Back in Black

This is all:







More in a few days. Stay tuned!

Nice!! Can't wait to see what you have planned for her!!

Awesome!!

Hip Hip Hooray

Nice Uhaul trailer!

Welcome Back!!

Thanks guys! It feels sooooooo nice to back in this Buick. Of course, I haven't even driven it yet, but you get what I mean lol . I'll start of this post with a story of the day we picked up this car.

I gave Mike, the previous owner, a call like a day before we went to get it. My dad had also been planning to take our '87 Regal 455 to Erie to get some transmission work and some other work done anyway - since this Riv was in Buffalo, we made plans to drop off the Regal and swing up to Buffalo to pick up this car. Mike and myself coordinated a time to meet, and all things pretty much went to plan! Rented the Uhaul trailer at 7 AM, got to Erie around 10:30, arrived in Buffalo around 1:00, ate, met up with Mike at 2:00. We inspected the car inside and out, checked all functions, the usual. We did the deal and headed on home! Got home around 7:45 and I passed out in bed around 9:00 lol. It was a really nice trip, Mike is an awesome and honest guy, and he seemed happy with the home it was going to . Which he should - you've all seen how I take care of my stuff.

Bottom line, I'm extremely happy with the car. It's very clean as far as rust is concerned, decently low miles, nice interior. It has a lot of issues that Riviera's typically have, but I'll get to that later For now, some details. The interior, in my opinion, needs removed and cleaned. Carpets shampooed, the whole shebang. Its just accumulated dirt - nothing out of the ordinary. All interior functions seem to work except the AC isn't cold - can't complain about that, really. The exterior has a few issues. Roof and pillar paint is just about shot, but that's typical. The car is covered in sap, the front bumper needs replaced (which I have), and the tail light assembly needs replaced (which I have). The whole car needs a good polish - it'll take some time but it'll be worth it.

Mechanically, everything seems good but the engine needs all the updated gaskets and all sort of maintenance stuff. Belts, plugs and wires, oil, coolant flush, LIM gaskets, valve cover gaskets, etc . I have chrome Regal GS wheels to swap onto the car with good tires, and I have nice snow tires for the stock silver wheels for winter. Other than that, new rear shocks (the compressor works!), the engine is filthy and a brake line needs replaced. I have a whole list written in a college-ruled notebook that fills a page and a half. I'm gonna be busy.

For now, some pics!

Didn't get any pictures at Mike's because I was too excited, but I snapped this when we stopped for gas.




Got her home safely - my dad was especially happy. He's not a huge fan of my Bonneville and we glad to have a Riviera back in the driveway. It's a car he's never owned, really, so he is glad I made the decision to get another one.


Gotta say, I love the ass end of this car.


Oops...brake fluid everywhere!


Despite the bad brake line, the car drove itself onto and off of the trailer, and into the work garage under it's own power, so I'm confident this will be a great car once all is said and done.


I don't really want to run the car any more than I have to until the engine is all re-gasketed and refreshed, so here it sits for now.




Roof paint. All the spots is tree sap of some kind, and you can see the faded areas. The other side is identical.


Looking past the layer of dirt and grime, the interior is quite nice, especially for Tan/Taupe.








Blah...dirty nasty engine.


Missing the spare tire and cover, but I have a cover. I'm sure I can find a decent tire in the junk yard.


Here's the huge crack in the rear light - it's worse than it looks. No matter - I have one on hand, and with better chrome.


The driver's side mirror glass is completely shot. I have one from my '95. I think the wiring harness is the same...


The steering wheel and turn signal stalk are a little worse for wear, but for the price I paid I can't get too picky.


Normal seat wear. Possibly fixable.


This is something I've never seen before. The fake wood is cracked and broken. Underneath is a nice shiny aluminum plate. i think you see where I'm going with this . Also, the door for the cupholders is a little funny and keeps popping out of place. Something is broken in there.


The front bumper took a good hit at some point. It's split in 3 places so it will need replaced with the one from my '95 as well.


I do have some plans for the car once everything is mechanically sound again. The lower gray body moulding WILL be black. I hate that gray. I'll be removing the 1/4 panel RIVIERA emblems, and probably sticking a Grand Sport emblem on the trunk lid for fun. I'm going to be doing the typical 180 degree thermostat, AL 605 or 104's (haven't decided yet). When I have the engine apart for the LIM gaskets I'll be porting the LIM and supercharger housing, and wrinkle-coating the blower and maybe the valve covers. At some point I'm going to stick on a 3.6" MPS. I have a hub for it, so I might as well do it! 3.6" will be it though - just enough for some more kick. I'll be adapting the Intense FWI from my Bonneville onto this car, and selling off the Spectre intake that's on there now. I have some EuroLights headlight bulbs that I'll install, and some little odds and ends here and there.

Again, when you get down to the nitty gritty this car might look like a 'pile', but it's probably one of the nicer Riv's I've seen in person. With only 81,000 miles on the clock, I hope I can keep it for a long time to come. I've been right before in the past about dirty cars being diamonds in the rough, and I think this one falls into that category.

Regardless of what work needs done on here and what it looks like now, I'm just happy to back in this particular saddle again!

Glad to hear that your happy with it! keep us posted

I'm sure you'll have her looking good as new. CONGRATS

Just a tad envious in Vegas

Very nice!!! My stalk has pretty much the same discoloration. And my driver's seat almost the same kind of wear. Glad you found one you like!!

Hey Big Z i cant wait to see how the car comes out, make sure if you keep me in mind if there is anything serioudsly wrong with her! best of luck to ya brother, it was nice meeting your family, and your dog was cool too. lets see how well you can make this rock!

May the Goddess of the 3 Shields smile upon your new find!
Best of luck in the rehab.

@ Zamiska:

Leatherique.com has the stuff to fix the seat.

The grime will come out with Purple Power (get from walmart or autozone or advance auto) without tearing up the underlying surface

you can get replacement leather for the steering wheel from Wheelskins.com for fairly short money, best to phone them; they make an exact fit set of leather inserts or if you want a fatter grip they sell a kit that covers all the way around rim.

The OE wood insert by the shifter was real wood, they were made by Yamaha, it's wood veneer on a n aluminum plate - makes them much easier to handle and apply in high speed manufacturing. You can get real wood replacement from Sherwood and other places. The original insert will be difficult to remove, consider taking the console all the way out to work on that sucker.

http://www.sherwoodinnovations.com/Parent/dashkits.asp - the site does not work so well, the kits are great. IF you call them directly you can get just the shifter surround IIRC.

Albert... you never fail to amaze me with your Riv (and I expect, general automotive) knowledge.

Thanks everyone! I'm glad you're all exicted to see this thing back together. So am I !! I can't wait to drive it. But for insurance purposes, I have to sell the Bonneville first. No biggie. In the meantime I can gather parts and work/clean as I please.

Albert - Thank you for all the valuable sources! I'm undecided about the shifter surround, but I remember the Sherwood name from the dash thread a while back. Thanks! I think what I might do is peel all the wood off, and 'brush' the aluminum. If I don't like it, I'll get a replacement insert. Can't hurt, right?

Starting work on the Riv tomorrow. I have to take the 350 for the Skyhawk to Erie to be rebuilt, but when I get back in the early afternoon I'm headed to the junk yard to hopefully pick up a lot, if not all of the parts I can realistically get from a junk yard. Thursday I'm going to probably maybe sorta tear the seats, console, and carpet out. I'll be ordering stuff from Rockauto and heading to Advance Auto to gather what I need to freshen the engine and suspension.

A few questions:

Does anyone know of an exactish color match paint for the tan interior?

My air shock compressor does work, amazingly. Keep it or not? I sort of like the manual fill valve but I'm torn...

Thanks again everyone!

Z-type wrote:

Thanks everyone! I'm glad you're all exicted to see this thing back together. So am I !! I can't wait to drive it. But for insurance purposes, I have to sell the Bonneville first. No biggie. In the meantime I can gather parts and work/clean as I please.

Albert - Thank you for all the valuable sources! I'm undecided about the shifter surround, but I remember the Sherwood name from the dash thread a while back. Thanks! I think what I might do is peel all the wood off, and 'brush' the aluminum. If I don't like it, I'll get a replacement insert. Can't hurt, right?

Starting work on the Riv tomorrow. I have to take the 350 for the Skyhawk to Erie to be rebuilt, but when I get back in the early afternoon I'm headed to the junk yard to hopefully pick up a lot, if not all of the parts I can realistically get from a junk yard. Thursday I'm going to probably maybe sorta tear the seats, console, and carpet out. I'll be ordering stuff from Rockauto and heading to Advance Auto to gather what I need to freshen the engine and suspension.

A few questions:

Does anyone know of an exactish color match paint for the tan interior?

My air shock compressor does work, amazingly. Keep it or not? I sort of like the manual fill valve but I'm torn...

Thanks again everyone!

You are welcome for the sources.

if I was you I'd keep the air ride, works well and one less thing to think about.

ask a dealer's parts desk or body shop about the color match, they will point you to a local paint store that will do a computerized color match.

Send the air pump to suncore industries! they rebuilt mine and it is awesome!

Yeah I think I'll keep the air ride. The shocks DO need replaced, either way.

Ok guys. Got a bit of work done on the Riv tonight. I pulled the front and rear seats, as well as the center console, and went to town on the carpet. I spent 9 hours cleaning the carpet and mats but by goodness they're tan again . Pictures later, right now, I have a small irritating problem.

My cupholder door does not want to open correctly, or close on it's own. On top of that, it will not stay in the tracks that guide it back and forth as it opens or closes. I'll take a picture of the underside and maybe someone can tell me what's wrong! I'd really like to fix this as I'm super-anal about this kind of thing.

Has anyone else had a problem like this? Any known fixes?


EDIT: Update with pictures! Yay pictures!

I got the trunk all figured out and organized. Got the jack all put away, put in the new spare tire and then had a problem. My '95's cover would bolt down anywhere. I guess this is one point where the '95's might have been different? Anyway, I got a hold-down thingy from a Deville of the same year (97) and made it work. The nylon hold-down for the jack ended up being the area that I tapped into for the hold down to...hold down. Finished product:


I knew my power antenna didn't work, and i can see why. It's a little rusty. And by a little I mean a lot. The new antenna is from an Aurora, and fit quite well. Plugged right in, of course.


Except that I had to swap the rubber grommets that are attached to the top of the 1/4 panel. No biggie.


Tried out the fit of a nifty shifter handle I found in the junk yard. Fits the styling pretty good i think! Came off of an Olds of some kind I think . I can't remember.


So anyway, I tore into the interior. I was going to remove everything to take the carpet out, but I did not deem it necessary. So the seats and console came out.


Believe it or not, this is about half of the trash I actually pulled out. I didn't realize it could all fit in there...


Carpet before: This is after I had pulled off all the encrusted rust from part of the seat frames. Going to look for leaks later at some point in the rest of the car, just in case.


Carpet after: There is actually a huge difference in person. The pics don't do it justice.


All the seats were cleaned and treated with Lexol, everything else I either used Fantastic or this Mother's stuff I have.


The center console cupholder door still needs fixed (see earlier posted text), but everything else is good to go. I needed a set of battery vent tubes and they're on the way from Morad's with a trunk cargo net. Then I can put the back seat in, I'll put in my good set of Jensen rear speakers and I'm done with the interior.

I did a big order from Advance Auto and Rock Auto - Hopefully Wednesday and Thursday I'll have spruced the engine and trans up, then I can get it to my friend to replace the brake line. After that, get it inspected and insured, and start work on the paint!

wow..not bad for $1000. The lights I see in salvage yards all the time... you can mod them too, to make them sequential...awesome & easy! Rims, dash kit (that will cover the cracked PRNDL), some TLC...boom good to go!!!

Lookin good!

Thanks guys! I'm considering doing the sequential lights. Only thing keeping me back is I'll never get to see them lol.

Started engine work today because I got gaskets in the mail yesterday. Pretty standard repair scenario, really. This is mostly to replace the LIM gaskets, but I'm going to port the supercharger outlet, port the LIM, and clean the throttle body while everything is apart.

First things first...get rid of the DEX-KILL:


Took me like 15 minutes to get the fuel rail pulled from the heads. One injector stuck in there but I fixed that up pretty quickly.


Supercharger and various bits and pieces removed. The LIM is remarkably clean - definitely a lower-mile car.


Pulled the LIM off, broke the plastic coolant elbow in the process, and found this underneath. I've never seen a set this bad in person!


And this is what we're left with for now. I had to stop for a while to start detailing a Tahoe.


STUFF!


LIM getting ready for a bath.


After the Tahoe's interior was done, I pulled the supercharger off the floor and onto the makeshift workbench. I got the old gasket off from underneath, and flipped it over to try and get rid of all this corrosion.


Took out all the little bits and pieces that were in my way, and taped off any holes.


I had this nifty little steel brush Dremel bit that I used to clean off the corrosion, but 1/3 of the way through, it disintegrated lol. I stopped for the night.



Tomorrow - get something else to clean the corrosion, buy new plastic elbow, port the LIM and reinstall it. After that, clean the supercharger up the rest of the way and change the valve cover gaskets. Lots to do still!

You the man !!!

where do you get all the energy to do these projects?

Robo, I'm not convinced I HAVE the energy. I am only 25 or so, but as busy as I am with work, I'm not sure how I do it sometimes lol. Fact is, it needs done so I'm gonna do it!