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Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 12:40 pm
by th3fr4nchi5e
Hey guys!
I love the site and have always had a thing for Bonnies since my dad had two 9th gens a few years ago! Theres some pretty awesome cars here and I love watching the projects by many of the members!

I dont own a Bonneville but my 3800 is a 95 Buick Riviera with the Series 1 L67. My dad has owned his own collision shop for over 30 years now and painted the entire car about 3 years back now. It was my first car and originally my daily driver but now stays in the garage for the snowy months.

Anyway, it has 177k miles on it and you wouldnt know from looking at it! We got very lucky because the interior shows almost no age at all!

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The next two of the trunk were taken awhile ago before we did the sound system. So the tape deck iPod player isnt hanging all over anymore :P

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The head unit still looks completely stock today but does almost nothing. I dont have pictures of the interior since but will try to get some of the setup soon! My dad and I didnt want it to look sloppy so what we did was buy a JL audio Cleansweep Processor. It turns on and off with the stock head unit and relies on the stock unit for AM/FM but it comes with an Aux input which we installed in popout ashtray. We also drilled two holes for the master volume know and Subwoofer volume know from the amp. When I fold down the cover over the ash tray, nothing is different from stock. The two knobs are subtle so it looks like it could be original anyway. I use a BOSS CX1800 5 channel amp with 6.5" JL Audio door speakers, Arc audio 6x9's and a single 8" Infinity sub. I am in love with the sound quality and just want to build an amp rack using a power window motor and switch in the trunk to finish up the car audio.

Most recently, we have started into some power adding. I built a 3.5" 304 stainless steel FWI and installed a 180* T-stat last year and then got back to modding about a month ago. My dad and I built a custom 3" downpipe since theres not much available there for the series 1.

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While we were in there, we gutted the cat and welded the downpipe right up to the cat. A couple weeks ago, on my break from school, I installed AL104 plugs, a 2.5" S/C pulley and 1.8:1 Yella Terra Roller Rockers. Also replaced the EGR valve which has always tripped a code and the CEL. I also installed a boost gauge before the mods to see the change from the mods. It is mounted in place of on of the heater vents in the drivers side door.

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I was seeing 6-7 psi consistently before the mods and then a consistent 10-11 after! I scanned during the runs and saw 0KR the entire drive but will have to scan some more once it warms up some!

Next, we are looking at options for a tune. The 95 riv has "OBD 1.5" so I have OBD 1 with OBD 2 connectivity so its a little funny with some programs. For starters, I want to have Ryan Gick at Sinister performance program my first tune until we find a software we like and learn to tune ourselves. Other future mods I have planned are some port and polishing of the manifolds and S/C and then we are quite interested in Methanol/water injection. My dad and I have both done alot of reading on it and there seems to be alot of disagreement on whether to inject pre or post blower. Some kits make both possible but we want whatever is most efficient so we're no where close to that yet. Kind of a dream mod but if we get a strong handle on tuning, I would definitely be interested! I have some suspension mods planned for the near future also like custom sway bar links, a strut tower brace and F-Body brakes. I have my eyes set on a set of 19" TSW Interlagos rims that I want to save for this summer also. I I do go 19", I am also considering upgrading to Corvette calipers for cosmetic purposes!

Im sorry if this was alot but this is really everything with my car to date! Also, Im not sure about image size limits but I will resize if necessary!

Thanks!
Dave

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 12:52 pm
by yourgrandma
Nice Riv. Ive always liked that body style.

Performance mods for S1 engines are tough. Not much to be had. For the methanol, youre probably better off pre-blower. Mostly due to how much easier it is to do. I dont think Ive ever seen a proper post blower fogger system actually built and installed on a 3800. I almost installed some nozzles in my LIM during my engine build, but the former EGR port of my Gen V blower looks like a winner if I decide to spray it (be it water/meth or N2o).

Are you planning on using a smaller pulley to make use of the meth?

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 1:01 pm
by th3fr4nchi5e
Thank you! I do agree, pre-blower does seem like the easiest way. I've been told the M62 rotor coating is more likely to be affected by the spray then an M90 so that will be a concern. I have 2-3 extra M62's to play with from a parts car and a local pick and pull so I will always have them as a backup! I never though of using the EGR port would definitely be a good way to install without too much modification! I would like to drop pulley sizes as far as possible without belt slip or any other interference knock-free if I can get to that point. Somewhere in the 2.0-2.2" seems realistic with a full port and polish I think for a series 1!

And I love your SSEi! Must be quite the fun ride!

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 1:19 pm
by yourgrandma
Thats the thing with the m62, how small of a pulley can you use? Just turn grooves in the shaft!! The rotor coating issue has been discussed, but I cant recall exactly what the conclusion was regarding the M62. If Bill was still around, hed be the one to ask. He uses meth on his 93 SSEi.

My Bonneville should be fun if I ever finish it.

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 1:22 pm
by SSEiMan01
I love Rivieras. Probably top three of my favorite 3800 cars. Looks great!

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 1:24 pm
by ga93sle
Very sharp Riv!

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 1:59 pm
by th3fr4nchi5e
Thank you guys!
yourgrandma wrote:Thats the thing with the m62, how small of a pulley can you use? Just turn grooves in the shaft!! The rotor coating issue has been discussed, but I cant recall exactly what the conclusion was regarding the M62. If Bill was still around, hed be the one to ask. He uses meth on his 93 SSEi.
Hahaha. The 2.5 already looks funny on there so maybe scoring some grooves into the shaft would be the cheap max pulley drop! ;) Got some playing around to do, thats for sure!

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:05 pm
by 95naSTA
Sweet Riv!

And I'm glad to see a Series 1 L67 breathing better vs. being beat to shi*

Bonnevillepro.com has a whole write up for DIY OBD1/1.5 tuning if you need help getting started.

Ryan is the man though. I got my first tunes by him almost 10 years ago.

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:27 pm
by MattStrike
Nice Buick!

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:35 pm
by nos4blood70
Love it! So clean.

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:38 pm
by th3fr4nchi5e
Thank you!!

Thanks for the info, I will definitely check it out.

And yes, Ive heard nothing but positives about Ryan so I definitely trust Im getting my moneys worth starting there!

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 9:32 pm
by 1oldman
Love that Riv! IIRC, when the Gen 8 Riv was first built, the body had the least flex any production car in the world. extremely solid body. looking forward to more pics - BC

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:22 pm
by th3fr4nchi5e
Thank you! I did not know that. Cool bit of info!

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:49 pm
by Z-type
Hey Dave! It's neat to see you outside of RivPerformance :) . While I'm here, I'll attest to Ryan's tuning abilities as well. He did the tune for my Lesabre T-type which has my old '95 Riv's engine/trans/PCM. The car performs perfectly!

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 6:25 am
by Saturn Simon
Lovely. I'm a huge fan of these too.

I remember when these were current, before I was old enough to drive, the Riviera and the Aurora were my favourite American cars. I remember being sad when they went out of production.

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:37 pm
by th3fr4nchi5e
Thank you guys!

And thanks for the attest Z-Type! Its nice to know of success in another 95! I definitely trust Ryan from what I've heard. Did you have any specific changes with the tune that you asked for that would be benificial and maybe not standard to have changed?

Dave

P.S. I love the T-Type! Such a great job you did with the swap in quite the sweet ride! :rr:

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:47 pm
by 1oldman
th3fr4nchi5e wrote:Thank you! I did not know that. Cool bit of info!
IIRC, Buick had a big ad campaign touting this. Had a drawing of the body/frame in the major componets before and after assembly - BC

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:15 pm
by dmnowaksr
Hey Dave, Nice paint job. I think the guy that painted it for you should be taken care of (by you) when he's to old to take care of himself! Dad

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:54 pm
by RJW50312
thats really sweet ride man!

Re: Daves 95 S/C Riviera

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 4:02 am
by th3fr4nchi5e
RJW50312 wrote:thats really sweet ride man!
Thanks man! Late reply, but haven't been online much lately. Missing the Riv and cant wait to bring it back out in a couple months!

Hope everyone here is doing well and getting through the winter safely!