My newly purchased 63 riviera

Here are a couple of pics of the 63 riviera I just purchased. It was owned by the same gentleman since 1977 and garage kept. It was part of a herd of cars he had and seems to have been driven but not beaten up. The body is fantastic excluding paint and the car seems to be all there. The former owner claims that the a\c works but needs to be charged, but the heater core has been bypassed so I'm not too sure about all of that just yet. Air blows through console vents but not through dash vents.

I've run into minor issues such as bad contacts on parking and turn signal bulbs(bulbs don't seem to fit properly), and a vacuum issue(hopefully) derailing my brake overhaul. I've also spent the better part of a week removing 51 years of funk from the undercarriage and engine compartment. I'll try to do as much as I'm capable of myself, but would love a recommendation of a good mechanic/garage in my area. (Plano, Tx)

Thanks,

-Adrian-

Hello Adrian

Congratulations it looks like a great buy and a good starting point for restoration. Good to see that these cars are being kept as going concerns and not being used for parts and scrap metal.

Take care and keep us in formed as to what you do with it.

Regards John

Adrian! Here's a few things everyone here will tell you so I might as well go first… If you haven't already you should join the Riviera Owners Association & receive the club mag, The Riview. You will be impressed with the quality of the mag & the huge amount of info it contains, including seasoned tech advisors you can contact personally, classified ads from individuals & companies who sell new old stock,used, & repro parts, interesting articles from ordinary Riv owners showcasing their Rivs, & much more. Hunt down as many back issues as you can & an index which will help locate articles pertaining to whatever problems you run across in the course of your new "hobby".I can't remember if I saw it on this forum or one of the other Buick forums,or in the Riview classifieds, but someone is selling a large collection of Riview back issues (if it's not too late). You need a Buick shop manual & a body manual which I'm sure you can find through the Review. You will want to check out the websites of the suppliers of repro Riv parts,including Cars Inc, Classic Buicks, Clark's Corvair, OPGI, & others. Those & individuals who have collections of used parts can be found in the Riview. Before you buy you might want to run your needs by the forum... many of the regulars here can supply you with what you need or can warn you about quality issues you might encounter with certain suppliers. I'm sure others will have more advice for you after seeing your new baby. ps one thing that will no doubt be of particular interest to you(considering that bypassed heater)is a step by step "tutorial"on replacing your heater core which you can find by conducting a search on this forum. (The previous owner probably decided to sell after reading it, so "don't kill the messenger",(I'm just sayin')) But it's probably nice & balmy year round in Plano, right? Anyway, you've got all summer ahead of you, & the AC is working like you say. If you're getting air through the console but not the dash, your vent tubes are probably missing, deteriorated, or have slipped off their receptacles. Anyhoo, good luck,& send us some more pics Drew

Cool Car! Speaking of vent tubes, does anyone make replacements? I destroyed one removing the console....

Thanks, Tim

Adrian,

First, welcome. Second, thank you for putting your name and location in your post.

Rivnik did a really nice job of advising you of things that will be beneficial to you when you start to work on your car. I might add one thing to what he says. You'll find vendors that advertise on eBay that their parts fit 1963, 1964, & 1965 parts. Not so. Lots of parts look close but they're different year to year. If you have doubts, put your question out here on the forum and get the straight scoop before spending money on something that won't fit. The horseshoe moldings in front of the rear wheel openings are one example. They look identical from the outside, but behind the scenes, the tabs that locate them are in different positions.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Ed

here are a couple more pics. thank you all for the welcome and suggestions. I'll be joining the roa today, and trying to get these brakes right tonight.

-Adrian-

A-Welcome. I'm in Dallas, near SMU. I have a 63 that I've been working on for about 8 years, also silver. I'm about 75% done. For a local mechanic, I suggest Barry Wilson, Wilson Auto repair in Garland. He's the only real wrench I know and trust in DFW. He's definitely and old car guy. For parts, you are within driving distance of CTC Auto Ranch in Denton. They have about 10 first gens with some meat on the bones. Once you get rolling, let me know and we can meet up. Thx PRL

Greetings Tim, regarding your question about ac ducts…they should be easily acquired. You'll probably want to measure the dia. before you start a search, (hopefully you still have the old piece) I see they have lengths of the ducting on several antique auto air websites, like Oldairproducts & Nostalgicair, but you could also try any local auto air repair shop. It's undoubtedly the same ducting on many GMs over many years. Drew

Thanks Pete, looks like I may be calling Wilson Auto sooner than I'd like as these brakes are kicking my butt. I'm already finding out how cantankerous she is as not much has been easy on this car yet. Aside from hard brake lines, I've replaced everything except the booster, (which seemed to work when I bought the car?)

vacuum bled the system, and checked vacuum (seems fine) and still have to stand on the pedal to stop the car. So the brake project rolls on…

Thanks again everyone, I'll report back when I get this sorted-

-Adrian-

A-I re-did my brakes myself 8 years ago and kept the single reservoir set up. They worked great. So great I sort of forgot about them. Turned out to be a dangerous idea. All the ROA guys recommend going with a dual set up, but I wasn't listening. About 6 months ago, the fluid got a little low and I completely lost brakes. Coasted through a red light at major intersection going about 35 and didn't have an accident. Spooky. No skidding cars, no horns honking, just me in my newly painted 63 ghosting past other cars mere inches away and nobody got hit. Had to change my shorts after that one. One day later I drove it out to Barry Wilson who put in dual reservoir system. I thought about doing it myself, but decided to have a pro do it. The good news is Barry knows his way around a Riv. He's a great guy and honestly the only guy in DFW that I trust. Let me know what you end up doing. Thx PRL

Well after further review, it seems the booster is the culprit. Is anyone familiar with Pryor Brake in Dallas? I had hoped to save on shipping and turn around time by finding someone close to me to rebuild it. Pryor quoted $267 with a 4 day turn around.

Thanks,

-Adrian-

I dropped the booster and power steering gear box off to be rebuilt by Pryor automotive in dallas. After leaving the car on jack stands overnight, I found about a quart of power steering fluid all over the garage floor. I will report back with results when I get the parts back.

Thanks everyone for the advice- fingers crossed-

-Adrian-

Well I'm rolling again, but still not too sure everything is working right. It's stopping well enough to finally take the lovely mrs. riviadrian to dinner, and run around town a bit, but I'm still wondering if everything is right.

I got the rebuilt booster installed, which is about the last thing I can think of. There is some improvement, but it still seems like I've got a short, hard brake pedal. I'm hearing "that's just how old cars with drum brakes stop", but I'm not buying that. I don't expect it to stop like my 2010 Tundra, but still would like to be a little more confident. Any thoughts?

Thanks -Adrian-

The brakes on my '64 function as well or better than my other vehicles. Only moderate brake pedal pressure is required to stop the vehicle they respond smoothly and there is sufficient play in the pedal. Does it feel like the pedal is returning properly after you press it forward? There is a list of some things you can look at in the brake troubleshooting section of your service manual (at least the '64 manual has this). They mention the condition you are describing and several things that you can try in order to fix it. If you don't have the manual I can list some things here on the forum.

Thanks Darren, at least now I know there's still more work to be done. I don't think the pedal is returning properly. When I bought the car I had to toe the pedal back up, now it returns on its own, but doesn't move much. Seems like I've only got an inch or so of movement in it. The manual mentions "Excessive pedal pressure required" and suggests looking for grease etc. on linings. Basically everything is new on all four corners. I'll recheck that again, but it should be ok.

I'm thinking I may have a vacuum issue, but not sure how to check it properly. The check valve only opens one way, so that seems fine.

Back to the manual...

Hi Adrian. At least your brakes are working somewhat ok. You are definitely close to getting them functioning the way they should. I haven't read the brake adjustment section this may be helpful. Did you replace the shoes and linings? The book does say to give the brakes "moderate use" for the first several days in order for them to burnish properly. How is the hydraulic system, is the fluid the correct level and type with no leaks in the lines and properly bleed (can give the brakes a 'spongy' feel). Just making sure that the basic stuff is correct before looking at the more severe things that can go wrong.

Old, original flexible brake hoses can collapse or deteriorate inside and look good on the outside. If in doubt, replace them.

I had a guy contact me recently because he could not bleed the rear brakes on his '63. We determined it was a bad flexible brake hose.

I had a very similar issue with mine. It has been sitting since 84 or so. I had never had a car with front drums, so it was a little bit of an adventure now knowing exactly how they should feel. Eventually i was thinking of doing the disc brake conversion on the front. My problem turned out to be the lines. I resurfaced the drums, new shoes all the way around, and got a new master cylinder. I could get the brake pedal hard, but was having the same problem with the brake pedal. It turned out i had either garbage in the lines or they had collapsed. I troubleshot this by disconnecting all the brake lines and running compressed air through them back and forth until i could find the problem areas. I found two garbage spots that had stoppages and ended up replacing hard lines and learning how to flare ends.

After sitting for 30 years i suppose it is normal to expect some things to be plugged up. Anyway, you might try troubleshooting with air and see if you can find any of the hard lines plugged up. A decent bender and flaring tool are not too expensive and the brakes are definitely a high priority to get right. After re-doing my lines and such it now stops like a champ. Yea, it isn't like 4 wheel disc, but it actually isn't bad at all. The brake pedal feels like it should on just about any other car now that all the lines are in good shape.

p.s. - Jim is right on the money. I replaced all the flexible hoses. They were dry rotted and looked like garbage from the outside, so i knew they were likely crap on the inside as well. If you still have problems after that then you will have to troubleshoot the hard lines from end to end and work back towards the middle until you find the bad spots and can determine what has to be replaced. My problem areas were at the last turn to the gas tank and and about halfway down the passenger side of the car(which was a easy straight piece to replace).

Redoing the line sections i had to deal with was fairly cheap, even if you consider the cost of tools. I think i got the flexible lines from rockauto.