BulldogDriver

You can search my posts. I did a Vintage Air Gen 4 in my 63. It can be done using the original slider controls and vents. The only issue is that a Gen 4 will take up too much area to be able to put the original radio back in. I believe it is because of the defroster vent being in the center of the dash. 64 & 65 have not encountered the problem from what I’ve seen. Others have used a Gen 2. Ray

Thes guys have the best that I have seen. I was able to get pretty much everything for my 63. https://www.steelerubber.com/search Ray

I had the same issue on my ‘63. Used 2 set screws epoxied into the lid. Make sure not to use too long screws so they clear the console. I finished them off with acorn nuts. Ray

Original weather stripping on my 63. Steele Rubber should have replacement set. Ray

All, I'm sorry if anyone took my statement as being a dig at their pick for the hobby. It was my observation of how the automotive industry has progressed to what it is today. A GM product is pretty much the same from one platform to next now. GM has been an entity for more than 80 years and before the 70’s there was still a uniqueness that made it exciting to see what the individual divisions would produce year to year. I can’t get excited at what comes off of their “same” assembly line today. For me its been that way since the 70’s. And once again that is my personal opinion and should be construed as such. My father and I have had over 100 pre 70’s classic cars. These ranged from V16 Cadillacs, Duesenburg, Lincolns, Imperials, if it was big and rare it was worth buying. Dad even bought a barn of 40 various makes in the early 80’s just to get the 3 Imperials that were part of the deal. I had 2 65 one owner Rivieras with less than 50k miles in 1980 and would still have at least one of them to this day if they weren’t lost in a senseless fire back then. Growing up in the 60’s gave me the opportunity to still see a lot of the great automobiles from that period still on the road and daily driven. Yes it has giving me a respect for their uniqueness compared to what has come after them. Drive a luxury automobile from that period, you’ll understand from perspective. I’ve never had much interest in “hot rodding” these things and only had one highly modified ‘62 Jaguar XKE. Was built by an engineer on the Corvette team. Very fast but the police looked for it every time it was on the street. Sold shortly after getting it from Detroit. Today you would be hard placed to find any car that doesn’t have power windows, AC, auto transmission, power steering, cruise control, etc. The same applies for boats. I have had the privilege to have owned and restored them going back to 1911. Among the many, I restored an early 50’s 25’ Chris Craft Continental speed boat; one of only 2 ever produced with a pair of Cadillac V8’s. A Lyman lapstrake with a pair of Chrysler Hemi’s with dual AFB carbs. Nothing rides like these wood hull boats. Today they look the same and pretty much ride the same. All the things that made luxury a privilege than and what I mean by “soul of the machine”. Not so much since than. Once again, my opinion and to be taken as such. Ray

Sorry but I see these ‘new’ cars as just GM products. Granted the 3800 is a good engine but it’s shared across multiple GM platforms. And I applaud you guys that stay loyal to the brand. What happen to the ‘soul’ of the machine? Give me a Gen 1, 2, or even a 3. I’d even take my 36 Fleetwood with it’s archaic technology. If not just about any car today is like the other and if you close you eyes you can dream your in a luxury piece. Just my observation. Ray

To get the radio mount plate off you need to remove the ashtray assembly first. Then remove radio knobs and the nuts and washers off of the radio shafts. Up behind the radio plate are 2 nuts, 7/16” if I remember correctly, need to be removed than, if the radio is loose enough, pull the bottom away first as the plate has 2 tabs that lock under the lever plate. If the radio isn’t loose, there are hex-head screws holding the rear to the frame. To remove the lever assembly you need to get the dash pad off as the levers have 6 cables attached to them. If I remember correctly you can somewhat still drop the assembly down with the cables attached. To do this you need to remove the 4 screws visible than there are 2 nuts on either side up inside the dash. Shine a light in there and you will see them. The assembly needs to be pulled toward you a bit as it also has tabs to hold it in place up by the black trim of the dash/console. There are switch connectors for the antenna and courtesy lights that have to be removed. You’ll see them. Ignore the vent hose attachments in my photo, I have Vintage Air AC. Ray

If you have access to a double flare tool just flare the end out to a bulge and not all the way to a double flare. Will hold a worm clamp just fine. Ray

Steve, I looked at that option and the problem was that using a 14" base for the opening created a problem with having both the air cleaner bottom and the new 5 1/8" opening metal to conform to each other. To do this right you will need to weld it together. The new metal is so much thinner that the original and to bend/hammer the new metal will distort it too much to be useful. Your photo shows how much needs to be done to have the two fit. Just cutting the opening out of the 14" base is going to distort it greatly unless you have access to a metal nibbler or plasma cut which I'm sure is not in everybody's shop, definitely not in mine. even if you did get the two to mate properly you still have to contend with removing the plating on the new metal. My idea of the pipe allows the new opening to be tacked in place, the base hammered to conformed to the new opening and finished welding without the opening being distorted. both have greater strength; the original base is heavier than a 14" air cleaner and much larger surface area to flex. Anyway, the post was to see if anyone wanted to use my suggestion. Ray

Cars or BestOfferCounts should have that seal Ray

Steve the whole point of this topic is to keep the car looking as original as possible while upgrading things that are getting hard to find. I have 14” air cleaners and they are a compromising option. Plus to me they look out of place on our cars. I know the options out there but what I’m presenting is another and I’m looking for people that what to get this pipe at a fair price rather than the ridiculous price quoted for 1 piece. Ray

Flat roll is a thought and I have a local guy that can put a bead/lip on it. Either way you will still have to cut and weld the air cleaner base. The pipe option is a cleaner way and in my opinion a better fit to the carb/EFI air horn. Also it gives more substance to weld and flatten the air cleaner base to. I’ve been looking into this for quite some time now and this to me is the cleanest solution if you don’t have the “old” AFB horn option. Ray

Tom this is an option for when you can’t or don’t want to use an AFB top. EFI is an example or Qjet. Just throwing the idea out there. Ray

Email them. They have always gotten back to me in a timely fashion. Ray

So in my pursuit to keep my car looking as original as possible I am getting ready to modify the original air cleaner to be able to be used on a 5 1/8” carburetor or EFI air horn opening. I have verified with an AFR gauge that the adapters that take a 4 7/32” air horn bore to a 5 1/8” are not a good solution. Matt Russell of Nailhead Buick.com as written a Facebook blog on this. They disrupt the air flow and create flat spots and in my case a severe lean condition. So I’ve found a solution that will require cutting and welding, but if done with care you can retain the original look, only needing to respray where no one will see unless the cleaner top or the whole unit is removed. I’ve found a source for a piece of pipe that has an ID of 5 1/8” and OD of 5 1/2”. This will clear everything and will allow the air cleaner to sit at the original height. You need to cut an opening in the base of the cleaner to 5 1/8” and weld the pipe to it. There will be some flattening of the sheet metal but can be done if you are comfortable with that sort of thing. A body shop that is any good can perform this. I’m looking to see who else other than myself has interest in doing this. If I buy one piece it is some ridiculous amount of $120 for one piece. If I buy quantity of 10 it drops to about $20 each. So it would be $20 each plus cost to ship to you. Let me know. Ray

Pick a large city that has a strong following of classic cars and ship it to them. Or be smart and put a late model s12 alternator and an external regulator eliminator on the car. Hide it under the regulator and put the original on your “to keep” shelf. NAPA has a replacement in stock most of the time. Ray

If you use the search function here on the forum most if not all of the questions have been discussed in depth. Ray

https://ssl.corvair.com/user-cgi/pages.cgi?function=&category=buick&dbkey=24&level=1 they have the best interiors for gen 1 Rivieras Ray

This should work HAYDEN 2747 Ray

Had a thread that I had posted a ton of info to that the same thing happened. Went to reference my posts and no thread. Asked an Admin for explanation and still no answer. Was many many months ago. Ray

This publication has all of the information on driveshaft design and reasons for setting the angles. Somewhere on the net I read what a vibration on acceleration and deceleration meant and how to adjust the angles to correct for the vibration. I’m on the road the next couple weeks and will try to post those posts but may not be till I return home. https://www.waterousco.com/media/wysiwyg/pdfs/content/J3311-1-DSSP.pdf If I remember correctly Buick was using CV joints in other models in 1963 and moved over to them in 64 Rivieras. I would think the shorter front driveshaft for ST 400 transmissions would be the deciding factor in this. I have a 64 shaft in case vibration was a problem on my application with a 4L60E transmission but has not been a problem as of yet. All of my u joints and bearings are new and the best quality available to us. I would think that making sure these parts are at the best condition possible is the most important thing to get the issuer resolved. Going to a repair shop that works on commercial and industrial vehicles is the answer to getting a driveshaft balanced properly today. Phasing is a key component also. 63 shafts are phased at 101* if I remember correctly. If you make a hybrid shaft, I am not sure how you go about coming up with the correct phasing for application. Maybe the GM engineer mentioned earlier could shine some light on the subject and I would like to here what they have to say. Also I don’t remember if I mentioned that the 63 center carrier bearing housing on my installation had to cut down to the height that 64/65 carrier bearing is. That can be done without hurting the rubber on the housing if your careful when welding the base back on. Ray

Try to find a service group that does commercial/industrial vehicles. Make sure they understand the driveshaft is for a special application and let them know the proper phasing. They know how to balance properly in my experience. Ray

The shims are 1/16” or something close to that. I did a lot of research on this. Back in the day Buick had a kit to check the alignment of the drive shaft. I believe Tom T. has one or maybe Jim Cannon I can’t remember who had posted they had one. Anyway with the technology we have today, and the fact that an Alignment kit is not in everyone’s tool kit, the pdf that I linked to gives the theory and shows what you need to do for a proper alignment. Same theory back than so the only thing that’s different is how to check for alignment. The digital gauge is very accurate and you have to be precise on making sure of the pinion flange being vertical and the car needs to be as it would be if ready to drive on the road. I used 4 tire ramps that were the same height. Don’t forget to zero the gauge before taking your readings. I used the frame were the center carrier bearing is positioned. If someone is going to do this could they take readings before they change anything. As I did a transmission swap to a 4L60E, my readings wouldn’t be much good for a Dynaflow of ST300/400. Ray

Are you sure about Russ not having the 4L60E adapter? Still shows on his site and he has mentioned it to people in other posts recently. Ray

Crest wrench that fits the nut will work. I made sure the wrench was seated all the way on the nut and let the center bearing spin with the wrench. Should also be a sleeve that will lock the nut in place. You would’ve had to bend the edge away from the nut to loosen it. Don't forget the shims under the support. Original ones would stay on the bolts and slide up into the cars frame as one. Might want to use new bolts, lock washers and flats. Ray