CheezeMan

I bought the '65 style from Clark's catalog http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog.cgi?function=goto&catalog=Riviera&section=Riviera&page=R-20. That one has the 3 holes. Sure, a little weird but it was the right one for my '63. Matched the old panels perfectly. The 6 hole style has a different cut pattern too. If you have the old panels available, check the overall shape for a fit with the new ones.

I believe I got my speedo gear from Northwest Transmission Parts (http://nwtparts.com/). The '63 Dynaflow uses a pull-out design, so it is just a plastic gear. I found that the 19-tooth works perfectly with my P225/75R15 tires. If you haven't joined the ROA yet, now is a great time.

Glenn, My '63 kick panels I got from Clarks. They have 3 holes, but 2 are for rivets (which you can substitute a screw-rivet). The 3rd is the mounting screw. Mine were originally painted. I think the custom trim may have included carpeted panels, but I am not sure. There were 2 styles created and Clarks clearly points that out in their catalog to use either the 63/64 or the 65 style depending on which interior you have. You should check to make sure which one you need first. Be ware that OPG sells only 1 style, but the picture in their catalog is the other style. The picture was right for me, but what they sent was wrong. Go figure.

Hi Glenn, Pictures help.... First pic, is a complete set of retaining clips for the trunk cardboard (minus the set screw by the trunk latch). Second pic, is what I believe to be an original tire jack rattle spring and clip. The spare tire kicker in the third picture (top center) would be for later builds of the '63 with the spare tire pushed back on the Dutchman shelf. Pic 4 is from a member (forget his name) who has a very low mileage car, which is in original condition.

Rob, I don't recall where I got 'em from. I do lots of internet searching and save anything relevant that I can find. These were some beauties that I captured some time ago. Got loads of files in my computer. I think I need a Google app on my PC just to find all of the stuff that I already have stored on my hard disk.

Lift by the frame, not the body. You don't want all that weight of the chassis being held by the body mounts. If not lifted correctly, you can cause body damage. see chart below for some locations to lift from. Note that modern lifts may not work on these old cruciform frames. always ask the guy lifting if his lift supports an x-frame. if he doesn't know what an x-frame is, you may want to go somewhere else.

Hi Tim, Welcome to the ROA site! As Bernie, Jim and others have mentioned, enjoy your car. Do it the way you want. Members here are eager to help anyway possible. They are all fantastic people and love the Riv more than anyone else. I share some similarities in that I've always wanted a Riv since I was probably 10. I finally got one about 4 years ago. I am doing what Jim and Bernie have suggested, by not dismantling the whole thing at once, and enjoying it all the way. I originally bought it from a museum about 150 miles from my house, and I actually drove the car home when I bought it. Obviously, it must have been in good enough condition to drive a long way. I've been basically taking one part (or a few) at a time off and working on them. I use this forum and the marvelous people here for help when needed; and consulting all of the shop manuals and literature as necessary. My wife and children really enjoy taking drives and going to shows. This past summer, we drove it 900 miles to Lexington and back for the ROA National Meet. You don't need to have a 400 point car to show it off. Therefore, I just tell people that it is a "driving restoration". I try not to have it down for too long while a part is being worked on. I equally enjoy working on it and driving it. I think that driving it after working on a part is the best therapy. Enjoy your car. Join the ROA. Enjoy your car. Get a set of shop manuals (paper or CD). Enjoy your car. Ask questions and post pics (we love 'em). Enjoy your car. Below is the day I bought her from the museum. Love that old gas station! The seller parked it there so that I could get a nice photo shoot of it.

I had my '63 Radio converted to electronic this year, just before Lexington. The guy who did it is about 45 mins from my house and did a fantastic job! He is a retired radio guy and just loves working on radios. Got mine done in about 2-3 weeks (the manufacturer of the circuit board sent him a bad board, so it took a few days longer than normal). For train fans, he has an awesome model railroad in his basement that goes around the entire work shop, through the walls and nearly along every wall, of course with multi-tracks and working crossing signals. If you do decide to go with a conversion, rather than restoration, make sure to wire the speakers exactly how the booklet tells you. When I had my interior out to replace the carpet a couple years ago, I put in 2 pair of speaker wires going to the rear (63 has only 1 speaker), in anticipation of converting the radio at a future date. The speaker cannot be grounded like the original, with these new electronics. Don also built a dual speaker assembly that fits perfectly in the same place where the speaker mounts so that I can get both L/R (even though its in the middle of the seat). I opted for the MP3 input jack and the sub-woofer line-out features. donstrain Stereo Conversions Power Inverters/Voltage Boosters 48617 Declaration Dr. Macomb MI 48044-1925 (248) 247 6280 donstrain@comcast.net

Two are better than one.

I just checked mine today while at a cruise. The passenger side comes back about an inch +/- more than the driver side, opposite of what you are seeing. When I had my interior out last summer, all of the mounting holes were original, and the seats and frames are original. Other posts on this site detail how to make the drive seat position further back than factory for those tall drivers. If you haven't checked, look at the mounting brackets and see if they have been flipped backwards to gain an inch or 2. The rear mounting holes would need to be re-drilled, me thinks, if they did this change.

I've been coating everything that I can. It looks much better and saves me the hassle of prepping and painting (which I usually am lesser skilled at anyway). The powder coater I use is very reasonable. He sometimes only charges $5 for small parts, like the kick panel grille. So, cost is not an issue. If you are worried about holes filling smaller, make sure to ask your coater to mask the holes first. I've had some holes masked and that prevented problems with size. About the only downside are the color choices. You either live with the colors that the coater has in inventory, or try to special order them (usually at a premium cost) and hope that they match your need when it comes in.

I also had this situation with OPGI. Bought the kick panels and what showed up was different than the picture in the catalog. I worked with them to understand the problem. I even sent to them a paper trace copy of the original kick panels. Basically there are 2 designs for 63-65. You just need to know which ones you have. Clarks has both designs available. Their catalog is correct. Buy from Clarks.

x 2 I tried doing this service just before Lexington. "Tried" being the operative word. I thought that the spline would be more difficult, but got that without much hassle. The u-joint proved to be impossible to lube. I couldn't get the tip of my lube gun to seat cleanly on the grease fitting, and every time I pumped the grease gun it would just ooze all over, with nothing going in. The hole in the frame didn't line up with the u-joint so getting the gun up there was impossible. For the spline, I rotated the drive shaft until the holes lined up. I removed the plug and put about 2 or 3 pumps of grease in using a needle fitting on the grease gun. The tricky part was getting the plug back in. I used a trick I learned from a TV show to help. Take a small piece of paper towel and push the plug through the paper into the socket wrench. This will keep it nice and tight so you don't lose it while trying to jockey it back up in there.

Young Kirk from Star Trek movie driving a 65 Vette. Shatner and his 60's Vette.

Must be the Captain's car, er I mean shuttle craft.

The simple check is to ensure there is enough airflow coming through--- dirt/debris or bent rad fins can reduce airflow. If the rad is original, it could have some blockage. You can take it to a rad shop and have them test it. Mine has been re-cored twice over the 50 years. If you re-core the rad, ask if they can upgrade to more tubes across, by reducing the space in-between. I had that done, so with the 4 core and additional tubes it has so much more cooling capacity than original. It seems if the thermostat were stuck or non-functional you would have noticed a lot sooner than the 2 1/2 hours driving.

Welcome to the board! This guy is in PA, so a little closer than CA. James is parting out several Buicks and has been really great to work with. Interior Parts, Exterior Parts items in Bestoffercounts Buick Parts store on eBay! And don't forget about Riviera Bob in Flint. Lots of other folks around who deal in parts and are members of the ROA. If you haven't joined the ROA, the award-winning Riview produced quarterly is packed full of members and other business who offer parts and services for the Riv. You came to the right place!

that gets me to think a bit... my '63 also does the same and has since I last replaced the rear brakes, but I swear that the sound is coming from the front (my wife also confirms it is from the front). I recently replaced the track bar bushing with those solid ones, and still have the thunk. I think that Jim is on the right track that some suspension component is moving a bit under a high amount of force. The mystery continues.

Kevin, I spent more time with my washer pump than I care to admit... Is it an electrical or mechanical problem? Do you hear the pump going or not when you push the button? If you hear the pump going... check for blocked lines or nozzels, check for a cracked pump valve, or check for a ripped bellows. I ended up replacing my bellows, valve and lines. If you don't hear the pump moving... Is the wiper motor working or not? The wiper motor turns the pump. it takes an electrical circuit to trigger the pump to catch the motor. On mine, some poor slug though jabbing a knife at the electrical lines to the pump would somehow make it work better. All he accomplished was making a mess of the wires that I had to fix. The clear problem was that the bellows was split.

You can get a mechanical switch replacement from some lube-oil places. I got one that way. It is a ball-bearing type, not mercury. Some states participate in a federal program designed to eliminate the mercury in cars. Since my state doesn't participate, I emailed another state lube-oil place by random. They sent one in the mail! Below is a ad poster from NY http://www.glrppr.org/topichubs/pdfs/automerc/hgswitchposter.pdf Now that is funny!

About a year ago, the buzz was that GM could be considering a Wildcat offering in the near future. The insider news indicated that the Corvette sales are dropping a bit, but they don't (and cannot!) change the vette in any way to make it less cost, so the thought is to introduce a Buick version of the Vette with a V6 and lower price point to boost sales of the Vette platform, thus keeping the Vette alive. Anyway, probably won't happen, but we can dream, can't we? http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f32/buick-wildcat-now-colors-108534/

Hi Darren/Ed! The spare tire bracket mounts to 2 studs protruding from the back of the rear seat, in the center. its hard to get a good picture, but this should help. Also, the tire should lay parallel to the shelf, pushed into the bracket.

Cool video! I was also in the caravan, well, sort of.... Seems the first several cars out of the hotel (which I was one) took the first turn in the wrong direction. So, the front of the pack disintegrated immediately with teams heading in all directions trying to find their way. I followed someone who thought they knew the way but after several miles of beautiful horse farms and such, I turned around and headed back. For me, I really wanted to be in the caravan. Those are so neat. It would have been nice if the lead car knew the directions.

Folks, After consulting with Jim Cannon at Lexington, I believe we have found another minor change made during the 63 model year. The early Rivs did not have a fastener at the rear of the center console. One was spotted in Lexington, and I have seen a few others over the course of the last few years. I believe Jim was interested in tracking this change. The one we spotted in Lexington had an 11E build date, I seem to recall. If you have anything later without the screw, please let us know.

Attaching a couple from my '63.