PaulMuzz

Speaking of pictures, a good artist friend painted a rendering of my 64 for the Cool April Nights car show in Redding CA coming up.

Please share the details!

According to the original owner who rebuilt the 425 in my 64 he used 5w 20. I don’t think the new engine has more than 20k miles given the owner hardly drove it. Any suggestions or stick with what’s in there? I assume he didn’t use synthetic either.

we had our local car show and a vintage mechanic shop locally quoted me over 8 thousand to install a vintage air in my 64. (Today I have no AC which in Sacramento is an issue in the summer). That is too much for my budget. I believe the units are a few thousand so I'd definitely go the route of self install if you are mechanically inclined. I have 2 years of auto shop training from high school and 10 years working on my first car (68 Camaro) so I may take the plunge. Overall agree if you have a system in place and can upgrade, go with that first. If that doesnt work out, you can alway go the after-market route. Good luck!

were the rally wheels an option in 63 and 64?

Excellent thank you! I hope it’s just as easy putting it back on 😀

Thank you Bill!

A related question is how does the rear back (where speaker is) of the seat come out? It feels loose on the bottom to come out towards the front but the top part seems secured.

not sure if i need to replace this partially rusted piece or put something over the top. Also, is the battery hold down kit here: https://oldbuickparts.com/product/battery-hold-down-kit/ all i need? Right now there is nothing holding the battery down.

yep, mine was just open to the atmosphere but i since inserted a bolt as i had a gas smell in my garage and it helped quite a bit. I have not had any issues with pressure. But also, i never fill my tank over 1/2 full either. Not sure it matters but thought to mention.

I’m having difficulty popping it back in 😂how about another trick 😀

Bingo that worked! It was a bit awkward at first but once I did a version of that 70’s dance move but a lot harder, and it popped up 😀thank you!

Going back to the rear seat removal. I could not quite follow Jim’s approach using wood and I also tried pushing the bottom part of the rear seat towards the back and then up and nothing! It doesn’t budge. I went to YouTube but didn’t have any luck either.

I’ve never seen a customization of the rear taillights like this

@TKRIV very nice Riviera. what size are the rims and tires?

I’ve been looking around for a wood steering wheel for my 64 and do see that the OPGI one that fits for a 64 is a Grant steering wheel. I also saw one on Ebay for $225 (prices have gone up i see!). I downloaded a Grant catalog but have not called in for prices. I have not seen any with the Riviera logo in the middle, only the Buick logo (which I dont mind). Any suggestions? Is OPGI still an option? ($220 with free shipping) or else Ebay seem to be decent options. My ultimate goal is to restore the original steering wheel that is cracked but I know given my time, it will take a while and would like to just swap it with a nice wood steering wheel that doesn’t break the bank. Thanks!

I agree. It nice to do some upgrades. I’m planning to do a few over time like the trunk release and deluxe interior. Longer term I want to put back the dual quads that the original owner had bought the car with (dealer install). It’s been rewarding so far just doing some smaller items and some maintenance. There was a great article in the Riview of someone putting in a bunch of upgrades to their 64, very cool.

Nice 64 for sale: https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1651320/1964-buick-riviera-for-sale-in-west-babylon-new-york-11704

When I read the start of this thread I was think we were talking about this car: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1963-buick-riviera-23/ Which is just a riviera body on a Cadillac chassis. It was also extended a bit in the front and chopped. I thought it would be cool to convert this to a silver arrow replica given the mods that were done but ripping out that Cadillac interior would be next to impossible.

anybody have best practices of installing and pictures of an after market AC on a first generation Rivieria? I'm toying with the idea. Thanks!

I bought my 64 with the cowl vents chromed. Did some first gens from the factory come that way or painted?

Looks very nice. I have almost all the parts except the air cleaner so if you ever have that to sell individually, I’d be interested.

I havent felt the wood one but I do like the color matching steering wheel. Mine has several cracks and it must have shrunk as the metal rings on each side have a lot of play. I’ve seen in the forum that you can buy a kit to patch it up and then repaint it. It’s definitely on my list.

Here’s a few of Betty Blue. I named her after the original owners wife. Not the best lighting and will have to post more in the future.

Thank you all for this valuable information. I was digging around and found an article in the Riview written by Jim Cannon explaining the differences in a 2013 edition. He also pointed to an article on the ROA web site (in the wheels section) that does a very specific comparison between the 63 wire wheel covers and the 64-66 covers and their differences. Very informative. I also found another article from the December Riview on how to take apart and clean them. Fortunately mine are in pretty good shape other than one of them that has the spinner with a pretty hefty set of scratches and some other dents so will be on the hunt for one replacement hub cap. (Or if I have to buy a set) thanks again!