Muscle Machines

[Boy Buick85]

Hey any of you guys catch the last issue of hemmings this guy Fixed up a riviera...........IT WAS REAL SWEET All Black Monochrome..........DAMN THIS CAR WAS FINE :biggrin:. Anyway i have always wanted one, and i have always thought it would be kool if those years where rear wheel drive and had an 84/87 Drive train. I love the curves on that car , that with the power of a 84/87 motor would be awesome. Anyway what did you guys think???

 

[tb3]

If I remember correctly that had a intercooler installed. And the write up in the article didn't have much to say for it performance wise but acknowleded the owner/builder was still working on issues. The rivs do absolutely nothing for me, but to each his own. They just don't look fast at all when their sittin still like the regal platform does (to me anyways). The offset steel gn fwd rims they put on them looked anti-performance to me too. Nevertheless, definetely interesting because of what it is, and the rare factor too. If we all where into the same cars, it'd be a boring sport for us car enthusiast. :smile: Hemmings magazine is one of the couple car mags I can appreciate though. No bling and over the top stuff. Just good'ol fashion factory (or only slightly modified) american muscle. I also remember a article in there a few months back where they where slamming the collectibility of the turbobuicks. But they did have a point that had some relevance to it.

 

[racemybuick]

If I remember correctly, there was 1 ten or eleven sec 84-85 riv (hot air/IC)on these boards that was a real nice car, but had major issues with the front drive. Busted trannys often as I understood. They are a nice car....Wish they were rear-wheel!!! lol..oh well

John:biggrin:

 

[GNTIM]

Yeah, I thought that was a really cool car too. I give that guy alot of credit for the work he has done. I used to drive an 80 Caddy Eldorado with the 368 cid iron motor. I Loved that car but I must admit, it constantly needed work.

 

[turbofish38]

The rivs do absolutely nothing for me, but to each his own. They just don't look fast at all when their sittin still like the regal platform does (to me anyways). The offset steel gn fwd rims they put on them looked anti-performance to me too.

I've owned quite a few of the Riviera T-Types. They're the perfect sleeper. That is what the appeal to me is. How many FWD cars out there that can do the same job as a TR can? Only one that I know of.They are totally in a different league when comparing them to the 97 and up Regal GS. Its a lot a fun handing some rice boy his a$$ in a street race not to mention the ocassional Impala SS. I like them better than my GN. Another part of the appeal is the fact it doesn't look like a GN. Much like the reason most of you like your cars because it isn't a black GN. I dont like the chrome steels on the Riv either. If all else fails you can always use the wheels from a 4WD S-10 or Blazer or my favorite, the 16 inchers from a 4th gen F-body. They fit under the sheet metal. I've also been working on a big brake option much like the LS1 brakes the guys are using on the TR. The fastest Riv I've ever heard of was a 12 second car. The lightest Riv I have weighs in at a svelt 3700 pounds and I think you could get one down in the 3600-3500 pound range without to many issues. We all know how much power you would have to make to get it into the 11's. And the THM325-4L is the FWD version of the 200-4R so not much is needed to get one to live at those power levels.

 

[cool 84]

He was having issues because of the 20' of intercooler plumbing with the TB on the suction side.

 

[mybuick]

tryu using a toranado trans from the 70's

 

[TRiv]

I've owned quite a few of the Riviera T-Types. They're the perfect sleeper. If all else fails you can always use the wheels from a 4WD S-10 or Blazer or my favorite, the 16 inchers from a 4th gen F-body. They fit under the sheet metal. I've also been working on a big brake option much like the LS1 brakes the guys are using on the TR. The fastest Riv I've ever heard of was a 12 second car. The lightest Riv I have weighs in at a svelt 3700 pounds and I think you could get one down in the 3600-3500 pound range without to many issues. We all know how much power you would have to make to get it into the 11's. And the THM325-4L is the FWD version of the 200-4R so not much is needed to get one to live at those power levels.

Eric, I have a few Riv questions you can probably answer:

Transmission, have you installed a shift kit in any of your TH325-4L's and is the only one available ( at this point in time that I can find) by "transgo" #K32908E, that fixes the basic ailments of the TH325-4L rather than a true high performance improvement? and is (if you have done it) worth the upgrade?

Transmission, is the TCC solenoid (a good one) dealer only or parts store available? I have 3 TH325-4L's BJ code, one for the 85 T Riv, one for mid engine project, and one as spare, and all are out, cleaned and looking to do the above on all at same time (the Rivs has bad TCC for sure) so while thier out, doing all at once, of course new filters and ad drain plugs to pans.Converters staying stock for now.

Front suspension, since you have all that GM dealer parts experience here is a bit of an odd one. ON the mid engine project, I am using all Riv front suspension parts for front and back of car, they are attached to very cut down to minimum Riv frame front sections to maintain the geometry.The question is there a chance the front wheel hubs from an late S-10 2wd or C5 Corvette fit the Riv spindles? I do not want to use the Riv spindles up front because there will be no CV joints/spline to hold the bearings/hub together. Of course the rear suspension will use the Riv hubs because ther will be CV joints/axles going to the differential. I know the S-10/C5 hubs hve the sensors in them which I will not use, but the mecanichal bearing assembly from what I see in photos looks like a match to the Riv/early S-10 4wd style hub. hope this question makes sense, I could just buy used and see the fitment.

About a year or so ago, I bought on ebay from a place called CBR performance, a kit that allowed the mounting og LS1 12" brakes to the Riv/S-10 4wd spindles, have you seen these? Very well executed kit though required some cutting to the spindles, but is done right. Not sure if they are still making this, they had a website I'll have to look to see if I have it if you are interested

 

[turbofish38]

That Transgo kit is the only thing I have seen. That TCC solenoid is 84-85 turbo only. It locks the TCC in 3rd and 4th just like the TR. And they are discontinued. I dont know if you can modify the NA one by adding the extra wire. The NA TCC solenoid is also discontinued.As for the hubs the fronts are the same as 4WD S-10. I think the bolt pattern is different on the other 3 bolt hubs. I'd like to find some used parts in the JY just to see what the difference is. You know Chevy offered a 2WD version of the ZR2 Blazer. All they did was remove the transfer case and front axle. It uses the 4WD suspension.And quite a few imports do it this way too. If the hub bolt pattern is the same than it would be easy to use the front hubs and rotors from the 01-05 Bonneville as it uses the LS1 rotor. From what I can tell the front brake is more or less a FWD version of the G-body brake which is why I was going to use those caliper adapter brackets to do my swap. I did see those 4WD kits. If I hit the lottery than thats what will go on it. If I can find somebody with a waterjet than I'll be selling on eBay too. I saw some 06 Z06 brakes the other day and that got me really drooling over some other possibilities. I'm kind of screwed on wheels and tires. Anything larger than 8 inches wide and 27 inches tall and I'll have to radiusize the sheet metal so it looks good. Are you still using torsion bars or do I assume you have a coil over figured out?

 

[turbofish38]

tryu using a toranado trans from the 70's

To big,to clumsy. Only 3 speeds and low gear is 2.48. The 84-85 turbo spec trans is a much better piece IMO. You can make these live behind a V-8 too. Whatever weakness the 200-4R suffers from is the same that the 325-4L suffers from. And they use the same torque converter too! Lots of possibilties if you're willing to do the heavy work.

I can only imagine the headaches of swapping in the THM425 in place of the 325-4L.

 

[GNTIM]

Although it has been years since I had my Eldorado, I seem to remember it having a th425 trans. If I remember right I was told it was basically a th400 turned sideways. My trans went out and I replaced it with a Diesel Eldo unit. I think the turbo Rivs have a lower final drive ratio too, which was a seperate removable unit

 

[TRiv]

You know Chevy offered a 2WD version of the ZR2 Blazer. I did see those 4WD kits. If I hit the lottery than thats what will go on it. If I can find somebody with a waterjet than I'll be selling on eBay too. I saw some 06 Z06 brakes the other day and that got me really drooling over some other possibilities. I'm kind of screwed on wheels and tires. Anything larger than 8 inches wide and 27 inches tall and I'll have to radiusize the sheet metal so it looks good. Are you still using torsion bars or do I assume you have a coil over figured out?

The 2wd or ZR2 is probably what I have seen, looks same as 4wd/Riv type hub, without the center splined hole, I am sure the Riv/4wd version will come apart under use (first hard turn the wheels would pull bearings apart) as the two halves of bearing are pressed together and held together with the CV splined shaft end (I have taken one apart before), the 2wd version (I am guessing here) is perminantly assembled??

I will be using coil overs all four corners, most of the frame will be tube, and front/rear suspensions are tied together with backbone center tube similar to C5 Corvette for torsional rigidity.

Those brake kits are up there in price, though, at least at the time I bought , they sold just the brackets, misc hardware, and instructions (20+ page, well detailed) on how to modify existing spindles and installation (you supply LS1 rotors,calipers). Buying good used ones brought the price down to less than half of what they wanted for everything so that's how I went, this is going on the mid engine project, not worried about the Riv at this point.

 

[turbofish38]

Those sealed hub and bearing assemblies will wear out sooner or later reguardless of what car they come off of. I dont think you'll have a problem with them coming apart. Afterall they use them on the Z/06 and C5R/C6R Corvettes. I cant think of how many I have replaced on the Rivs over the years. At least they give you enough warning. BTW I did have one come apart. That big fat washer under the axle nut kinds of acts like a C-clip elminater and kept everything together. I would assume the CV joint has something to do with it also.

 

[ATL T-Type]

Hey Eric, I have an '84 T-Type that I'm fixing up. It's an awesome car & unbelievable power even compared to the turbo Regal I had. Anyway, the rims on it have seen better days & I was wondering if you knew how I could go about finding some really nice stock chrome rims or machined type replacement rims for it? Thanks, Greg

 

[GN84Turbo]

Hey Eric, I have an '84 T-Type that I'm fixing up. It's an awesome car & unbelievable power even compared to the turbo Regal I had. Anyway, the rims on it have seen better days & I was wondering if you knew how I could go about finding some really nice stock chrome rims or machined type replacement rims for it? Thanks, Greg

You should make a post for them in the "Parts Wanted" section on the forum.

 

[turbofish38]

The chrome GN style wheels were on option on the Rivs. There was also a chrome real wire option for the Eldorado and Seville. Those wires are 15X7 were as all of the other wheels are only 6" wide. A painted version of that wheel was used on the 83 Riv Indy pace car replicas. I've got a few sets of each. I think a silver or charcoal or maybe even a black car would look killer with a set of the chrome wires with all of the wide lower body moldings and the chrome bumpers on it. I still like the 4th gen F-body wheels. If you're lucky you might find a set of the chrome ones.

 

[Turbo Riviera]

If I remember correctly that had a intercooler installed. And the write up in the article didn't have much to say for it performance wise but acknowleded the owner/builder was still working on issues. The rivs do absolutely nothing for me, but to each his own. They just don't look fast at all when their sittin still like the regal platform does (to me anyways). The offset steel gn fwd rims they put on them looked anti-performance to me too. Nevertheless, definetely interesting because of what it is, and the rare factor too. If we all where into the same cars, it'd be a boring sport for us car enthusiast. :smile: Hemmings magazine is one of the couple car mags I can appreciate though. No bling and over the top stuff. Just good'ol fashion factory (or only slightly modified) american muscle. I also remember a article in there a few months back where they where slamming the collectibility of the turbobuicks. But they did have a point that had some relevance to it.

Oh really?

If anyone needs performance mods for the Turbo Riviera, I can just about guarantee I've done it or broken it... PM me with questions.

 

[Turbo Riviera]

Eric, I have a few Riv questions you can probably answer:

Transmission, have you installed a shift kit in any of your TH325-4L's and is the only one available ( at this point in time that I can find) by "transgo" #K32908E, that fixes the basic ailments of the TH325-4L rather than a true high performance improvement? and is (if you have done it) worth the upgrade?

The Transgo kit is the only one I'm aware of as well... I use it in my Riviera for drag race purposes. It does a nice job. I have over 500 1/4 mile passes on my 325 4L and it's just now starting to give up. I'd say all in all, that's a success. I used Raybestos Blue plate race clutches, the transgo kit and the normal soft parts & steel kit. That's it.

I've run the non-lockup 9" art carr, a 10.5" TCI and so far, I think the 9" was my favorite.

 

[eastwoodad]

Might I say....beautiful car!!!! Do you have any other pics? I would LOVE to see any more that you have...engine pics too!

 

[Turbo Riviera]

Might I say....beautiful car!!!! Do you have any other pics? I would LOVE to see any more that you have...engine pics too!

Thanks for the compliment!
Sadly, I really don't have that many good pics of it in digital format. Most are in prints.

Here's a link to a feature that gnttype.org did on it a long time ago. Featured Car Details

I've posted it here before alot, so sorry for those who have seen this a hundred times already... Just trying to be helpful.