JanZverina

That's a true find and a stunning design - looking forward to your progress. Not too long ago someone told me that the upward swept rear quarter glass at the C-pillar is known today as the 'Hofmeister Kink' for all you trivia fans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofmeister_kink

Nice car, Hunter. Great color combo. Do you have a good shot of the instrument panel? I'd like to see the differences between that and the '63 Riviera.

Hi Ed, Please tell me where these go on a '63 Riv, and how many and what size I should choose. I have a good Ace near me and more than once they've had exactly what I needed for my guitar collection, as well as for my Riv and Jag.

Ed wrote: "Seems a lot more expensive than having yours recovered." I asked Just Dashes in Van Nuys CA for an estimate some time ago and they were in the neighborhood of $700, but that included the foam core. I'm sure there are locals around who can do it for quite a bit less. My temporary fix was the grained plastic dash overlay also offered by OPGI, but IIRC I found it for less by going straight to the source. Yes, this is a new item from OPGI that straddles the difference. I too would be interested in some initial reviews before parting with the required $$.

Hi Loren, I'm pretty sure they are interchangeable side to side. On page 12-12 of the factory chassis service manual they are described as Lamp Assembly - Turn Signal, but as you know they sit below what's called the Grille & Lens Assembly in that schematic and are solid metal. I just completed restoring my parking lights after finding some good original outer lenses that go behind that upper grille assembly. Both the outer "grille" over the parking/turn signal lights as well the outer and inner clear lenses behind them are interchangeable side to side. What's NOT interchangeable are the housing assemblies in which the bulbs sit. Those are left and right designs and marked on one edge where the screws attach them. Hope this helps.

Hi Mike, The year may make a difference but the one in my '63 maintains vacuum and will release the trunk latch days or even many weeks after the engine was last started. In fact I never thought to see if it wouldn't work after an extended time.

Thanks, Ed, for the Mustang video. Tonight I found that it's actually simpler than that. I removed one of the large bulb housings from my '63 Riviera parking light assembly, and all one really needs to do is to lubricate the wire or wires that go into the back of the upper and lower lamp contacts. That will make the spring contact(s) "spring" forward and create a good positive contact again. No need to splice in a new spring and contact assembly. True, 54 years of crud and corrosion from the front fender well exposure will stop those spring contacts from functioning the way they should, but splicing in a new contact should be done only after one works on cleaning and freeing up the wire's movement thought the rear socket boots. Thanks for the video, which led me to the workaround! Kind regards, -Jan

Hi Ed, The link to your video seems to be no longer valid for some reason. http://forums.aaca.org/f177/renewing-tun-lamp-sockets-372153.html Thanks for the housing photos. My housings have the two bulb design as the one on the left (no smaller bulb above the large one in the upper section.) As luck would have it, I managed to free up the contact springs in all the sockets - with the exception of the last one I tried (naturally), which is the single-contact socket for the 67/67A. That contact appears to be hindered from springing forward by the surrounding brass ring so I'm slowly working it using some penetrating solvent.

Thanks, Ed. the 67s are available in clear only at Bulbtown, while one other place has the 67As, but has a $50 minimum order - that's a lot of bulbs! Some googling shows that one can use stained glass paint to tint a clear bulb, but I can't imagine the coating will last long due to heat. But worth looking into. -Jan

Thanks again, Ed! Sounds like another fun job ahead. I'm having trouble finding the 67Ambers online, and the 1034As look to be superseded by the 1157As. I once told my wife that a good hobby is akin to having a passion for something, but I'm not sure she believes me when I come in from the garage after a couple hours or more of being "tackling challenges." This weekend I finally got the Riv running again after I sent back the rebuilt Rochester carb for a check, since it wasn't coming down to curb idle. The cause was a bent linkage in shipping it back to me the first time. Plus, an exchange on a defective AC Delco voltage regulator, the first one which would make my Amp light glow as if it had 1,000 watts. So all's well in the engine room again. Now on to switching out the front parking lamp lenses and eventually sorting some loud rattles in the right door after going through the 'outer door skin removal' process. Probably time for the full vent window weatherstrip and felt kit. I've had good luck with Rubber the Right Way previously.

Thanks, Ed. I'll look into that. Does one remove the socket(s) from the rear of the assembly like the tail lamps, or is it better to replace the bulbs by removing the trim and lenses from the front? If the former, do you recommend using some penetrant first?

The factory shop manual specs call for say 1034A and 67A. Three questions: Looking at some eBay pix of the front housings, am I right in thinking that's one 1034A and two smaller 67As per side? Looking at the same pix, the 1034A is orange and the 67As are clear. Is that correct? I thought the A means orange, right? I can order the 1034As, but do the 67As go by a different number these days? Thanks!

Someone recently told me (I don't think it was on this forum) that the front outer parking lenses on the 63-64 Riv are interchangeable side-to-side, but in looking at the eBay ads I see they are marked LH and RH. Can someone confirm that they are not interchangeable? Thanks,

Hi John, See https://mrgusa.com/ Just a possibility... I've used them for smaller plastic chrome plated parts and they've always delivered a great result.

Hi offdensen, I had my pump rebuilt recently by Lares Corp. and upon asking the same question, they said their seals will handle any kind of good quality P/S or ATF fluid offered today. I'm using non-synthetic Dex-Merc ATF and everything seems to be fine.

Would any of you kind souls have a spare original 1963-64 outer front parking lamp lens to sell, not NOS but in pretty good condition? I scored a good one plus the inner lens on eBay that polished up very well, no crazing or cracks included! Now I just need another one. If it comes with an inner lens as a combo deal, that's fine too. Thanks in advance.

Congrats - like most things in life, it's a journey of understanding and gaining all-important knowledge. Keep in touch with your ROA brethren.

Yes, I saw that! They say that one can never spend too much, but one can buy too soon.

Hi Rodney, My outer lenses have some pretty noticeable cracks, so I don't think fine polishing would help. I did use that method to refresh the original tail lamp lenses, though.

Thanks, DQD. I scored an original outer and inner lens combo in good shape on eBay so I'll let you know once I install them. I prefer good originals to "it's kind of OK but..." repros. It's beyond me why vendors can't make the effort to replicate these pieces perfectly, given today's digital age of 3D printing, etc.

Update: Today I brought the Riv in to my trusted mechanic, who after checking all vacuum lines once more after I did, used a stethoscope all over the carb. He said it's definitely an internal air leak between the top of the carb base (not the manifold-to-carb gasket which is new) and the bottom of the air horn. So it's coming off again and to a highly recommended carb shop close to San Diego. I'm tired of shipping car parts out of state and back. So it's sucking in air somewhere where it shouldn't be, even after a top-to-bottom rebuild. Plus I had to ask for an exchange on an AC Delco voltage regulator (C635) after installing it, only to hear a strange hum coming from it and then seeing my dashboard "amp" light flash as if there was a 1,000-watt bulb installed upon turning the engine off. Sheesh!

Hi Jason and Tom, I took a good look at mine during reassembly and did some judicial paint removal on one section and never found any black paint on it. I would concur with Jim that it was engine color. Tom, I can see your preference but one can hardly see the bracket from up top. Thanks, all.

Those "plush velour" interiors remind me of the point in my varied career when I was Director of Brand Communications for Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge. (I had already sent out announcements ringing the death knell for Eagle and Plymouth). I would sit in on media interviews with top execs, and at one point, in an interview with Bob Lutz, Bob waved his always-lit cigar and proclaimed that Chrysler interiors were often "just like the inside of a trombone case." Even I burst out laughing. He sure knew how to get quoted!

Can anyone suggest what I need to do to lower the curb idle on a recently rebuilt (by a reputable source) Rochester 4GC carb on my '63 Riv? I turned down the curb idle screw at the left front of the carb to the point where it's no longer touching the baseplate - does that mean I have to bend one of those linkages above it or lengthen the rod from the accelerator pedal? I tweaked the two bleed screws following a recommendation to turn them out until highest idle is achieved and then screw them both in the same amount just before a rougher idle is noticed. But the idle remains a bit high. Any suggestions?

Hi Rodney, I use R43S plugs in my '63 with fine results. Electrodes are nice and beige-y upon routine inspection on an original Nailhead 401 that has gone once around the clock. I should add that I have a 'Pertronix Ignitor II' electronic ignition system (they should name a drink after that!) with a Pertronix 40K volt coil and the black stock-looking Pertronix plug wires. All the difference in the world, IMO.