Hallo everyone I am so glad to see there's such a big family of buick lovers out there. Myself am a belgium bum who is new here, I have bought the car of my dreams (buick 71 riviera) and in search to know all about it I found you guys. Now it needs some serious doing up, I know my fair share bout cars but no way as much as you guys, but i am very eager to learn. Now the body is going to be taken care of profesionally by a friend of mine who has done oldtimer restoration for over 30 years so no worrys there. Myself I want to rebuild the engine (its just the stock 71 455) the car will be drivin often and just on the streets, but i still want it to have that litle extra punch to it.. offcourse! I have heard a lot of people say to get a stage 1 cam what i am currently checking out. Now I'd be very happy if you guys could share some of your knowledge with me on some things that just must be done or would be smart or are worth concidering and why. I would be so thankfull for anyones help! The whole engine is going to come appart anyway and nearly all needs replacing, so might as well do it good, non?! Thanks in advance! Sorry for my english btw. Nice to be here and greetings to all! Rene
Hello Rene- And welcome to the right place for a Buick lover! I have a '72 Boattail that I am doing some upgrading to (little by little). I guess the first question is how you plan to use your car. I'm guessing a street car mostly? Before you go too far with the engine, make sure the brakes are in top condition! :eek2: :laugh: Inspect the metal lines for any signs of corrosion and replace the rubber lines- one at each front wheel and one in the back. I don't know how hard it is to get parts where you are, but www.Rockauto.com would have the hoses and other parts like brake pads, rotors, shoes, master cylinder, booster, etc. As far as your engine, take a look at www.taperformance.com www.trishieldperformance.com (Jim is the owner of this site) www.gesslerheadporting.com for starters. TA is the best place to get performance parts for your engine. TriShield Performance has lots of choices for a quality built motor in a power range that makes sense to you. Also, Jim is kind enough to tell us about a lot of the combinations he uses. If you search for his name "Jim Weise" you'll find several threads on some good combinations. Greg Gessler is a very good head porter who can convert your existing heads to stage 1 with bigger valves and also open them up for more air flow. That's just a few of the best sites to visit aside from doing a lot of searching here. There is so much information here! Again, welcome and give us an idea of just how far you think you want to go with your engine build.
Hi there Thankyou very much for your reply Yes you're right about the brakes but no worry's I am hoping to do a good job on this babe. We're hoping (this winter) to pull the car apart, so my friend will have the top to restore and have it diped in zinc etc and I will have the bottom to work on, new brakes, brake lines are definatly on the list! Among springs and shocks, btw any help on tht? I want a stiff ride but see so many options what is good I guess, but not making it to easy seen as though I lack in knowledge on makes, models etc. I am doing the car up with the best of my knowledge and want to do as much as possible myself, and learn as much as possible to do this car honour. Now before I start about this I don't know what you people think to a prophane conversions in a car...? here in europe its nearly the only posibility seen as though gas prices are nearly double over here. The car already had one when I bought it. I intend to keep this as I like cruizin long distances. Now I know this makes a few things hard and a few mods even pointless. Though on small distances ofcourse I ll be runing petrol and burning ruber. SOOOO conclusion I just want a few basic mods to keep the car drivable but still have that extra power. (and am not talking simple mods as in new air filter etc... something between that and drag racing would be nice) I hope this was clear enough?? if not please tell me. I will check those site's out, thankyou verry much. And hopefully in 6 to 7 months I can post the pictures of my baby ready and fast because of your help! Thankyou so much. p.s. is it such a big deal if I paint the engine black instead of the tipical red? is that one of the things NOT to do or??
Howdy Rene, congrats on the purchase and welcome! Throw some pics up! Is there a loarge classic car following in Europe? I always wondered how much there was with the price of gas you guys have to deal with. :shock:
Rene- Here is something to read about what I did as far as getting advice on an engine I had built for another Buick I own (not the Riviera). http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=170208&highlight=engine+clearance This would also be a nice combination for you, although not too sure about the propane aspect. The main reason I posted this is for clearances. There are few machine shops here in the states that understand the clearances a Buick motor require. Most are familiar with Chevy motors, which have much bigger clearances. If you were to build your 455 to Chevy tolerances, I'm afraid it would not last too long. Sorry everything is in English, not metric, but it's important. You don't necessarily have to follow the rest of the "recipe" for the engine I had done (you can put on aluminum heads from TA, a more radical cam, etc), but getting the clearances correct are very important to having an engine that will run for a long time. As far as springs, I put in Moog brand and the front sits about an inch too high- doesn't look too good. http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=183139&highlight=moog I haven't corrected this issue, but I plan to pull them back out (ughh!) and cut 1/2 to 1 coil off.
Rene Welcome good to hear another boattial is being resurrected. com see and your riv to the boattail registry - lots of manuals and info in the library www.boattail-riviera-by-buick.com
Welcome aboard, Rene. IMHO: try to get your hands on the right Buick red for your engine. At the moment I'm trying to get a few spray cans (Krylon) to Europe in a sea container (spray cans can't be shipped by plane due to IAATA rules), so we might cooperate.
Heyhey I have alot of reading to do! very glad about the response. Tbh I am in china right now and my boss is being a pain in the ass, but its only bacause of this job i can afford such a car... most meetings get bearable because of this thought. But every spear second I have am checkin it all out. I at least want the car to be at stage 1 performance, and from there it's just seeying how much money is left over. Here i will post 3 pics, one when the car was already majorly cleaned up, now it may not look like it, but this car was covered, inside and out! had'nt been moved from under the trees for 3 years. Then went for a litle trip in it and gave it a quick paintjob with a few cans, to fullfill my litle boys dream od drivin: ''the badass black muscle car'' Thoug it has had some issues now, and its time to restore the babe properly. And I dont know if your interested but just so you know: the plan is to make it really dark green nearly black all over (offcourse not the chrome!!) So actually black with a green shine to it. And i might have to do something to the hood, to be able to still fit the lpg system... Still checking out what and how. Thanks and any advice is still very welcome! Greetings p.s. how is that engine now you got it built like that?
Welcome to the wonderful world of Riviera Rene !! Check out the Riviera Owners Association (ROA) at www.rivowners.org when you get a chance - we are an international organization. :beer :TU:
Hello, There, is no need; to apologize for your English. It seems, you are understood, just fine. And, that is good. As, I don't know how many on the board speak Waloon or Flemish. (Je ne parle pas Waloon ni Flemand ni Francais ni Neerlandais) Soyez bienvenus a Buick!
No there aint much classics around, mostly jerry origin. Only at meetings a few diehard people turn up, but its nice because if you ever do meet someone with such a car, you're become family straight away Getting parts though sucks, and people with specific knowledge. Okay am going to read up on what you guys have sent me, many thanks!
final questions Hallo again As I have been readin a great thread here: ''Okay i was goin to place a link here but am not allowed yet :S'' Anyways in this thread JW explains all the costs an posibilities and time it takes. So I have come to my senses. At the moment with work and money I can't afford the time or money (yet) to do the WHOLE thing properly. JW suggest in this thread to '' take the intake, oil pan, heads and timing cover off it, replace the cam and lifters and timing chain, rebuild the heads, paint it up,and call it a day.. pay attention to the rockers, they wear out the aluminum shafts- if they are worn, put a set of the later steel ones on it'' And I will do the ''proper'' rebuild when i have the new funds, time and knowledge. So can anyone help me with these things: -wich cam and lifters should I put on? -what exactly gets ment by rebuild the heads? -and what carburator? or maybe better: what carburator and intake combo? Please help me with these questions so I can start shoping and get my baby back together. Thanks for the help guys!
I understand that there are a number of propane conversion of cars in Europe. I have read of this one here in the states; http://www.wps.com/AMC/LPG/LPG-book-final.html
Here's a propane set up on a 455 at the BPG Nats 2010; so even in the USA :TU: 2x IMPCO E-model vaporizer and 2x 425 mixer :Brow: 2 of my Buicks are converted to run on propane as well.
The are several local bussineses that have propne fueled service trucks. And, some of the buses here run on propane
Rene: Looking at the photos I noticed that your car has a model year 1972 grille, tail light lenses and bumpers. In the first photo it looks like there are no louvres (model year 1971 only) in the bonnet lid, in the third photo there is a model year 1971 bonnet lid shown. Dutch RDW says your car was first registered on February 28 1971, but this date is never right. When a car is imported and the documents only show the year of first registration, Dutch RDW will use Feb 28 of that particulair year. (Model year 1972 started a few months before the ending of the 1971 calendar year) Before the RDW always used June 30, because this is the middle of a calendar year. So my model year 1973 Riviera has a first date of registration of June 30 1972. So can you please post the VIN of the car ? If you're looking for used parts, contact Rick Bax a.k.a. "The Cannibal" in the S/W (Zeeland) of the Netherlands :TU: Click banner:
Mostly cars from Blighty ?? You need to go out more often :bglasses: There is a huge American car scene in Europe, and at an average meeting you will find loads of Buicks, much more compared to average car shows in North America. Buicks were even built in your country :Smarty: And in the Netherlands you will find the most Boattails per square mile compared to any other country in the world. Here are a few European Riviera photos, all shot by yours truly: CLICK HERE Buicks at a car show in Switzerland: CLICK HERE And you can find 10,000's other photos of American cars in Europe on my website :TU:
