Brtele

Damn, when this many people on a diy forum say don’t do it…. I’m guessing I’m not going to do it, lol.

I've finally decided it's time to tackle the seat upholstery. My seams have been busting everywhere and I'm going to order a set of black vinyl - standard from Clarks. I've never recovered seats before, but I'm going to get it a shot and learn a new task. Hoping to have a refreshed interior soon!

I had a chance to start up the car yesterday and poke around. It's not the motor mount, or the fan blade hitting anything. The AC compressor or the Alternator would make a very little bit of noise when I would blip the throttle hard for a quick second, but it's not the noise I'm hearing. (Knock on wood) - the engine and engine bay started up easily and ran through the choke procedure as designed - couldn't hear a noise at all. Got into the car, pulled into the street and immediately heard the noise as I took off. Got it to do it the entire run around the block. Got back in the driveway and opened the door - I believe it's coming from the driver's side exhaust pipe. I didn't have someone with me, but it's definitely coming from underneath the car and I can get it to do it in Park/Neutral. Motor mounts arrived, but have been put lower on my priority list.

I'll take a look at the shroud and see if there are any marks. Thanks,

I would definitely agree, and that's why I replaced the trans mount. Changed it within the last week and it made absolutely no difference. Thanks for the recommendation tho!

I recently purchased a set of Black Floor Mats from Cars. They arrived and looked awesome - fit was perfect. Steve at Cars was also awesome to work with. Good stuff.

I recently replaced a bunch of transmission "stuff" and had the driveshaft out. None of the u-joints needed to be replaced and the center support bearing/rubber was in fair shape (not brand-new - but nothing alarming). But this groan is growing and is starting to show it's teeth in 2nd gear also. I can manipulate the load/speed to keep it right in the "groan" area. When I shift into Neutral all noises go away (makes me believe it has nothing to do with the driveshaft). While freewheeling in neutral, I can get the groan to present itself by applying a little throttle (maybe 2k rpm - both on the way up and down). It also will make a slight groan while the car is in park and apply a throttle. I know (1) motor mount probably needs to be replaced - so i'll replace both. Hoping motor mount replacement isn't too bad of a mountain to climb.

I'm sad to say my corners are starting lift. I believe I followed the instructions to a "T". I can push them back down and they'll stay for a little, but I know this is temporary. Dang it - I'm going to have to try it again.

No really - if you haven't heard - Buick's do that. If you're a really good mechanic, you just know what to not do and just let it heal itself. Loud radios also assist the self-healing properties of most cars.

The Anchor transmission mount worked great by drilling a hole in the center. I also replaced the filter/pan gasket (Fatsco) and other seals/gaskets (rear output seal, extension housing gasket). Right now everything seems to be dry but I'll keep an eye out for some wet cardboard!

I feel kind of more stupider at the moment, the noise wasn't radio interference - it was one of the pulleys under the hood. Don't know which one as it won't do it again - it fixed itself (this car is amazing).

That's exactly the image I have in my head, but the alligator is actually my rear differential and it's going to "explode" on me 60 miles from my house. I just have a bad feeling - maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Since I purchased the Riviera I've always felt the rear end sagged too low for the stance I really wanted. I didn't want a muscle car rake, but just wanted to raise the rear about an inch. I installed a set of McBay's spring spacers and easily achieved the stance I wanted. I then went for a quick 30 mile spin just to make sure everything was copacetic. Everything felt fine - no squeaking/banging/etc, but when I got up to 55mph I got what sounded like engine radio interference (high pitch whine). I quickly turned off the radio and the heater fan just to eliminate possibilities, but it remained for a little bit and then went away. I played around with mph's and could kind of get it to return intermittently. It sounded just like when your engine would mess up your radio and you'd hear rpm's through the speakers - that's the best way I can describe it. I have an increasing transmission leak that I'm planning to address this winter with a filter/fluid change. I also haven't done much to the driveshaft and nothing to the rear differential. I've had a growing level of "growl" at initial take off from idle. I can get that "growl" to remain steady at a slow 2-3mph crawl. I'll get into this bag of snakes in the next few months, but thought it was weird this happened with I raised the rear 1-1.5". Leads me to believe it's a u-joint and the new angle presented a different pitch. Just thinking out loud.

I'm completely joking on the ride height - I've read some of the ride height discussions and I couldn't help myself from creating this clickbait and possible reader BP increase. But in all seriousness, the ride and handling were night-and-day. PS - I knew it wasn't going to raise the rear end, but it didn't keep me from stepping back and just eyeballing/hoping for a slight increase, haha.

After getting the brake's dual master cylinder project crossed off the list, I decided to replace the existing shocks with new Bilsteins. I'm also needing an increase in rear ride height so hoping these shocks do the trick. I installed the Bilstein 55-R410 shocks purchased from Auto Atlanta. George is a great guy and took the time to walk me through what shocks I needed along with other cool Riv information. Yesterday I easily installed the rears (no broken bolts, not a ton of rust in the eyes, no broken knuckles). Got it all torqued up once back on the ground and took it for a 3-mile spin. I can't wait to do the fronts - just the rear shocks installed was night and day difference in ride and handling. And the ride height increase was spot on. I increased 8/8ths of an inch.

For some reason my search function on this forum works so much better from a PC than my mobile device (phone). Regardless, I went through Fatsco to source the filter and pan gasket. I also needed to replace the transmission mount - that has turned into a wild goose chase that ended with me purchasing an Anchor 2374 (1973 Buick ST400 mount) and I'll drill a hole in the cross member to modify the mount fastener location.

I did see that online but was surprised and a little cautious that only autozone carried it. Maybe I’m just being paranoid.

I’ve got the riviera in the shop to go over the transmission leaks and change the filter. I called Napa- no luck. Is there a filter/gasket/seal set I should look for? Thanks in advance

Is this very difficult to replace utilizing jack stands/jacks? I was searching for a write-up, but had trouble finding one. Thanks

Well I finally got this project crossed off the list. New SS brake lines from Inline Tube (good stuff with the bends pretty close). New front flexible brake hoses. New Dual Master Cylinder (Amazon - Centric 130.62015 - fit perfectly) New Front Brake Wheel Cylinders and hardware - (Rock Auto) Cleaned Outer/Inner Wheel Bearings with Mineral Spirits and repacked with Lucas Red and Tacky Bled Back-to-Front....Finally a really good/firm brake pedal - Now I know I was on borrowed time with the old Single Master. Next chore is replacing the rear springs to raise the car about 1.5" - got a little sag. Thanks to everyone (and old writeups) for all the help throughout this project!

Rear brake line at the distribution block is removed and plugged. I used 3-4 heat cycles and a 3/8" crows-foot flared wrench. Problem though - I got the dual master installed and everything plumbed up - I have a leak and I believe it's from the rear line section. My view is blocked to see where the leak is at, but it's leaking down the steering box - distribution block and associated lines are completely dry. I'm probably just going to dive into the rear line replacement - ugh. I'm going to try and research the best way to remove and replace the line. I'm hoping this isn't too difficult, but i'm not too hopeful.

Ew, that just feels wrong. But it's probably spot on.

I'm having trouble getting my flare wrench on the Rear Brake line fitting at the distribution block. I could take the brake booster out to get more room or put a crows foot flare wrench on it - don't really want to strip this nut. Any advice from the think tank?

Holy nuggets - that thing was on there tight. 3 heat cycles and tons of pb blaster resulted in me cutting the line off at the nut and putting a 6-point socket on it. Still took a crazy amount of force. Ordered all my fittings, adapters and lines from inline tubes - hoping to having everything buttoned up this weekend. Thinking about replacing the rear hard line (through the frame), but don’t know how difficult it is.

Not the mounting bolt, but the tube fitting from the master to the dist block. I agree, I might just cut it, heat it and then put a 6-point socket on it.