patrickaturner

A quick update for everyone: I determined two things that were keeping the tail/brake lights from illuminating: 1. The metal inserts in the sockets weren't holding the bulbs securely so I removed them and crimped them slightly. That created a much more solid connection with the bulb. 2. I figured out that the turn signals will work with the sockets not inserted in the tail light housing, but the tail/brake lights will not. Once the bulbs were firmly held into the sockets (see #1 above), when I inserted the sockets into the housing, both the brake and tail light functioned normally. This all started when I began an attempt to install an LED conversion kit from Dapper Lighting (https://www.dapperlighting.com/products/1963-1964-buick-riviera-sequential-led-tail-lights). Now that I know for sure I have fully functional stock tail lights, I might return to the process of attempting to install this kit.

@BulldogDriver and @RivNut, thank you for your help. I have tail light power to the socket when the the headlights are on, so there must be a grounding issue or an issue with the bulbs or sockets. The bulbs fit a little loosely in the socket, so I think I'll start by trying to crimp them a little to see if I can get the bulb to fit more tightly. Stay tuned for an update.

Ray, did you just solder a ground wire to the original socket?

Thanks for you help, @BulldogDriver. Where did you purchase your sockets that have a ground wire?

Hi @RivNut. A question for you: For some reason my tail lights and brake lights have stopped working. The rear turn signals still work though. When I pull the bulbs and touch a voltage sensor to the contact in the socket, I have power. But with the bulbs inserted they don't light up. The. bulbs are brand new 1157's. Do the sockets have to be in the tail light housing for the tail/brake lights to work? Is 1157 the correct tail light bulb for a 1964 Riviera? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

I'm taking my seats out today to have some upholstery work done. Any tricks to removing the plastic trim around the bottom? Or, is that not necessary to unbolt the seats from the car?

I recently purchased a 1964 Riviera that has been updated with a modern Edelbrock carburetor. The previous owner decided to also go with an Edelbrock air cleaner which I am not fond of. Fortunately, I have the stock air cleaner and hope to install it. Has anyone found a solid way adapt the old air cleaner with its 4.125" opening to fit a modern carburetor with a 5.125" opening without adding too much height?

@RivNut, do you know if the horse shoe trim pieces are manufactured to fit a specific location (i.e. passenger side, lower) or are they universal?

No worries @Black River. This is good information.

@Black River, I can't tell from the photo, do you have the stock drums on the front, or have you converted to the car to discs? Nice car!

Update on this thread: I was finally able to get all four wheels on the car. Here's what I ended up doing: 1. Removed stock front drum break setup and installed a Wilwood disc break kit (https://www.opgi.com/riviera/1963/brake-systems/disc-brakes/BR03001/) 2. Had a machine shop mill a chamfer on the end of the rotors to fit inside the center bore of the wheels—the end of the hub on the rotor was hitting the outside end of the center bore of the wheel. 3. Also had the machine shop enlarge the center bore on all four wheels slightly. That way they fit perfectly around the hub of the front discs and on the stock rear drums. I'm pleased with the ways the wheels fit. No spacers needed. No funny mill work that will keep me from being able to rotate the tires front to back. And best of all, it rides great and stops much better. Next up I plan to rebuild the front end and install 1" lowering springs on all four corners.

Hi @Grapeman, Are you running the spacers so your new wheels will clear the stock hubs? I bought an aftermarket set of wheels but they won't fit around the hubs on my 1963 Riviera. Did you need to install longer studs to make your wheels fit properly with the spacers? Thank you, Patrick

Hello @Jim Cannon, Thanks for your interest in my car and your willingness to help decode its history. I have a few photos of the car, but not many detail shots. If you'll let me know what I should photograph, I'll shoot and upload photos of those details so you can get a closer look. The car is in pretty rough shape aesthetically, but mechanically it is very sound. I drive it pretty regularly and plan to restore it to near factory condition in the coming years. Any guidance you can provide on what definitely needs to be preserved would be much appreciated. It is pretty exciting to think that this car rolled off the line so early in 1963. Thanks, Patrick Turner

Thanks for all the input. I had an inkling that this car was fairly early off the line, but wasn't sure how to verify that. The VIN on this car is 7J1001104 which would seem to jive with the low body tag number. This car also has power vent windows which is an option I've not seem on many 1963 Rivieras. My exposure to this year/model might be more limited than yours, Ed and Tom.

Thanks for your help @1965rivgs. How can you discern the week of production from the body tag?

I guess what I'm asking is, what does the "100" after the FB mean. Does that mean this was the 100th car off the line in 1963? Thanks for your help!

According the decoder on the Riviera Owners Association website (http://rivowners.org/features/Ev_Stats/colortrim/63-65.html), I think this placard is indicating that this car is serial number 100.

I'm trying to verify the serial number on my 1963 Buick Riviera. I thought that I had determined it based on this plate located on the firewall, but now I'm second guessing that. Is this the right place to find the serial number, or should I be looking somewhere else?

Has anyone had any experience with putting a 1965 Riviera rear bumper on a 1963? I'd really like to clean up the rear of my 1963 by filling in the tail lights in the body and moving them to the bumper.

Thanks for the detailed information Frank. Was the center bore on the Cal Custom spacers you bought large enough to fit around the hubs, or did you have to machine it to fit?

I'm sure Summit would take the wheel back, but I really like the looks of the Boss 338 wheel. Since the wheel clears the rivets on the front drums, I supposed I could just have them all machined to clear the hubs. I will probably still need a 1/8" spacer on the front to clear the steering control arm, but that shouldn't be hard to find or have made. When I finally solve this puzzle I'll post some images so you can see how everything turned out.

I picked up a pair of Mr. Gasket (http://www.summitracing.com/nv/parts/mrg-2371/overview/) 5/16 wheel spacers from Summit Racing. They fit the lug pattern and around the rivets on the front hubs, but the center bore isn't large enough to fit around the hub. Even if it did fit around the hub, it doesn't look like the lugs would be long enough to show enough thread to safely keep the lug nuts on. So, I guess I'm back to square one. I'm thinking the best approach is going to be converting the front to disc brakes and machining the back wheels to fit around the stock hubs. Any other ideas?

steelman, I bought the wheel from Summit Racing. I'm sure there's adequate material to make the center bore larger to fit around the stock hubs and axles. I'll look into that this week. The wheels are 8" wide, so keeping them centered in the wheel wells makes good sense.

Fragels, where did you get your spacers? I need to order a pair. Thanks for your help!

I found it odd that the drums are riveted to the hubs. I've never seen that before. If I switch the hubs, I'll definitely leave the rivets out. I'm going to start with a universal spacer and see how that works out. If I'm not comfortable with how that comes together, I think I'll go with the idea of converting the front brakes to disc. There is room to machine the wheels to fit the large hub on the rear, so that'll solve the problem on both ends.