New to this forum (sort of....)

Hello everybody. I've been lurking on this forum here for a couple of months. I finally got the nerve to register &say hi this evening.

I just picked up a '99 riviera a couple of months ago from a fellow in Rochester, N.Y.. I live about a half hour south of Rochester in a little town called Geneseo. I was fortunate enough to find a car that has fairly low miles (77,000) & hasn't benn too beat up. Yes, it's been driven in the salt, but I think it was also garage kept most of the time, so the paint's kinda alright too. It was owned by people that I think are to type that get stuff fixed, but never bothered to wash the poor thing, or run a vacuum or do ANY interior cleaning. At all. Ever. The chrome wheels are really sad, but I tried some Nevr dull on them, and I think I can resurrect them. The brakes are hideous. The rear rotors look as if they've not clamped since Bush was in office the first term. The antennae needs some luv, and the passenger door release ( I caught that, it's NOT a door handle, it's a door release! Haha). The fuel door sping has sping for the last time, so needs some attention also. I look forward to doing all these repairs myself, along with the help from this wonderful forum.

Like I said before, I've been lurking here since about the middle of Decenber. I've learned so much about this car, and a little about my other car too, which is a 2000 Buick Lesabre (anyone see a pattern here?). I truly love buicks for their overall build quality, fairly good mileage, and that 3.8 liter having plenty of guts! More than once my wife has said to me on a long trip "I'm glad we have this awesome Buick!." I've got the Riv stashed in the garage, and plan on making it summer car if I can, and run another vehicle in the salt & snow. I have read just about everything I can learn from the information pages here and look forward to asking intelligent questions as they pop up.

One thing that I may have to offer this forum is information. I do have the priveledge of living next to an engineer. And not just any engineer, but a guy that worked for General Motors for 22 years. He worked on their induction development teams for Buick, Cadillac, and various Chevy/GMC V-8 research projects. He knows GM engines, and loves to answer tough questions about them ie: I got a 30 minute explanation as to why you want to run the 180 degree thermostat, but you don't want to run the 160. You just have to be ready for the answer, because it's gonna be very thorough! His last assignment was working in the reasearch facility for getting Hydrogen powered cars on the road for G.M. ( closed here as of Jan 1st),

Thank you in advance for the many great answers, and insightful information here. You guys sure try to be helpful!!


Jeff

Welcome fellow Western New Yorker!

what's going on Jeff? WELCOME.Enjoy your '99.Post pics!

Welcome Aboard

Welcome! Yours could be my favorite introduction ever!

Sounds like some typical maintenance will get you right back to a very nice ride!

I too have been from a Buick family - my second car was my grandmother's '73 LeSabre which I still have today. My mother had an '86 Century convertible - that had the Series 1 3800 and boy could it fly! For an 'old people's car' it was quite a nice and quick ride. That was also the car we had when I got my learner's permit and started driving, so it saw quite a few adventures at my doing...

then they got a '94 Regal, which I later bought from them, another 3800 car, then a '98 Park Ave, which turned me on to the series II. When I started looking for a replacement for the '94 Regal I was specifically hunting for the 3800, and I discovered the supercharged version... and that led me to my '98 Riv.

I've since sold that Riv to my brother, but he's still driving it every day and it sees a lot of miles. I still have the '73 LeSabre though, so I still have my Buick fix!

To the two Daves and Derek. Thanx for the welcomes! Derek, you have very good taste in cars Mister. Love those Regals, and had a 97 Park Ave myself. It's crazy how great the fuel mileage is for those large beasts! My Dad had an MG-TC. Maybe I'll be able to get one of those when that winning lottery ticket comes in my possession. Again thanks for the welcome guys