CheezeMan

Here is my daughter posing as a 'disappointed passenger' when I installed the seat belts.

I was able to log in just now. If after trying again it still doesn't work, try clearing the cache on your browser.

I just recently purchased my rear track bushings from C.A.R. http://centervilleautorepair.com/index.html, and then installed them. No problems.

Ryan, Like Ed said, the switch is in the base of the light socket. Take the bulb out. Turn the light socket upside down. My switch was dead. It still had the mercury in it, but a volt-ohm meter proved that it didn't turn on when in any direction. Since this is poisonous MERCURY, and having that dangerous material flying at 70 MPH on the highway isn't all that smart, I changed over to a mechanical switch. After some googling around, found out that several states have a program available where you can obtain new mechanical switches at Oil Lube places. Since my state didn't participate, I contacted a place in the state where my car came from and they sent me a new switch in the mail free of charge. If your wire is still in place, tie a string to it before pulling it out. If not, you should be able to use the open holes to guide a new wire.

Hi Steele, Nice car! It is worth the amount you would take to part with the car.

Ed, Sent you an email. Thanks for digging this up.

Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the iconic Riviera, at the Paris Auto Show on October 4th, 1962. The '63 Riviera was called "America's Bid for a Great New International Classic Car" and was originally intended to be a Cadillac LaSalle. Prices started at $4,330 with a long options list, and production was limited to 40,000 cars, of which virtually all were sold. Here is a link to a video from this 1962 Paris Auto Show. PARIS MOTOR SHOW 1962 - British Pathé Look for the Riv around the 2:02 mark. Don't blink, only about 3 seconds of frames. I guess the Brits didn't view this iconic car the way we do! The video also has a quick view of the modern alternator being introduced as well. Hmmm... also wonder about the state of the crash-testing science at that time --- the crash-test dummy was a long time in the future from this video. Below, a photo from the Paris Auto Show and the poster.

Sorry, I didn't do drawings for the other 5. I wanted to, but also needed to make sure that the first one worked. Maybe sometime I'll come across a unit that I can disassemble and make drawings from. I did see one on evil-bay for $65, but the pictures revealed that someone butchered it severely trying to fix all the broken levers. I do have a new cable on order, though, but the order was delayed a bit. The guy emailed back saying he had a family health emergency and asked if I could wait a couple weeks, or he would refund my money. I figured if he was that honest, then I should work with him and wait the couple weeks. Thanks Ed for the help, but I should be ok when my order comes in.

Good day all, My latest science project has been to repair the broken temperature control lever on my '63. As most know, pressing too hard on the under dash control lever, when the water valve is rusted shut, often results in breakage of the lever itself. After seeing several others attempt and fail a repair, I decided to re-create the broken lever, rather than repair it. I've been working on this for about 3 weeks now. As of today, I finally re-installed the whole unit in the car and tested it. All is working just fine. Attached are a series of pictures showing what I did. The first picture shows the lever that is broken. This is the 2nd spot from the left in the under-dash control unit (marked Temp). The second picture shows the JB Weld curing. I needed to get the lever back into shape so that I could copy it. Although, the JB Weld quite possibly could have worked to fix this, I decided to go all the way. The 3rd picture shows the drawing I made. I carefully traced and measured the lever, making sure to compensate for the length of the bends. I then gave this drawing to a friend who cuts metal for a living, and asked for 2 or more copies (in case I goofed one up). He said that he could use his 5-axis machine for this cut. The 4th picture shows 2 newly cut levers next to the original. The first is the flat cut he did. The second lever is after after I ran it though my vise to bend it to the correct angles. The 5th picture shows the new lever re-installed in the control unit, after it was completely disassembled, cleaned and lubed. To re-connect the lever to the controls, I used some threaded screws and E-nuts to hold it in place. My next adventure is to replace the snapped driver-side vent cable. Nice!

Scott, let us know how that turns out. Another solution was to paint it all, then after drying, use a buffer to buff off the paint on the front edge. Not sure, but the factory may have done it that way.

Krylon's Dull Alluminum #1403 paint is a very good match. That is what I used on my headlight rings.

Ned Nickles had placed amber lights in the port holes but attached to the distributor so that they would flash with each spark. I seem to recall that he got a kick out of driving inside a tunnel and seeing the flashes of light bounce off the walls.

guess I can add more miss-information 'cause this is the NET!... Last week, I finally figured out the reason my '63 was running rough at idle (while in gear), but not so much when in park. The motor mounts were loose. I had already ordered a new set of mounts thinking they were shot and needed to be replaced. I discovered that the previous owner replaced them, so the problem was loose bolts. While taking them out (replacing anyway), I found that the hard to reach bolts were not tight. So, after much wiggling and going to the store to buy more tools, I finally got the new mounts in. Although I couldn't torque the hard to reach bolts; just got 'em tight. Hope that lasts. Next time I might have to pull the engine out.

I did call Dewey when I first noticed this problem. His voice mail said he was out on vacation and will return in a couple weeks. :eek: Until then, I was hoping this forum would have something... I did get lots of suggestions here and I'll try 'em out. Thanks all!

Jim, I replaced 3 soft lines, all the hard lines, 4 wheel cylinders, rebuilt the master, installed a new hardware kit at all 4 corners, replaced the vacuum hoses to the booster, replaced the booster, replaced the front shoes and re-surfaced the front drums. The rear shoes were replaced last year and were still good. I did not replace the 2 brass junction blocks. So, pretty much everything was done. Everything was bleed several times. But I was still not happy with the brakes so took it to an olde time shop. The veteran mechanic there said I did everything right and was even impressed that I didn't do a "hack job" on the lines. He did adjust the shoes more with an old shoe adjuster caliper, and said I might have a hard spot on the drums that cannot be turned out. I like your suggestion, and may try that. Another one I got from a different forum was to loosen the MC bolts a bit to move the MC out a tad and see if that clears the problem. If so, they said you could simply put a small washer on each stud to give the MC a small gap. But, with this booster, I should be able to adjust the pushrod if necessary.

I actually asked that question of Dewey before I bought the unit. He said for '63 there was only 1 booster made. I couldn't find the sections in the service manual you were referring to. The power brake unit starts on page 9-23 in my copy. I tried some quick experiments and noticed that my pedal will return quickly if not pressed all the way down. I plan to reset the length of the pushrod to factory spec and see if it was the "long pushrod syndrome".

I have a similar leak somewhere too. I was thinking it could also be the trim piece below the rear window. I was planning on removing that and then checking to see if it looks like water was getting through there.

Good day all! I just finished replacing about everything in my brake system, when I discovered that the booster was bad (thanks to all the posts on this forum, I figured that out). I got a rebuild from Booster Dewey and just installed. The very first thing I noticed is that the brake pedal was slow to return to normal position. This was not the case before swapping boosters. Before installing the booster, I checked the push rod length with the J-21183 gauge and saw it was slightly too long. I didn't adjust it, though, and left it alone thinking that Dewey had it right. Could the push rod being about 0.1 inch too long cause the slow brake pedal return? Is there a check-valve in the booster that isn't letting air back in to let the pedal return? Otherwise, the brakes work great. Thanks.

Nice Ed! I have an old beat up handle, so this might be a good use of those political signs. Wonder if we could get the dimensions to one of those tube bending places to reproduce.

I believe that the rear carpet piece will need to be cut around the shifter area first, at least I had to do that with mine. If you can make the cut blind then I think that will work.

Yikes... Some how my '63 Riv sports 3 Rally's with the 2" hole, and 1 with the 2-1/8" hole. The backspacing is different as well. Not sure if that is typical between these two. The 2" hole ones have a 3" backspace and the other has a 3.5" backspace. The upshot is that the 3.5" backspace does not work on the rear. The wheel won't hold the drum in place so it wobbles, and the weights hit the backing plate. It only works on the front drums. All four have the cone caps, but different sizes.

I was very happy with the carpet from Auto Custom Carpet. They own the factory and equipment that originally produced the carpet. However, I would find one of their distributors since you should save some $$$ that way. I ordered direct to accmats.com, but then found a distributor of theirs that would have saved me about $100 on my order. It pays to search a little harder.

As an update to this thread... I did receive the tubes the following Wednesday. They were perfect and installed fairly easily. They look really nice! It took me about 2-3 days doing the work (after my normal job). Though, I had to make a minor change to the long (front-to-back) tube though. The rear side of the tube had all kinds of bends where my Riv needed it to be mostly straight. After undoing those bends, the tube pretty much just slipped through the x-frame fine following the string that I tied to the old one while pulling it out. The one tube that gave me the most trouble was the front passenger side. Two of the five clips holding it on are in tight spots and I didn't even know they existed until I tried to tug the old one out.

Nice work Ed, and thank you very much for all that effort! Any reason we cannot get some of the out-of-sight fasteners added? I know the glove box liner ones are some I could use. Thanks.

Steele, Glad you are sorting through these problems. If there are some rodent issues, you may need to look for other areas they invaded. Other posts have referenced checking the headliner, seats and basically any area where wires are. They love to chew on wires, so if you have electrical gremlins, that would be one thing to check. Since you found them around the heater box, you may want to check the entire unit out. There are lots of nesting areas they can use.