Was able to get some work done on the car this evening. I got the leaking plastic elbow replaced with the upgraded aluminum one (interestingly, the Riv only had one- the second is actually integral to the crossover unlike my PAU). Also got the coolant cleaner flushed out and the system refilled with antifreeze. Didn't bleed the system out yet, but I won't be driving it until I'll have the chance to tomorrow anyway. Also got the tires on the correct sides, so at the moment the only major issues are the valve cover gasket leak (which I can deal with for now) and the steering wheel tilt lock not working- and arguably it's less likely to kill me than the Patriot's front suspension.
I'll likely get the chance to see how it does long-range on Friday.
Semper Avanti. (Always forward.)
So, I had yesterday off for Good Friday, so I took the opportunity to meet up with eastsidemav to hit up the newer junkyard up in Cinci. Even better, they were having a 40% off sale that we didn't know about ahead of time.
Did reasonably well in what I found... FINALLY found the right Caddy and was able to pull a heftier rear sway bar for the Riv. Will need new bushings, but that's fine with me. Also pulled a steering column to replace mine with the broken tilt mechanism (after looking it over and partial disassembly, it's probably going to be easier to just swap the whole thing in vs. just the damaged part). Also grabbed a gas cap since mine inexplicably didn't come with one as well as a front valve cover- am crossing my fingers that the couple-dollar valve cover with used gasket will fix the (presumed) valve cover oil leak on mine.
Got the column job about 3/5 of the way done today. If I'd realized earlier on that just swapping the whole column would be easier I'd have saved myself a trip to HF for a tool I needed, but it's one that should be useful down the line and isn't available as a loaner from the parts stores that I've seen. Biggest challenge was getting the old cylinder out of the ignition without having the key- eventually attacked it with an angle grinder until I could pull the guts out and rotate it so it would slide out of the column. Would have been so much easier if they'd just had the key in the car...
Got the steering column swap finished up yesterday as well as replacing the leaking front valve cover. So, in theory (once I zip-tie some wiring & such out of the way under the dash since I'm not planning on putting the knee pad back into the car) the car SHOULD be good to drive around normally now. That's assuming nothing else pops up now that I've gotten the obvious issues out of the way...
Finished the minor things needed to be able to drive the car (mainly the front valve cover gasket) and took it on a test-run to the store to return a Redbox movie. It still smoked a lot from around the front manifold, but there is also a LOT of oil around there so I'm going to just keep checking it and see whether it was just burning off what was already there or if there's still a leak someplace. And I certainly hope there still isn't, since it would mean it was leaking someplace on/around the cylinder head. Also got the wiring under the dash ziptied out of the way since I'm not planning on putting the knee pad back in.
Did one unnecessary thing though, and threw a pair of 5 1/4" speakers I had in to the front doors to replace the shot stock speakers. The door panels will be coming out for the competition itself, as will most of the interior- but for the moment I'm going to be driving it around and want a working sound system. For the drive down I'll likely be setting up a self-contained system so I don't have to drive halfway across the country with no music...
The car drove fairly well on the test run to the store- the steering is still a bit loose, but it IS both a Buick boat inherently and also needs at least one outer tie-rod end replaced. The engine seems to be doing decently- I didn't completely floor it at any point (no good place to do so safely on the drive), but it will definitely move if I put the pedal down more than usual.
So far fairly pleased with the car. Next steps will be getting the poly bushings for the sway bars and installing the STS rear sway bar to tighten up the rear end and replacing those tie-rod ends. Probably won't do much more beyond that for the time being until I've had a chance to get it out to the drag strip to test it out in stock form and run over some cones at the local autocross with it. And FINALLY get the garage cleaned up and organized...
Haven't really done much on the Riv for a little while as it's been driving fine and have had other things to do, but Saturday was a 50% off event at a nearby junkyard so I headed up there (in the Jeep) to look for parts for the Riv and SWMBO's SUV.
Didn't find what I was looking for regarding the SUV, but did find what I was mainly looking to find for the Riv: wheels. Thankfully they had a lot of Pontiacs, Buicks, and Caddies so there were lots of wheels. There was a Caddy with some EPICALLY-pimp 22" 255-width chrome wheels... but unfortunately (or fortunately, hard to tell...) the car only had 3 of them. So I had to settle for a nice set of 17" wheels off a Buick SUV- they should look quite nice on the car, and they'll give me more options for race tires. 3 of the 4 tires are in great shape too, so if I find good 16" race tires for the stock wheels I just need to find another similar street tire and I can drive the car to the Challenge on the 17's.
Had the time yesterday to do a little work on the Riv, so got two of the new wheels/tires put on the back of the car. They're from a Buick Rendevous, so they're about an inch larger in overall diameter, but I think they still look good and the tires are WAAAAY better than the ones that were on the car.
Unfortunately, one of the tires that came on the wheels was very clearly shot- it seemed blatantly obvious that when moving the car they'd hit the sidewall with a forklift and it had punctured it on both ends of the lift tine. Out of curiosity I did a quick Google search- and found I could get the exact same tire with about the same amount of tread remaining (it's easy to tell from pictures due to a feature of the tread...) for less than $50 shipped. So, once I get the tire in and have it put on the rim, I should have a full set of nice-looking 17" wheels with nearly new all-season tires for about $200 total.
I'm currently leaning toward trying to get racing tires for the stock 225-R16 wheels- that will mean I don't have to include wheels in the budget, and if I do end up buying the tires outright they'll be a bit cheaper.
Only other thing I did was to pull off the crappy old seat-covers that they had on the seats. The driver's seat kind of needed it since there is a rip in the seat, but the passenger seat is in good shape (at least is not ripped). I may still need to do something about the seat- I've considered putting in one of my race seats but that may be more involved than I'd like depending on some things in the rules- but at least pulling off the covers allowed me to fix something that had been nagging me: the seat belt.
When they put the seat covers on, the previous owner had taken off the seat belt 'loop' at the outboard top of the seat that the belt went through. Without it, the seat belt was essentially choking me because of where the pillar mount-point is. And being an older car, it doesn't have adjustable pillar mounts. So this will make the car less annoying for me to drive for certain.
Finally, I've been trying to figure out what I want to do for a theme... and I think I may finally have settled on something:
Well, carp. The used tire showed up today (and amused me given they just slapped a label on it, so a bare tire showed up on my doorstep courtesy of FedEx...), and I immediately took it to the tire shop to be installed- and when they did and aired it up, there was a massive bulge in the sidewall with a tear in the middle that we could easily hear air leaking from. sigh So, I've contacted the company about getting a replacement (they have another of the same model/size with only slightly less tread on it). Doesn't really cause any serious problems assuming they get me one that works, just means I have to wait a bit before getting the other two wheels on the Riv.
Well, the good news is that after seeing a picture of the sidewall of the damaged tire (thankfully the tear is pretty obvious) the used tire place is sending me out another one. So hopefully I'll have the new one by the end of the week.
Didn't get anything done on the car over the weekend. I'm actually kind of at an impasses as to what I should be doing next on it. I guess I need to really seriously sit down with the budget and figure out what all I can afford and get figured out what I can really do with the engine so I can get started on that. Will be a few weeks before I can put it into the garage and do anything though, since until the 27th SWMBO is stockpiling things for her nonprofit's charity yard sale in the garage, and after that (if I don't do it out in the driveway) I need to get some work on her Mariner.
Replacement used tire from the online company showed up on Wednesday, and I promptly took it to the tire shop to have it installed. They were pretty busy, so I left it to pick up the next morning. Showed up the next morning and the tire and wheel were still sitting there separately when I showed up. The manager there hadn't been there the previous day, but they were just opening and not very busy so he and the tech threw it on the machine and had it mounted in a few minutes- and didn't charge me a cent to boot since it should have been done the previous day. Will definitely not complain about taking the race tires there to have them mounted- not only are they only a few minutes away, they've been great about all the varied things I've needed done on all our different vehicles.
Will be getting the new wheels/tires on the front of the Riv this afternoon so it is drivable again- SWMBO will be driving the Jeep over the weekend and I'll be working on her Mariner, so the Riv will be what I'll have to drive over the weekend.
Really need to call to see about the race tires and give the car (especially the engine) a really good once-over to see if there are any parts I need to order when I get the bushings for the upgraded rear sway bar. Also need to get started on fabbing the strut-top bars, though I can't finish that until I have the welder here (or take the bars up to eastsidemav's place to weld them up there).
Next up- really need to figure out exactly what the plan is for upgrading the engine so I can figure out what fits in my remaining budget...
One thing I unfortunately noticed when swapping the wheels on the Riviera- the subframe mount bushings are crumbling and shot. Or at least the front one I noticed was... but it's not a good idea to just replace one of them and not the others. The good news- it's a part that's actually available. The bad news? There are six of them- and they're $30 each coming to $180 total... for something that's not really a performance enhancement at all (though it should stiffen up the front end a bit).
edit: Did some searching, and I can get them for $5 cheaper with fairly decent ($7 for the order) shipping, so can save about $20, possibly more since that's at RockAuto and I need a few other things from them.
So, the current amount actually spend on the car is just under $1200. $100 of that could be pulled if necessary since it's a somewhat optional system. So at the moment, I've got roughly $900 of room left in the budget.
Unfortunately, there's about $200 of parts that I either need or really should get: new sway bar bushings (both for the stock front and the stiffer STS one in the rear), subframe bushings (at least one of them is very shot, the others likely are too... and they're the majority of the cost...), and outer tie-rod ends.
That would bring me down to roughly $700 left to spend. Tires shouldn't enter into it, but if I decide I need to go to 15" wheels instead of the stock 16" ones that came with the car, that's another $100 out of the budget.
Ultimately, I think I'm probably just going to have about $600 to spend on performance enhancements for the engine. $50 or so will have to go toward an improved intake system (cone filter, etc). Another $90 or so for a modular underdrive pulley system for the supercharger.
So as I kind of expected, I'm likely going to be able to either get an upgraded camshaft or rocker arms- I'm unlikely to be able to afford both. I'm HOPING re-tuning the PCM won't cost me anything in the budget as I hope to pick up a tuner and take care of flashing it myself... but I'm not 100% certain of being able to do that yet.
In reply to Ashyukun:
Do you have a drill press(or need an excuse to get one if you don't 
)? You should be able to turn those bushing from delrin for cheap, or even without the drill press you could possibly cast your own with polyurethane. They might not hold up long term, but they'd likely be far cheaper.
Pete Gossett wrote:
In reply to Ashyukun:
Do you have a drill press(or need an excuse to get one if you don't )? You should be able to turn those bushing from delrin for cheap, or even without the drill press you could possibly cast your own with polyurethane. They might not hold up long term, but they'd likely be far cheaper.
I do, and I don't.... I don't have one of my own, but a) have a friend who does have one and if I don't want to make the drive there to use it b) have a membership at a local Makerspace that has one (and a lathe, were I to go that route...) though I figure I'd have to include the month's membership in the Makerspace ($35) in the budget, so if I do anything there I would want to do it ALL in one month so as I to keep the costs down.
Is delrin that cheap to get? Where do you get it from?
Try McMaster.com for Delrin. However, if the subframe bushings are able to be made from polyurethane, could you make some molds at the Makerspace, then pour urethane into them? That way, you'd just be out the cost of the polyurethane, and maybe whatever you need to apply to the molds as a release agent.
I should probably get a subframe bushing set and see what all I would need to fab and what could be found elsewhere cheaply/re-used- then I can figure out how it would work best.
Delrin would obviously be a lot firmer and make the ride harsher, but would also tighten up the front end some.
In other news, I found a decent deal on an Intense Racing S1X Camshaft on one of the 3800 forums so I'm picking it up. Don't know for certain if I'll go with it or a rocker arm upgrade (would love both, likely can't afford that...), but if nothing else it will be good for the DMC's engine. I kind of like the cam because it should give performance upgrades across the RPM band vs. the rockers mainly helping at the high-end. We'll see..
One of the nearby junkyards was having a 40% off Memorial Day Sale, so I headed up there with eastsidemav to see what I could find. Ended up getting out of there with a full set of 15" steel wheels which at the sale price ended up costing me a whopping $34 for all of them. So, if I can get race tires for them, I should easily be able to sell the stock wheels for more than that so might actually be able to get some money back INTO my budget from them.
Also found a really good condition earlier Riv with a near-perfect interior- were I planning on keeping the car and driving it normally it would probably be worth the money to strip that car's interior to swap into mine. But since that's not the plan, didn't touch it.
Does anyone know if a Mace Engineering (Australia) pulley hub uses the same fastener pattern as ZZP pulleys? I've been trying to find a good deal on a modular hub setup and there's a really good deal on a Mace setup- but it's not worth the savings if I can't use the ZZP pulleys I have.
In reply to Ashyukun:
That is a nice cam - rpm range.
You may catch alot of people offguard with this car. The 3800 with a blower is quicker than most think, and reacts very well to modifications. The struggle often with the FWD 3800s with blowers is trying to get the tires to the pavement on the launch. With the Riv, if there is a way to adapt some sort of airbags/airshocks to the rear or simple lift helpers to help keep the weight from transfering off the front tires.
In reply to TIGMOTORSPORTS:
Good to know on the cam- I saw someone selling it on one of the forums for the cars that use the L67 and jumped at it since I knew it would be useful for one of the cars.
The Riv actually stock has air shocks on the rear- in stock form it has a load-leveling system for the rear end. The shocks and pump on mine were shot, so they've been replaced with a simple system that I can pump up manually so I can get the rear end QUITE high to try and help with launches.
I would just comment that your membership for a Makerspace wouldn't count against your budget, as it would be the same as buying a tool, so if you have the means I would say go for it.
LifeIsStout wrote:
I would just comment that your membership for a Makerspace wouldn't count against your budget, as it would be the same as buying a tool, so if you have the means I would say go for it.
That's an interesting way to look at it... so far it's not been a concern since I've not had occasion to use any of the equipment there (in part because I've not gotten any real work done yet that might need it). I'll see how it works out.
So, I've barely gotten to touch the Riv for some time now, but over the weekend had to get it back out to drive since the Jeep will be on loan to a friend for another week and a half. After driving it around in the much warmer weather, it's clear that it idles a bit weirdly when fully warmed up- especially if it was running for a while, off for a bit, and then started back up. It feels like the idle surges a bit every few seconds- not enough to be a problem, but it's definitely noticeable.
While I've been out driving it over the last few days, I've played a little game- it's called "Is It Longer Than The Riviera?" and so far there's been only one winner: a late-model Lincoln Navigator. EVERYTHING else I've encountered has been shorter than the Riv- trucks, SUVs, and of course cars- have all been shorter. It's kind of ridiculous.
sigh Last night I realized I'd left the cordless air pump sitting outside, so instead of taking the time to open the garage door and put it in the garage I decided I'd just throw it in the Riv. Went to open the door, and when I pulled up on the driver's door handle it snapped in half. Guess that's another $15 that won't go toward performance mods (I might be able to find a used one, but they'd likely be just as prone to breaking).
New driver's handle came in yesterday, and I'll probably get it installed this afternoon when I get home so you can actually get into the car normally again.
Honestly though, I'm giving more thought than I thought I would be at this point to selling the Riviera and using the money from it and having finally sold the Patriot to pick up a good running challenge-priced convertible that I wouldn't need to do much of anything to and finally turning my attention to getting the DMC into the garage and started on the mountain of work that it needs done. The Riv is a fun car, and would be fun to take to the Challenge- but it feels like I just keep kicking the work on the DMC down the line when it's what I should be focusing on.
