bepnewt

I didn't get a chance to mess with the car last night to time the blinkers. I'll have about an hour tonight before my plans kick in so I'll try to get the timing then and see about the below information... No idea. How do I find out and where is the flasher unit? This sounds like a good plan if the old one is bad. How much $$$ was it?

Most likely. And I need to swap out the winter air and put summer air in the tires. -BEPNewt

Slow. I'll try to time it tonight, although my evening is pretty full as is. I'm guessing once every 2 seconds is how it's currently blinking. -BEPNewt

How many times ( approximately ) per second ( or minute ) should my blinkers blink on my '64 when I have the turn signal on? -BEPNewt

Where is the button that you push to pop the trunk with this trunk release? -BEPNewt

Gave her her first bath since she made it to Oklahoma. The white doesn't look so bad when it isn't shifted towards gray from the grime it picked up in transport.

So, was it a little smile, a big smile, or a really big smile? Grats, must be good karma or something! -BEPNewt

Well, alrighty then! I took tomorrow off so I'll go stock up on some safer equipment. Appreciate the sage advice. -BEPNewt

The embarrassing part is I was bidding on 4 individual 8s on eBay yesterday. I got beat out on all 4 and was considering bidding on the 2 best. Then I found the NOS ones. The 8s still had about 40 minutes left on them. There was one that was really clean and the other 3 had various issues - pitting, rust, etc., but they weren't too bad. It didn't hit me until after the 8s sold that I should have grabbed one. 7s in front, 8s in back, a 7 for a spare. Perfect! Maybe it was the fates making me wait for some reason. There's a Cruz Night every Tuesday here that I plan on hitting. The Good Fortune Fairy is going to hook me up with someone there that has an extra 8 lying around, right?

Wonderful information. I'm not sure what half the things you mentioned are, Pete, but I will after reading the manuals. I'll try not to run it completely dry, I'll take it to about 1/8. This is only the 2nd tank of gas I've had in it and the first went "dry" right under 1/8. If the rubber line looks bad, I'll consider doing the line-cutting. I don't plan on changing tanks as of now. My whole goal is to get to the underside of the trunk; cleaning the tank is one of those "while you're at it" items suggested by someone. If it turns out my tank is bad, I'll definitely chat with you about your extra, CTX. I don't have any jack stands, yet. I bought a set of ramps last Sunday that I'll be backing it up on. -BEPNewt

I'm in the process of running my '64 out of gas so I can drop the tank, work on the trunk, and clean and seal the gas tank. I have the different manuals for the '64 and I've looked under car and it looks like a relatively easy task, but... ... there's always something to learn from folks that have done it before. Are there any tips / tricks out there for doing the tank removal? I searched the forum and saw a lot of people needing new ones, but I didn't see any information on the actual removal. I'll be back later to ask about the cleaning and sealing the tank after I do some due-diligence and search for the info, first. Thanks, -BEPNewt

I've been rather fired up lately about getting my '64 repainted. I had the money and the only thing stopping the process was me finishing what I needed to do in the trunk and getting all the new rubber ordered. Now, something has come up and a good chunk of the money went *poof*. So, no repaint in the near future. On the bright side, there is some money left. I've been looking for Cragar Starwires to put on her and have bid on some on eBay, called people from Craigslist, etc. Today, I bought a set of 5 NOS unilug Starwires as a self-birthday treat. These babies are pristine new, no pitting, no rust, never been mounted, etc. Four of them are 7" and one is 8". I don't need the 8" but they were sold as a set. I guess I'll have the 8" for an emergency spare. Next step: Lugs, washers, and tires. Oh, and finishing the trunk when it's no so danged chilly out. -BEPNewt

@Mario - The engine has been rebuilt and has about 430 miles on it. It sits 2-4 days between starts right now. It's been sitting for 3 days now. I'll try your method tonight. Thanks, -BEPNewt

Wheels have been aquired. Thanks, -BEP

It sounds like your thoughts went kind of along the lines of mine. I went with a '64 because of the '63 tranny and the '65 not having the dash look I like so much. The perfect 1st Gen Riv for me would be a '65 body with a '64 dash. As far as real feedback, I really can't give you much. Anything I know I learned on this board and from the people here. My '64 has a 401 in it ( 30-over ) and it has quite a bit of power. Since I was born male, I of course wanted a dual-quad bigger engine, but am completely satisfied with the 401. My car isn't going to be taken to the drag strip so I don't need to be worried about being embarrassed losing to a Ford or something, and it definitely has enough OOMPH to get up and pass anything in my way if needed. If you like the Buick "Road Wheels" ( the Rally's ), they weren't an option on the '64 Riviera, only on the Wildcat in '64. They were available on the '65s, though. I don't know how much you want to keep it perfectly stock, but keep that in mind if you like the Rallys. The optional spoke hub caps look really nice on the Rivs. I usually don't like hub caps, but if mine had the spoke ones on it, I probably wouldn't replace them with something else. Good luck and keep us up to date. I'm sure someone will soon chime in with the answers to your questions. -BEPNewt

I'm also not real comfortable with the "1-finger steering" on my '64. I'd prefer more resistance and a different ratio. If you guys do make a change to the stiffness and /or ratio, please be sure to come back and explain what you had done, what it cost, how satisfied you are with it, etc. It's on my list of things to have done, but it has a lower priority right now than other things. Thanks! -BEPNewt

More good info! Thanks. -BEPNewt

I'm looking for a set of 30 spoke Cragar / Weld Starwire rims for my 1964 Buick Riviera. Bolt pattern is 5 x 5. 6" or 7" for the front, 7" or 8" for the back. The wheels don't need to be showroom quality, but they need to look nice from 10'. If they have decent tires on them, that's a plus, but not required. I'd also be interested in these wheels if anyone has a used set: Buick Wire Wheels You can contact me in this thread, via PM here, or add @gmail.com to my board login name for email. I may be interested in other wire wheels that will fit, I'd just need to see some pictures. The fewer the spokes the better. I am only interested in bolt-ons, not the kind that use the knock-off spindle mount. Thanks for looking, -BEP

Thanks for the info. -BEPNewt

What is the correct way to start my (non-original) 425 Nailhead on my '64? When the engine is cold, it takes about 30 - 45 seconds to start it. Once it's warm, it fires up immediately. I just read this thread that was recently updated: http://forums.aaca.org/f177/troubleshooting-hard-starting-64-a-292435.html At first, I thought I just didn't know how to set the choke or whatever I need to do for a cold start. After reading that thread, maybe there's more going on than that. So... assume I don't know anything about chokes, how much gas to pump while cranking, etc. and please describe the proper way to crank over my cold 425. I've been in fuel-injected cars waaaay too long. Thanks, -BEPNewt

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. -BEPNewt

Hello, Bob. I'm pretty new to the Riviera scene and far from an expert in any way. I do know there are a couple threads on this forum about converting a '63/'64 to look like a '65 in front. "Steelman" from Oklahoma City, OK has a '63 with a '65-looking front end. ( pic at bottom ) I think I remember in the discussion that one of the people that did the conversion put headlights from a Grand Prix behind the light covers. A quick search on "Grand Prix" found this thread that goes into detail about the conversion: http://forums.aaca.org/f177/phantom-headlights-63-a-272713.html That's a great thread on the subject and it's by Steelman so you have detailed instructions and a final pic to go by to see if you want to do it. I thought there was another one so you may want to search on the word "conversion" or something like that and see what you come up with. I prefer the looks of the '65 from the outside, myself. But, I love the dash of the '63 and '64 and I didn't want a Dynaflow so I went with a '64. I've considered doing the conversion that Steelman did, but that will be down the line a ways. I don't know if I've seen a thread about converting the rear to look like a '65. I also have never seen a '63 / '64 with the chrome from the fake air scoops on the side removed but I've wondered what that would look like on a finished car. Good luck! -BEPNewt

Ah, that makes sense, Randy. I'm looking on their web site so I just hope it doesn't mean they're out of stock. I'll give them a call and see what's going on. Thanks again, -BEPNewt

rls65rls, I neglected to thank you for your help on this, sorry about that. I'm ordering the rubber and your information is very helpful. I still can't find the antenna base gasket you said was on the Cars Inc. site. I've searched by name, by the ag635 number, and looked at every antenna product they sell but still didn't see it. Would you please provide a link to the part? Also, for the tail lamp bezel gasket, I found this based off of the part number you provided: Old Buick Parts - CARS. Inc. But it's $15.00 not the $13.75 you mentioned. It's also part number TBG634-4, which is slightly different than what you said. Am I looking at the correct item? It also doesn't mention if it's for one or for a pair. Thanks! -BEPNewt ps. The rubber boots on mine are in good shape, so I'll leave them alone. When they repainted the car, they got some white overspray on them. If they were easy to find and cheap to replace, I would do it.

Truth x 2! It's on it's second tank of gas since I got it. The first one lasted barely over 1 day. I drove it ALL over going to body shops and getting quotes, etc. That day plus 1 trip to work and back drained it... ... and it ran out while showing right at 1/8. I was 1/8 mile from the gas station when it started sputtering. I'd read some other threads where people mentioned theirs runs out "early" so I crossed my fingers and made it, hoping that it really _was_ out of gas and there wasn't something else wrong. I'll check into it. I probably will run it out of gas and drop the tank, which will make it a bunch easier, let me see more of what's going on down there, and as a bonus, more of a learning experience. Can't beat that. -BEPNewt