so I just bought a 95 SC....

Well...my current ride is on its last legs. The subframe mounts on my 97 monte carlo let go in a bad way about 3 weeks ago and the head gaskets are blowing faster than (edited to keep PG ). Needless to say....I needed a new ride.

I decided early on I didn't want a neon, a camry, a civic, or a taurus. Basically anything boring and bland. Well I found this nice 95 riviera with 90k on the motor and 250k on the body. I was a little worried but surprisingly enough the leather was nice, the stereo was nice, all the electrics worked......except for the electric fuel door opening (doh! >.<). She runs rough right now due to a clogged cat and the spark plug wires look like they haven't been happy for the past 50k miles or so. She also needs new wheel bearings, some supercharger love (oil change and might need a new pulley), and subframe bushings but the price was right....700$ got title signed over to me on Wednesday despite almost getting struck by lightning and flooded off the road on my way to go pick her up.

Gonna update with pics when michigan stops experiencing biblical floods and rains. There was some spot rust but for the most part the previous owners managed to control it.

velcome

Yes, welcome! Always glad to see another '95er signing up.

Post some pix when you can.

Welcome, good luck with the supercharger oil. You're about to know what pure stink smells like.

@IBx1 - I worked in a leather tannery that was across the street from a pork processing plant in the dead of iowa's corn fields on hot summer days......try me

Haha, ever smelled old S/C oil? I think there was some rumor that it was whale stuff. I had to have my S/C snout rebuilt in my '95 and even with the mechanic keeping it clean, it smelled like nothing else I've ever experienced. It's definitely unique, that's for sure!

Hmmmm....well my dad is an ASE master tech and he's the one who's been guiding me through my journey in the car world so the next time I see him I will just ask about changing supercharger oil and see what face he makes. He was in a pontiac dealership from 2000 until 2004 so I figure he's smelled a few gtp and ssei chargers.

actually he might not have smelled it. Standard procedure for dealerships is to just drop on an entire new charger.

WELCOME ABOARD !!! Good luck with your Riv and keep us posted.

Karma wrote:

actually he might not have smelled it. Standard procedure for dealerships is to just drop on an entire new charger.

Ugh!Lol!

welcome to the site. glad to see another 95 on thats still running. Just a helpful hint, use the search window to guide you through your questions..they get kinda get mad answering the same questions over and over again. but all in all this is a great site and it will help you when you need it.

welcome aboard!

Welcome to the forum from another Michigander.....

I just bought a few parts today
-sts rear sway bar
-autolite 104 plugs
-180 thermostat

Looking forward to the next good day I can get to wrench and have some fun.

Nice to finally see a forum I want to belong too (the monte carlo forums are quite bad)

Well there she is after some elbow grease, some swearing, and a coupe of afternoons. Luckily I was able to keep catching the cloud cover so I was able to get some of the paint restoration done. I'm waiting on a catalytic converter and I've got a friend of mine coming to look at the A/C system to give me a full rundown of what it's going to take (not looking forward to that part....). I have AC Delco plug wires with autolite 104's ready to go (pulley and 180 thermostat are coming in the future, might as well prepare now) and my dad says he has a fuel pump from I believe an ssei with the gen 1 SC so hopefully by this time next week I'll be mechanically sound.

Still have a lot of touch up painting to do including all the rock chips on the front, some corrosion by the windshield (you can see in the picture, top left corner) and some scratches on the driver's side are too deep to be merely polished away.



Here's part of the trunk after two treatments of polish and meguiar's #7. I'm trying to get a feel for how thick the paint is to know when and where to use rubbing compound and when just polish and #7 will work. You can pretty clearly see where there are swirl marks and the circle area that became my test area.



This is the hood, taken on monday after I cleaned the interior. I got half of it done on saturday before I chickened out and cleaned up before the rains came. I decided against body work in the memorial day sun and heat but this was what it looked like when it all dried. It's kinda cool to see the difference and it gives me the drive to keep working.

welcome Chris,the car looks good bro!

Is it my monitor, or is this a black '95 with a tan interior??
If so, this is spooky - that color is rare and we just lost one:
https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t5699p45-end-of-the-road-for-the-95#130670

Also, if you look at those photos, it sounds like your Monte was victimized by the same problem in the same area...

As for the liquid rotting cheddar (blower oil), I highly recommend checking your parts store for a little 2 or 3 ounce syringe with a hose. I can't remember the brand, but it is perfect for reaching the bottom of the snout to get all the old oil out. If it IS really stinky from lack of maintenance, I'd buy enough oil for 2 changes and replace it again in a few thousand miles as did. Now I can run my finger around the inside of the pulley and the film of oil only smells like oil...

It is most definitely black with black. Or a dark gray? I feel like it's either faded black or if there was a dark gray that is a possibility (keep meaning to check the VIN codes....) but it is certainly not tan. The color in the one picture is because the C-pillar interior trim was a bit old and I broke it trying to check out the battery (I'm 6'2" and my dad is 6'4"....an accident was inevitable)

And I still haven't gotten to the supercharger yet. I plugged in a scan tool to find out that the fuel pump was a possible problem area and it turns out that was correct....250k on the stock pump is apparently a good time to change it for future reference. I've got a 5.7L pump hooked up for now. It's working as a pump but the fuel gauge won't connect correctly. I'm going to order the correct pump but I had a spare lying around as an extra from a friend's project he abandoned. Idle is a bit rough but there are the typical vacuum leaks and there's an exhaust leak form having a hole drilled in it that I'm going to patch first.

congrats on the car and welcome to the site,. looks like you got your work cut out for you.

UPDATE - Well it took a while to find the root cause of the rough idling and other engine issues but after replacing the fuel pump, a vacuum line, and replacing supercharger oil, the engine sounds amazing and has plenty of punch to it. Test drive revealed that the left rear transmission mount and one of the wheel bearings is bad.

I'm also getting a complete fluid flush of both the coolant and transmission and while the coolant is getting flushed I figure I'll install the 180 thermostat. Plugs and wires go on later this week as will a few other odds and ends but she's *almost* road worthy and so far the entire project has come in at a grand....not a bad way to go

So how did the S/C oil smell?

^^^ Lol, I can usually gauge my SC oil's age to the month using my nose.

Not bad at all actually. I used a vacuum pump to remove and when I emptied the pump it just smelled like oil/solvent. It looked quite used but not really burnt out so I was wrong on my initial assumption of "no one ever changed it"

Haha well good, if you didn't choke to death then that means someone did take a little care of the car before you bought it!

Well I got it on the freeway and I think the supercharger solenoid needs to be replaced since it really hesistates under WOT. It jerks around a lot and seems to have problems staying on. I also now know for sure that I'm replacing the transmission mounts and subframe bushings but the suspension was great and the brakes were excellent I also enjoyed a lovely stretch of road all to myself with all windows down and the sunroof open