Jim Cannon

Test for a bad diode in the alternator.

I don't know. I don't actually have GM belts in my car. I have era-correct accessory Borg-Warner Maji-Buckle belts. They have a different latch mechanism, and are an early version of retractable belts. Each side has a spring-loaded roller that takes up slack in the belts when they are not in use.

The latter.

Remove the dash and access the wires from above. The trip reset cable is hard to fish up through the instruments to remove it. It will be even harder to reinstall.

I had the webbing on my seat belts replaced by Snake-Oyl. They send me some sample colors and I chose the best match to the original. (Some of the webbing was not exposed to sun or dirt stains.) When the redone belts showed up here, the webbing was the wrong color. 🤪 Wrong shade of tan/brown/gold. As if the QC person was colorblind. I called them and sent a photo. I sent them back, they redid them all, and sent them back to me. Now Perfect! I lost some time, but other than that, no big deal.

There is also an electrical wire for the speedminder or cruise control. There is the trip odometer reset cable that comes out at the bottom of the dash. Consult the shop manual? I don't remember how much detail they go into there. They might at least have an exploded diagram showing parts and mounting screws.

That picture is about 20 years old now. That is a 1.3" wide whitewall. It was the closest I could get at that time to the correct tire in a radial. I think they are American Classic Radials that I ordered from Coker. https://www.cokertire.com/tires/p215-75r15-american-classic-1-3-whitewall-tire.html Here are a few pictures of them on the car. They are "ok" but not really what I'd like. I'd rather have closer to the stock 1" whitewall width.

Black. The jack base has the retainer screw passing through it, then the big wingnut screws down against it.

Here is a picture of the factory tool that goes under the lip of the cover to pull it up and off. It gave me the idea to use 2 bolt heads (locked on to the puller with nuts) up under the lip of the cover to pull it off with a gear puller. It's not like it takes a lot of force to remove it, I just didn't want to damage it.

The photo below is from an original, very low miles '63 Riv owned by Mark Uhlig. I think my jack handle is also grey.

It is. It is a grey. The fluorescent lights in the garage made it look blue. I will see if I can dig up the paint color that I used that I felt matched the original color best.

The wheels on my '63 Riv were in really good, original condition when I got it. I repainted the wheels before mounting new tires. I was able to match the paint color on them. Here are pictures of them, front and back, with the tires mounted. I don't know about other years. YMMV.

Get one from a parts car. I may have one. I'll have to look. I don't remember. I use a wheel puller / gear puller to remove mine.

Is the little butterfly valve mounted on the passenger side exhaust manifold free to move and opening when hot? For this transmission (not a Dynaflow) I think you are better off doing the ignition timing like they call for on the 1964-66 nailhead with an automatic transmission: don't use ported vacuum and start with initial timing (no vacuum advance connected) 2.5 degrees BTDC. Did you check the temperature gauge calibration before you installed it? Is it a mechanical or an electrical gauge? How many rows of tubes does your radiator care have in it? 2? 3? 4?

I have an electric fuel pump installed just for filling up the carburetor bowls prior to starting the car, then I switch it off. The mechanical fuel pump works well for everyday driving.

Ray- The post I was referring to has been deleted. It read like it was written by a robot. Sounded fishy. I know the gentleman that asked about the muffler quite well. We exchange notes often. I hope to visit him south of Bordeaux some day and see his Riviera.

I do not know if the muffler change is the problem. It might be. When there is more restriction on one side of the exhaust system, compared to the other side, it forces exhaust through the engine's intake manifold. This can restrict the engine from running well. Your experiment sounds good. In fact, disconnect both sides for the test. It will be loud, but it will eliminate the mufflers. The problem might actually not be the NEW muffler, but the OLD one. If the old mufler is partially collapsed or restricted inside, then the flow resistance will be greater on that side than you have in the new one. And the valve that you asked about might be installed incorrectly, adding to the problem.

Why did this thread get restarted a YEAR later? And the post that kicked it off again is utter nonsense. It sounds like something that Clippy would say in MS Word. (Do you remember Clippy?). From someone who has now made 2 posts! I think we need some "new member posting rules". This smells fishy to me.

No. When the engine is cold, the valve should be closed. This forces some exhaust from one side of the engine through the intake manifold and out the exhaust pipes on the other side of the engine. This warms up the intake manifold of the cold engine to improve engine performance when warming up. The coil spring should open the valve when it gets hot. On the hot engine, the valve should be fully open. I think you will find a weighted area that pulls the valve shut when cold. Then the spring pulls it open again when it warms up. I hope that helps.

I saw that. A very low optioned car. Someone added a radio antenna to the driver's side fender... IDK why not on the passenger side. It was built in late-December, 1962, so it has the ribbed dash. The exhaust system was redone and it hangs down too far. Looks really bad from behind. The heater core is bypassed. We all know what that means. So no heat or defrost. And no A/C. I think the bid price went up to about what this car is worth, maybe even a little high. Too bad the seller felt they needed (or could get) more.

John- When the TC switches pitch, you will feel it. There is slightly more acceleration. So I suspect that you do not have the activation linkage set correctly. Personally, I have disconnected the TC switch pitch linkage. I don't want to have the vanes inside the TC moving around when the engine is at Wide Open Throttle. Lots of power there to break something.

Tom- Above is OP first post. Dan said the engine was starting OK. It was going up on the fast idle cam. He thought it should stay up there at fast idle, even after he touched the gas pedal. We know that's not how this carb is designed to operate. He understands that now. I thought he was saying that the when the choke pulled open, it pulled the cam off of the fast idle step (which it should not do). So I pointed him to that little two-piece fast idle cam assembly. That turned out to be a dead end because he was tapping the gas pedal, taking it off of fast idle. The choke was not doing it. Then he started looking at how closed the choke was when cold and how far open it is when running and warmed up. Something there is not quite right. We will eventually hear what he found. To refill the potentially empty (or low) fuel level in the carb bowls, I have installed a small electric fuel pump that I just use to fill the carb before starting. You can hear the pump change tone when the bowls are filled and the float valves close. It is usually less than 60 seconds. A few cranks of the starter would also do that, as you suggest.

OK. In addition to the coil spring, there is a small piston inside the choke housing (behind the coil spring). The engine vacuum pulls the choke plate open by pulling on this piston. Make sure the piston is free to move easily through the full range. You may need to remove the piston and clean the bore that it slides in. Do not oil it. No wet lube at all. (I have used powdered graphite, like you use on lock cylinders.) There is a gasket on the little bit of the choke housing that presses against the carb body. This is where the vacuum comes in to pull the choke open. Make sure that gasket is good so that all the vacuum is applied to the piston. It is also this vacuum that draws the hot air up through the exhaust manifold and into the choke housing to warm up the spring.

Dan- You are way over thinking this. Just open the choke a tiny bit (1 index mark) more by rotating the choke spring housing a small amount in the Lean direction. A small amount there makes a big difference. On a cold engine this time of year (not dead of winter), my goal is to just have the choke plate shut with little pressure of the blade against the housing. That also sets the fast idle cam, which is really all you need once it starts. On a hot engine, it should certainly be vertical open.

Tom- It was a slight procedural error. Now that he is setting the automatic choke correctly, it IS closing all the way. And it starts as it should. And the choke pulling open is not taking it off of fast idle, like I thought it was. It was going off fast idle when he touched the gas pedal, so the fast idle cam falls away (as it is supposed to). Dan did not understand that this was the correct behavior. I think we are getting him all good.