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Howdy, new guy with a '63.


Guest Ranger01

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Guest Ranger01

Howdy, my name is Austin. Im a 20 year old Welding student.

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About a year ago my uncle got hold of a '63 Riv from the original owner's son. It had been sitting in a hangar for a few years (some time in the 70s- early 80s).

Well ever since my uncle got the car he's neglected it (doesn't drive it, except to move it from one place to another, and is more interested in his 80s Cadillac Allante), while I on the other hand have grown to love the car (his name may be on the title/ insurance, but its MY car hah), I used to be a staunch GTO enthusiast (the "every other car is trash in comparison kind") but since the Riv came into my life I'm now a Riv guy.

Now onto the car its self,

Its a '63 401, black with a blue interior.

I have named her "River"

Pics at the end of the post.

Ive been having a couple problems with it.

Whenever I put it under hard acceleration the power seems to "die". Say I hit the pedal hard (over 1/2 way) when I leave a stop sign or a light, by the time I am 2/3 the way through the intersection the power seems to leave for a few seconds then come back (and in a BIG way). But upon the initial loss of power it never happens again unless I stop. (only way to explain it is like if the trans was taking a long time to shift between 1st and 2nd, but with a TTD thats not possible).

I was wondering if this was something that was common with the Dynaflow?

The other problem is whenever my uncle or my father gets in the car they moves the steering column up and down till he gets it right for them (they just drop it and then move it up, then repeat...). Now since the last time one of them moved it the pass side brake light/ turn signal and the front pass turn signal does not work (no "tick" either). (before that the Right turn signals were just finicky and required firmly holding it for a few seconds or turning it on and off manually)

I was wondering if this could have been caused by them moving the steering column up and down so often (and in such a violent manner) since the wiring for the turn signals is in the column?

The clock doesnt work, and neither do any of the gas/ temp/ etc gauges. (the Speedo and Odo work just fine though).

The interior lights and electric seats don't move either. (old wiring...)

Other than that, the car is perfect.

I have yet to do more to the car than a quick detail and rebuilding the carb, as I am a body guy, not really a mechanic. And I also don't have a shop manual for the Riv yet.

Here is a couple pictures of "River" in front of my buddy's 67 GTO

0703101816a.jpg

0703101817a2.jpg

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Welcome Austin,

Thats a really sharp car.

I got hooked on Rivs when I was 16. All the other kids had mainstream muscle cars but something about the Riv offered a lot more class......and the car was still fast enough to beat some of them.

If you haven't already, check out Welcome to the Riviera Owners Association Homepage.

As you will learn info and parts on Rivs isn't as readily available as it is for GTOs and the other common classics. Most people find the $30 annual membership to be a great value. There are technical advisors for each year who are willing to help and are just an email or phone call away not to mention many member dealers who sell tough to find parts.

I'm not knowledgable on the 63 but I am sure others will chime in.

As far as your acceleration problem it could be related to the timing, vacuum and centrifugal advance in the distributor. Check the distributor out thoroughly to make sure the centrifugal and vacuum advance is working properly. Have the dwell and set and total timing checked vs the factory spec.

If its not an ignition problem then I'd look to a fuel delivery problem but usually those won't be intermittent like that.

If you don't have one yet your first money should be spent on a 63 chassis service manual.

Good Luck and Happy Rivving!

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Austin,

As everyone has said:

  • Welcome to the forum, and thanks for including your name rather than just a handle.
  • Joining the ROA is one of the best restoration investments you can make
  • There is plenty of advice available here.

A couple of things I might add would be to:

  • Get yourself a shop manual for the car; they're available on ebay or from various literature vendors.
  • Most all of the questions you've addressed here have been discussed before. Search the archives for related threads. You're more than likely to find most of your questions already addressed.

When you get your shop manual, read carefully what it says about the Dynaflow transmission. L is NOT to be used for daily driving, only when "stuck in sand or mud." Put it in D and leave it there. The Dynaflow is comparable to today's constant velocity transmissions. You'll never feel it shift. Gear changes are infinitely handled by a series of torque converters.

Include some pictures of your interior. I'd like to know if your car has the standard interior or the custom interior (custom interior has wood grain on the door panels, and door handles for the rear seat passengers.)

Take a picture of the Fisher Body Trim plate (firewall above the brake booster) and post it. Jim Cannon is working on a registry of '63 Rivieras and their build dates in order to narrow down when mid year changes took place. For example - does your car have a 120 or 140 mph speedometer - is the dash painted silver or does it have aluminum verneer on it - is your spare tire mounted to the trunk floor or is it under the package tray. The plate can also be decoded and you'll know what options the Fisher Body Plant prepared this car for.

Ed

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Guest Ranger01

Howdy, thanks for the replies.

A shop manual and ROA membership are on my list of things to buy once I finish paying my uncle and get the title for the Riv in my name.

Its got the standard interior, aluminum veneer, 140 speedo, and the spare under the package tray.

Ill work on getting a picture of the trim plate, the car is in storage for the winter though.

Here are some pictures of the interior from when we got it to the shop after pulling it out of the hangar.

(we have since pulled the carpet, headliner, and seatbelts out, they were too far gone to save.)

DSCN0403-1.jpg

(the trim piece missing here is sitting on the floor, and has since been reinstalled)

DSCN0405-1.jpg

DSCN0548.jpg

DSCN05462.jpg

DSCN0547.jpg

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Welcome aboard, Austin!

Contact me any time with questions about your '63 Riv. I can help you with the carb problem and with the turn signal problem.

These are great cars. when it is running irght, my Riv never fails to put a grin on my face every time I step on it.

And, yes, i would like a photo (up close) of your data plate above the brake booster. I can tell you a lot about your car from it. I can already tell you have a later model car because you have the spare up on the shelf.

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Guest Ranger01

Hey, thanks guys.

Its gonna be a while before I can get into where the Riv is stored, been busy lately.

So I figure Ill list what I know needs to be done this spring to get the car ready for show season.

Fix the wiring (or preferably, rewire the whole car).

Fix the Right gauge cluster (Temp/ Fuel/ etc..) -Possibly related to wiring.

Fix the turn signal.

Replace all the incandescent bulbs with LEDs. (only If I do a full rewire)

Go through the fuel system.

Thats my current list

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Austin,

Very nice car! A few thoughts on your issues:

  • Turn signals: The rough handling of your tilt wheel has probably broken the cable that attaches the turnsignal handle to the switch at the base of the steering column, a very common problem which you can search for in this forum.
  • Interior lights: another common problem most likely caused by bad door switches rather than wiring.
  • Power seat: remove the seat and clean / lube the tracks, also check for a good ground. I actually ran a dedicated ground wire from the seat frame next to the motor up to the dash frame which made the seat work like new.

Good Luck,

Don

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Guest Ranger01

Hey, thanks guys. Ill check it out when I am able. My work has me swamped currently, hopefully Ill be able to get in to where I have the Riv stored this upcoming weekend.

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Ranger,

Welcome to the board! As Jim B. said, there are a number of 63-65 Riviera guys in the twin cities. Lots of help and good information available here.

Most of your problems are pretty common and not too difficult to repair. I would NOT rewire the car unless you do that for a living. While the 1st generation Riviera's are a classic design, the reproduction parts industry isn't anywhere near what it is for your friends 67 GTO!

Hope to see the "River" when the snow all melts in 5 or 6 months!:D

Tim

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Guest Ranger01

Hey, thanks. I hope above all else that the wiring can be fixed without the need to rewire the whole car. But if it comes down to needing a whole rewire I simply cannot afford to have someone else do it for me. As it sits now I am not able to drive River out on the streets because of the signals, and I am not able to drive her at night because of the interior lights being gone (no dash lights..), and when I do drive her it is only to local shows because of the lack of gauges other than speedo.

Right now with my schedule it is looking like I'm not going to be able to get in to see River till the end of the semester, in a couple weeks. I wont be able to do any work till the spring when I can get her back to my buddy's shop.

Life is hard on a welding student who makes money doing graphics work on the side. :(

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Austin,

My old boss use to be the welding instructor at Brooklynn Park back in the 70's and early 80's. They have a very nice welding shop. Your Riviera doesn't look like it will need any of those welding skills that you are learning! Spring will be here before you know it!

Tim

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Guest Ranger01

Kool, yea its a pretty nice shop. We even got some new (and top of the line Millers to boot!) machines in last winter/ spring.

Yea, I'm kind of glad for the fact that the body and frame and etc only have minor surface rust in some areas. Although I wouldn't mind exercising my lead skills if I had the chance. :P

On a side note, the lines on the rear roof corners of the Gen 1s are just perfect... Crisp, clean, and smooth all at the same time, lines only able to be designed in clay. Those 2 corners are the prime examples for me of what "razor edge" styling means.

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Austin,

Glad to hear they are keeping the shop supplied with up-to-date equipment for you to train on! Miller seems to be the choice for welding shops at the colleges, St. Paul, DCTC and Brooklyn Park use a lot of Blue!

I agree on the looks of the 63, and the other 1st generation Riviera's, too. They are not nearly as large as the 66 through 76 cars, more like a slightly enlarged GTO! Hope your finals go well and you get recharged over the Holiday break!:D

Tim

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Guest Ranger01

Thanks.

Yea, they keep the shop here more updated than any other place I've seen before. Theres a reason for all Miller at the shop too. We had some Lincoln reps in for a demo a while back (about when the instructors were pricing new equipment). (There was an AWS function going on, and it ended with a demo of L.E.'s newest equipment.) The reps could only get their 3 machines (1 TIG, 2 MIG) working for maybe 5 min each out of the whole demo time.

They ended up leaving one of their TIG machines with us for a while (6 months b/c they forgot we had it haha) and it took us 3 weeks to figure out what was wrong and fix it (programing/ display problems, the cooler was leaking, etc).

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Guest Ranger01

Yea, we've had some pretty good laughs at the expense of the local LE reps... This is only a drop in the bucket to some of their escapades.

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  • 8 years later...

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