devildog93
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Posts posted by devildog93
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I like listening to Lou from car fix. I could do without Jared though.
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Good looking stuff, especially the motor. I really enjoy seeing more 430s.
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Ed i wasn't talking about what was done with 30s and 40s cars. You aren't setting those back in time and making them less functional. I am surely not bagging on the old guys for doing what they did back in the day or i wouldn't have the opportunity to play with some of the cars or engines i like. What i do not like is people doing something just for the sake of being different even if it means cutting off a finger. I don't want to hate on the fat and furious guys for making a buck, but i would have left that build off the show if it were me. I think i am probably not the only guy who would have told that particular customer to head on down the road to someone else who might be interested in that type of build. I'm not in the mechanic business to make something worse than it was before i touched it, and in my mind that car is worse off. Cosmetics can be argued back and forth, but when it comes to safety and driveability issues like with gassers and "donks" i wouldn't budge.
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I realize i am biased as hell, but i hate all gassers, not just this one. I think they are a functional disgrace and just retarded examples of anti-engineering. Who the hell says hey, lets take this car and drop it back 40 years in suspension. This isn't a car any more, it's a crappy version of a dragster...and not very fast at that. How much did it cost them to go into the 11s? It bugs the crap out of me that i know we could do it for the same money, yet retain good braking, handling, and driveability without going full retard. Gassers are like guys who just do curls and say they work out. Goofy garbage.
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I'm not a paint and body guy by any measure, but have worked with one in the shop for a year or two. I can understand how hard it is for them to give an estimate until it is taken all the way down to metal. I know by my project that there is always more than you think and in the worst spots. Body work is definitely the time killer of my project. I am a mechanic by trade, but my project has me competing with my mechanic tools with body tools. I had to buy a separate top and bottom box for just the body tools i am using. I give it up to the guys who do it for a living. I can see there is an art and a science to it and it is easily the most time consuming thing to do even when putting a diy paint job on it. Any paint job requires good prep and a solid foundation, which with most of these cars is asking a lot. I could not justify the expense of having someone else do the paint and body work, so i thought it would be an excellent learning period. I am over the hump, but damn, i can easily say i am looking forward to drivetrain and go fast work and putting the welder,sander,blocks, and mask well behind me.
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Any time someone brings a car back from the dead they deserve a ton of respect. Now the next time the transmission needs it you can do a rebuild and check off every box
Congrats and i hope you get to enjoy it for a very long time. -
Interesting. My hole in the rocker panels looked nothing like that. I had a circular hole that was plugged with a rubber boot. It is about the size of a quarter. Never mind, that hole is in the rear quarters on the inside.
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Found this while digging around today looking for info. on boosted applications for nailheads, seeing what others have done. I was kind of surprised to see the factory had made a turbo boosted 425. http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/2016/03/03/secrets-of-the-buick-nailhead-v8/
I am sure people have improved on it or modified things from there, but it interesting to see the different directions even the factory could have gone.
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I really think when it comes to riveras you are better off doing it yourself if you have the time, don't mind acquiring tools, and aren't going for show quality. I am still in bodywork stage, but have all the supplies to eventually run the rustoleum pro flat paint through a spray gun and try it myself. If i screw it up i can take it down and start over for 100 bucks or so. I figure it is like training wheels for paint work. Stage 1 is this kind of job. As i get better i will work with more expensive stuff. For the money on a daily driver i just don't see how you can beat it. Also, there are a fair amount of colors to pick from, i just like flat black and the ability to carry around your touch up kit in a spray can
I think the trade school paint job is a decent idea also. I have seen some real nice paint jobs come out of vo-techs and that seems like a no-brainer for saving some money.Here's a link to the hot rod article for the guy doing a cheap diy job: http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/paint-body/hrdp-1108-1967-chevy-camaro-affordably-flat-painting/
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I'm going fuel injection at some point anyway, so adding a separate bauman transmission controller wouldn't be much of a hassle. Cutting the trans. tunnel doesn't bother me in the least, it's more about avoiding getting into the frame. I think if i was going with something electronic the 4L80 would be the one i would choose, but it looks like the 4L60E can be built to hold 450 foot lbs.
I want the extra gear, but when you start talking about tearing into the frame or spending 4 grand it makes for a hard sell to the wife. I get questions like : What's wrong with the one you have? Can't you rebuild a different one? I thought you had done transmission swaps before, why would you buy a new one? She keeps me on the ground a bit. With the 200 i would just upgrade all the hard parts to bulletproof it and keep it durable up and beyond what i am going to do with the engine. It would give me room to grow. My gm transmission building ended on the 700 R4 and the 200, so anything electronic is going to be a bit new to me. I am familiar with a couple of the aftermarket controllers though.
Rapom, i wasn't dogging what you had done or saying the frame integrity was messed with. Hell, these x-frames seem a bit cheesy anyway, so you probably improved it. I think what you are doing is great, i am just trying to shave off some fab time if i can.
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I started out with my grandfather helping me replace a timing chain on a 78 camaro. The do-it-yourself bug skipped my father for the most part. My grandfather could fix or tinker with anything. IT wasn't always conventional. His way of checking fire was to stick his finger in a plug boot. I did not put that in my bag of tricks. After leaving the military i went to automotive school and was lucky enough to have a 1 of the 4 instructors be a mechanical genius who was actually a great teacher. From there it was dabbling with rebuilding transmissions and home hobby jobs for a while as side work while i worked as an electronics technician. Now i work out of a shop and have a network of knowledgeable guys to bounce things off of. The internet has also been a huge help. Alldata doesn't have all the information you need no matter what they say. The internet usually has the rest even though you may have to slog through a bit of crap to get to what you need. Car club sites such as this help immensely on older cars, and there are sites that pertain to most of the newer ones. Youtube covers the rest usually but you have to get around some of the nitwits at times.
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I have actually built a few 200-4r's, so i'll be grabbing a couple of cores and starting from scratch i think. Most likely i will get the hardened parts necessary from Art Carr's site. The other option is a built crate transmission from Monster or something similar, but they run around 1700 or so. Add in the adapter plate and we're back into the over 2000, so i may be rebuilding one myself. It seems like space is just a big issue. With the right parts they can stand up to 800hp motors and i doubt i will be anywhere near that, like ever. I had been thinking about the gear vendor overdrive seriously hard because the 400 i have is running relatively well and just needs a freshen up to be in good shape. It sounds like adding a gear vendor overdrive takes up a bit more space than i want. I think if i did that i would end up boxing the whole frame and that just seems like more work than i need to make a good driver.
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Excellent job Rapom and good info. for those of us considering this. So now that i have a pretty good amount of data about the 2 options i have been thinking about to get overdrive, i am now leaning back towards building a 200-4R.
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Fitech has a $1000 efi setup, closer to $1400 if you opt to go with the command center which allows you to keep your mechanical pump. There have been a few good reviews on them so far. Holley is introducing a very similar setup this month i think called the sniper. Those are 2 options well under the 2500-3000 target you would have to hit with fast-ez efi or something along those lines. Supposedly the FItech system works well with single plane intakes.
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You aren't kidding one bit. Things are getting more and more specialized. I run out of a shop where i was lucky enough that the owner had 40 years of acquiring tools and such and we still don't have all we need for things you might think are common. Between he and i we cover a lot of things, but the amount of specialty tools newer cars require is getting goofy. Things like a harmonic balance puller - you might think 3 would cover it but no, there are surely two more you need to get some oddball jobs, and that is just on domestics. I try to avoid buying things i will only use a handful of times, but sometimes i just don't know how common it is going to get.
The good thing is if it is something i personally need i can get it for the home shop and have it if i ever needed it at work. This little discussion has made me think about getting or building an a-frame again. I have an engine hoist, but a buddy of ours has an a-frame and, well, there is no comparison if you have room for one. An a-frame and a car rotisserie would be sweet. Then again, so would having the extra space to have those things.
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Maybe it's just me, but i always pull the front off anything if i can. More room to work is always a good thing. It just makes everything else easier when lining things up. Hell, with the newer cars half of them have to have the front end pulled off to do an engine swap while some come out of the bottom after removing front suspension parts and braces. Same with the last one i did. I probably didn't have to remove the front of an f150 to get cleared, but once i got the front off i didn't have to worry about much of anything. I usually keep my hoist set at the one ton position.
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There is absolutely nothing wrong with a 430 or 455 and you have plenty of performance options for adding power. There are rebuild guides and different builds out there to pick and choose from. As for adding fuel injection, the FItech fuel injection system is becoming popular. I think it has been out a year or thereabouts. Holley is coming out with the sniper at around $1000 and looks a lot like the FItech version. This is an alternative to the fast-ez efi coming in closer to $2500. That should be a decent starting point if nothing else.
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Forgive me for taking liberty with the intent of this posting. But I've shared below some changes I'd wished the Buick engineers and designers had made when the first generation Riviera was introduced. I can think of many, but here's a dozen items I'd wish for if I was buying a new car back then (in no particular order)...
1.) leather seat option on '64 and '65
2.) 425 cu. in engine standard in '63 and '65
3.) three speed automatic standard in all three years
4.) a four speed manual transmission option
5.) move the front seat positions back 3 - 4"
6.) double hinge the center console glove box door, so it lays flat
7.) an antenna that goes all the way down, flush with the fender top
8.) a gas tank fill that isn't so difficult to reach or stick a modern nozzle into
9.) a more robust or reinforced glove box door latch
10.) dash gauges, rather then idiot lights
11.) a more easily serviceable heater core
12.) a '65 nose with a '63 '64 sides and rear.
I've made some of these modifications to my '64 Riviera
Oh hell yes on #8 specifically as one i have been thinking about for a while. I don't disagree on any of the others either. A couple of those i haven't run into yet, but i will take your word for it.
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Got the wheels i have to seal, so i don't have to worry as much about airing tires as i do other things to it. Now i'm just looking for wheels that might fit. Has anyone run torq thrust m's? All i had around the shop to test fit were some old american racing rims for a chevy truck. They worked and gave me an idea of the stance and how wide of a tire i can go, but the design was fugly. We seem to only have complete sets of the ugliest rims ever made or ford rims, lots of those.
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I guess i wasn't clear enough. I got all the rust off, but it left a LOT of pits and won't seal for crap on a couple of the wheels, I started with evaporust, then ended up trying the electrolysis tub with washing soda. It took every bit of rust off the wheel overnight and stuck all the rust to the rebar i had in the tub surrounding it. I am going to use a slow charger,rebar, and washing soda to de-rust every part i can from now on. The only by-product is rusty rebar. Much better imho than chemically removing it. Of course not everything can fit in a tub, so i am sure the evaporust will get used. I even used a little tire snot to seal the bead. Basically, they are trash. So it's either get new wheels and tires, or keep airing it up every couple of days when i want to move it. I guess it isn't that big of a deal. Once i get it home i can just put it on jack stands.
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Unfortunately, i don't know about my stance either. I'm wanting to go back fairly stock, but i can't even be sure what that is right now. My front springs are worn badly with the driver's side being the worst. I'm going to get springs/shocks all the way around most likely. I guess worst case scenario i can wait until it is driver ready and drive it down and have them fitted. This project is in a holding pattern at the moment while i try and shift it back to my home setup. Hopefully once i get it home i will have less distractions and a little more alone time to work on everything. Bodywork and bs'ing shop buddies doesn't seem to go together.
On the plus side i got a few things for my home shop : a hypertherm 30xp plasma cutter, a curtis ct5 air compressor with a 2 stage pump, and a hobart ironman 230 mig/tig welder. Once this move is done i should get rolling pretty well. Maybe that's pushing it, but tools shouldn't be an excuse. I have a 1984 bronco project i am clearing out of my garage and swapping with the buick so i have room for the riviera only at home. With the bronco at the shop i shouldn't have any reason to not finish the buick out here.
The wheels are more of an annoyance than anything. I took the old wheels and de-rusted them to the best of my ability using a tub and electrolysis. I got all i could off, but i still have a couple of wheels i have to air up every other day. It's just annoying so i thought i would go ahead and get the wheels as soon as i can if i could find an off the shelf fix or something not too difficult.
- Jeff
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wiggles,adapters and extensions to add to what i saw above. Also, a set of ratcheting wrenches comes in handy. As to the brands, i have a little of everything. I try a ratchet for a while, then i keep it or move on to something else. My favorite ratchet so far have been a set of blackhawks i picked up. The craftsman ratchets seemed junky by comparison. I still have plenty of craftsman stuff i use, like box wrenches, spark plug socket, screwdrivers, etc. Best to see stuff in person i think. Oh, i avoid harbor freight like the plague. I have a buddy that is a cheapskate that gets away with a lot of hf items, but i haven't had any luck. If it is cheap i am bound to break it.
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i am most definitely not a better welder. I am however a hell of a grinder. The only welding experience i had prior to this was welding boat trailers, which seems pretty damn easy in comparison to welding sheet metal. Blowing holes through material and finding rust you didn't know existed via the welder makes for slow going. I thought i could get away with just a grinder, a file, and sandpaper when i started. I have since picked up an angle die grinder(which i use the crap out of), carbine burrs for hard to reach corners, an air file/sander, and a couple of other tools to fix my welds.
The places i ran into the most trouble were surfaces that looked ok on the front, but had rust on the backside that i could not get to. I found this out by trying to weld to them and the metal running away faster than i was putting it in. Another problem area for me is overhead sheet metal welding. Sometimes i can get the settings dialed in and get the timing right, other times i am blowing through or making a pile. A rotisserie and going body off would have solved that problem, but i'll get better. Nothing that can't be fixed with a grinder and re-welding for the most part, it just slows me way down.
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Think i used about the same, 10 gauge for braces, something between 16-18 for panels/outer body. My 17ish gauge panels were from a 1970 camaro hood and a door skin we had laying around.. The brace material was from new stock.
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Congrats and i hope you get to enjoy it for a very long time.
Brakes just failed on '64
in Buick Riviera
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I second flaring your own lines. After all, it is a good skill to have and you know what you have got when you are done. You can practice with a scrap piece without too much of a problem and flaring tools are not all that expensive. If you mess with old cars the chances of running into one that needs a brake line splice and flare would be pretty high i would think, so being able to do that quickly instead of waiting on proper length systems to install might do the trick in a pinch.