Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - Buick Riviera Revival!

[Schaefft]

9 hours ago, Westbay said:

Love the look of the Riviera , but, that 'cap' across the back of the roof looks like something the manufactures put on test mules to disguise the actual lines ! 😂

 

8 hours ago, captain_70s said:

The fakey "landau" convertible look was a retro throwback to 1920/30s cars which took off in the 70s and 80s in the US.

We never really got in the UK. Although the Hillman Avenger got an equally odd looking half vinyl roof on posh 2-doors...

I can't decide if I think the Buick looks good or is hideous, it is certainly striking at any rate!

 

1 hour ago, Bear said:

I love the half vinyl boxiness purely because it is so American, unique to the market.

But I also just think the Riviera is every kind of awesome.

Its interesting as the Riviera was available without the landau roof (which was an extra cost option), it required Buick to produce two different sets of parts for the inside rear quarter window surround as the window was partially covered by the roof.

Mine:

No landau roof with full rear quarter window:

The inside window surround changes depending on how much of the window is visible.

I've started the Riviera several times throughout the day again. It always started right up so I consider the loss of spark problem resolved! I'll order all the other bits I know it'll need next, together with the badges/taillight/trim clips this should take the car close to being ready for an MOT test hopefully!

[Surface Rust]

For me these are the last gasp of the 'personal luxury ' segment that the Americans loved from the 60s through to the 90s. It always intrigued me and repulsed me in equal measure....

Here I am enjoying my dads Chrysler Cordoba,

I don't know what the modern equivalent is?

Any landau roof really needs an opera window and opera lights as well.

Keep up the good work!

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, Surface Rust said:

For me these are the last gasp of the 'personal luxury ' segment that the Americans loved from the 60s through to the 90s. It always intrigued me and repulsed me in equal measure....

Here I am enjoying my dads Chrysler Cordoba,

I don't know what the modern equivalent is?

Any landau roof really needs an opera window and opera lights as well.

Keep up the good work!

The only cars remaining in 2026 that are somewhat comparable in spirit would be the Bentley Continental or Rolls Royce Spectre. With Mercedes not building an S-Class Coupe anymore and anything below that in price long gone personal luxury coupes really are a dying breed.

To be fair, this generation Riviera was already quite outdated in styling when it was still sold in the early 90s. Most people don't realize it but the change in tastes towards modern European and Japanese designs was already very much in progress at that time. Similar to Lincoln with my Mark VIIIs Buick radically redesigned the Riviera in '94 but even that didn't stop the decline in sales for any American personal luxury coupe unfortunately.

On a side note, its hard to find a photo as they are all dead nowadays but the Riviera logos on the C-Pillars are opera lights!

They don't use a bulb and instead use some kind of emissive layer. Shame it had to be such an unusual solution as it's pretty much impossible to fix them nowadays!

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Surface Rust said:

...I don't know what the modern equivalent is?

Honestly I don't think there is one, certainly not in the same market segment.  Everyone seems to be determined to just emulate the Germans and their obsession with how fast you can go around a track or giant SUVs which aren't actually any more comfortable with the possible exception of a few of them like the Range Rover.

Which just defeats the point...the whole thing about the likes of this was that they were actually pretty obtainable cars for normal people yet were still luxurious in the real world.  

I still kick myself for not buying the Oldsmobile Delta 88 that popped up locally a few years back when I saw it as that would have suited me so bloody well.  Normal sized car that's got comfortable seats than our sofa and has suspension that shrugs off potholes as if they're not there (and if you've ever driven in the American Midwest (or that one concrete bit of the M25), you can see why).

[Bear]

55 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

The only cars remaining in 2026 that are somewhat comparable in spirit would be the Bentley Continental or Rolls Royce Spectre. With Mercedes not building an S-Class Coupe anymore and anything below that in price long gone personal luxury coupes really are a dying breed.

To be fair, this generation Riviera was already quite outdated in styling when it was still sold in the early 90s. Most people don't realize it but the change in tastes towards modern European and Japanese designs was already very much in progress at that time. Similar to Lincoln with my Mark VIIIs Buick radically redesigned the Riviera in '94 but even that didn't stop the decline in sales for any American personal luxury coupe unfortunately.

On a side note, its hard to find a photo as they are all dead nowadays but the Riviera logos on the C-Pillars are opera lights!

They don't use a bulb and instead use some kind of emissive layer. Shame it had to be such an unusual solution as it's pretty much impossible to fix them nowadays!

The EL sheets are used in Chrysler Fifth Avenue opera lights as well, and they can be replaced - I replace similar tech in synthesizer LCD displays fairly often.

American engineering is a lovely learning process. Cadillac's use of fibre optics even in a 1981 car, let alone older models - yes, the famous portholes/bat in the rear view mirror (that scared the shit out of me the first time I noticed it), but the Eldorado opera lights... the bulbs are in the boot under the parcel shelf!

[Schaefft]

10 minutes ago, Bear said:

The EL sheets are used in Chrysler Fifth Avenue opera lights as well, and they can be replaced - I replace similar tech in synthesizer LCD displays fairly often.

Interesting, now I have to check wether I can get a sheet that I can cut into an oval with the bus being right in the center somehow.

[Bear]

Just now, Schaefft said:

Interesting, now I have to check wether I can get a sheet that I can cut into an oval with the bus being right in the center somehow.

The wires are usually flat so fold back against the rear of the foil and bring to the centre?

[Schaefft]

Just now, Bear said:

The wires are usually flat so fold back against the rear of the foil and bring to the centre?

Do you have a brand of sheets you'd recommend?

[yes oui si]

2 hours ago, Bear said:

The EL sheets are used in Chrysler Fifth Avenue opera lights as well, and they can be replaced - I replace similar tech in synthesizer LCD displays fairly often.

American engineering is a lovely learning process. Cadillac's use of fibre optics even in a 1981 car, let alone older models - yes, the famous portholes/bat in the rear view mirror (that scared the shit out of me the first time I noticed it), but the Eldorado opera lights... the bulbs are in the boot under the parcel shelf!

Wut?!

[Bear]

7 hours ago, yes oui si said:

Wut?!

Two little fibre optic "relays" to confirm operation of tail/brake lights, terminating in a small unit in the headlining. And visible in the mirror. Like a demonic bat is following you with glowing red eyes that get brighter when you brake...

[Bear]

10 hours ago, Schaefft said:

Do you have a brand of sheets you'd recommend?

No, I don't actually know the brand - I just buy the ones I need either as cuttable panels, or as pre-made ones for a specific display type. Google didn't help, but Surelight in Sheffield make bright EL panels for racing car numbers!

I suspect it's more important to make sure the inverter-driver is in good health. But there's a write up of someone making the lights on a 1989 Buick work, which explains it all nicely.

https://www.instructables.com/Rebuild-Your-Cars-EL-electroluminescent-Lights/

[Westbay]

Don't have any, can't see me ever having some, but,  really interesting read ! thank you ! 👍😄

[Zelandeth]

Aye, I've found with laptop displays with dead EL backlights often as not the panel is just fine and the driver just needs to have the capacitors replaced.  Though they generally have existed in less harsh environments than cars.  Moisture ingress tends to be something that will kill an EL panel.  Seems like something that should be absolutely restorable though provided you can actually get into the thing without destroying it.

Most unexpected place I've ever come across it so far was the backlight in a tabletop radio made by Philips all the way back in the 60s.  Especially odd a decision there as RF interference from the driver is usually one of the downsides of the tech.  Not something I expected to see in a radio.

[Schaefft]

A few more jobs done on the Riviera. I noticed that I had an intake gasket leak after spraying brake cleaner all over the engine bay to find exactly that. Taking the intake manifold off wasn't too involved of a job fortunately and gave us a good look at what might have been the original 37 year old gaskets, as well as something you won't see very often anymore nowadays: pushrods!

The cooling system certainly needs a flush as well as you can see... I replaced all other gaskets and O-rings that were disturbed during the operation to make sure there's no chance of further leaks. I think there's still air getting past the MAF via the EGR solenoid which has clearly been blocked off by someone before (as you can see below), I don't think its coming from the exhaust side though. More investigations are needed!

I've replaced the O2 sensor which had been replaced before (probably a long time ago), this time with a genuine GM one. The sensor I removed used the body of a sparkplug (you can just about see the words spark plug stamped into it) which I found quite curious!

I found a NOS Delco MAF for reasonable money on Ebay so hopefully that will be the last puzzle piece to having this engine run properly with the MAF actually plugged in. It even received a new blower motor as the old one had no carbon brushes left:

And a long overdue air filter. The wiper blades were replaced as well.

At this point its worth mentioning that if I was ordering all of these parts from within the US it would be incredibly afforable to rebuild half of the car, as most parts are available from several different suppliers, with even many of the OEM equivalents being dirt cheap. For a 37 year old car! Shipping and selection limitations due to a strange Rockauto initiative to follow the EU/UK guidelines for not importing Russian steel make things slightly more expensive but its still very affordable and easy to get parts for the Riviera and all its siblings. I noticed this with my '92 Caprice before and makes you wonder why not more people are keeping these cars running considering how cheap and easy it is.

I'll do an oil/filter change next and replace the ancient oil pan gasket while at it. It also needs outer CV boots, with those replaced there shouldn't be all that much left before we can attempt an MOT test!

In other news, I've replaced the 540i Touring's poorly installed angle eyes with the original Xenon pre-facelift units with amber indicators I've rebuilt like 2 years ago. The facelift lights needed adjusters and never really work on pre-facelift cars if you don't have the Sport bodykit.

Before:

After:

I also know why they were replaced now. The bonnet has a fold in the passenger side corner, turns out it was a little more than just the bonnet that was damaged. It was just a minor collision but the headlight and its bracketry clearly didn't survive. I will replace all body panels in the front as soon as I find an Orient Blue donor car with good condition panels, they are all damaged or rusty on mine and not worth fixing. I was close to bidding on a suitable 523i at the local auctions last weekend, I probably should have!

The Airbag light is finally off as well, the usual bypass resistor for the passenger seat occupancy mat was all it needed (it will now trigger the airbag in a crash no matter whether theres someone sitting there). There are still a few suspension bits it'll likely need for a test but we'll find out about them as soon as I worked through my list of other cars.

[Zelandeth]

29 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

A few more jobs done on the Riviera. I noticed that I had an intake gasket leak after spraying brake cleaner all over the engine bay to find exactly that. Taking the intake manifold off wasn't too involved of a job fortunately and gave us a good look at what might have been the original 37 year old gaskets, as well as something you won't see very often anymore nowadays: pushrods!

The cooling system certainly needs a flush as well as you can see... I replaced all other gaskets and O-rings that were disturbed during the operation to make sure there's no chance of further leaks. I think there's still air getting past the MAF via the EGR solenoid which has clearly been blocked off by someone before (as you can see below), I don't think its coming from the exhaust side though. More investigations are needed!

I've replaced the O2 sensor which had been replaced before (probably a long time ago), this time with a genuine GM one. The sensor I removed used the body of a sparkplug (you can just about see the words spark plug stamped into it) which I found quite curious!

I found a NOS Delco MAF for reasonable money on Ebay so hopefully that will be the last puzzle piece to having this engine run properly with the MAF actually plugged in. It even received a new blower motor as the old one had no carbon brushes left:

And a long overdue air filter. The wiper blades were replaced as well.

At this point its worth mentioning that if I was ordering all of these parts from within the US it would be incredibly afforable to rebuild half of the car, as most parts are available from several different suppliers, with even many of the OEM equivalents being dirt cheap. For a 37 year old car! Shipping and selection limitations due to a strange Rockauto initiative to follow the EU/UK guidelines for not importing Russian steel make things slightly more expensive but its still very affordable and easy to get parts for the Riviera and all its siblings. I noticed this with my '92 Caprice before and makes you wonder why not more people are keeping these cars running considering how cheap and easy it is.

 

The parts availability is one of the big attractions of an Astro for me if I found one in the right spec which hadn't been half arsed converted into a camper.  Not that I really expect you to need many parts once you've got it sorted given how solidly built they seem to be.

Interesting seeing the single wire oxygen sensor and noting the issue which affected some (but by no means all) of the next generation of GM EFi cars from that when they switched to a four wire sensor.  GM EFI4 I think the system was referred to as.  Turns out they failed to terminate the signal ground at the ECU end.  It wasn't an issue with the original sensors (Delco AC97 if I remember right) as the signal and case ground were internally tied together.  However other brands (Bosch to name one) had the signal ground isolated from the case...so you could end up chasing your tail for god knows how long trying to figure out why you weren't getting a sane reading from it.  I only figured it out from a chance comment from someone - then tied the signal ground pin on the ECU from the coolant temperature sensor to the pin for the oxygen sensor signal ground - bingo, perfect behaviour resumed.  I felt quite satisfied at figuring that one out!  Especially after bashing my head against error code 13 for weeks!