1985 Riviera Convertibile Project

[63 Rivi]

Hi all. Been in the ROA since 1987 but really have not been on this board that much. (Just kind of lurking around.) I own a 63 Riv since high school and later bought a low mileage (25k) 85 White Convertible in 1990. The 85 became my DD and drove it everyday for 12 years and racked up over 200k on it. It was extremely dependable and an overall great car to drive. I had to retire it when I got a company car and ended up selling it due to a lack of space. (Don't we all wish we could keep most of our cars? )

Ten years passed and I convinced my wife that we should get another. After wearing her down, ha ha, I started looking in the Riview, ebay and craigslist. I found a red one on the ROA website where the owner was moving and decided to sell it. It had high miles on it (158K), but it was described as being in really good condition and the price was within my budget.

He sent lots of photos, and described it as a good running car that did not use any oil but needed a little attention here and there. New front brakes, rebuilt trans, new lower ball joints and pitman arm with fairly new Michelin radials on it. The only things he said it needed was a good compounding, a new top and just some minor cleaning up. Well, we agreed on a price and I bought it sight unseen. The car was about a 12 hour drive from me and I decided it was probably best to pay someone to trailer it back here.

After a couple of weeks, the transporter called me to let me know it would arrive in two days. Well, he could not get the trailer to fit down my block so he asked me to meet him down by the highway. It was nighttime, and we (my wife and kids) were excited to go get it. We pulled up behind the trailer and he already had it running. I could tell because it was smoking up a storm. Nice blue clouds of smoke coming out the tailpipe and a strong smell of gas. I managed to limp it home.

The next morning, I went out to go over everything and that is when the fun began. The good: solid straight body(AZ car most of its life), excellent chrome and trim. The bad: engine smoking, m/c solenoid on carb not working, fuel pump ruptured, alternator and smog pump bearings squealing, p/s pump pulley misalignment, brake light on w/ soft pedal, digital dash indicator lights mostly out and badly dry rotted tires. The car was really dirty, the interior well beyond a simple cleaning.

I tried to reach out to the owner to ask him about all these things he failed to mention but he had already turned off his phone and email. Shocking that he never called me to see how I liked the car. I figured that since it was a fellow ROA member, that was good enough for me. Lesson learned, don't buy something unseen. So too late now, I guess I have a really big project on my hands. After making my list of things to fix, I started by replacing the fuel pump and rebuilding the carb. Also replaced the alternator and smog pump. I had to get another p/s pump assembly because the belt misalignment was caused by someone removing the adjusting bolt and they lost the thick washer. When the pump was tightened down, it drove the pulley into the alternator belt and bent the bracket. Who worked on this car???

After getting it driveable, I took out the interior and cleaned the carpeting with Meguiar's carpet cleaner. After about 3 hours and several brown buckets of water, the carpeting was burgundy again. I was amazed that it came out looking new, even the one piece front mat looks good. Spent about 10 hours on the interior and several more wet sanding, polishing and buffing the exterior. The result:

It arrived in Mar of 2012 and this is how it looked in late spring. Came out really nice but I still could not use it due to other mechanical issues. The front end is loose and making strange sounds, among other driveability issues. More info coming.

Edited March 19, 2013 by 63 Rivi (see edit history)

[sosuzguy]

Hi Darrell looks like it cleaned up good in that picture. Give me a call if you need anything or I can suggest some stuff you might check or replace to help with driveability problems.

[63 Rivi]

Thanks Jayson. It did really clean up well and looks good in the picture but it is far from perfect. I have done a lot to it already and will put up more pics of my progress. Still going through everything on this car because, in all honesty, it has been really neglected.

Small things i am missing right now:

1. thick rubber hood support on the cowl(missing the one on the driver's side - it screws onto the bolt and locks the hood in place close to the hinge.) Can take a picture if your not sure what I mean.

2. Need the alignment wedges for a convertible (one set) for a door. Someone took them off and they are missing.

3. Lower door hinge roller assembly - do you know of a replacement roller that fits or do you have a good lower driver's door hinge setup?

4. Missing the antenna extension that goes from the radio to the cable that goes through the firewall. Do you have a good one or know what size I need? i.e. GM-10, GM-40,GM-7? I think I need the 10 but just double checking.

All I can think of right now, thanks for any help or advice.

[63 Rivi]

One of my major projects that needed fixing was the front suspension. Visual inspection first thing that jumped out was that the front axles were leaking grease all over the place. Once I took the wheels off and checked everything else out, I found that it needed an idler arm, front wheel bearing, lower control arm bushings and sway bar bushings. Most everything else was still ok but since I had everything off, it was a good idea to replace it all for a tight suspension.

[63 Rivi]

Another shot:

After a good cleaning and prepping for paint:

[60FlatTop]

You are a lucky guy. My daughter taught me how to use "iconic" in conservation shortly after she moved to Boston. Buick Riviera has been an iconic car since the day it was introduced. And a Buick convertible had the iconic image to quiet the style and cubic inch discussions in a lot of parking lot gatherings and family reunions. I can honestly tell you a bunch of Ford and Merc guys were saving up just to buy the side trim off a Buick.

The work you are doing is the right stuff. It is the kind of work you do for keepers. Run that Batmobile auction on Youtube and listen for the auctioneer to tell about how tight the suspension is.

So you bought a little sizzle, this summer when you are rolling out to the Hampton's, top down, and a big smile you can smile and say "Here I come with the steak!"

Bernie

[sosuzguy]

Darrell I've had many of these cars. There are two types of front end jobs on them. One where only worn parts are replaced and one where all suspension components and rubber involved is replaced in the general front end of the car. With the first I've done through the years I always thought the cars rode a little rougher than I had remembered. Recently one of mine had to go to into the dealership for a front suspension problem. This one had already had some of the visually worn components changed many years ago. On this last job I replaced the transmission mounts, one engine mount (need to do the other too), upper and lower ball joints, idler and pitman arm, intermediate rod shock, upper control arm bushings, sway bar link bushings. BOY LET ME TELL YOU WHAT A SMOOTH RIDE NOW! Very pleased! So your doing all the good to improve the car. I would highly suggest if you can do it or afford it to have all rubber replaced front and back of the car. I can imagine how smooth the ride might be with the rear control arm bushings replaced too!

[63 Rivi]

Jayson - I ended up doing a complete front end job: upper and lower control arm bushings, front wheel bearings, idler & pitman arm, sway bar bushings, upper and lower ball joints, front shocks, etc. It rides and drives like a dream now. Front end alignments is one of the few things I will leave to a garage to do but I know I got it very close.

Did you see the post of the parts I am looking for?

[sosuzguy]

Yes I did, but I don't have any of those parts.

[63 Rivi]

Thanks for checking.

[63 Rivi]

The upper and lower control arm bushings were all dried out and cracked. I pressed them all out and replaced them with Moog ones. The upper control arm bushings do come out a lot easier than the lower ones, mostly due to their size. I lubed them up with PB blaster, used small sockets in the upper arms and large sockets for the lower control arms to break them loose and protect the arms from warping. I removed the sockets for the picture:

[63 Rivi]

I reversed the procedure to install the new ones. One hint to make the job easier is putting the new bushings in the freezer. It does help with the installation when you press them in. Here's the new one being pressed in. Again, you need to keep a couple of small sockets in there to prevent the arm from warping. I removed the small socket for the picture:

[63 Rivi]

You are a lucky guy. My daughter taught me how to use "iconic" in conservation shortly after she moved to Boston. Buick Riviera has been an iconic car since the day it was introduced. And a Buick convertible had the iconic image to quiet the style and cubic inch discussions in a lot of parking lot gatherings and family reunions. I can honestly tell you a bunch of Ford and Merc guys were saving up just to buy the side trim off a Buick.

The work you are doing is the right stuff. It is the kind of work you do for keepers. Run that Batmobile auction on Youtube and listen for the auctioneer to tell about how tight the suspension is.

So you bought a little sizzle, this summer when you are rolling out to the Hampton's, top down, and a big smile you can smile and say "Here I come with the steak!"

Bernie

Thanks Bernie. I did decide to go all the way and do all the bushings... well at least the front ones for now.

[63 Rivi]

Here's one of the arms after refurbishing. New control arm bushings, new upper ball joint. Arm was stripped and repainted with Eastwood's Semi-gloss chassis black. Just like new.

[sosuzguy]

Cool what did you use to strip it with? Just wire brush?

[60FlatTop]

Nice job. You are fixing all the right parts to make your car a keeper.

Bernie

[63 Rivi]

Cool what did you use to strip it with? Just wire brush?

Jayson,

They were really not that rusted. There was so much grease on everything, it was extremely well preserved once they were cleaned off. There was some light surface rust but it came off easily.

[63 Rivi]

Here's more progress. I stripped the frame and painted it with Eastwood's semi-gloss chassis extreme paint. Also, new USA made National wheel bearings.

[63 Rivi]

Finished the front end project. Wheel Bearings, Upper and Lower Ball Joints, Upper and Lower Control Arm Bushings, Idler Arm, Brake Hoses, Axle Shafts all have been replaced. Was a lot of work but what a difference. The car drives and rides like new and is nice and tight.

[sosuzguy]

Looks great Darrell!

[63 Rivi]

Looks great Darrell!

Thanks Jayson. It's been a lot of work, but I'm still not done. Trying to get it ready for the ROA meet in June. I just did the front seal on the engine, water pump, timing chain, and the front motor mounts. Next up is the intake manifold gasket, which is sucking oil into the engine. I plan on doing that next week.

Will post pictures soon.

[63 Rivi]

Here's a before and after shot. With the high mileage and the nice oil leak coming from the bottom of the timing cover, it was time to check it out. There was a little slack but not too bad. I replaced it anyway with a new Cloyes double roller and added a new water pump.

[63 Rivi]

I replaced the motor mounts too, they were shot and the right front axle was starting to rub on the lower control arm. You can see from the picture how it was starting to cause some clearance issues where the paint is being scrapped off:

[63 Rivi]

In order to get a new lower seal on the timing chain cover, it is necessary to trim a little off each end of the seal. I took about an 1/8" off and added extra silicone to the corners. I also replaced the crank seal and added a speedy sleeve to the harmonic balancer.

Tip: If you put the balancer in the oven at 250-300 for 20 minutes and put some grease on the crankshaft, it just slides on without any tools. Oven mitts come in real handy for this.

[63 Rivi]

A shot from up top:

Still lots more to do before the show, I need to do the intake manifold gasket too as oil is leaking out on top of the manifold at the edges of the intake.

[Guest banky34]

hi have a 85 riv convertible. Yours is looking good. Got same problem as you: Trying to fix roller guide on lower hinge. any luck? Let's solve.

[RivNut]

hi have a 85 riv convertible. Yours is looking good. Got same problem as you: Trying to fix roller guide on lower hinge. any luck? Let's solve.

If your talking about the lower door hinge, it can't be fixed. Been there. It's really easy to replace the entire hinge with a good one.

Ed

[Guest banky34]

If your talking about the lower door hinge, it can't be fixed. Been there. It's really easy to replace the entire hinge with a good one.

Ed

Thank you. What hinge did you use to replace it, a newer gm hinge? Where is it available? Riviera's are e-body. Do other body styles uses same lower hinge? Thanks in advance.

[RivNut]

I got one from a salvage yard somewhere, and had a body shop install it for me. They could do a much better job of aligning the door than I could ever dream of. I would think that any E-body from 79 - 85 (Riviera, Toronado, Eldorado, or Cadillac Seville) would have one you could use.

If you can't find one locally, look on the Reatta forum for DAVES89. Dave knows where quite a few of these E-bodies are and perhaps he could get one for you .

Ed

[63 Rivi]

I got one from a salvage yard somewhere, and had a body shop install it for me. They could do a much better job of aligning the door than I could ever dream of. I would think that any E-body from 79 - 85 (Riviera, Toronado, Eldorado, or Cadillac Seville) would have one you could use.

If you can't find one locally, look on the Reatta forum for DAVES89. Dave knows where quite a few of these E-bodies are and perhaps he could get one for you .

Ed

It is very hard to find any E bodies in junkyards around here. We can ask Dave, maybe we can get lucky.

[Guest banky34]

Thank you. Got my hinges redone at scissors dorrs in nb canada. http://www.scissor-doors.com/oem-car-door-hinge-rebuilding/ This is link of what was done.

Edited August 16, 2013 by banky34
new information (see edit history)

[Guest merrillcrosbie]

Utah Pull N Save Auto & Truck – Used Car Parts has a 83 and 85 Riv. I have looked at them. They both seem to have decent hinges on their doors. I don't know if they will pull parts and ship them or not.

[63 Rivi]

Here's a couple of shots of the engine after it was put back together. Basically stock but I left the intake natural after bead blasting. I replaced all of the sensors too. Some were cracked and not worth putting back on. After all, why go to all this work and have a faulty sensor or vacuum hose give me issues.

[63 Rivi]

Gave it a 50 mile test run before leaving for Lexington. No more oil leaks, no oil blowing out the tail pipe and the car ran great. Always happy when everything works out. :)I only had two more days before leaving for GM Carlisle so I turned my attention to the convertible top. The current top was ripped on both sides from someone replacing the side weatherstripping screws with longer ones. They stick out through the top sail supports and caught the top when coming back up.

It was like that on both sides. I got lucky and scored a new one off of ebay for only $63 with shipping. The guy decided to put a black one on and then sold this one to me.

[63 Rivi]

The top replacement took about 12 hours. 3 hours or so were spent with the top inner liner. That was a PITA. You have a thin metal strip in each of the last 3 bows and it needs to be screwed into the metal strip holding up the liner. The only problem is, you have to do it blind as you have to feel the screw holes through the top material liner.

I followed the top manufacturer's guidelines and my experience to do the top. The convertible top supplement was not much help. I got it about 95% before driving to Lexington, I still needed to steam out a couple minor areas. Here's a pic of the top as I pulled it up to the header. Note the sides are the last item to be glued and set in place.

[63 Rivi]

Here's one of the issues I had to deal with. The bakelite (rear window) was put in incorrectly by the previous owner. The height was off about 1/2 from one side to other which caused a misalignment of the main part of the top. If it is not exactly on right, the top will not go on properly. The rear bow should be 16 1/2" from the top of the rear chrome moulding. A quarter inch one way or another is still ok.

I had to go back and reset the rear window and also check the side pads to ensure they were all on straight. If you replace the side pads (recommended), make sure you set them up and staple them in the exact same places as the old ones.