1998 Buick Riviera - Supercharged 3800 V6 with lots of challenge extras- $1200

So, I've gone back and forth on whether to keep working on this and bring it to the Challenge myself or to see about selling it to get something else. Since there's currently something that I want far, far more than this (see the 1982 Rampage thread nearby...) I'm going to take a stab at the latter.

Current build (or at least discussion) thread on it can be found here.

At its core, it's a massive boat of a coupe (it's longer than almost anything on the road- seriously not kidding on this) with a surprisingly powerful and torqy engine in the form of GM/Buick's L67 Series-II Supercharged 3800. Driving normally the car feels fairly mild thanks to the well-designed bypass system- but put the hammer down and the car will take off like a rocket. Stock specs for the car are 0-60 in 7 seconds and a 15.5 on the quarter mile. Car has 165,000 miles on the clock.

The engine runs solidly and is a complete blast to drive. Everything is there (interior & exterior) and I've taken the car on 200-mile round-trips without any issues. It does surge a bit in gear at idle- I have my suspicions that the LIM gaskets need to be replaced with the improved ones (the stock original ones have a habit of failing along the coolant passages) as it won't hold pressure in the cooling system well. Full disclosure: this could also mean that there's a head gasket problem, it's difficult to tell without really getting into the engine (which I've not done). When I got it the AC system had no refrigerant, so I pulled out the underhood components and installed a bypass pulley.

The interior and exterior aren't much to write home about. It's a late-90's white GM car, so the paint doesn't want to be on the car at all and the interior while complete is very solidly worn- the driver's seat has some major rips in the seat and currently has a seat cover on it. I'd planned on essentially ripping the seat off the power tracks and installing a racing seat in its place- and the rest of the interior would have been torn out because racecar. Don't know for certain one way or another whether the sunroof works- hit the button once when test-driving it and it made a bad noise so I decided to not try again and risk not being able to get it closed.

New parts installed:

1. AC Bypass pulley
2. Metal elbows in cooling system (common failure point in 3800s)
3. New rad hoses
4. Replaced lower steering column (tilt bracket had failed)
5. Replaced failed auto-leveling air shocks in rear with manual-fill air shocks
6. New poly front sway bar links

Since I was planning on this being a Challenge car and it's how I do things (collect lots of parts ASAP), there are a number of additional parts and such that are included with selling it to another GRMer that wouldn't go with the car in a non-GRMer sale. I've had a number of forum members be very generous in getting performance parts to me, and I want to make sure they stay in the GRM family.

Total of 3 sets of wheels/tires:

1. 16" chromed stock Riviera wheels. Wheels are good, tires are usable but questionable
2. 17" Buick SUV wheels with very good tires- were off either a Rendevous or a Ranier, can't remember which. Tires are in surprisingly good shape with a lot of tread
3. 15" steel wheels with unusable tires- planned on finding R-comps for these for the AutoX

Other parts:

1. Heavier/stiffer rear sway bar (from Caddy STS) and new bushings to install it
2. Several strut-top bars that can be hacked together to make ones for the Riv
3. Interchangeable supercharger pulley system with 3 reduction pulleys (will up the boost the blower puts out)
4. 'Plog' replacement front exhaust manifold (improved flow vs. stock manifold)
5. Full factory service manuals on the Riviera (and its sister car the Olds Aurora)
6. Methanol injection system & several reservoirs to use with it
7. Several spoilers/wings I picked up that I thought might work well on it
8. Aftermarket remote start system
9. Northstar V8 throttle body (can be adapted to increase airflow through the blower vs. the stock TB)

I may well be leaving a few things out... I'm pulling everything from memory vs. looking at it in front of me, I'll check over things when I get home and add anything I find that I've forgotten.

Located in Lexington, KY. Can probably deliver to points reasonably close by- given the car I want to replace this with is near Indy, will definitely try and work out delivering to there if need be.

Will happily answer any questions about it that aren't answered in the build thread.

Checked out in the garage and I forgot the following parts:

1. New poly rear sway bar end links
2. Outer tie rod end links
3. One new body-to-subframe bushing (I had intended to make a complete set of new ones out of hockey pucks to save money and stiffen it up, but the hockey pucks got appropriated for something SWMBO needed done...)

Willing to sell meth system to a $2018 car?

Patrick wrote: Willing to sell meth system to a $2018 car?

I'm not at all opposed to selling some of the individual upgrade parts separately- but for now would like to hold off on separating everything since I primarily want to get the car sold. If it sells locally without all of the upgrades (have just the car and not the extra parts with it listed on CL/LetGo/FB) then I'll be offering up the upgrades separately here for other Challenge cars and will contact you first about the meth injection system.

Patrick wrote: Willing to sell meth

In reply to Wall-e:

I think the only thing that we tend to peddle around here is speed...

Had some more interest in it from the local listings, but so far nothing that has gotten to the point of them coming to look at it.

Doing a bit of thinking and googling I may know what's causing the uneven idle (only does it in gear when stopped, goes away if you're in Neutral/Park or under any power). There's a fairly complex vacuum line setup that runs around the engine and ties into the supercharger bypass actuator- if there's a bit of a leak it could be throwing the idle off. It's a kind of expensive part to buy a new one of (I had to replace it on the engine that sitting on the stand to potentially put in the DMC) and fragile enough to rarely find in usable shape in a junkyard, but it can be patched inexpensively. Hopefully that's it and I can find the leak and get it fixed this afternoon. :)

This is the engine package for the Spec Renault on the open classified needs!

While I would love to see someone get this and actually take it to the Challenge, I can't argue that as a drivetrain donor it would work quite well too.

Also, if anyone wants JUST the car itself without any of the extra parts (would include the repair manuals) with either the original 16" alloy wheels or the 15" steelies on it I would take $800 for it.

Planning on taking the car to the local auto auction early this afternoon, but will make one more price drop on it here: $1100 for the car & all the parts listed above, or $700 for just the car & repair manuals.

Sold the Riviera to get the Rampage yesterday- will go through the garage and post up the parts that I don't think I'll be using for any other projects in the near future sometime soon.

Ashyukun said:

Sold the Riviera to get the Rampage yesterday- will go through the garage and post up the parts that I don't think I'll be using for any other projects in the near future sometime soon.

Sweet ! 

When are you picking it up?

Is the Rampage Challenge Bound? 

In reply to Indy-Guy :

It's actually sitting in my garage at the moment- the previous owner dropped it off when he picked up the Riviera.

With a lot of luck the Rampage will be at the Challenge this year... in theory as long as I can get the wiring figured out it should be able to make it there, but that's going to be a good bit of work to get everything sorted well enough for it to make the trip- but it is what I'm aiming for with it.

Congrats on possibly the first-ever Rampage-for-Riviera swap.  

If anyone is kicking themselves for missing out on that Riviera, I can hook them up with a family member's supercharged '95 in Florida, not too far from Gainesville... 

Danny