Erick R

Yes I wanted to do that but could not with the engine and AC in place. That works too. Erick

Thank you sir. Using a multi tool with a metal blade made cutting easier I was able to do the top and vertical from the driver side and the bottom and the other vertical side from the passenger side , Cleaned up the edges after the old heater core was out and it went well. Not a lot of room to work with and having the AC valve in the way did not help. I hope your and the others information will help our fellow Riviera owners in the future. I hope I never have to do this again. A side note to others getting the blower housings off you must be very careful to NOT start to pry in a corner near the mounting holes they will break or crack I used two screw drivers in the middle slow and steady. I must have talk myself out of doing it 5 times before I took the plunge. It took about 4 hours to see the heater core and about 3 hours to fine tune the cuts and test fits. I cut the wire a little below center so the aluminum spacer would have room to slide up before bringing the two wires together. The wires are under tension so have strong fingers to work them together. It took another 3 hours putting everything back together and starting the engine. Total time over three days was 11 hours not counting running to the stores for parts. The duct seal from home depot( Gardner Bender 1 lb plug Duct Seal compound $4.17) worked well in sealing everything back up . Below is before I cleaned up the bottom edge and installed the heater core. Everything seemed solid went putting the hoses back on. Routing the hoses was a different story. Hope this helps. Erick

Hi All , well I did it a little differently. I cut the holding wire in the middle of the drivers side and then bent the wires up and down out of the way the heater core came out just fine. This let me secure one side of the heater core from the passengers side with the original holding bracket. The new heater core slipped in great I bent the wires back into position and used a alum, spacer from ACE Hardware to hold the wires together. crimped each side and put some JB weld to hold it as a secondary measure. I will finish it off tomorrow. Thanks again for all the help guys .

Thank you very much I will post pictures on my progress to help others in the future. My engine is in place so cutting around the heater core was a tough job but using a flush cut saw with a metal blade worked pretty well. Erick

by the way what sealer did you use to seal the covers back on and where can I get it. Thanks again for any help. Erick

great so where did you put the tape? A little more detail please. Sounds like a good option for me. I want to secure the heater core so something has to come in contact with the core to secure it. Thanks for any help. Erick

Thanks Jim, this helps a lot wish I knew this before I started but I will make it work. Yes the retaining wire is to make sure when you pull on the hoses getting them off you don't pull the heater core with them. Makes sense. Mine has AC it was much harder to get the cover off. On the tech section on the ROA web site the person stated doing it from the engine side took 2.5 hours..... I really do not believe that . It took me over 4 hours to get to this stage. I figure another 4 getting back together..... as long as you do not drop nuts and bolts you cannot find... Thanks again all for the help. Erick

Thanks Tom, so there are some draw backs doing it from the engine side . Since I have to cut the clips any suggestions on how they hold the heater core in place from the engine side? Thanks for any thoughts

Hi By the way so what holds the heater core in place so it does not rattle?

Hi Ed, I looked there but not even the parts manual describes that retaining wire. It just states carefully remove heater core. I was hoping the people who have done the heater core replacement from the engine side would have run into this problem. Thanks for the help . Erick

ok guys I am this far into this nightmare . please see the attached picture it appears there is some sort of wire clip holding in the hear core. So how do I get it out? Thanks for any help.

Hi All, The guy I bought my 1964 riv with a 425 looks like he stripped the threads for the oil sender unit. He put a tapered thread in a straight thread hole. I have tried the "lock tight" thread restorer no luck, "JB weld" no luck still leaks oil. It is as you all know a tough place to get to any ideas on how to solve my problem? I do not want to have to pull the engine so I am hoping for some help. Thanks Erick

Hi I have a 1964 buick riviera 425 and at freeway speeds oil is pushed out the oil breather. the PCV is new sealed and working. seems to be OK on side roads but on the freeway goes through a lot of oil. The only breather is on the oil fill tube. The engine has after market BUICK cast valve covers. Thanks for any help Erick

ok need a little help on my 64 Riv in testing I found the dual port vacuum actuator on the vent does not work (tried direct vacuum to both ports did not move). Also checked after replacing all the vacuum lines that I do not get any vacuum from the valves. Is there a rebuild kit for the valves if so has any one done it ? If so how and where could I pick up a rebuild kit. Thanks for any help. Erick

ok so how do I remove the center console? I need to get to the AC heater controls(currently not working ) and find out why the backup light does not work. I tried removing the shifter plate but still could not get to the neutral safety switch assembly . Any diagrams or procedures? Thanks for any help. Erick

Hi Guys along the same lines I will be replacing the carpet and want to remove the center console, any procedures on how that comes apart? The interior was worked on but the same as the back up lights I have no heater or AC controls so I do not know what I will find when I remove the center console. Any pictures ,diagrams or procedures will greatly help. also what is it correctly suppose to look like when I am done, Tried the fuse no luck so now I will see where the problem is maybe in the console . a lot of electrical issues , the right rear turn signal does not work but the brake light does. Front turn signal works ok as well as the dash indicator. Best regards Erick

this really helped thanks I will take it apart and test .

Can I get to the switch from the top by removing the shifter cover plate? Thanks again for all the help Erick

Hi All, trying to chase down a no back up lights problem on a 1964 Buick riviera but running into trouble on where the back up switch is ? The book shows the steering column but nothing there, it is a floor shifter??I do not see anything on the trans. Second question where s the kick down connector on the trans located , I got the car with no kick down switch on the engine, I only see one connector on the driver side of the trans , I am assuming that is it. Thanks for any help Erick

yep I agree that was my next step. Thanks Jim.

all new lines, hoses and wheel cylinders so that is why I am a little confused. Thanks for the comments Erick

Hi All, an update well not all bendix master cylinders are the same , NAPA only lists one kind but the depth is 2 1/4 inches Rock auto list four kinds and 1 5/8" that is what I needed . The shop my car was in could have save everyone a lot of grief it they would have just measured the stroke of the current power booster and the depth of the master cylinder finding is was short by 3/4 of an inch. The booster end adjustment is very critical for pedal position . In the manual they use a gauge but they do not state what the dimension should be and the only way to adjust it is to take it all apart . Setting it 1 3/8 from the front end of the booster seemed to work. Thanks again for all the help and advice. My problem now is it feels like manual brakes I do not get any help from the booster. How do I check to see if the booster is working OK or is it just a bad check valve. Trying to get the car to stop after the first few attempts I was pushing down on the brake with both feet as hard as I could to stop the car. I do not know if this over stretched the diaphragm. It appears that the Bendix boosters are not available . You must send them in to get rebuilt. It that case I might as well put on a Delco booster and master cylinder. Any thoughts guys? Thanks Erick

yes with the manual valve OK a question the knob states increase /decrease so I am assuming turning it the increase direction sends more fluid to the rear brakes correct? And if it is all the way down I am assuming that it is basically a pass through. Thanks again for all the help Erick

Yes it is the correct master cylinder a delco will not go on a bendix booster . the stroke of the rod coming out of the booster is 1.5". even pumping the brakes does not help. Trying a different master cylinder again different brand. no real pressure on any of the wheels. Thanks for getting bak to me I will let you know what happens after third try master cylinder. Erick

Hi All need some help I have a 1964 riv with a bendix booster, I used the 1967 riv master cylinder for bendix for front drum. I cannot get any pressure to the front drums, thought it was a bad master cylinder ,swapped it out same problem. Brakes bleed fine and if you go to the floor with the petal you get a little pressure but not enough to stop the car. The car stopped fine before the swap. You can see the shoes expand (with the drum off) but you cannot get any pressure rears have a little depending how you set the adjustable proportional valve. Thanks for any help.