Matt's SC 97 Riviera

Omg buddy! those brakes were toasted thru & thru! Great fix tho!

Geez...What an improvement !!! Damn, I would have been afraid to drive that thing. Good Job

Yeah... your brakes are what I have seen if in a brake pad change someone jams the caliper -- or -- does the pad change without breaking down the caliper and relubricating it. Even if it is moving good you must disassemble and relube.

Wow those rear rotors looked...exciting lol. Glad it's fixed!

Also, for when you get to the rear valve cover, a little hint if you don't already know: Both rear hoist brackets are in the way. They don't need to come off but just loosen them and the rear valve cover will come off much easier!

Another fun filled day with the Riviera. Long story short, I replaced the worn out pads in the front brakes (kept the rotors) and fought a really old and worn out outer tie rod. It was so bad, that when I tried to remove it, it actually broke in half.

Sometimes I wonder who the OEMs think they are fooling by having non-greasable front end parts. It's so obvious they wear out on purpose it's ridiculous. My '54 MG has a grease fitting on the freakin water pump! And it's still the original one!

Good work.

...you might want to replace both outer tie rods while you are at it...

front brakes calipers need disassembled and relubed too...

brakes soft could be that you got air in the lines, which can happen. If your brake fluid is dark (like "breakfast syrup" for pancakes) it's "wet" and needs to be flushed anyway.

A good way to bleed the lines is to build or buy a powerbleeder. To build it:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t2481-write-up-make-a-brake-bleeder

There are also pointers to bleeders you can buy.

Albertj

I didn't do the passenger side because it was replaced already, from what I can tell. It's a different style, didn't look like the one I removed.

I didn't take the pistons out of the front calipers, but I did relube the sliders. Fluid was dark, but a good portion of it was removed (and obviously replaced with new fluid) when I bled the rear brakes. When bleeding, I use a catch can and hook it up to engine vacuum. works great.

Mattwa wrote:

I didn't do the passenger side because it was replaced already, from what I can tell. It's a different style, didn't look like the one I removed.

I didn't take the pistons out of the front calipers, but I did relube the sliders. Fluid was dark, but a good portion of it was removed (and obviously replaced with new fluid) when I bled the rear brakes. When bleeding, I use a catch can and hook it up to engine vacuum. works great.

You have to be the judge of this - but if your fluid is "wet" (dark) when you change it you need to replace as much of it as you can, preferably flushing it. If you mix old and new fluid, the fluid that's down in the system is still as "wet" as it was before you changed any. And the fluid in the reservoir gets wet from contact with the atmosphere thru the (necessary) vent in the system. So what you'll notice is that if you change even all the fluid in the reservoir, it gets dark again in a few days. Reason: It is taking on water from the rest of the system as well as atmospheric moisture. If you flush the system, however, you will notice it takes a year or two for the fluid to darken. Depending on what fluid you use - a synthetic (Valvoline or Prestone brands come to mind) DOT 3/4 in my experience takes a bit longer and the plain DOT 3 seems to darken pretty quickly no matter what you do.

My guess is still that you might have air in the lines, and that it would not be a waste of time to check for a weeping brake line (rust thru) or leaking caliper (peek behind the piston boots).

By the way, what did you lube the sliders with?

My brakes seem to be better today. Not sure, but they work, I know that. Haha.

Yea I could flush it all...might do that if i killed the front calipers and replace them with F-body calipers.

I lubed the sliders with proper NAPA sil-glyde.

Man, I wish my car was that color, and had a supercharger.

Also, Do all seat covers fit, or should I look for a specific one? I'd like to find a leather looking black one like a simulated leather in black if I can find one, instead of re apolstering the front seats, I'll just put black color bond on the back seat (I'm converting my interior to black :3)

Well, I'd look for a set that can fit the wider type of seats the Riviera has. I don't remember exactly what my package said on it, it was from Autozone, but it's meant for our type of seat.

I got a bunch of stuff from ZZP yesterday. Autolite 104's, 180 thermostat, 4" K&N filter, and a 2 foot section of 4" intake tubing. Making a FWI.

Edit: Oh, and today it was at the shop getting the new oil pan and gasket installed (and obviously an oil change, it was past due), as well as a a transmission fluid and filter change, and the addition of the ZZP shift kit, medium firmness on the 1-2, low firmness addition on the 3-4 because the 4th gear hub tends to strip out.

Where did you get those seat covers?? Cant find a set that fit to save my life

Like I said, I got them from Autozone. Not sure what brand they were, but they were $40 and are working great so far.

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Hmmmm. can't you bang that pan dent out? I know it's pretty tough steel, but bet you could get it reasonably formed.

Maybe I could of, but I got a good deal on a brand new pan that someone had which wasn't ever used, so I just had a brand new pan put on. That old one is going in the scrap tub we have here.

Today I went to install my new Autolite 104's, and 5 of the spark plug wires ripped out. So I got a new factory set, no big deal. Could I have avoided it? Yea, but I'm sure they could have used replacement anyway. It had Autolite 606's in it before, and front looking at them, it was time. I also ripped apart my glove box area to get to my dead passenger blend door actuator. The large gear is badly cracked. Need another one.

I installed my new rear Monroe shocks and shock mounts. While doing so I found out that my Riv already had a manual air fill kit on it...so I just used that with new fittings. More stiff and solid in the back now. The front struts and strut mounts came in as well, but one of the struts was defective, so they are sending me another one, no charge. The front struts are what is really needed, so I looking forward to what it will drive like after, not looking forward to removing the two strut bolts on each side...

I bought a set of AA's sway bar end links (with candy!!), so I'm excited to get and install those as well. After looking the condition of my current links, I should notice a large difference.

I also finally replaced the passenger blend door actuator with one from Z-type, thanks Andrew! Seems to work great now.

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Awesome work so far! It's really coming together very nicely now. You have a PM.

Thanks Andrew! Still have lots planned too. Next items is LED interior lights, installing those links, and my new struts and mounts.

If that pik-n-pull riv still has them, consider going back and taking the weatherstripping off the doors, windows and trunk. The rear roof filler beads among other things are NLA.

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she is one sexy bitch no Doubt!

Ooooo I like the LED's. That's odd about the map lights...they have the same power source the whole time, really, so what's the difference. Hm...