Hey man. Now that My 455 69 Riv is ready for the Year, I,m trying to save my 401 63. It's been outside for a while now and the rats got in it again this year.:rant: I had to clean a ton of rat chit off the motor. This car is truly a rat rod. The floor boards are so bad now Ill also need toe boards, and a tetanus shot. I'm rebuilding the carb, tune up, new lifters and push rods to see if I can get it starting up right. 1. Has anyone tubbed one of these? I would like to get some meats under this car and stay around stock height. Since the body is so bad I don't care about hacking it up. Any pics of a fat tire 63? 2. What kind of headers can I get for this year. Sanderson lists headers that state 64 riv and up? Whats wrong with the 63 that makes it different. 3. Why can't I find a rebuilt starter? No local stores or even Rock Auto lists them. 4. Heads. Porting is the only option? Bigger valves? 425 heads? 5. Carbs intake. Can I put an aluminum intake and a six pack under the hood? Any one got a really smokin 63 Id like to see it. 6. Trans Is this pitch shift tranny just going to suck?? My 69 455 just got TA mandrel bent 3" pipes 20" cherry bombs, forged pistons, and a TA roller cam. Some people in my area need to adjust their car alarms. Now when I think about the 401 I don't know if I can get off on such a little motor.:3gears: Thanks Dale
Tubbing will be more difficult with trailing arms and coil springs. Your best bet is probably to get some big wheels, like 17's. Even with stock wheel wells, you can cram a 10in wide wheel under it with proper back spacing. Sanderson and TA have headers. No reason the Sandersons won't work on your car. The only off the shelf starters you will find are new high torque mini units, from a few online sources. They can be spendy, but are great. Or you can rebuild your original. There are no aftermarket heads available, so porting, along with standard valve work, and oversized valves are all that's doable. Tom Telesco also sells a MEAN set of roller rockers. They did make a 3x2 intake, although since Eelco went out of business they mike be hard to find. TA Performance might still sell them, although I think you'd probably get better performance out of a ported single 4bbl manifold. The original trans in your Riv should be a Dynaflow, not a ST400 (with switch pitch converter). The ST400 is a great trans, essentially a TH400. Practically bullet proof.
Ok Thanks Sanderson says only reason they don't say 63 is because they designed them on a 64 I assume the chassis are the same? Is Sanderson better than TA for Nailhead shortys? As far as starters I think the best solution is a Tom T mini and a remote Solenoid setup. Not sure about a 2 speed trans? I guess that's fast and faster. No manual shifting it. Might be fun just stomping on the gas. I saw some pretty cool mods I can do myself on the intake. Is the stock Carter a good enough carb for now? Dale
The Sandersons should work, I can't think of why they wouldn't. The units from TA are probably more performance oriented, as they have 1 5/8" primaries verses the Sandersons with 1 1/2". But then again, even on Erik's pretty built 425 the Sandersons were only worth 10hp or so on the dyno. Agreed! I swapped an ST400 in my '62. Much better than the Dynaflow in my opinion. If you want a boulevard cruiser the Dynaflow is fine, but I wanted a converter and manual valve body, so that's the route I went. If the carb works and the engine runs good, I'd say its good enough for now. The second you start making major changes, it might be difficult to fine the factory carb.
Re: 1963 Riviera Ideas, and options./Correct pushrods. I finally got this thing started back up. Carb rebuilt, new lifters, new pushrods. Sand blasted the intake, and the valley pan. All painted along with a shiny looking carb. When I bought parts for the motor, I saw that the listed lifters were the same as my 430. I tried to use a set I took out of my 69 rivi I had before I changed the oiling in my 430. Well a few got rusty and one was missing :-( I never get a break. Mother nature hates me. I already bought the push rods from Rock Auto and they are solid. I assumed the lifters were 430 style. I had a set of 455 lifters with the holes. I called TA and Tim said yea you can use a solid push rod on a 455 lifter. Cool saved by the bell. I kind of figured that because I though it was wierd the original lifters had oil holes. When I was cleaning the rockers I noticed there were holes in the push rod cups. I took a look at one of the old push rods and I swear I did not see a hole. Ok whatever... I got the engine running without the valve covers on it today. I don't see any oil on the rockers? So I check another push rod and @#$% It's hollow. The first one I checked must have been clogged and was so black it looked solid. The replacement push rods were like 1.25 each so no big deal. I check back again on Rock Auto and the Internet they are all solid pushrods listed for 63 Rivi. And all the lifters are listed non oil hole. Where do I get the real ones?? Is this standard for a 63 401? I know TA will most likely have them but it aint gonna be cheap. I'm thinking Ill just use the old ones ARGH!!
Dale, The 401/425 nailhead in the first generation Rivi's do have solid pushrods. The oil is pumped through the block into the rocker arm shaft. The oil holes in the rocker arm is where the oil comes out from the shaft to oil the top of the push rod. If you are not getting oil out of the rocker arms, you might want to check your rocker arm shafts to be sure they are clean. They can become clogged with years of sludge preventing proper oil flow. Mark
I just noticed this thread today. The '63 Riv was a Dynaflow from the factory. Probably not the best transmission for performance, but it is the single reason why 1963 is my favorite Riviera. Smooth and strong. Lack of oil to the rockers in a Nailhead may be caused by many reasons. As was mentioned earlier, the rocker shafts may be plugged up with crud. You may also have cam bearing shift which blocks the flow of oil to the rockers. If that is the case, the engine will have to be partially disassembled, new cam bearings properly installed and reamed. Doc has a great method for doing this.
