RockinRiviDad
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Posts posted by RockinRiviDad
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I was hesitant to try this upgrade on my car. I was even more hesitant to post it due to my lack of knowledge/understanding of these electrical components. The vendor who I bought from offered Tech Support so I pulled the trigger. Luckily for me, a local Hot Rodder buddy of mine was going in the same direction with his 63 Falcon. He is very knowledgeable in this field, very meticulous about his automotive wiring & he agreed to help me with my install...woo whoo!!
The first step was to determine where to mount the CDI box, power distribution block & relay. Years ago I ripped out all my AC/heater components & never installed a new unit. Someday, I hope to install a Vintage Air type unit. Until then I have tons of room under my dash now. So what the heck, thats where I chose.
I made a mounting plate out of 16ga sheet metal, drilled/cut slots in it, put a nice bend in it & sandwiched the plate under the radio & existing center console cross bracket. My placement worked out great for my buddy to work his wiring magic.
Once wired & installed I fired her up & followed the instructions for setting initial & WOT timing (10-14 & 30 per The Martins) on the Sniper handheld. Then I confirmed my setting with a timing light. After a couple of adjustments my Sniper EFI is now able to communicate with my Hyperspark distributor & adjust timing as needed.
Initially, I ran into some RFI/EMI (Radio Freq/Electro Magnetic Interference) issues. Again, I am new to all this & not familiar with this terminology. So, I found myself using the Tech Support offered by the vendor & also combed thru the forums looking for solutions. I found that these electronic components can be sensitive to RFI. In most cases it is something super simple and/or user error. In my case, I had to add a ground strap to the base of my air cleaner. My air cleaner was acting like an antenna & causing my system to “reset” which kept shutting down my engine. Funny detail: the troubleshooting technique I was given to try & isolate my original RFI problem was to wrap my distributor with tin foil haha...it worked to find the problem, the ground strap fixed the problem
Low story short, she runs great. It might be psychological, but she drives so much nicer now.
Word of advise, if u buy an EFI system of any kind, buy from a trusted authorized dealer versus straight from the big name company’s (i.e. Holley). I had much better luck talking to the vendor about my RFI issues than compared to trying to call Holley. Everyone online who tried calling Holley said they were on hold for hours. That makes sense, everyone was home on lockdown & found time to play with their cars.
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Where in SoCal are u?
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Can we add a “❤️“ option to the “Thank, Haha, Like” tab?? Cuz I ❤️ this thread & I ❤️ your dads story, Gene.
And this one “❤️“ is for all the Vets reading this. THANK YOU!!
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22 hours ago, George Buick Riviera said:
Thanks David. That car left factory with Shell Beige, but we decided to paint it with Sahara Mist.
oops, I misspoke. My cars original color was Champagne Mist. I thought that was what u chose. Your choice is super nice too 👍🏼 -
Looking good!!
That was the original color my car was born with. Someone painted it black before I got it-
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On 8/24/2020 at 11:15 AM, 39mm said:
Anyone have any experience with Proforged brand?
I see this brand advertised on RockAuto as their Heavy Duty option at $50 each. They have upper & lowers. I would like replace my torn boots. But I can’t find uppers & lowers from MOOG.Does anyone know anything about this Proforged company?
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Disregard this if u simply don’t wanna try to repair it. But I would try to repair that. Here is a link to a thread I posted on how I made a similar repair
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WHOA!! Where is that? That’s AWESOME!! Thx for sharing
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I’ve been working on my car for 8 years…I’ve been documenting my steps here the whole time & combing thru the threads here to learn…I don’t know how I didn’t hear about Gene until months ago…super nice guy 👍🏼
I learned that his Veteran dad was portrayed in the mini-series “Band of Brothers”. Heart wrenching series…I had asked Gene to thank his father for his sacrifice…but he told me his father was no longer around 😢
I’ve been recommending Gene to everyone I know who needs parts ever since
👍🏼
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16 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:
My wife has been “retied” for almost three years now
So, u “retied” her up in the basement for it? 🤣-
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20 hours ago, TKRIV said:
The 3 of us involved with this project all own 65 Rivs.
That’s the BEST year Riv 😬 -
I tried that a week ago. The boot I order showed up the next day. Super fast delivery. But it didn’t work
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On 8/29/2020 at 5:25 PM, Hans3 said:
torn shifter boot under the console are other culprits.
where did u find a new shifter boot. I need one too -
My first thought is to sacrifice the cardboard box & cut a hole in it from underneath. Then reach in & try to push the door open.
Somehow, without knowing it, I once latched the latch without closing the glovebox door & the door wouldn’t close. I almost forced it closed & the gut got me to look first. That’s when I found the latch had been latched. I’m guessing that is what happened to u.
Or try masking the areas around the door that u want to try & pry from. Then use those non marring plastic pry tools. Wipe it in a sock for more protection & gently try away
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6 minutes ago, arnulfo de l.a. said:
Never realized how much of an improvement bilstiens provide till I drove your car. A world of difference. Makes the car a lot more fun to drive
ooooooh yeah…I totally forgot, your experience after driving my car vs driving your car is a testament to stock shocks vs Bilsteins…preach on brother 🤣 -
I have Bilsteins on all 4 corners. Can’t say how good they are cuz I don’t have anything to compare them to. But I don’t have ANY complaints. It had been maybe 20 years since I drove before the Bilsteins.
Can’t remember the cost. I bought them long ago. U might find more details on my build thread.
If your current front shocks are worn, any replacement would be better. U may like the Bilsteins more & then junk your air shocks for Bilsteins in the rear 😆
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Following. I’d love to hear what others have to say.
I hear wind noise in what seems to be the upper right hand corner of my windshield. I don’t see any voids in the butyl tape. My guess was that it’s wind catching my stainless trim just right????? 🤷🏻♂️
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On 8/22/2020 at 11:41 AM, XframeFX said:
Also, I don't want my park lights to come on with the headlights.
As mentioned above, Buy 'n Try - only $20
Correct. I bought this switch & ALL positions on this switch work correctly. My parking lights DO NOT stay/turn on with the headlightsI specifically purchased my LED’s from SuperbrightLED’s because they were advertised as “dimmable”. But once installed they did not dim. Then I read XFrame’s (John’s) post on another thread about the reostat being too old on his switch to dim the LED’s in his instrument cluster. That’s when the light bulb came on (pun intended 😆) & I thought that might be my problem. So I bought a new switch. This isn’t a magic switch. It’s just a brand new switch 🤷🏻♂️
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I can tell u who NOT to buy ball joints from. But if I do this forum will delete my post.
But I can tell u that I bought mine from Kanter. Here is a picture. U be the judge.
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On 8/20/2020 at 8:49 PM, XframeFX said:
My online searches produced dimmers for buildings.
With this, great, for $20, I'll order one too. However, I bought two 5 watt resistors to modify my spare 1963 switch just yesterday.
To my understanding (I knew all this way back but forgotten), GM had 1963 and older light switches with a certain behaviour. 1964 or was it 1967 where the front park lights come on with the headlights. What are your front park lights doing? They come on with the headlights? Different from before?
Thanks for sharing the tip Dave!
John B.
sorry so late. I had my car apart & I wasn’t able to connect my battery to confirm your suspicion.
No, my parking lights do not come on with the headlights. All positions on my new switch work properly. Here is the link to buy a switch. If u want, u can even buy a super cheap one listed in the link for $7. The ACDelco switch is $18+.
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On 7/1/2020 at 10:21 PM, XframeFX said:
…actually says 'dimmable. However neither dim with the headlight switch. It might dim slightly then, off!
Testing on a power supply, both types of LEDs (194s & BA9s), dim between 4.5 to 7.5 volts. Above 8 V, they are full-on. The rheostat/pot on my headlight switch simply cannot achieve that range with the light load of LEDs. Maybe mix-it-up with some incandescents?
Easy to replace with the dashpad off.
Mine still looks killer as well. Be sure to order 'cool white' for all instrument panel illumination.
And oh, My 194 LEDs flash with the horn!
John B.
On 7/1/2020 at 11:53 PM, RockinRiviDad said:I bought my “dimmable” LED’s from Superbright also. I didn’t install them right away. By the time I got around to installing them & found out my LED’s didn’t dim either it was too late to return them. I thought I bought the wrong ones. Now your “shining new light” on the subject
. So it might be my headlight switch. I’ll will try that.
I bought the correct ACDelco headlight switch new from Rockauto for $20. Popped off my dash top, replaced headlight switch & wha-lah…my instrument panel LED lights finally dim:picture me doing a happy dance:
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. So it might be my headlight switch. I’ll will try that. 
My 65, another build to follow
in Buick Riviera
Posted
Finally completed my Sniper EFI install with the addition of the Holley Hyperspark distributor