Jim Cannon

Your tests make sense. It's not just a faulty brake light switch if the drums seem to bind when the light is on. If you did not do the recent brake work, it would be a good idea to pull the front drums for a quick look. You might be surprised at what you find. I still suspect the booster.

Mark- Call Booster Dewey and ask him. He is a real expert on these vacuum units. If it's not the filter causing it, he will know what the likely cause is. I suspect a dirty, stick valve that is not fully sealing and slowly letting engine vacuum build up and actuate the brakes again. You can describe to him the tests you have done and that will help him diagnose it. I suspect the booster needs to be disassembled, have a good clean, reseal and put back together. Booster Dewey can do this.

Great! Finally! So I guess I will hold off on filing the claims papers for now. Please let me know when you receive it.

Hi, Mark! You need to troubleshoot a bit more. With the engine running and the brakes lights stuck on (in your driveway so that you can open the hood and mess with stuff) disconnect the wires from the brake light switch on the Master Cylinder and see if the lights go out. If they do, then the problem is there, with the brakes. If they stay on, the problem is somewhere else (like the turn signal switch). Does your car have a tilt steering column? Those are the turn signal switches that are notorious for malfunctioning. There is a valve inside the brake booster that controls the use of vacuum to help you apply the brakes. If that valve is sticking on, you are going to get vacuum assist when you are not stepping on the pedal. It will be like driving with your left foot resting on the brake pedal all the time. This is going to wear out your brakes and kill your gas mileage. You can get the booster rebuilt, if needed. You can ask he rebuilder to leave the original patina that you have on he booster untouched, if you'd like to keep the original look of the engine compartment.

Jan and I have been watching this. This is very frustrating for me. I posted that package on Dec. 30 so that it would have 4 weeks to get to you. The Post Office said to expect it to take 1 to 2 weeks, so I included 2 weeks of extra time. On Monday I will file a claim at my Post Office. I think I am required to file a Trace as my first step, so I will do that. We will see where that leads. I'm sorry about the problem.

There is an automatic resetting overload protection circuit breaker built into the headlight switch. The real problem is that you have a short circuit somewhere and the light circuits are taking too much current. So this circuit breaker opens and lets everything cool off before closing again. I hope this helps.

Kevin, can you point me to that article? I'd like to read it. Thanks!

You will have to remove the door skin(s) to do it, but if you remove the locks from the doors, your local locksmith can either cut you a new door key from the door lock cylinders, OR redo the door lock cylinders to match the ignition and trunk key. If you'd like the convenience of "one key", I'd make the doors match the trunk and ignition. Have you tried your ignition key in the passenger side door? It is possible that a previous owner only swapped out the door skin from another car on the driver's side, so only that key is a mismatch. If they had half a brain, they would have swapped the lock cylinder from the old door skin over to the replacement door skin while it was all apart.

Anyone in Australia that wants one, please contact me ASAP. Package going out on Friday. Thanks!

OK, so I will send 2 levers to Jan next Friday. We will see if anyone else wants to join in. Thanks.

My friend has an air filter housing that he took off of his '63 Riviera many years ago. He sold the car and want to know if anyone needs a housing. It is no longer "wrinkle red". It has been painted a very nice silver color. He has not given me a price, he's kind of looking for advice. Any interest? Even if you don't want it, what's it worth? Let me know.

Yes, Jan, that's a fine plan. Please PayPal to me 105 USD and I will send you a lever. If anyone else (Dundee?) wants to join in at 85 USD for a lever, I will refund 20 USD to you (half the postage). My PayPal is unchanged: 63Rivvy (at) gmail (dot) com I will get your lever out to you next Friday, Dec. 30. That gives anyone who wants a new lever one week to join in on this mailing. Thanks for the offer to receive and resend. I'm a bit surprised there were not more takers.

At the top of the brake pedal arm, there is a bolt that goes through the bracket and the top of he arm. The stock brake pedal arm has a pin in it that the brake booster push rod eye slides on. I think the shop manual has a drawing of this. There are no nuts/bolts. You may need to get an arm/pedal from a parts car and swap them out.

Remove the "battery cutoff switch" and run it again. See if the chatter stops. Just run straight cables for the test.

Buick mirror install instructions. There are paper templates that you tape to the door inside and outside. to locate the holes, position the mirror. I will try to find them. If anyone has them, please let me know.

The postage to Australia is the same if I send 1 lever or 4: 42.80 USD (call it 40 USD to make the maths easier). If Jan does not mind holding the 3 extra levers until someone needs them, I could send him 4 now and he can pay me for 1 lever + 25% of the international postage (65+10=75 USD). As others need them, they can pay me for the lever + 25% of the international postage (75 USD) and pay Jan for domestic postage cost to them, or collect the lever from him in person. What do you think, Jan? Does that sound reasonable? That lowers everyone's shipping cost quite a bit.

Yes, one or more bad diodes in the alternator. That's why you are reading AC at the battery. That's why the VR field coil is vibrating and the ALT light is on. If you replace the mechanical VR with an electronic one, you are masking the problem with the bad diode in the alternator. Have you removed and bench tested the alternator?

I will get an international postage quote for 1 lever and for 4. We will see. I had 30 levers made and have sold 15, so if the 4 going to you guys "got lost", I could replace them. I would insure them for the retail price, so I would be kept whole and you would eventually get the 4 levers.

Yes. You stick the convex mirror to the original flat mirror with large pieces of two-sided tape. Look for a large convex mirror at truck stop stores.

Yes.

I know that his data plate did not have a mirror called for. But on the LH door, I expect Buick had a hole in the inner door metal that a mirror cable set could pass through, for the jobs that DID call for a mirror. And on the cars that did not call for a mirror, some kind of plug had to be there to fill the hole. This is classic GM/Fisher production method. Otherwise they would be making doors with and without this hole. Easier to make them all with the hole and plug it if not used. LH mirror option kits were sold to the dealer; they would remove that plug to install the LH mirror also. On the RH door, you would have to cut a hole of the required diameter to match. I have not done it, but others that have can chime in here. On this particular vehicle, I would recommend cutting the hole to mount a mirror on the RH door (for the RH Driver) in the correct forward location, and leave the left door mirror off, because passenger side mirrors mounted up in the vent window area are pretty hard to see in.

Thanks for confirming the spare tire location. Your car was built week 3C. Based on other cars, it appears Buick changed the spare tire location around week 3E. I don't know what to do about the heater temp control levers for the guys down under. I've only had a couple of requests for them. I may just send a small number to one of the other guys that asked for one and then let people have them mailed from there by local post to them as needed. I was mostly trying to save everyone some money on the postage cost. The cost to ship 4 levers is almost the same as shipping 1. Sending them to you at the city where the car is, but you are not, is not really a good plan.

I have seen car doors here dented in like that from a large deer running into the side of the car at night. Crazy! The Riviera LH rear view mirror was an option in '63, not standard. So your car may not have ever had one on the LH side. Early '63 jobs had the mirror placed so that you look into it through the door glass, not through the little vent window glass. (That's how my car, produced during 1st week of November, has it -- more to the rear on the door.). This mirror location is too far back on the door, making it very hard to see much behind you from the driver's seat. I moved my driver's seat back 2 inches and that helps improve the viewing angle. Some time around February, 1963, Buick began to install the optional driver side mirror more forward on the door, so that you look at it through the vent window glass. This is where it stayed for '64 and '65. The viewing angle into the mirror is better, but the view is somewhat obstructed by the vent window. It is less than ideal. Installing a passenger side mirror is something that people started doing later, because modern cars have them. If you match the forward location on the door found on later jobs, you really can't see much on the passenger side because you are looking through the vent window frame. If you have an early car with the driver side mirror mounted further back on the door, then matching it on the passenger side actually gives you a good mirror, if you also place a large round convex bubble mirror over the flat glass. You really can't see much in a flat mirror over there. The '63 side mirror was designed to go on either side. It is not that hard to add one to the RH door to give you something on the driver side. I can't imagine driving a car without the side mirror on the driver side, because we have gotten so used to having one there. YMMV.

Cool! 😎 Keep us posted with progress on the car.

I know. That's why I specifically mentioned that I was looking at a '63. Most people think that the 3 years of the 1st gen. Riviera are all "the same" and we both know that they are not. Similar, but different in some areas. I will get out to my shop and dig up my reference materials. The rain just started and it's getting colder here in the mountains. A good day to sit indoors by a fire with a few books and wiring diagrams. 🙂