Riv finally back on the road

I hear ya man. But eventually you get to the point where just about all the problem areas are taken care of and you can start to really enjoy the car! Its nice when you're working on the car for fun and not because you have to because of a problem! We took care of the EGR valve this week too and now the SES light has stayed off so far! First time without it since on the road and a great feeling!

Got a chance to run the car while scanning today and not even a blip of KR at any point. I tried all different styles of driving too! Its only 31degrees here today so Ill have to check on it once it warms up (hopefully soon!!)

Always a HP gain with higher lift ratios. Nice work!

Hey Dave, I'm curious how you painted the lower moldings on your car. I took my car to a paint shop last summer because I wanted them black, but he said the paint wouldn't stick and it would be a waste of money. Is there any trick to it?

"White smoothed and painted lowers"
yeah, what do you mean by smoothed? you sanded them down?

They did have to be sanded smooth but Im not sure exactly what he used and such but Ill see if later he wants to chime in on his technique for that. The texture looks the same as the rest of the car. You cant tell that it was ever textured if ya didnt know! I was not there when he did those.

Nice Dave!

Ever consider painting the side molding black and the lower trim black as well? You know, just a little homage to the AE86?

I want my lower trim black. It would look sweet. Not the sides though..

Finished the boost gauge yesterday. We do eventually want to do something about the color to match the gauges but this will do for now!

th3fr4nchi5e wrote:

Finished the boost gauge yesterday. We do eventually want to do something about the color to match the gauges but this will do for now!

Oh sweet yimminyz..daddy like!

Are you knock scanning yet?

I only took it for one drive while scanning and didnt see any KR at all. Tried a bunch of different conditions to see what happened and nothing! It was only 31* though so Ill have to wait to see if theres any change once it starts to warm up!

Yo, Big Dave, how did you smooth the lower molding prior to painting? Just sand paper? did you prime it with anything prior to painting?

Charlie, I also have a patent on the process of painting the lower trim on the Rivieras. I will tell you how I did it, but if you do it to your car you will hear from my lawyer.

The main component for good adhesion to raw plastic or urethane parts is cleanliness and the proper primer.. I always clean raw plastic parts with RM 902. I'm sure Bulldog makes a good quality product as well.. As far as the primer goes, I use USC (Urethane Supply Company) Raw bumper primer. It is expensive at $75 per quart, but I have never had a problem with adhesion using this stuff. Dave's car has been driven through a winter and for over 10,000 miles and they look as good as the day we did them.

If your parts are in good shape you can just use a red or grey scotchbright pad with the RM902 and prime with USC.

Dave's parts were a bit rough so I sanded the flat areas with 180 grit on a DA sander and hand sanded the curves with 220 before priming.

The USC primer does not sand very well so I put a couple of coats of 2K urethane primer surface over it. Then hand sanded that with 220,320, and 400 grit by hand. Any imperfections that you cannot sand out of the 2K primer can be filled with polyester putty and re-primed. You want to avoid sanding through to the raw plastic.

When the parts are free of imperfections and sanded with 400grit, they are ready for sealer and paint.

If your not real fussy and your parts are in decent shape you could probably clean, prime with USC and paint. This would most likely meet most peoples standards for a daily driver. Small imperfections that lo on the car would not be that noticeable.

.Just remember there is more than one way to skin a cat, This is how I do it and get excellent results. Other painters may do it differently and that's ok. But it can be done and hold up to daily driving and harsh weather,

I think Dave Jr had a pretty productive week off from school. He got all the mods he had planned finished. He also got his intermittent CEL fixed and installed a boost gauge. Everything he did met or exceded our expectations. The car runs better and quicker than we could have imagined. Unfortunately the weather wasn't nice enough for him to take full advantage and run her much. Maybe soon.

Looks great

99Rivman wrote:

Looks great

Thank you Randall  

I like the rockers and other bits painted the body color.It makes the Riv look Fuller!

love your Riv, lil homie   .

Beautiful Riv you have there, Dave. Love that white with the painted rockers.

Thanks guys

Had a popping noise from the front right and replaced the ball joint today and the front end is quiet again! Also switched to a belt for the earlier Series 1 S/C cars to fit the 2.5" pulley better. Lastly today, we dropped the front end 1.5". We always thought the car sat too high but I think this did wonders!

How'd you do it?

We took the spring out and one end was tapered while the other was a uniform coil, so we cut a coil off of that end so it still sits the same in the position in the lower retainer. I read alot about changes in spring rates if you cut too much and ruining the ride but Ill be putting in a 97+ suspension in in a month or two so we figured it was worth a try. My dad has done it a few times before with no problem. I drove the car for a while yesterday and didnt feel any difference in ride or handling. Maybe a slight less bit of roll on turns? I thought it was actually smoother but it may just be mental since the ball joint noise was gone? I wouldnt recommend trying this for anyone unless you are planning on replacing anyway because if you had different results, theres no going back at this point!

did you feel more power at the wheels? My weight distribution was greatly affected when I lowered mine. I ended up with better traction and more power at the wheels than before.