mhnova65

Thanks for the input guys but I might have created the wrong impression with this thread title. The issue is not the door alignment in the body. That has been adjusted and the doors are where they need to be. The issue is with the plane of the door as it relates the face of the quarter panel and fender (not the edges/ door gap). These older cars tend to look like a stack of marshmallows on a stick instead of flat along the entire length of the body. The edges of the door tend to dive in instead of being flush with the outer surface. A bit of prying with a body spoon tends to get them back up to the surface on a conventional door but with the removable door skins on the Riviera, it creates the issues outlined in my original post.

Hi All. A question for those who have done their own body work and fought with the doors.... Currently working on the door gaps and alignment and having a tough time getting the edges of the door to be flush with the quarters and fender edges. After aligning the doors, I added an removed material from the edges to get a consistent 3/16 panel gap on both sides. I gently pried the door edges where needed to get the door skins flush to both surfaces and everything was looking good....till i removed the door panel to finish grinding my welds. When you pry up on the edges of these doors, it is not the door edge that moves but the mounting tabs that house the t-bolts begin to open up. Unlike a typical door that has the skin wrapped around the door panel and is a solid piece. I had tack welded the tabs on the inside of the door to prevent them from separating however, what little edge is available on the skin does not have much give to get the edges flush without distorting a the t-bolts areas. I'm trying to get the doors as flush as possible so that only limited filler is used to flatten the surface.

The roof has both sound deadener and insulation applied. The sound deadener is applied directly to the metal roof which is about 1/8 compressed fiber. On top of that is die-cut fiberglass insulation about 3/4 inch thick. It was not applied with adhesive per se but with the same primer used on the interior.

Rare Parts re-builds these, Kendall. rareparts.com They can, in-fact, wear in the sockets as did mine. Rare parts did a very nice job with very quick turnaround. They'll ask you to send them your link first and they will either re-build it or ship you one they already have done (if available). In my case, I shipped mine and received a replacement in less than a week and a half. Mention you are an ROA member for the discount. Mark

Hi David. Be careful moving forward and try to poke around as much as possible before patching those holes. The trunk mounts seem to be another Achilles Heal of rust for the early Rivi's. In working on mine, I've found there are two issues with this area: 1. Water penetrates the trunk (either by bad window/ trunk seals or rotted window channel in which water penetrates the body sealer in the seam of the trunk floor/ inner fender. or (and more probably) 2. The trunk body mount "cups" retain water as they are closed (no vent holes) and rot from the inside out. What looks like trunk rust is actually rot coming up from the cup and consuming the trunk floor. The latter is what happens in most cases so the bad part is that which you usually can't see. While I had some rust in those areas, once I started to cut out the metal, the real challenge appeared. Not only was the floor rotted but the body mount cups (in the case of the drivers side) was nearly non-existent (passenger side had rot but was repairable without having to remove it from the car). Check out what was left of one of the body mount bolts once I peeled the floor back a bit: Needless to say, I had some major surgery to perform in which one side required having to re-build the body mount cup and both sides of the trunk had to be repaired (along with repairs to the inner fender): http://forums.aaca.org/f177/trunk-pan-progress-looking-solid-rust-275117.html I suggest you get under the trunk and jab the cups with a flat-head screwdriver to see if what looks solid...........is solid. Personally, I'm not a fan of fiberglass repair and metal is always better. Even if you made a patch panel and laid it over the top secured in place with JB Weld, rivit's or nuts/ bolts (Kaber, nice job on your repair, by the way. I must have missed that thread last year). Long story short, just be sure there is not a bigger problem lurking underneath. Mark

Hi Eric. The 63 -65 did not have separate core-support body mounts. They are the same as the rest of the car with the exception of the ones above the rear wheels (they are a larger mount). Cars Inc. has the mount and cushion (upper and lower) under part number BM595-4 and BM635-4. They also have the replacement washers and bolts if needed. http://www.oldbuickparts.com/catalog/frame-c-19_35_522.html Mark

Wedgewood, The kit you purchased for your rear brakes is correct as the front and rear hardware is slightly different due to a slight difference in the way the spring mounts are set up for the front and rear drums. The front brakes have the same length spring for both shoes. The rear brake uses one of those springs however the return spring for the front shoe is much longer. A picture is worth a 1000 words. Here is a pic of both the front and rear brakes in which you can see the difference. Mark

LOL! Me too, David. Fortunately, I was able to avoid the duct-tape on this adventure. Mark

Thanks for the input, Jim. I was hoping to network with one of you guys before hunting down a parts car locally. Tom, unfortunately the hardware kits do not come with this link. I just re-built the rear-end from soup to nuts and have installed all new hardware but those kits do not contain the actuator link nor the brake adjuster. return spring Thanks for the input. Mark

Hi Keith. I know this might be a bit a late to your original post but I had the same issue with my lower bearing and did not have any luck sourcing a new one. Since my bearing lost all of it's balls and seized on the shaft, I had to replace it somehow and thought a bronze busing might fit the bill. I ordered a 3/4 x 1 1/4 x 1 Oilite bronze bearing from McMaster-Carr (part number 6391K418). The bearing is self lubricating and cost about $7. After carefully measuring the original column protrusion from the plastic hub, I marked the bearing and began removing material from the backside of the bearing using my bench grinder. I don't have access to a lathe so just turning the bearing against the grinder more-or-less made neat work of turning down the back half. At this point, you want to take a little off and test fit as you are looking for a light press-fit. Don't make it too tight as it will crack the plastic hub when you go to install it. Once you turn down the bearing enough, it will fit nice and snug in the plastic hub. Re-use the washer/ spacer that was originally on the column to protect the bearing from the clip on the column (which prevents the bearing from walking) in order to protect the face of the bronze bearing against the clip. After re-assembly, the column works like a charm and back to original.

Hi Gents. Does anyone know if there is a source for brake actuator links? This is the solid steel link in the brake that actuates the brake adjuster (see pic). If not, does anyone happen to have one for the passenger side rear drum (they are side specific) they are willing to sell? Thanks for your help. Happy Fathers Day to all you Dad's! Mark

Tom, Thank you for the reply. After reading your post, I decided to research control arm bushings in greater detail to see exactly how they are supposed to work; I had a fundamental misunderstanding of how they operate. I was under the impression that the bolt had free movement to turn inside the bushing and the rubber was simply their to isolate the joint from the chassis and reduce vibration and road feel. It turns out, the inner busing actually "bites" into the control arm when it is torqued down. The busing works by the rubber flexing in a torque (circular force) which actually adds to the suspension action of the car. The outer busing and inner bushing are fixed with the only movement in the joint coming from the twisting of the rubber in-between the two bushings. Your advise was spot on. If you torque the control arm bolt while the car is on jack stands, you can actually adversely change the ride height of the car due to the built up resistance of the rubber twisting in the bushing. If you don't torque the bolt with the weight of the car resting on the suspension, you could potentially change the stance, ride height of the front end (it will be higher). ....just thought I'd add this in case anyone else was interested. Thanks again. Mark

Hi Gents. Need to pick your brains on the lower control arm bushing. I finally got to the point of putting things back ON the car (.....I think I'm done cutting rust off of it..............for now ). I just reassembled the front suspension and was curious about the lower control arm torque spec. I installed the lower control arm and torqued it down to 90 lbs. After the rest of the parts were back on and it was time to insert the spring and lift the lower control arm into place, it wouldn't budge! I ended up loosening the bolt enough to get it to move and reassembled the suspension however, I'm puzzled as to what I should do now. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks, Mark

Chris, nice job but I must say, you are way too hard on yourself for the wrong reasons. I too am a perfectionist but that is for my own sake; I like my results to reflect my hard work and time. Pay no mind to those guys at the car show. I hope you are building the car for yourself and not them........God knows there are plenty of tire kickers at car shows that do nothing but pick peoples cars apart all to find out they have never built one themselves nor do they possess the skills to do so. Now for the good stuff: Details! Let us know what paint system you used and if you liked it. I see you painted it in your garage (awesome!). I'm hoping to be at that point later next summer. What all did you do to set up your paint area? Did you create spray booth in your garage with some tarps and have some type of air flow system? Any issue with dirt in the paint? Details, man! Again, great job and hope you are having fun in the process. Mark

50 ft. lbs. I too couldn't find that information anywhere when replacing the rear mounts on my 64. After plenty of searching, it seems 50 ft. lbs. is the answer for GM. Seems about right when I installed the rear mounts as 35 or 40 lbs. would not have been enough torque to properly seat the bushing. 50 ft. lbs. was the sweet spot. Mark