Muscle Machines

[tony1917]

Hot Rod Riviera

Hey Scott,
Been out of the loop awhile since I crashed.Building a new car Here's a picture of my hot rod Riviera

 

[tony1917]

Hot rod Riviera

These are pictures of the new build.

 

[turbofish38]

Cool rides, Tony. Your silver car looks just like my silver car. Right down to the vinyl roof that wasn't available on the T-Type. Mine had a blue top that was added by the dealer. I've owned silver,charcoal and tan 84's along with 2 white 83's and white,dark blue and red 85's. I'm down to the dark blue and red 85's. If these pigs didn't rust out so bad the other ones would still be out terrorizing the streets. I've got enough parts stashed away to build at least 3 cars. Down here in FL the Eldorado/Sevilles out number the Riviera by at least 10 to 1. You want rare. A Riviera T-Type is rare. I get people stopping by the house all of the time wanting to buy one of the Rivs. You just cant find them in decent shape. I get more people interested in the Rivs than I do with the Regals that are parked next to it.

 

[Turbo Riviera]

These are pictures of the new build.

TONY!! Nice looking build my friend!

More pics of the idler pulley fabrication to clear the electric water pump please!!???

What parts did you use to get that to work? I hope it could work on the '84 machine, though I bet the coil pack will need to be relocated.

I hear ya though... I've been out of the loop myself as far as NHRA goes. I've been busy with starting a business and getting my '84 GN running to be ready to sell.

Keep in touch!

 

[Turbo Riviera]

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

I missed this post when I first read the thread...

I have 7 stock '84 T-Type Riviera rims if you need some... PM me. They are the aluminum ones like you see on the back of Tony's cars in the above pics.

 

[eastwoodad]

Very nice rides guys! I have only seen a few of these Riv's in person and only one turbo'd Riv in person ever. I love the NHRA Stockers!!!

 

[tony1917]

meziere elec water pump

Scott.
I will send you pictures of the installation next week.My daughter took my new camera to take pictures of my first grandson..
tony

 

[Turbo Riviera]

Scott.
I will send you pictures of the installation next week.My daughter took my new camera to take pictures of my first grandson..
tony

Sounds good, and congrats on the new addition!

 

[TRiv]

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.

Looks like we only have one choice then, too bad some of the 325-4l internals aren't the same as the 2004r (excluding the chain and trans case), something must be different with the valve body assemblies as well? To turn a 325-4l to a manual valve body is probably not possible because of the design difference, a manual shift 325-4l auto would be the set up for my long term project (not a Riv).

I was never able to find the Hemmings issue that had (is it Bruce Wellings?) Riviera article, would like to see what mods he made. I am doing some myself to my 85 T Type Riv and hope to share the outcome here soon, with pics. For now the upgrade is to 86-7 GN spec, though with a twist to "fit" the Riv.

Just bolting 86-7 parts up doesn't just work, passenger header won't clear frame, and there is no room to run the downpipe (with the AC box), by mounting an 86-7 passenger header on the Riv driver side of motor, the 86-7 turbo and heat shield fits with clearance and looks factory installed between engine and firewall) compressor housing is rotated 180 to point towards front of car. That's easy, further, the 86-7 intake bolt on is also easy, one simple mod to the Riv alternator bracket allows the use of the Riv original accessories including PS pump for Hydroboost. Riv engine wire harness is still used with a few mods, Casper ignition coil converter, boost solenoid, TPS, IAC wire re-routing, etc.

Working 86-7 factory intercooler issues, will not just bolt up, inlet IC inlet is on wrong side for turbo as mounted above, so cut off inlet pipe much lower than for a Duttwieller install to change, however may make it front mount as 86-7 IC fan will not clear Riv motor mount, and using IC scoop doesn't quit look like it belongs on the Riv, plus poor airflow etc. etc. in engine compartment.

The hard part of all the above is really just the plumbing as nothing is available for this, it is sure good to be able to fabricate and weld here! I am using the factory Riv passenger header as is, no mods to it. The factory 86-7 GN passenger header required mods, using two 2" ss weld els, a new crossover tie in was made at the turbo flange, the original crossover tie in flange of the 86-7 pass header was cut off and hole capped, then the flange was welded to the ss weld el (pics here in the future). Crossover pipe was made from 86-7 crossover, with a few cuts and reweld to run over the top of trans as the factory Riv set up only bigger diameter.

Downpipe was made like crossover, a few cuts and welds to 86-7 downpipe and it snakes down towards driver side firewall and down through just enough room with clearance ( allowing for heat ) to the cat.

Anyway that is a summary of my mods, pictures will work much better here as soon as I can. It really is going well, I did paint the frame and suspension, painted motor gray, details will be aluminum and black, and overall it has A nice clean factory look to it, now if I could just get moving a little faster on it, I am not too fast on my hobby stuff.

 

[Turbo Riviera]

Looks like we only have one choice then, too bad some of the 325-4l internals aren't the same as the 2004r (excluding the chain and trans case), something must be different with the valve body assemblies as well? To turn a 325-4l to a manual valve body is probably not possible because of the design difference, a manual shift 325-4l auto would be the set up for my long term project (not a Riv).

I was never able to find the Hemmings issue that had (is it Bruce Wellings?) Riviera article, would like to see what mods he made. I am doing some myself to my 85 T Type Riv and hope to share the outcome here soon, with pics. For now the upgrade is to 86-7 GN spec, though with a twist to "fit" the Riv.

I don't think it's impossible to do a manual valve body for the 325-4L. It's just out of my scope of ability. You may want to hit up some of the guru's in the Transmission section about your needs.

The car owner in the Hemmings issue was Vince Welling. I've talked to him many times. Hell of a nice guy. I know he has fabbed an intercooler for it and been through the motor and trans. I'll pm you his last known e-mail address.

 

[Waldo]

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 might want to check out RockAuto.com. I don't know anything about them or their products, but they list 84 Riv T-type rims for $171.79 each. Good luck. Dave