Back in Black

Aaron - I shoot you a PM in the upcoming week or two.

I 'painted' the front bumper today. And by 'painted' I mean i sanded down the crappy areas on the front bumper and put paint on it and blended in the areas I didn't paint lol. I just wanted it to look better. I also did the lower gray area too, like the rest of the car. I'm happy with it for now! Going on vacation next month and if I don't spend all my money there, I'll get my old '95's bumper painted professionally.

Also got the exhaust done the way I like it! I hope it lasts a little while.

Lots of pics, hope you don't mind. I'm just so happy with this car now that I can't help it!
















Still haven't detailed the engine bay...I have no idea why I'm procrastinating on this.








Obligatory ass-shot to end the day .



Thanks for looking everyone. She's coming along nicely!


EDIT: My dad made a good point. He says that since the bumper is smoother now and the car is now more streamlined I should probably gain at LEAST 1/4 second on my quarter mile time .

Hello again, all. It's been a while.

Nothing really to update about, because everything has been going good. I've mostly been working on the other cars getting maintenance done, tracking down battery drains, doing burnouts...etc .

But I did get time to do something on the Riv that I've done to very car I've ever owned. Footwell lighting! I didn't use any obnoxious neon or LEDs...just some trailer lights with swap-able covers. In this case, I used blue. Between the color of the incandescent bulb in the housing and the dark blue cover, the light turns out VERY close to the door handle illumination these cars have.

This is a terrible picture because the lighting is somewhat dim, and my camera is getting old. In person, it looks awesome! Subdued, yet pretty. Love it.

watch out for heat with those trailer lights. I used license plate lights in a Ford Escort once to give footwell lighting for rear passengers, the lenses melted somewhat, which surprised me. I am not saying there is a problem, just saying you ought to check them after 5-10 minutes of running to see how warm they get if any.

If there is a problem you can mount an LED bulb in place (see superbrightleds.com for bulbs) or cut power to the light with a resistor or second bulb wired in *series.*

Thanks Albert! I know with these lights that I'm using if the bulb is touching the lens it will warp a bit. I've had the lights going in my T-type for probably 6 years now and I haven't had an issue with them, with some nighttime trips being a few hours long. I'll keep an eye out though, you never know.

So I had a bunch of spare time today and finally did the engine bay. It's not perfect, but it's 1000% better than it was before. I painted some rusty bolts, cleaned nooks and crannies, the usual. The worst was the cowl duct/wiper arm area. Full of leaves and dead plant matter and the like. I'm happy with it! Considering I go into the bay once a week to check on fluids, I might as well have it nice to look at.

Z-type wrote:

Thanks Albert! I know with these lights that I'm using if the bulb is touching the lens it will warp a bit. I've had the lights going in my T-type for probably 6 years now and I haven't had an issue with them, with some nighttime trips being a few hours long. I'll keep an eye out though, you never know.

If you've used them in the T-type you can disregard my remark.

Albertj

Nah it was a good reminder. I double checked to make sure the lights in the Riv weren't touching the lenses. I appreciate the reminder .

Thanks Dave! How about we meet up at some point and you can take me for a ride in that Reatta . Arizona isn't THAT far from Pennsylvania...

Small update, y'all. Went to the junk yard today with my friend who needed some front end parts for his Lumina. I ended up finding an Aurora with a REALLY nice driver's side mirror. As you might remember, mine is somewhat of a lackluster glass oval rather than a mirror for whatever reason. The one I picked up hasn't turned gold from a failed autodim, and is heated! It's a shame I won't be able to use the heat. I have a feeling the connector for the mirror motor is different than what's on the Riv, but I'll have to check it out once my mirror comes out.

Obviously my Riv isn't white, so paint was in order.


Then primer, and two coats of satin black:


And three coats of clear:



I'm going to let it cure for a few days then probably install it Sunday or so. I have to sand and buff it too. It's not a huge rush but it will be nice to see clearly from the driver's side again.

Come on out, Andrew. The water's just fine (if you know where to find it)

Quote :

Nice mirror!

Nice paint work on the mirror. Do you see any difference in parts that are painted with gloss base vs the satin? I guess it should all be the same after clear.

Thanks guys !

Rick - actually, there is a strange difference between the two. It seems that at certain angles, glass black paint (even when cleared) takes on a brown tint to some degree. It's hard to describe, but cleared satin looks black at all times. i really don't get it, I assume it's just because of the properties of the glossiness of the glass black.

Just a few pictures to share. The car has been excellent (for the most part, read below the pics). This first picture is right before i went to work Friday. I was washing off the T-type and realized I had set myself up for the same picture I took two years ago with my purple Riviera.

Old picture:


New picture:




Then, for some reason I found my car in the back yard when I got home from work today. Who knows what my dad was up to, but I found that the house made a good backdrop. Poor lighting, but I like the pictures.






My favorite. Possibly calendar worthy, we'll see!






Anyway, as I said earlier my car has been great for the most part. I even found out that my heated seat works! But I popped the hood today just like I do every week, to check on the engine. I found the supercharger belt a little oily. I stuck my head under the car to check and see if the oil pan was leaking onto the balancer, and it doesn't appear to be. As far as I know, there's nothing else oily around the supercharger belt. Oil was flung onto the hood insulator and every pulley on the S/C belt seems to be coated slightly.

I'm wondering what the likelyhood of the S/C snout seal being bad is at 83K miles? I really didn't see any particular evidence pointing to the snout. The S/C fluid seems full.

In the meantime, I wiped off the belt and pulleys as much as I could and I'll check tomorrow when I get to work.

Z-type wrote:

I found the supercharger belt a little oily. I stuck my head under the car to check and see if the oil pan was leaking onto the balancer, and it doesn't appear to be. As far as I know, there's nothing else oily around the supercharger belt. Oil was flung onto the hood insulator and every pulley on the S/C belt seems to be coated slightly.

My initial guess is the front seal on the timing cover, where the balancer goes in. Try to see if it starts behind the balancer...

I wish my Riv was black :/

Yours looks amazing. I'm kinda jelly lol :3

I was told by a body guy that the OEM GM paint has a brownish hue. I could see that on all three of my GM w-bodies in the direct sunlight. That is interesting news about the satin black. Looks great nonetheless.

I think you're right, Rick. Now that you mention it, I notice that not all of my panels are the same 'black'.....a little bit of history I didn't know about my car apparently.

Derek - I haven't had a chance to look yet, but I don't think it's the timing cover. The engine bay had an ever so faint smell of S/C oil - and anyone who has smelled it knows what it is instantly. That being said, the belt and pulleys were no worse today than how I left them last night once I got back from work today.

Though I suppose if it does end up being the snout seal (after i have a chance to inspect it closely) this might be a good time to install my MPS .

The little breather seal on the end of the stock pulley is pretty easy to replace IIRC. Not sure if that is the part that went on yours.. They do fail from time to time. But I like your idea about just going MPS.

Well, looks like the breather thingy is indeed the problem. The car has been sitting for two days, on a hill leaning slightly to the right, and there was a little drop of S/C oil on the end of the pulley nut - no oil anywhere else.

So, because I'm either bad at searching or the information isn't available, can anyone tell me where to find a new seal and how to replace it? Thanks everyone, and thanks Rick for the suggestion.

http://shop.zzperformance.com/store/p/1003-EATON-Snout-Seal.aspx?feed=Froogle

Something like this?

I thought there was a thread on clubgp a while back about replacing the breather nut on the end of the snout. I'll throw it up if I find it.

Nah...unfortuantely that's not what's wrong, luckily. As much as I wanted an excuse to do my MPS, I think the problem is just the nut on the end (and not behind the wheel ). Which I guess is called a breather nut, and that makes sense.

I figure it's as simple as unscrewing it and screwing back on a new one, but I'm not sure where to FIND one!

Hmmm... I thought someone said you can put an xmas tree in there to seal it. I might be way off though.

Rick, I think we both may have jumped the gun a bit. I did some searching on Regalgs.org, which i never think of doing, and found a few instances where people found if the oil was a bit overfull (which i may have done) it would seep slightly. Also, if the car was leaning to the right (which my car was, for two days), it would seep. i suppose it's just doing what it was designed to do!

I was going to ask if you checked/changed that oil lately and if the level was okay. If it's a little overfull it would come out that breather. Good research!

Remove the fill plug and check the level of fluid - should just come to the first thread in the hole, no more. If it comes out when you remove the plug there is too much in there!

Thanks Derek! I'll double check the fluid next time I think about it. The only time I ever have thought about it was after the engine was hot, and we all know that's a no-no.

Anywho, I just wanted to drop by an mention that a friend of mine in good 'ol Canada had a Hogan downpipe for our cars. It's, of course, the 3" model with flex joint, and one of the gaskets. Got it for an absolute steal. Should have it on hand in under 2 weeks. Once that is installed I'll order my 3.6" pulley for the MPS hub I have, then find someone who can tune!

I'd really like to get the shift pressure bumped up so the shifts aren't so...comfy lol. That's for later though...

My SC oil has been seeping through the snout for years, probably in part due to taking a few hard corners! The fluid makes a star pattern in the pulley face, and a little gets slung into the underside of the hood. It must be a very small amount, because when I check the level after 20k or even 30k miles, it's full. By the time it's even a little low, it's time to change out. I wouldn't worry about it. Check in 10k, 20k, etc. You'll probably find it's a non issue.