72 Riviera Gs Stage One?

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.

 

Jeezzzz, I Sure With I Could Figure This Out! Thanks For You Help And Time Though!!!

 

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?

 

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?

 

That is what I thought-- BA, BB and OWs were short tails while the B and E bodies were long tails.

 

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