New to the forum.

My saga with the Riv began after my Z34 was t-boned! Blessing in disguise. I found a 1998 Riviera w 180k for 1800 firm. The pictures sold me. I needed a running,dependable vehicle. Honestly tho, even if it hadnt run I would have grabbed it anyway. It to me was an obsession on site! After inspecting the car fully, I was sold. No rust, 1 owner and well maintained. Car needed couple things. Mainly plastic cover for steering column due to inexperienced removal for ignition change. Car had some minor pass. side panel damage, real slight but unacceptable none the less. With body work know how I was willing to tackle its needs. ELS was disconnected and shocks rear were shot. License plate rear mounts gone. Exhaust leak. Still I was mesmerized by this car and its styling,body lines and class. Drove home, belts in rear tires shot. Trans sliped. Not much throttle response. Plus. Was both new front whel bearings,no codes,no leaks new rotors, working A/C new front tires, gatorback belts, new altenator . Upgrades/resurections: 180 thermostat, autolite 104's, all new idlers, tensioners, dayco belts,PVC, new air filter, 8mm plug wires,exhaust repairs with new tips. Needs super charger coupler, sounds like rocks and marbles at idle! replaced shocks and ELS compressor and lines,plus vacuum tubing. New fuel filter and lines. New brake lines. New rear tires to match front. Gutted air box, thanks to info gained here, amazing results. Replaced all speakers, and wood grain shift plate. New radiator hoses,clamps and door panel vents, were missing. Actually added oil pres. and vac/boost in vent holes. Awesome pics and step by step pics be up soon,as will pics of my baby. Well Im amazed with the knowledge and bond among the members. Thank u all and this site saved my ass a dozen times already. Also have conversion interchange knowledge on ELS compressor for all GM apps. Pics and details coming to. Exstensive mods coming,serious no joke 12 second street cat, no problem. Stay tuned. And again this is the Riviera bible no doubt.

Update. Three weeks after running this car, rod bearing knock and coupler noise. Finally found 97 w 103,000, transplant complete. basic rebuild before install. Runs incredible. Also found door and fender needed in mint condition. All new chrome trim rings. 98 motor getting boem rebuild. Plans for iNTENSE block, 3pkgs for complete finish. IC, GEN V, RAPTOR trans, trans cooler,aeroforce, DHP,solid mounts,full suspension,brake wheel upgrade. Machined LIM, Paint. Many mods and custom touchesand well within reach with the experience u guys have given me. thank u again.

good job! i have nothing but respect for those who do all their own work who dont freak out and get things done.


knuckled1 wrote: "solid mounts" really?

Robo, when the hell are you going to learn our quote system ?

Welcome to the site knuckled Glad we could help.

I'm curious how 12 minutes = 3 weeks and an engine transplant?

Abaddon wrote:

Robo, when the hell are you going to learn our quote system ?

I'm curious how 12 minutes = 3 weeks and an engine transplant?

I know - I've tried to explain it to him....

However - 'harrumph' - I noticed that you wrote 12 minutes instead of 12 seconds...

Eldo wrote:

However - 'harrumph' - I noticed that you wrote 12 minutes instead of 12 seconds...

First post was at 7:15pm. Between then and 7:27pm the car developed a rod knock, he found a '97 engine with 103,000 miles on it, transplanted it . And oh yeah, the '98 is getting rebuilt.....'harrumph' to you, and good day sir

What caught my eye from the beginning of this horseshit paragraph was under the list of things unacceptable with the car; License plate rear mounts gone.

Abaddon wrote:

Eldo wrote:

However - 'harrumph' - I noticed that you wrote 12 minutes instead of 12 seconds...

First post was at 7:15pm. Between then and 7:27pm the car developed a rod knock, he found a '97 engine with 103,000 miles on it, transplanted it . And oh yeah, the '98 is getting rebuilt.....'harrumph' to you, and good day sir

Well said, old man! I underestimated your mathematics...
I thought you were referring to "Exstensive (sic) mods coming,serious no joke 12 second street cat, no problem."

Rickw wrote:

What caught my eye from the beginning of this horseshit paragraph was under the list of things unacceptable with the car; License plate rear mounts gone.

Yeah, I kinda' wondered about that myself...

knuckled1 wrote:

My saga with the Riv began after my Z34 was t-boned! Blessing in disguise. I found a 1998 Riviera w 180k for 1800 firm. The pictures sold me. I needed a running,dependable vehicle. Honestly tho, even if it hadnt run I would have grabbed it anyway. It to me was an obsession on site! After inspecting the car fully, I was sold. No rust, 1 owner and well maintained. Car needed couple things. Mainly plastic cover for steering column due to inexperienced removal for ignition change. Car had some minor pass. side panel damage, real slight but unacceptable none the less. With body work know how I was willing to tackle its needs. ELS was disconnected and shocks rear were shot. License plate rear mounts gone. Exhaust leak. Still I was mesmerized by this car and its styling,body lines and class. Drove home, belts in rear tires shot. Trans sliped. Not much throttle response. Plus. Was both new front whel bearings,no codes,no leaks new rotors, working A/C new front tires, gatorback belts, new altenator . Upgrades/resurections: 180 thermostat, autolite 104's, all new idlers, tensioners, dayco belts,PVC, new air filter, 8mm plug wires,exhaust repairs with new tips. Needs super charger coupler, sounds like rocks and marbles at idle! replaced shocks and ELS compressor and lines,plus vacuum tubing. New fuel filter and lines. New brake lines. New rear tires to match front. Gutted air box, thanks to info gained here, amazing results. Replaced all speakers, and wood grain shift plate. New radiator hoses,clamps and door panel vents, were missing. Actually added oil pres. and vac/boost in vent holes. Awesome pics and step by step pics be up soon,as will pics of my baby. Well Im amazed with the knowledge and bond among the members. Thank u all and this site saved my ass a dozen times already. Also have conversion interchange knowledge on ELS compressor for all GM apps. Pics and details coming to. Exstensive mods coming,serious no joke 12 second street cat, no problem. Stay tuned. And again this is the Riviera bible no doubt.

the rear license plate slips into a slot in the taillight assembly and there is no other "mount"

Albertj

12 second street car not possible? lol.

knuckled1 wrote:

12 second street car not possible? lol.

please tell us where you got the chrome wheel trim rings from.

Albertj

12 second Riv is easy. Ditch the SC and just go with a decent turbo kit, cam, trans and heads. And there you go.

But when you can do the same thing with a car that weighs 400-500lbs less...

to the 12 minutes question I am a little slow at posting actually used this forum and just became member. obviously i have had car since end of sept alot of work ha[ppened before i began posting. the update was to my looooooong ass paragraph. today its waterpump. siezed and threw new dayco! nice. 20 degrees here and here we go again! love this car. lol. lookin for shortcut or do i have to remove front motor mount? ugggh.

chrome wheel trims were aquired at salvage yard.

knuckled1 wrote:

to the 12 minutes question I am a little slow at posting actually used this forum and just became member. obviously i have had car since end of sept alot of work ha[ppened before i began posting. the update was to my looooooong ass paragraph. today its waterpump. siezed and threw new dayco! nice. 20 degrees here and here we go again! love this car. lol. lookin for shortcut or do i have to remove front motor mount? ugggh.

Start taking her apart man! All that shit, including the P/S pump needs to come out. Actually, the P/S pump you can just unbolt and push it back towards the firewall to gain access.

well 8 hours, 4 beers and two trips to autozone later, its running again. dayco belt was shot from waterpump siezing. no questions asked they replaced it. damn that motormount belt setup! took pictures and froze my ass off. someday id like to post some of these with writeups. thanks again to all who have helped me along the way

At least the four beers kept ya warm , good man craig. A pictorial write up for the Series II would be welcomed!

As soon as I get a free cple hours, i will write these up with pix. Im unsure how to post on this forum yet, figure it out eventually. Those beers def kept me warm! Car ran great btw. Good heat, never overheated,no leaks.

I posted a question yesterday concerning my upper radiator hose, but cant find it. The hose collapses when I open the throttle and takes shape when I let off gas. Is this normal, should I replace the hose and what brand do you recomend? What causes this? Any help appreciated. Thx.

You question was renamed and moved to here (click link)

In response to my bullshit paragraph I posted when I joined: The update should have been in my first post, I thought it was too long, so I posted it shortly after. It to me was relevant. As for the license plate bracket, it was unacceptable clown. It was broke when I bought the car and plate would not slide in. I was unclear as to how it should be installed properly, but i need new tail light panel. Its unacceptable because to even mount a plate I had to use a plastic bracket similar to other plate holders. This will be fixed because I have located a 97 tail light panel. Sorry to confuse or aggravate anyone. If you dont like what you read, its simple move on and help the next man. Good day.

By the way, I have only done basic mods to this car thus far. Plan to garage car soon.

Thanks for the clarification, Craig. Keep in mind that many of our members have owned and studied Rivieras for a good while, and were probably just trying to help you with your questions by volunteering relevant info. Sorry if this came across as aggressive or confusing. I assure you it wasn't intended that way.

The engine I threw together when the original started knockin. [url=https://servimg.com/view/15957167/7][/url] [url=https://servimg.com/view/15957167/13][/url]

knuckled1 wrote:

In response to my bullshit paragraph I posted when I joined: The update should have been in my first post, I thought it was too long, so I posted it shortly after. It to me was relevant. As for the license plate bracket, it was unacceptable clown. It was broke when I bought the car and plate would not slide in. I was unclear as to how it should be installed properly, but i need new tail light panel. Its unacceptable because to even mount a plate I had to use a plastic bracket similar to other plate holders. This will be fixed because I have located a 97 tail light panel. Sorry to confuse or aggravate anyone. If you dont like what you read, its simple move on and help the next man. Good day.

did you still need a replacement tail light panel? I think there is a riv in the pickandpull near here, [url=horseheadspickapart.com]LINK [/url] - and they will pull for you for modest $$ and ship too I understand. May want to contact 'em. That failing, Ed Morad --> [url=moradpartscompany.com]LINK [/url] - - usually has a riv or 2 around parting out and I think has kept 1 or 2 decent tail light units.

hope this helps

Albertj