Does Anyone Know How To Tell If My 72' Riviera Gs Has The Stage 1 Option? Are These Rare Cars? The Vin Is: 4y87w2h933064 Thanks For Any Help!
Would not be Stage would it? It might be an HP which had a different camshaft. I think they only had the stage one designation in 73 but check with the boat guys for sure
Jim is correct. In 1971 & 1972 the Riviera was available with the GS option only. The "W" in your vin is for GS equipped cars. This was when the GS option was a performance package rather than a handling package in years to come.
ARE YOU SURE? I've talked to a couple people that have told me there were a few "GS" models that came with the Stage 1 option, which was basically an engine option that included 270 Horse Power, instead of the 250-260 HP the "GS" came with... YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME, THANKS FOR YOUR INFO... I SURE WOULD LIKE TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS!
I believe they are confusing the HP option with the stage one option. Big valve heads come on both but the camshafts etc were different . Perhaps the carb and distribs were different but one of the guys who has owned one would have to speak to that.
THIS SITE SAYS THE "W" MEANS IT CAME WITH THE STAGE 1 OPTION... INTERESTING... http://www.rivowners.org/features/70-75/index.html
The '72 Riviera GS came with a 455 Stage One as well as posi. If your car has the original chrome air cleaner (no decals), it is a stage one.
Maybe it is semantics. I always thought that people tended to called the B body post 1970 HP engines and the post 1970 Riv GS "stage ones" simply because they had the same A body big valve heads. I also though that Buick never called any of these stage ones until 73 - 74 and then only for the Rivs which for the first time got a stage one emblem in the grille. I also thoght the HP B body and the Riv GS car 71-74 shared the #1237664 camshafts and that the A body stage one engines had the # 1383853 camshafts so as between the two the engines were never the identical. There was also a 3rd camshaft for non stage one, non HP cars. What am I missing ? Does anyone contend that the engine components between the A body Stage ones and the engines in the B body HPs or the Riv GS cars were allthe same ?
As far as I knew, the 71-72 Riviera GS had a stage 1 engine, but was never referenced as one. Ie, You couldn't buy a stage 1 Riviera. In 73 you could, it was a handling option.
Pretty sure the cams were not the same. I think Rick wrote an article on this for the BPG newsletter once. What is unclear to me is did either the HP B bodies or the GS Rivs,71-74, have the stage one 242 carbs, the 2016 stage one distribs and the BB or OW trans? Smartin you had a 1971 HP B body, which carb, distrib and trans did yours have?
no - they had the stock 455 carbs.. I have been searching for the info on the cams for an hour...can't find it.
Ok, my 72 Stage 1 motor was a numbers matching motor from a 72 Riv. The motor numbers on the block matched the vin, but the car didn't say Stage 1 though. I have the big valve heads on the motor which is now my 462.
BPG mag article Rick wrote. But I looked up the part numbers and the cams were not the same. From what your 71 suggests the carbs may not have been the same. A 71 stage one carb was 7041242 and I suspect yours was 7041240. What about the trans and the distrib numbers on your 71 ? And for the original poster a 72 stage one carb was 7042242. And the 72 stage one distrib was 1112016. What does yours have?
quote from the chassis manual: Trans codes are as follows: BA = GS 455 BC = LeSabre, Centurion, Electra, Estate Wagon BT = Riviera BB & OW = GS 455 Stage1
My carb # was 7041540, as was all of the rest of the big car 455 carbs. I don't know if my HP car had different jets or rods, though. I don't have the numbers for the distributor, it's in Germany, now:grin:
Numbers for my distributor are supposed to be 1112077... There were 3 distributors available in 1971 - 455 manual trans, 455 auto, and stage1. If the number was different for the HP Centurion/Riv GS, then it would state that. It does so for every other thing that is different in the book.
So this info suggests that the HP B body or Riv GS engines 1971-74 had the same big valve heads as did the same model year GS 455 stage one A bodies but did not have the same performance: Cam Carb Disrib or Trans