminum) along with a lot of dark tinting thrown in.

Thanks for the votes everyone!!!

crlombardi69 wrote:

I had also considered a 95 w/black interior swap into my black 98 but the the interior on that car wasn't as nice as mine. The 95 seats weren't heated like you stated in your post but that would be cool though! How about recovering the stock seats in new black leather and then paint the interior pieces and then an aluminum accent kit. I just love black and chrome(polished aluminum) along with a lot of dark tinting thrown in.

I was wondering about painting the interior parts. Has anyone attempted it? And is it permanent? I would like to see one with a two tone color scheme or a finished product if anyone has...

SEM paint products are the way to go in terms of painting the interior plastic. They will match perfect OEM and last better than anything.

I also saw a Regal guy dye his seats black and he pretty much converted his whole interior from light gray to dark gray/black. Was hawt. I HATE the light gray in my Regal's interior now. eck..

Hey Rick, Your car is awesome! Im thinking about doing the same to my black 95 now that i finally got it running right. I love the look of the blacked out, murdered riv. I want to say what a great choice on the mags too.

I got a couple questions that I didnt see here.

1> When you painted the car, did they remove the door trim and then you painted it or did you paint it on the car.... if you did remove it, how do you take it off?

2. Did you paint the grill and trim with black primer as well? if so,what brand of primer do you recommend?

3. Do you know if its possible to nightshade the inside of the lenses since you took them off to paint the inside of the lights? and how did you remove the lenses?

thanks buddy, your car is just fantastic

Jeff,

Thanks for the compliments.

1. Which trim? Do you mean the piece running at the bottom of the window or the bump strip in the middle of the door? Window moulding lifts right out so I removed that and painted it separate. I left the bump strips in place. Not the best thing to do but the paint has held up fine.

2. Anything you see flat black on the car was primered with Rustoleum black primer. Holds up great.

3. You can niteshade the inside of the lens capsules if you want. I put a really light layer on the exterior and then clear coated over that. The headlight capsules come off really easy from the housings. Just use a heat gun to melt the adhesive holding them together and pull apart carefully with a couple screwdrivers. The corner lights are a bitch. I had to dremel them apart. Sort of a nightmare. You might be better off just niteshading the exterior a little bit. I can give you more info if you want.

best-

-R

great thanks rick....

on question #1, how do you mean the window trim lifts right out? do you have to strip off the rubber seals?

My corner lights are pretty dull so I think Im going to experiment with them for laughs... see how it comes out. 1 of my headlights are dull too so I may polish it up and nightshade the inside to experiment with it. Im curious how the marker and headlights will look with nightshade on the inside of both.

Im gonna grab some of that rustoleum primer and play around with my trim

Im guessing you used something like 800 grit on the trim before painting?

I used a scotch-brite pad to scuff up all the pieces. It's pretty much 400 grit. Then used rubbing alcohol to clean before painting. I painted the rubber seals after prepping them and just added some flex agent to the paint. They've held up great thus far.

beautful, beautful riv. brings a tear to my eye. lol. i actually seen your riv before here on the forum and actually saved your pics LOL. and this was awhile back before i even joined this site.

a couple questions;

i don't recall when i first came across the pics of your riv but, for the lenses/lights did u use vht nite shades? also with a clear coat or no? and how long do they last until they start to fade? ESPECIALLY the headlights? before i knew i could just tint the lights myself, i was calling numerous tint shops and asking if they tint lights also. most only did windows, and the only one that said they could do it, said that they could do all the lights EXCEPT the headlights. when i asked why he said because "it doesn't stick". i could understand that since the headlights get really hot, especially since it has daytime running lights. since the guy said it doesn't "stick" i asked if they use a spray or film, and they indeed use the spray (i'm assuming everyone uses the vht nite shades?) anyways, he also said the warranty on that tint is only 1 year. opposed to the window tint a lifetime.

also i noticed on your riv along with alot of rivs i see tinted; is the rear quarter windows. i notice that the window is not fully tinted. would most tint shops not want to go thru the hassle of removing the rubber trim that's around the window? because when i get my windows tinted, i definitely want those back windows fully tinted.

Took another shot of it in honor of it getting 6 votes this month.

i bet your car would look dynomite with a sqrivi bumper.

I know it would.

Yap! i know mine will. its just the damn $ thing.$ are like a beautiful woman. always elusive.
but its comin. im committed

I was thinking of it. Still on the fence.

wait...so theres a car in those pictures? all i see is chrome rings in a dark shadow
lol just kidding, that riv is unreal though rick it looks better everytime i see it, i need a black car

Looks just as good in the sun as it does at dusk Rick. Show us more of the front.

Let me wash it (probably tomorrow). Car is dirty from a few showers we got last Friday and this morning. The front looks great as long as the car is clean. lol

Thanks for the compliments. I really want to swap in a dark charcoal interior now. Might also swap the Regal's GenV on there and put a turbo on that car. Will be getting headers soon too. So many things you can do to these silly cars. hahaha

Wow i need to get on here more so i can dump more money into my riv. That's bad-arse!

I have the same color combo as your's but it doesn't look nowhere near that nice. The paint looks flawless and the tint work is so cool. I guess I can just dream of getting mine whipped into shape and someday look half as good as yours does. Looking good man!

Thanks Chris! You'd be amazed what a makeshift homemade paint booth and some time with a person who knows how to paint can do. lol The car really didn't look this great when I got it. Had a lot of clearcoat peeling on the roof and trunk. The front passenger side fender was dull too. Little paint, some TLC, and a dent guy brought this car back 95%.

Tony-Good to see you posting!!! How the hell are ya?!

demonte wrote: "makeshift homemade paint booth "


how did you make it? and what paint did you use?

I made it out of a "beer pong/party" tent that we had sitting around. I used the frame of it and wrapped it inside and out with commercial grade plastic wrap. Threw that stuff around a million times... or so it seemed. Left one end open with a fan blowing outward. One person sprayed and the other held the compressor hose so it wouldn't rub up against the car. Car fit snug but it was manageable.

The paint brand wasn't the greatest. I believe the brand was Omni Au (or gold or whatever). Not Dupont or some kind of crazy PPG stuff. But in the end I'm very happy with it. To be honest, it looks the same as it did last October when the car was first sprayed and it's seen a full winter and a lot of summer heat here. Couldn't be more pleased for $170 worth of paint materials (clear, hardener, base, reducer, degreaser, tack rages, suits, masks, etc etc). Still needs another buffing since the last time I touched it was early November. Possibly in the next week or two.

DEMonte1997 wrote:

Tony-Good to see you posting!!! How the hell are ya?!

Pretty good. Just been drowning in work the last few months...which unfortunately has left the riv off the to do list...but i should be back on a bit more as i do have work to do on the riv...not to mention workin on a car in florida summer is not the most fun thing .

Love this car. I love all the cars on here but the whole black scheme reminds me of my Camaro. I'm doing the same look with that one. My Riv is just a sleeper creeper, lol.