4360 with 1/2 tank of gas 4550 with me in it, race ready 13.16 ain't too shabby for a rather docile ride with 6 CV joints and a carrier bearing, 3 amps, power everything and A/C, eh KO?
That's fantastic. I'm starting to put our recipe together... did you change the gears in your trans? What converter are you running? And is all this on your site?
KO, I see all the pics on my PC. Have you updated your java and flash? Atco was rained out, so my season is done. The Riv gets safety inspected on Monday, then it's winter project time. I have 3.42 gears in the rear and stock gears in the tranny. Last year I ran a 10" 2800 stall, this year it is a 13" 2800 stall. I was trying to compare the 2 and think the 13' is costing me .1 TO .2. Although the 60' times are about the same, I can power brake (brake torque) it better with the 13" converter. I think I should stop tromping it on the green light and roll into it, like I was doing last year. I'm keeping the 13" in there for now and we'll see next spring how it behaves. Kewl to see your squeeze in PHR!
Jeff, as if you don't know this, but your Riv. has 2 CV Joints, 1 Center Support & Bearing & FIVE!!!!!!! U-JOINTS!!!!! My 4413pd. low compression (about 9-1) 180K+ engine with exhaust manifolds & one 4bbl. carb. & "My Rockers" has powered my '64 Riv. that I purchased in 1964 to a best at Atco of a 13.902ET@98MPH!!!!! In 2004 I have video & pictures of the left front getting pulled about a dozen times. Reason for the frame tweak. When 4413pds. pulls the left front with an X-Frame something had to give!!!!! I am from Ct. while Bob is from N.Y. His '66 Skylark GS, that he also bought new has run a best at Atco of 11.08ET@122MPH. That day "My Rockers" were worth 2 tenths & almost 4MPH with no other changes. The many people that were watching us change over can attest to that!!!! As of this moment I'm 61 & Bob is getting close to 70!!!!! Gotta love it!!!!!!! Happy Turkey Day everyone!!!!!! Tom Telesco
Now Tom, You know I know all that! I was with you when you pulled the wheel and when you broke into the 13's! And when Quigg ran his best ever with your rollers. I think you want to say Hello to Kevin Oeste, here. KO, Tom is probably the premiere nailhead mechanic in the world. His work with them, Rivs and pretty much all old cars is superb. Tom designed and built mini starters for the nailhead. He also designed and builds roller rockers that are worth what, Tom, like 22 HP at the wheels? Tom bought his '64 Riv new in '64 and has street raced it ever since. He only now retired it because, like he mentioned, the frame is now tweaked. You want to bench race, then he's the guy to BS with. Tom, my shop manual lists the pair of joints at the rear yoke as one CV joint, and it lists the pair of joints at the carrier bearing as another CV joint. Then I have the U-joint at the trans. I guess the 4 u-joints that make up the 2 CV joints are not considered real u-joints by Buick because they have that ball and spring to maintain constant pressure in the joint?
Yard, I get alot of these when I try to blow up your thumbnails - http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jholthenrichs/driveshaft.jpg Sounds like that 13" converter is pretty cool. I love how big "towing" converters can make high-torque heavy cars drivable. What RPM do you cross the traps at with the 3:42s? I've been sizing wheels and tires, that may be one of the first videos we post on this project. Gotta love the big wells of a Riv. Tom, nice to meet you - it's cool to see some development on the naillhead. I spent a few minutes under our '68 the other day... it was the first time I had the car on the lift since we got it a year ago. It's a really clean car, but the driveshaft situation is going to be interesting. The rear axle appears to be open, at least there's no posi tag or notch on the rear cover, but I didn't open it up yet. And I'm not a big fan of these rear ends, having grenaded three of them in the past, without even beating on them. The first let go in my red '70 Riv while pulling into my driveway, and the second on the freeway in the '70, and the third in my '69 on the 10 freeway in LA. We ran a little blurb in Car Craft back in '98 on that one. http://www.rowand.net/Shop/Tech/images/Let'sGoBreakSomething-3.jpg So, I'd like to build a 9" for the car before it lets go, but there are going to be some challenges. We'll post all the progress here and on our site.
I can't believe that. Perhaps it's because I run a basically stock engine, but I have ran the same rear end in my '66 for over 200,000 miles, and I literally beat the sh*t out of that thing. From pulling heavy trailers full of concrete, and getting stuck in the mud and snow, neutral slams, brake torques, burn outs, pulling tree stumps, you name it and I never even once had it let go.......aside from the posi chattering on turns but I was able to fix that with lighter pre-load springs. On my '67, my current car, that rear also has over 100,000 miles on it. Although I'm easier on it, again, I find it to be very reliable. And I found that by flushing it out with kerosene and running synthetic gear lube with the GM posi additive the chattering is eliminated. That was a common problem with these rears due to the fact that back in the early '80's they took the whale oil out of the posi lube and the clutches didn't like it. Perhaps you were using lube that was too heavy?........someone once told me that 140 weight is too thick and doesn't circulate at low temperatures, and will wear the spider gears prematurely so use 90 weight, particularly with posi. Just a thought.
KO, What URL are you on in the beginning? And which thumbnails? I may have to rewrite some of the coding. I remember when you dumped the rear in your 69. I remember e-mailing you at the time and asking if your carrier bearing was worn out. A worn carrier bearing will allow the driveshaft to wobble, possibly causing the failure. I have only heard of one other Riv rear going - out of the scores of Rivs I've come in contact with. I'd like to get to the bottom of your rear failures because it doesn't seem in line with what the rest of us have experienced - and I'm worried. It's funny, every time I beat on my car I fear the rear will grenade, and that is ONLY because of your rear failure you spoke about in Hot Rod. Thanks for the sleepless nights!:laugh: :bla: ou: In fact I have the original 3.07 posi from drum to drum stored in my basement as a spare. Well, this past summer I bought a 3.42 ring and pinion figuring I'd have them installed in the 3.07 rear as a backup, only to find out last month that the carrier for the 3.07 is different from the 3.42! So now I need another 3.42 carrier to put the 3.42 gears on and then to place in my 3.07 case - just in case I "pull a KO" (like how I've coined a new term for blowing up a 9 3/8" big Buick rear???). hee hee
OK, KO (oy, sorry), I think I have all the thumbnails fixed now. Be sure to refresh your screen first. Thanks for the heads up. Please let me know if there are any more you run across that don't work. I got my own domain and never checked the hyperlinks on the thumbnails when I uploaded the page. I just figured out how to default the link to the current page without typing in the whole URL in the hyperlink line.
I think you mean "pinion" bearing. The carrier bearings are the ones that go on the sides of the carrier. It takes a lot of force to crush that collar that goes inbetween the pinion bearings. I think what can happen is that when the pinion seal gets replaced, the nut doesn't get tighened enough and the bearings work loose. On both my Rivs the original pinion seal leaked and had to be replaced. :idea2:
I mean the carrier bearing on the driveshaft - in the center of the shaft that holds it to the box in the frame. If that bearing is shot the shaft could wobble and reek all kinds of havoc on the rear.
This is all great info... I have a hard time believing I'm the only one who broke these things, but I could be. I am glad to hear that others are surviving. All three of mine were non-posi units, and I probably drove the first one for maybe 15k when it failed - the car probably had about 110k on it at that point. I changed the fluid with dyno 80w90 or something. It was 1992, kinda hard to remember. The second one blew quickly thereafter, but it was a junkyard piece that made noise from the start... again, I changed the fluid when I put it in, but it locked up within 5 or 6k, in about '93. The big failure in the pics was another car with about 100k on it, and the grenade happend about 3000 miles after a fluid change. None of them leaked... the big blow out shot the pins from the spider gears out, which wedged in the ring gear, and took the case apart. I may have done 2-3 burnouts in a Riv in my life, really... I had a mechanic put the fear of God in me about breaking the driveshaft and how $$ that would be, so I always babied them. Someday I'll post the 2 burnout videos I have if I can find 'em. This rear in this '68 we got seems to be quiet, so I'll give it the rinse, flush, and a Royal Purple 75w90 treatment soon and keep the fingers crossed, before I "KO" another rear end! - KO the destroyer
I wouldn't flush it, KO. Just add a tube of EquaTouque from NAPA to silence the chatter areound turns. Shoot, I don't think I've EVER driven my car without a good, healthy, smokey burnout! Hell, I crack open the secondaries just backing out of the garage!
I'll wait to drive the '68 a while before we make any rear axle assessments. And that means we've got some work to do... we've driven it around the shop area a little, but not on the road yet... gotta fix the miss, check the brakes... as I said before, this is the very beginning of the project.
Hope you and Kelle had a good holiday, KO. Mine was less dysfunctional than in previous years, considering...
Thanks! We did have a nice day. I still can't believe I'm the only one who blows these rear axles up... actually, the differentials up. Maybe the open diffs were the problem... you'd think a 9 3/8 gearset would hold up to anything. I'll keep my eyes open for a posi unit.
