cleaned up the exhaust a bit

warning, this is half me being new here intro, half gallery, and if you get bored, just scroll down to pics for TL;DR


Hi =] I'm new here, 20 years old, and this is my first car. been lookin at these forums for a while my Rivvy was bought for about $750 years ago by my step dad, and he got another for $450. his is a 96 supercharged, mine is a 97 NA. I know a little bit about cars, but intend to be a community member soon, and get help from you guys spiffing up my car my rivvy is pretty much bone stock, has grand am wheels, new head unit, sub and is kinda halfway broken, has terrible paint and some dings. I intend to make it showroom quality, add power tuck bumpers in, redo sound system and interior, and drive this as long as it will last for years. it has about 207,000 miles, broken ABS (nearly got me killed locking up on a really tight curve once) service engine light is on, the tranny is probably gunna die soon, which just got replaced lol (what I get for buying a craigslist tranny for $400 including my wheels, but i still got a good deal IMO.

Things I wanna do to my rivvy:

-repaint and tuck in bumpers

-some grill work

-work on head and tailights; make front halo headlights possibly with an audi light bar if it will get pulled off, gloss them nicely, sequencial taillights and possibly led taillight conversion to make it look kinda like a challenger (highbeams on the back of the car actually make it look like a challenger taillight)

-eventually new 18 inch wheels, wider better tires

- stiffen suspension eventually to minimize body roll

- add power with: a supercharger, 180 tstat, intercooler(will need new injectors), new roockers, headers, intake, exhaust with oval tips on tucked in bumper, possibly cam it if it will get better high rpm torqueband, repaint engine and supercharger, make engine bay spiffy clean, possibly a few other odds and ends and dropping pulley as low as I can without KR what kind of 0-60 times and 1/4 would all dem mods get? :o (my engine has 9.5:1 ratio, not 8.5:1 like the SC model)

- customizing interior with as much class as possible, possibly might try and fabricate some MDF speaker boxes for rear doors and mount some TC sounds epic 12" about where the rears are, make my ipad my new head unit with working Pandora and rebuild dashboard, possibly make an OBD reader replace all my gauges to the ipad display and use extra room for hifi speakers in the front.

POSSIBLY and I say possibly only for good reason, lambo doors BECAUSE THE DOORS GET IN THE WAY. it's so god damned hard to park in tight spots and open my door, and my door ends up hitting gas pumps all the time, this would gladly solve that problem, and the sq rivi bumpers CAN pull it off.

don't get me wrong, I don't want my car looking like a ghetto brothermobile. I want it to look clean, with class and quality, drive smooth, and be fast enough to play with a mustang gt, yet be tame when I'm not rockin the pedals, and be as comfy as it is now on multi hundred mile trips

not much else... just want to do as close to that as possible while not spending a fortune on my car and eventually after all that, get an RX7 FD and v8 swap it, and work ont hat while I daily drive this as long as I can.

sum pics: ohtay, ALOT of pics, lol















There are only 5 Rivy's in my entire county, mine, my step dad's and 3 others. Iv'e seen 4 out of 5



These $50 wheels look ALOT better than stock


Helping my step dad replace tranny at his towing shop.














Had to rip apart my entire dashboard to hide the sound system wires completely :3


in person, especially at night, this head unit actually looks like it was stock with the car



spent $100 total on the sound system so far. I wanna get some TC sounds epic 12's for the car, and mount them so the cone is integrated into the trunk liner into the cabin of the car, making them more efficient

Looks pretty good! Riviera aficionados are few and far between.So..Velcome!
My only suggestion,those shades?oh man,they gotta go!

welcome looks like you already have a deep love for rivs lol doesn't look that bad , one of my rivs looks like someone took a scotch bright to the entire car anyway nice stereo still thinking about replacing the jvc I have in the dreww custom with that model.

you seem to have alot of plans lmao even cooler that your step dad can help you fix your riv up.

well I hope you have a blast with the car and good luck with all the plans I'd like to see how your riv turns out lol

Welcome, Nice Riv. I also want to put on the lambo doors. I'm looking at next summer... I'm on a budget so we can move to Florida in June or July. Then I can start my mods. nice to have you here

welcome Corey,that Riviera looks great why don't you get a wheel with radio controls (looks good)

Haha, thanks guys. Those shades belong to my friend by the way, it was a douschebag posing pic


the paint is a lot worse than the pics look, driver side door got scraped pretty bad :3 as far as the steering wheel, I intend to eventually have nothing but my ipad as the head unit connected to a usb charging pre amp that has to be able to put out around 10 watts in the usb power with a DAC capable of interfacing with any ipad.

My head unit is actually pretty decent for $70. I connect my phone to it via USB and it charges my android as well as plays any songs on it like a flash drive with easy navigation and song selections. The subs may look impressive to the un trained eye, but they probably only put out around 90db (if it were a hatchback) with nearly 10% THD (Total harmonic distortion) and bandpass enclosures basically tune the sub to play a certain frequency much louder than others, making the sub have far from a flat frequency response. the mbquarts 4 channel amp is pretty nice though with .05% THD in it's amplification

I'm surprised I didn't get flamed for wanting lambo doors :o

EDIT: Setsuna; what kind of power is your Rivvy on top of your sig getting, and what kinda 0-60 and 1/4 times? :3 and how much dough went into it if you mind me asking? :p

Looking good. Torque stars are damn good wheels. Beyond looking nice and clean, they weigh a bit less. Thus putting less strain on your trans and allowing for better acceleration and mpgs.

WELCOME ABOARD !!! Nice looking Riv you have there, Corey. Good Luck with your plans.

Looking good! I have a Pioneer head unit in my Si too, and they certainly have a way of looking stock.

eh its pretty quick but I havent taken it to the track or anything its a 95 so it is a bit limited in the mod department I based my mods of of what karma is running thats who you should talk to if you get a series one sc swap

HOWEVER the bottum riv in my sig which I dont list mods for because my sig is long enough is a series II sc is intercooled with rockers headers blah blah blah it has a lot of crap in it a good car to drive if you like the smell of burnt rubber lmao it has its problems and quirks but there is no denying it has an ass load of power its called the dreww custom cuz thats the board member I got it from dreww is a cool dude and he put some serious time into that car and cash.

anyway if you are doing the ss sc thing from zzp ,they claim you will make as much power as a stock supercharged series II its quite abit of cash though...

honestly finding a motor is your best bet/cheapest option also you can get it rebuilt while retaining the driveability of your riv BTW if you go supercharged you will need a new driver side axle and probably the HD trans aswell
dreww told me a horror story about after modding the car up a bit he blew the driver side axle out something fierce because it isn't a HD axle like the 97 and up scs have so be careful

anyway there are plenty of guys on here who can help you out they definately have the know how

c0reyl wrote:

service engine light is on, the tranny is probably gunna die soon, which just got replaced lol (what I get for buying a craigslist tranny for $400 including my wheels, but i still got a good deal IMO.

Things I wanna do to my rivvy:

-repaint and tuck in bumpers

-some grill work

-work on head and tailights; make front halo headlights possibly with an audi light bar if it will get pulled off, gloss them nicely, sequencial taillights and possibly led taillight conversion to make it look kinda like a challenger (highbeams on the back of the car actually make it look like a challenger taillight)

- customizing interior with as much class as possible

-lambo doors BECAUSE THE DOORS GET IN THE WAY.

Sorry to hear about the SES engine light, I'm right there with ya. But you are fortunate, you can easily get a cheap engine code reader and see what's up. The 1995 model like mine has the weird "1.5" system that cannot be read my an OBD1 or OBD2 reader but a special, expensive 1994/95 GM reader. Sucks for me. But like you will be soon, I have gotten a lot of help from the guys here and they keep my spirits up when I feel like it's too much for me to repair.

Repaint?! I'm all ears. I actually enjoy trying to find new paint colors that 'work' for the Riv's lines and bring them up to date. I can easily find paint codes. Let me know your plans.

Grill work. I'm looking forward to chromifying my Riv's grill as well. I've seen a few on her that really make the car shine. It's a good look.

I want to see your headlight idea come to fruition. It would look awesome!

Interior with class; diamond stitch, that is all.


Lambo doors. I like them. If you put them on a Riv though, you might accidently chop of ya leg, our doors are HEAVY!

But you are right, they do get in the way. My girlfriend always used to swing them open wide and evertime hit the car next to us. I don't park near other cars now. I care too much about everyone's personal property.


Welcome!

okay, so I know my wheels kinda suck compared to anyone with a good Riv, but they only cost me $50 extra with the 4T65e tranny on creigslist. they are Grand Am wheels, and they looked so crusty and dirty when i got them, that it looked like mold was literally growing on it. I actually really think they look ALOT better on the riv. Also, I actually used a headlight restore kit to re do the finish on the wheels lol. let me know what you guys think! also, I know my car looks bad because of terrible paint and the two dents.


By c0reyl at 2012-02-01


By c0reyl at 2012-02-01


By c0reyl at 2012-02-01


By c0reyl at 2012-02-01

that's a fine looking auto, don't sweat the minor stuff like paint and body... take care of the mechanical
and safety aspect then you can do the beautification later.

yeah,other than a coolant leak and a broken ABS sensor,everything works great engine runs like new with about 76k on the motor 209,500 on the body. my intake resonator box keeps popping open, but i plan on building a custom intake soon anyway, and the filter is brand new. i think i may need a new radiator how much is a radiator from a junkyard? :3

Get a new one! Not worth putting a used one in. Not hard just follow the instructions here!

how much is a new one? :3

tomorrow, im going to apply compound to my shit oxidized, scratched, fucked up paint, mauled driver size door and hope it does so.ething my paint is literally so bad that there is no longer a clear coat and the aluminum is exposed in places i doubt the compohnd will do anything at all. i might also black out my tail lights, prepping myncar for when it gets blacked out

You should scale the pictures down a bit; it's hard to see what the overall look is if I can only see 1/8 of the car at a time.

Sweet lookin Bonneville wheels!!!

flyineagle96 wrote:

Sweet lookin Bonneville wheels!!!

Thanks! Actually, Grand Am wheels :p

c0reyl wrote:

how much is a new one? :3

I think I shelled out something like $150 online. Seriously though, I don't know how many miles you have on the car but if you got to get a radiator, think about taking care some other issues if you don't know the history (ie water pump, pulleys, belts). Do it all at once if you have any suspicion it may need it. The write ups here are very helpful. You will need new hoses too with the radiator.

EDIT: just saw the mileage you posted. Still think its a good idea but may not be necessary

I have actually replaced the radiator since

Edit: with the help of my step dad, since he is undoubtedly stalking all my posts now, D:

It's amazing what one little detail does. spent a couple hours sanding off most of the rust from my exhaust, and made the tips have a chrome finish, looks so much better than stock and makes me wonder: why didn't they come like this stock?

Looks fantastic, especially with your wheels and colour.

BMD wrote:

Looks fantastic, especially with your wheels and colour.

Thanks man

I kinda didn't want to black out my tail lights, and thought it would look bad with silver, but I ended up falling in love with it. Also, a little while ago, at Auto zone, I saw exhaust tips I liked, then realized I love the shape of mine, so decided to make them brand new chrome looking

Got the wheels for $50 off creigslist, it's crazy what $50, a can of tail light tint, some sandpaper and rubbing compound, some tooth paste and chrome polish I had laying around did to the overall look of my car

Nice i did this a while back as well because it looked tacky having the black exhaust paint and rust flaking off. I didn't do the tail pipe like you did though. It looks good!