Hazdaz
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Posts posted by Hazdaz
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FI sounds great if you drive your car a lot, or drive it in varied climates or varied conditions. With a carb you essentially have one dumb nozzle for the cold or when hot or when at fuel throttle or when idling with no feedback. Of course I am oversimplifying things, but at the end of the day, I just like to cruise around a little in my Riv during the warmer months and that's about it. I'm not driving it in the winter, or at high altitudes or cross country. Set it for one tune and that's pretty good for all of the conditions that I want the car to operate in. If you asked me before I bought the Riv if FI would have been in the cards, I probably would have said yes. Same with disc brakes. But honestly its perfectly fine without those upgrades. If it was a true muscle car that I was taking to the track or drag racing it, then my answer would be different. But it is a gorgeous cruiser for the summer, and it (usually) handles those duties splendidly.
Now having said all that, I still am interested in hearing more about one's adventures in FI Town and how complicated the process was and roughly how much it all cost. I still enjoy seeing how people modify their cars to suite their tastes - authentic (OEM) doesn't really mean much to me.
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The same YT channel that did the Best Interiors video also posted a video specific to the 1st gen Rivs yesterday. I am sure most of the info he posts is common knowledge to some of the folks in here, but still an interesting watch. I for one, didn't know that this car was "supposed to be" branded as a LaSalle. The story I always heard was that it was supposed to be a Caddy, but they didn't want it since they were already selling everything they could build. The La Salle story is verified by Bill Mitchell (GM's design director) in an interview that is included at the end of the video.
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16 hours ago, XframeFX said:
...when this Audi is say 15 years old.
It's a modern German luxury car.... it will never last 15 years. It will lose 50% of it's value in just 3 years and will have so many expensive repairs needing expensive parts installed with expensive, proprietary tools after the warranty is up that it will be junked long before it comes close to reaching classic car status (which is usually the 20 or 25 year point).
No. Thank. You.
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13 hours ago, XframeFX said:
Naw, it's stuck there. Back during the 2008 financial crisis it was ABOVE Par.
Could've, would've, should've.
On another note. There were two 1st generation Rivieras at BJ Westworld this week. With all the rain here in the dessert (typo on purpose), a car cover on a full custom '64 (bump for hood ornament and side scoops). The other was a 1963 long term family owned. Will follow-up on them:
👍 That is an absolutely beautiful color combo inside and out.
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That's a beer dispenser. It is voice activated. You have to say "Buick, pour me a pint". If it doesn't work, your volume settings are probably off and you have to say it louder. Was fancy tech for the 1960s.
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Well if everyone else is posting their Riv toy models...
(not sure on the scale, but the blue one is Hot Wheels-sized, while the larger one is supposedly GM-authorized)
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3M 77 is fantastic stuff, but there is also 90 and 98 spray adhesive.
I think for this application, you should have used 98 (metal to vinyl). Also keep in mind there are 2 ways of applying it. One way you spray both pieces, let them dry and then adhere them together with pressure. The other way to is spray only one piece and adhere them while they are still wet. One way is instant and permanent and the other is not. (but read the instructions for more info since it has been years since the last time I used it frequently). Scuffing up the surfaces to increase surface area is also a good idea. A thicker coat is NOT usually beneficial.
And to be clear, contact adhesive and spray adhesive are essentially the same thing, just one is applied with a brush (and is much more difficult to get even), and the other is sprayed from a can.
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1084398O/3mtm-spray-adhesive-selection-guide.pdf
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On 11/23/2023 at 2:56 PM, crowvet said:
Someone has been messing with ChatGPT
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16 hours ago, NTX5467 said:
The OTHER issue with those Rivs is that the dealers probably didn't know "how" to order them and "how" to best sell them. The pictured car is pretty advanced for back then. I liked the push button switches, which were also similar to the N-cars, but they did tend to cause more problems than the earlier style of switches, as I recall.
Composite headlights were still new, back then, and probably cost more to do. As things have transpired, I'd much rather have individual sealed beams than composite headlights in the current timeframe. NO need to refinish them due to age deterioration of the clear lens and easier to replace. PLUS probably costing less to produce, although there were more parts involved. Therefore, considering all of the new stuff on those Rivs, the headlights were probably "cost savers" in the grand scheme of things.
One other item I recall is the Rivs had a plastic-filmed inside surface on the windshield. Common razor blades could not be used to scrape inspection stickers and such from their surface without damaging it. SO, "plastic razor blades" were sent to the dealers for such activities. The film was there for occupant protection in the case of an accident, IIRC.
Chassis tuning was another area that GM was struggling with. All of the cars had struts by that point in time, which did not ride as smooth as the prior suspension systems did, nor were as "sound isolated" from the occupants. Buick opted for the softer side of things, as a harkening to the earlier orientations of smoothness. Possibly a mistake, too. I rented a fwd LeSabre for a weekend excursion and was appalled at how little control the struts had, as they were just too soft. With the cruise set at 70mph, some imperceptible dips in the Interstate roadway would use ALL of the available travel, up and down, before the car finally settled back to level. This surprised me, but when I saw a first-gen C-car on the access road, doing the same thing, I just shook my head "What were they trying to do?"
I think that Buick felt they were in trouble on many levels, back then. Trying to be a technology leader was not working, especially combined with corporate production cost goals. Going a step higher with voice command controls, as many cars also now have, might have made things better for the Graphic Display Center.
Another item about that GDC, by pushing two buttons at once, for a few seconds, would put the screen into vehicle diagnostic mode. Which would allow techs to fully diagnose many things from the driver's seat. Cadillac, I believe, had this capability too. Kind of like an on-board scanner of sorts. Unfortunately, those things vanished after this platform of E-body ended.
The issue with the mass air flow sensors seemed to vanish after this platform was replaced, too. Buick was adamant, in their TSBs, that ONLY GM-supplied MAFs be used as some aftermarket brands had poor solder joints in their circuit boards and poor quality control. All valid points, very possibly. I figured, later, that it had to do with the GM suppliers as GM was obviously seeking lower pricing from them. Each of the three model years had different MAFs.
At the corporate levels, there was a good bit of "group think" in the board rooms. A corporate big wig got "some" idea and the underlings found ways to support those things, rather than "discuss" them with facts, by observation. Not just at GM, but elsewhere, too. Many opportunities were missed as people seeming didn't dare "dream big" and head in that direction. Unfortunately, IF they might, it was "the wrong dream", following the status quo generally was followed, which had its own pitfalls.
Obviously having a "little brother" N-car look substantially the same was NOT a family tie that worked, especially when the introduction sequence was "backward". Which further accentuated the apparently "no internal conversations" orientation I observed from GM at the time. Another reason they had issues, by observation. Which also tended to be the result of some internal actions which eventually led to Oldsmobile being deleted unnecessarily.
An observed issue was that GM had TWO fwd platforms with wheelbases only about ONE inch different. The X-car was shorter and the N-car was longer. Which also generated different divisional differences, too. IF GM had combined them into one platform, with completely different outer skins, they would have saved more money than they suspected.
Engineers doing their best to advance their craft, as stylists tried to maintain expected styling cues and orientations while also moving things forward, with some "new marketing orientations" based on vehicle price points rather than customer demographics, all conspired to make GM what it was in the middle 1980s era, in the smaller platforms. It took quite a many years for GM to learn how to build unibodies which were quiet and smooth, by observation. At a time when corporate funding was thin, in retrospect.
Just some recollections,
NTX5467
Some of these same topics are discussed in an interview with Bob Lutz on the same channel as the video I posted above. Bob has always been a straight-shooter and describes a lot of the internal struggles in trying to fix things at GM (and the other Detroit carmakers) in that era.
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1 hour ago, rocketraider said:
classic example of a company listening to consultants instead of customers.
Isn't that the truth! So many lost opportunities during the Malaise Era, but pinching pennies or listening to out-of-touch consultants ruined them.
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Interesting video for a car that I personally was not too familiar with. Remember seeing these growing up, but I never considered these all that special. I can appreciate them a little more now that I am older, but I still see most late 70s, 80s and early 90s GM vehicles as missed opportunities - cars that could have been special but missed the mark because of incompetent executives that destroyed the company.
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I think I am a little partial to the Torq Thrust-style rims that a few other people have on their cars too. I do love the way they look, but if I was to do it it all again, I think I might go with a modern rally-style wheel. Not the Buick rally wheels, but maybe something more like the ones on this white Impala. I would also probably go 1 size smaller than what my current rims are - get a little more sidewall. But definitely bigger diameter than stock.
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19 minutes ago, rocketraider said:
I've got to where if I find them at an auction, estate sale or flea market and they look like they've been reasonably well cared for, I'll take a chance if I can get it cheap.
No idea how well they would work, but doing a quick search on Amazon and it looks like Dwell meters can be had for as little as $25 or so, and apparently some regular multimeters have a dwell setting (but I assume most don't).
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He uses his 2nd gen Riv to show how to set points and timing. Might come in handy for some.
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On 10/1/2023 at 3:44 PM, NC1968Riviera said:
An owner of a 68 GS was talking about how his engine revs too high at hiway speeds because of the 3.42 rear end in his car. He says it nice for quick launches at the stop light but not so much for hiway driving.
That sounds like his transmission wasn't getting out of 2nd. Or maybe even 1st.
Maybe I am mucking up the math, but at 60 MPH, he should be spinning at only around 2000 RPM with 55R16 tires and a final drive of 3.42. It shouldn't be screaming, it should be just a few hundred RPM above idle at that speed.
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I'd rather 3D print them for less than 1/2 that cost.
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I kind of dig it. I think I would have called it the "Rivette"
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Shame none of these events happen closer to home. Home being in the Northeast for me.
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Is '64 the same as '63?
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I'm going to look on the positive of this and say that the rear taillights almost look kind of cool.
Remind me a little of the rather famous 69 and 70 Cadillac Eldorado taillights.
That kind of pays an homage to the origins of the Riv since it was first pitched to sold as a Cadillac before Buick got it.
The rest of it, I just don't want to look at it.
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I had used this site for a mini tutorial. Again, it isn't for your year Riv, so everything is similar, but not the same.
https://www.1964buick.com/resto_logs/center_support/center_bearing.htm
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That looks a lot like the one on my '64. I wonder if it actually is the exact same part on the later cars. As you can see in the second pic, my rubber had a crack in it, but even after changing it, the noise/shimmy didn't go away. I was very careful in keeping the rotation of the driveshaft the same going-in as it did coming-out (marked it and everything), but in the back of my head, I wonder if the timing is off. I checked the u-joints and they looked fine on mine at the time, but then again I'm no pro. This was all done over a year ago.
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The grounding is almost always the first thing to look into in cases like this.
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9 hours ago, jframe said:
This guy has several good videos on YouTube. I especially like the factory assembly photos; I've never seen those before.
My understanding is that he used to work for GM. He has a 3 part series where we interviews Bob Lutz too and it's a fun (and yet still depressing) video talking about how clueless GM execs were with many of their 80s to 00s decisions.
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Front turn signals-1963 Riviera
in Buick Riviera
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Its (almost) always bad grounding.