63 Rivi

Nice card Ed. Santa brought me some Riviera parts so I was pretty happy. Hope you had a Merry Christmas too.

Wheels look great. I have heard good things about their work, glad to hear you're happy with them too. Now that you reminded me, I am going to send them one of my road wheels off my 85 for replating.

John, Glad to help! Keep in mind the Meguiar's polish breaks down quickly. After a few seconds of rubbing it in, it is pretty much done and needs to be wiped off. That's a good thing since it prevents anyone from being overly aggressive. May have to repeat 2-3 times to get the best results. I used it on my digital climate control face on my 85. Took me a few times but it came up like brand new. My Cutlass has 43k miles, one repaint and otherwise still original. Sounds like you have a nice Olds too. I am a member over at ClassicOldsmobile.com and that would be an excellent place to post the car if you are thinking of selling it or if you just want advice on doing a restoration. Hope you're able to keep it.

Hi John. Congrats on your new purchase, they are among my favorite cars. To answer your question, I do not know of anyone reproducing the chrome around the tail lights. Can always keep an eye out for NOS ones but I haven't seen any in a long time. Your best bet would be to look for someone to replate them. If the lenses are just lightly scratched, buy Meguiar's plastic cleaner and polish. It works very well for getting out minor blems.

Welcome Tim. Looks like a really nice Riv. Definitely join the ROA, we're all here to help!

Looks pretty clean and original, too bad it did not sell. Market is not the strongest for this generation right now but they should try and relist again.

The car itself looks very nice, like Jim said most of those things can be corrected fairly easily. But if I was selling that car, I would have taken the 24k and ran. Haven't seen too many 1st gen non-GS cars selling in the 20's. Ed - thanks for that link for searching multiple sites. Now I have a higher likelyhood of getting into trouble with my better half by finding more things I want. LOL

Thanks Jayson for letting us know. His contributions will be missed.

Thanks Ed for the info on the needle scaler. Harbor Freight has it on sale right now for 54.99, and I have a coupon to take even more off. I had left the original undercoating on my 63 in place, mostly because of how stubborn it was to take off. Think this will give me a reason to start my clean up and repainting of the floor pans.

401, I was getting anywhere from 11-17 before ethanol, now about 10-15 with. Definitely a difference.

Dex IV and yes it is backwards compatible with earlier Dex. Don't really think there are any differences between the brands.

Wow, that's a really good deal. I need 1, might give him a call. Thanks for posting it Ed!

No, I don't think you are SOL if the trans is still behaving properly. Knowing now that your fluid is burnt, I would drop the pan and replace whatever fluid drains out. Keep in mind that you will only get out about 1/3 of the total in there. If you decide to really roll the dice, (not my recommendation), you can bring it to a shop that can do a complete fluid flush. Just make sure they do not use a high pressure machine to do it. That can release contaminents and could clog up some of the really small passages which can effect the way it operates. Like Jayson said a few posts earlier, it could be an internal issue that is causing the "clunk" that you are experiencing. However I would explore all of the external factors first, as well as making sure that your idle is not set too high.

I have no problem with someone disagreeing with me, like you said, it is the way forums are. I worked in a garage and had done many gaskets on engines and including transmission pan gaskets. I have always used a small bead of silicone and never had an issue when used with cork gaskets. The only time I saw this is when someone was overly aggressive in tightening down the mounting bolts. The advice I gave on this model is from my intimate knowledge of its weaknesses. The initial design of the 325 was a non-overdrive 3 speed model. They held up very well but when it was converted to the 4 speed overdrive, they suffered from durability issues with many failing before 100k. (The clutches and brake bands were the weak points - they would not hold up well when exposed to excessive heat) If the car was not driven hard and the trans fluid was changed every 25k, they would last. I got 167k out of an 85 I had just by changing the fluid at the right intervals. 84 Riviera did not state his transmission fluid was burnt or dark red. If it was, then I too would advise that it should be drained out and we'll just hope for the best at this point. The newer dexron type IV fluid has more additives in it than the original formulation his car came with. While it is backwards compatible, you run the risk of loosening up contaminants in the trans. (I meant to say additives and not detergents in my last post, sorry) There are two schools of thought on changing fluid in an older trans that still looks and functions well; change out some of it and avoid "shock" or do a fluid change - either by changing out all the fluid that comes out when you drop the pan or by a fluid flush. With most transmissions, it would be advised to do a fluid change but the overdrive 325's need to be treated more carefully. My friend has owned a transmission shop for over 20 years and has rebuilt and serviced dozens of these. In his experience, he learned early on about the issues with this model and has had good success by erring on the side of caution. In 84 Riviera's case, he can do either type of fluid change but one runs more risk than the other. Regardless, the filter should be changed and the pan cleaned of contaminants. Also, another source of clunking when going into gear could be a bad transmission mount. The rubber inside the mounts can fail, especially after almost 30 years.

Thanks for that tip. It really simplified the searches I was doing to find stuff I am really interested in. Most of the stuff that comes up when you do a general search like "63 Riviera" is just crap.

Listed on ebay right now for under 15k. That is one badass looking ride, would love to see it in person. Going fast with class!

Clean around the trans to determine where the leak is coming from, it is usually the pan gasket. If it is the front seal (you would have to loosen the inspection cover to see it) then I would try some trans sealer. It is not worth the aggravation and cost to remove the trans to fix such a small leak. I would recommend putting a new filter and gasket, and reusing about half of the old fluid that drained out. At this point, putting in all new fluid and completely flushing the trans is asking for trouble. The bands inside the trans will not like all the fresh strong detergent in the oil. Use a small bead of silicone on the pan gasket, torque all the bolts to 10 lbs, let it set up for an hour or two and then refill. Let it warm up and check the fluid level while running and parked on a flat surface to ensure you fill it to the proper level. The "clunking" sound could be something as simple as the idle being too high. Check to make sure it is set to the specs on the underhood label.

Sorry to hear that Bill. Did it damage the cylinder wall?

Very nice. You never see Wildcat's, at least around here anyway. I have to stay off ebay, it makes me want to do things that will get me in trouble with the boss. LOL.

If you need another push Rob, I'll second the motion. I had the same thing happen to me with the rear window on my 63. I felt terrible throwing it out but it was useless at that point.

I replaced the bumper fillers on an 84 Eldorado earlier this year, and I bought them through E&K. They advertise in the Riview under www.sandkindustries.com. They made a new batch of ABS that are made in the same number of pieces, just like the originals. I inquired about fillers for a 85 Riv at that time, and he told me those were now made just like the originals too, in ABS, in the same number of pieces. No more extra seams. They fit better than the fiberglass but they still need work. It took me about 15 hours to sand them smooth, paint, wet sand and buff. The end result was they came out beautiful but it was a lot of work to make them perfect. It was worth it because they look just like the originals with superior fit and finish.

Bernie, good luck with the project. Sure it will look great when you're done.

Terrible way to treat a special car. Definitely restorable, actually looks pretty solid. Hopefully someone will save it.

Leonard was a great guy and very helpful. I never had a discussion with him about Nailheads. I did have a discussion with Denny Manner about the engine since he first started with Buick back when they were using the Nailheads in their models. He spoke about the durability of them, when subject to extreme testing and they proved to be very strong. He never talked about them starting to fail around 100k, as a matter of fact, he spoke about how many were still going strong well past that. As you asked, maybe others will chime in with their experiences with Nailhead longevity. I know it's kind of unrelated to the subject of this thread but it would be good to hear.

Thanks for posting this. Unfortunately in NY, there is not one station on Long Island that has ethanol free gas (where I live). Will use this app when I am traveling though.