BulldogDriver

The o ring is a not a normally stocked size. Fel-Pro TCS 11557 or #313 from previous posting. Ray

If Gene or one of the other guys here on the forum can’t help you out David Jackson on https://www.facebook.com/groups/BuickRivieraOwners seems to have a ton of parts for Gen 1. Ray

I would not worry about the head gaskets at this time. They will not cause an overheating problem and if they are not leaking now you can worry about them after you get the overheating problem resolved. Nailhead heads are not prone to warping that I have heard. they do not blow head gaskets. I would make sure the timing is set correctly and if you are still using points the dwell is correct. Using a process of elimination should get you where you can point to one thing that needs to be replaced. You have flushed the engine, radiator, and installed a verified good thermostat. From the photos of your block I would think that you are ok with flow through it as long as the drain plugs on both side of the block allowed water to flow out freely. Are you using a known good radiator cap that is #15-16? Just because you see the water flow from the top of a radiator does not mean that it is flowing correctly through the whole radiator. I stated that I had my radiator flushed by a guy that has been doing this for more than 40 years. Only so much can be done before the core needs to be replaced. Using a temperature gauge that you can install the sender into the spare hole on the other cylinder head will allow you to see the rate that the temperature rises and cools back down. An Infrared thermometer is not going to give you this information very easily. You need to be able to know the correct temperature to fix your problem. Knowing that you have good flow, a good thermostat, good radiator cap that is #15-16 and the fan is installed correctly (should hold a dollar bill to the front of the radiator), then the only thing that could be causing the problem is the radiator is not doing the job correctly. That was my problem and when the radiator was replaced the high temperature problem was fixed. I was at 200* - 210* all the time at idle and temperature did not drop quickly after moving at any speed. I now have 170-180* moving and never above 195* idling with A/C on and the temperature drops quickly with the car in motion. I live where it is 90* or higher during the summer. Ray

If I remember correctly head gaskets are not left or right and will only go on one way. The oil/water holes are symmetrical but I think the alignment holes were offset. I do think that without a true temperature reading you are just defeating yourself in finding the problem. If go to Russ and Matt’s website they have several articles on the problems you are trying to fix. They are under “Matt’s technical articles”. I also had high temperature issues that were only resolved by replacing the radiator even after having the original one properly flushed out. There is only so much that can be done without re coring it. http://centervilleautorepair.com/ Ray

Gungeey is this your car, Jeff’s, or are you helping him out? I had photos of when I did some work on mine awhile ago and would have to dig the photos up. The replacement tanks from James at BestOfferCounts are quite good, I have one sitting on the shelf as mine was still like new and didn’t use it. Compared them and the new one should sit right in place. There are indents in the bottom of the trunk sheet metal that index the the top of the tank so it cant shift once in place and secured by the straps. Might be a good thing to make sure you can feel the placement before trying to tighten ing it down. Maybe the wire is getting trapped under the indent. As I remember the wire went towards the rear of the car to connect to the one coming from the body. I do remember a cover piece that I remade a rubber piece to replace mine now that it has been posted. BestOfferCounts had the rubber cover that goes over the fill tube at on time in case that has gone bad. Ray

Do you have a way of reading the true temperature of the engine/radiator when it does this? Ray

Original tank would not have rubber straps. If you use rubber on the metal straps yuo will need to add a ground wire back to to frame. Should only have a yellow wire for the sender originally. That wire would be oriented towards the rear of the car as the connector would be in that direction. Adding a ground wire to the sender on the tank is not a bad idea. Photo of your car would be helpful. Ray

Jim I only have a copy of the B/W from the link. Maybe if you contact the post’s originator they might be able to oblige. Ray

Aviation fuel is still leaded. Ray

If you want to try and figure out whats going on with it. https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/youre-the-dynaflow-doctor-manual-free-pdf-public-domain.359974/ Ray

RivNut posted this awhile ago. This shows were the body aligns to the center of the wheels. Ray

This should be correct. Ray

You can get them were they have a gimbal on the hand side. Craftsman, GearWrench, etc. I use mine all the time in tight areas. Ray

The odometer which is what you would be basing the MPG number should be accurate as long as the tires and differential gear ratios are correct for the what the odometer was setup for. Speedometer readings can be off from wear and inherent error’s without effecting that accuracy. Using mile markers would be efficient for checking that. In my experience with GPS it is the most accurate way to gauge true speed and distance traveled. Even if the signal is off by whatever amount, usually no more than 30-50 feet, it is effecting the accuracy of pin pointing exactly where you are at any given time and not so much as speed/distance. Just use a known accurate unit. Ray

The OP has the axle ratio and tire size. The calculator will give them the drive and driven gears for the transmission. Pulling the bullet will confirm that the correct driven gear was installed and they can replace or adjust as needed. Can’t see that anything’s needed past that. I don’t think Buick was running their own set of gears unique to their application. From my observation the parts manual is lacking in the coverage of Gen 1 Rivieras. Ray

Use this to calculate what should be in the car. You should be able to pull the bullet out after removing the cable and count the number of teeth on the shaft. It should match the color in the chart. https://www.tciauto.com/speedometer-gear-calculator#2004R EBay lists these parts all the time. FYI make sure the shaft is the same length or a little longer as the one you pull out. Also make sure the seal is seated all the way in the bullet if you replace the seal/bullet. Ray

Gearbox out of a Cadillac would work fine. I did one from an Eldorado from the early 70’s and had it and the pump rebuilt. Definite improvement over the original box. Ray

Thanks Ed

Wouldn’t hurt to ask them if they could look in the vacuum cleaner. Ray

Ed, If you have the time could you post the measured height of the new filter and maybe a photo of the old and new filter together. My concern is height. Because of me using an Edelbrock carb and a TPS mounted to the carb, I had to go a little higher with the mounting of the air cleaner. If I remember correctly the Edelbrock is not as tall as an original Rochester so I think it was still close to the height of a Carter AFB. My measurement of a WIX 42092 was 2 15/16” when I compress the lip down with a flat bar. Your photos seem to show the new filter being a bit higher than an original filter, my lid sits tightly to the body with the filter installed loose with no gap between the 3 parts. Ray

Oops sorry Ray

These guys have them listed for front and rear. Looks like there is a number that might be the Bilstein part number listed. https://www.performanceonline.com/1963-65-Buick-Riviera-Rear-Bilstein-Shock-Absorbers-55-R410/ Ray

I installed a Vintage Air in my car and yes it is a bit of a challenge to fit it up tight inside, some minor cutting in the center area, and making some extensions for the floor vents, it is very doable using VA’s Gen4 evaporator unit. I think anyone that is up to doing their own work on a car can do this. I had the luxury of being able to do the firewall stuff without working around the engine, mine was out for other work, but others have done this with engine in place. I think one of the nicest things is to be able to use the original controls on my 63 car. The biggest downside for me was losing about an inch of space for the radio and that eliminated the use of the original unit. I have discussed this in other threads. The VA seems to put out plenty of cold air. I’ve had it keep the inside tolerable in 90* plus with the windows down this summer. The thing with converting a R12 to R134 is one unit is made for a particular type of gas and changing over to another will diminish performance. My original AC looked to be rebuildable but once I got into the job it was going to be a lot like what Turbinator Bob went through. So a conversion was looked into. As we are seeing with something as simple as getting an air filter has become impossible and any replacement part questionable as to their reliability will be even more so in the future. My decision to go this route was a matter of reliability and access to parts in the future. The VA conversion has been the least troublesome thing done so far on this car. Installed/charged and has worked fine since. Can’t say that about the other things that I’ve done. I’ve got a good car but it is at best a driver and really doesn’t deplete the gene pool of all the strong original cars out there. It looks original inside and out until you open the hood. Ray

So my order from Cars came in today and……….. filters are for the 2x4 barrel air cleaner. It’s what I expected and will have them returned. I personally think that Ed’s idea is going to be the most logical solution for an air filter. I would not rely on WIX as this is a nuisance thing to them and as they are now a German owned company I can’t see them having any vested interest in our cars. My next step is what Ed has already done. Truly hope this will be the answer. Ray

I checked the dimensions of a 2x4 carb air cleaner and they are not the same. Don’t remember exactly what the difference was but it wouldn’t work for a single carb unit. Ed could you give an example of the aftermarket filters you referred to in your previous post? I have looked multiple times for something that would replace a Wix 42092 with no joy. Ray