Im in the process of porting the heads myself, one small set back was overporting the bolt boss hole not a big deal I will sleeve the bolt hole. But I noticed as I was porting these heads that the buick green paint that was painted over this recent build of .30 over on the pistons is that under the blue paint on the heads its red. I have not checked the block yet since its at the shop, and I know that the numbers match from the block and the car ID tag and tranney are original. What Im saying is I have 66 heads or was it possible to have a factory 66 engine in a 65 rivi. I know the build year code states 11-65 when it was built . It is a 1965 Riviera 425 single 4 with almost every option. It has power vent windows along with all power windows. Air shocks in back and a rare motorola vibrasonic dial under the dash added to the stock am radio, looks factory. the rear is a open 3.08 dff. The engine block code is LW so its probably heads that were exchanged with this build.ou:
11-65 would be a '66 production year car. What codes are you using to come up with this date? Date codes use number for years and letters for weeks; that's as close as you can get. If your car was built in November, it would be 11A for the first week, or 11B for the second week, etc. The year is stamped on the Fisher Body data plate in a different place. The year code for a 1965 Riviera would be 65-494475h ****** 65 - 1965 49 - Riviera 47 - 2dr hardtop 5 - model year h- Flint ***** - production number (Rivieras did not have their own sequence of numbers in '65, they were numbered sequentially within all other Buicks. I'd say that if you're going on paint alone, that you have a '66 head. One difference between '66 heads and all other nailhead heads - even with the same casting numbers - is that in '66 seals were used on either the intake or exhaust valves (can't remember for sure which but it's not both.) That was the only year for seals. If it were a complete '66 engine from a Riviera it would have a Q-jet carb and manifold, and the water crossover pipe would have a lift ring cast into it. Hope this helps some. Ed
I answer my own question earlier, The engine block code is LW so its probably heads that were exchanged with this build. But I will still post the fisher body tag info just for the hell of it. And it came with single 4 carter carb, however I aquired a 1966 q-jet mani and 7042240 q-jet 1972 year 800 cfm.
Ok here go's fisher body ID plate # 11a ST 65- 49447 FB 23337 body paint TR -628 RR EXNT - 2KR - 3T - 5W ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- on block LW - 133 engine prod # 5H (9094147) these numbers match numbers on drivier side door pillar tag -VIN#
The first line is pretty much self explanatory. - 1965 Riviera, 23,337 Buick built in 1965. Rivieras did not have their own FB number in 1965. (You didn't include a date code - number for month, letter for week) Example 11D would be 4th week of November (1964) for the 1965 production year. Here are the other codes Tr 628 - Black Vinyl (Paint code) RR - Flame red E - EZI Glass X - Power windows N - power vent windows T - 4 way power bucket seats Grouup 2 K - Air Conditioning R - Rear speaker Group 3 T - rear arm rest Group 5 W - Seat belts w/ retractor These codes are only for options for which Fisher Body needed to make modifications to a base body to accomodate the coded options. A tab here, a screw hole here, a hole in the firewall here or there. Fisher body installed the glass then sent the car to a different site for final assembly. Other options such as tilt wheel, four note horns, tire size, type of radio, etc could be installed on any car without modifications during final assembly. Even the Gran Sport option and its related components. Therefore the Gran Sport option is not on the data plate. Engine size was not needed in the Fisher Body plant, only at final assembly. Hope this helps. Did you find any evidence of valve seals on your red painted green heads? Ed
By now you've probably figured that it was a 1965 production model built in the 1st week of November 1964. No one has figured out which cars have *'s and which ones don't.
I always thought the star correlated to the car have a two tone paint job. Whether it was vinyl, or painted.
Andy, 1st generation Rivieras (63 - 65) or later 67 - 73 never came with two tone paint jobs. The first two tone Riviera was probably a mid 70's item - 74/75??? If you noticed when the owner said the paint code was RR. The first letter would represent the lower body color and the 2nd letter would represent the upper body color. If the two letters are the same, it's a solid color paint. If a car was two-tone red (R) over black (A) it would have been coded RA. Who knows if it would have had a star or not. I'm not sure how vinyl tops were coded. I've never seen (nor even know if they exist) a body tag for some of the mid 50's Buicks that were three-toned: top, upper body, lower body. Ed
I'm well aware of all that Ed, hence why I said whether the two tone be vinyl or paint. I could be completely wrong but that's what I thought the star represented.
There was no code for a vinyl top, hence it didn't have a vinyl top. Vinyl tops, if so equipped, were only available in black. The code RR means RED - period. The * is inconsequential. Don't read more into than is there.
For what little it may be worth: Around '65 or '66, Oldsmobiles might have had a circular hole in the trim tag. This denoted whether the body shell had--or didn't have--reinforcements for front-seat shoulder harnesses (seat belt) supplied in the roof panel. Having the circular hole in the trim tag denoted that the reinforcement was installed (even if it wasn't used because there were no shoulder harnesses.) Perhaps the "*" does the same thing for Buick in those years???
Buick also used the hole in the trim tag to denote the shoulder harness mod. Started early in the 1966 production year. Some Buick A-bodies had the star...... but isn't it only on Flint-built cars?
My apologies Ed. I read through the posts quick, and for whatever reason saw you said black vinyl, and connected that to the roof, not interior trim. And for what it's worth, my '62 is Flint built and has a star.
There are some Rivieras out there without the * but ALL Rivieras from this era were built in Flint. ??? Still one of life's little mysteries. I've researched this along with some other Riviera owners and we don't have a clue as to what the * represents.
