71's did not have air pumps! 71 vin # is stamped on engine block behind power steering pump near where block meets head! Number you gave is production code not VIN! Also Look at top back of block near trans and engine part number is cast and very large and easy to read. This can narrow block down quite a bit as well. 71 used 2 different castings numbers. They changed mid model year sometime. Early 71's had same blcok part # as 70. LAter blocks it changed. You must look for VIN behind power steering pump this will end the debate if engine came with car. Everyone says to look for VIN under #1 plug. This is not case in 71. some apps even had VIN stamped on passenger side under plugs.
Yes I see that you did post the correct 71 stage 1 carb number in your first post. Very interesting information. Maybe some of the ones we looked at before had the carbs changed or maybe the HP Centurions were treated differently. Ken I am not sure what has got you so upset. No one is contesting your word or experiences here. For sure I am not. The reason I posted as I did is that we hashed this out in an old post once before. I think Smartin's HP 71 was discussed as not having the stage one carb but it did have the large valve heads.
OK I found the engine S/N. It is: 41H909941 Numbers match. 1H909941 is the last part of my VIN. The first 4 is different though, if I read it right. Edit: OK I just read that 4 is the code for Buick so that makes sense.
You are assuming that I either know or give a sh!t what a TA block is. Cuz, right now as I'm typing this I am building 2 other computers for clients, donating money for a member whose car burned up, finishing up the install of yet ANOTHER header gasket, getting my 3 kids ready for their 1st week in school, doing bookkeeping for my company and trying to figure out if Notre Dame has a snowball's chance in hell to beat Penn State on Saturday. I haven't read an entire thread on either this BB or the BPG board in almost a year. I'm lucky if I can even get time to post what little I do. Oh, did I mention that I was at a client's until about 9:30 tonight? Now, it looks like that car may have been built on a day when all they had access to at the moment was a Stage1 engine. There was no option on the order sheet to build a 71 Riv and order an actual Stage1 engine package. But many odd things were produced in Detroit at the time. I remember a service manager telling the story about how an old lady brought her Skylark in for service because it ran rough. Here, a Stage 1 motor was in the car by mistake and the idle was too rough for the lady. The car was not badged as a Stage1, nor was it ordered that way. Lots of odd things got done on the line back then. Please contact the ROA and alert them to this special Riv. A full-blown Stage1 engine in a 71 Riv is very odd and rare. Please document this car as much as you can. Very cool car.
Thanks! Will do. Still gathering info with this board's help. Thing is, a true Stage 1 block would be a TS engine block code. TA is the Riviera GS code. But I guess the block doesn't matter too much if everything else is Stage 1. Though it's also possible that someone just added all this Stage 1 stuff at some point in the car's life too. I wish I could get factory order sheets from the Buick archives/museums/etc. but apparently that service is not available for the year 1971. One other interesting thing: the guy I bought it from got it from a friend of his. He remembers his friend going out to buy it in upstate NY and being "very excited" about something about the car and engine, though he doesn't remember details. That was in the mid to late 80's. This thing has only had maybe 1000 miles on it in the last 20 years or so from what I'm told. I believe the speedometer shows 79k or so... it's possible that's original but I'm not sure. For an eastern car it is very rust free.
You're right... can't believe I didn't notice that. OK so this thing has definitely been monkeyed with. It also has a mid-70's "digital" type clock instead of the analog style with hour/minute hands (though I like it better - it keeps perfect time). So... how hard is it to switch out the grill? I'd like to put the proper one back!
BoNop That is a great setup you had at the auto wreckers during 80-90's You said you had 31 70-72 GS hoods at one time ,I would be curious as to what spread of GS cars all those hoods came off of ,what years 350's 455's Stage 1 and GSX cars? A rough breakdown would be fine. Thanks
Most were 70-2 small block cars, 5 or so were off 455 cars, 2 GSX's hoods w/tach's, one of which I actually missed, but bought it off a guy loading it in his car in the parking lot of a yard in Sacramento Ca. He paid 24.95 at the time, I gave him a hundred, he was thrilled. That GSX hood was on a base skylark. 1 was off a stage 1 4 sp car missing motor and trans, green over green, 6 or 7 were 69's Honestly, I left plenty more in the yard, due to a slow weeks, or no scratch in the wallet
Hehe...when I first got BigRed 15 years ago it had a 70-72 console/shifter in it - went to Carlisle and found a guy who's only Buick parts were a 69 console/shifter and a 69 GS hood. He said he'd take $75 for the pair - I said I only want the console/shifter ... couldn't even take the hood If I wanted to (no way to get it home...). He says OK then, its $75 for the console and the hood is free - BUT !! if the console leaves my spot you have to take the hood too cause I DONT WANT TO LOAD IT BACK UP !!! I asked the guy 4 booths down If I could "leave" the hood with him while I went to get my car ... wonder if he's still waiting for me ?? ou:
:laugh: I went to the nats one year in the early 90's, I had rented a uhaul trailer, sold all the big sheetmetal items, except for 2 69 GS R/A hoods, and I wasn't about to pay the trailer fee's back west, so I just left the 2 perfectly good hoods at the car wash. I know thats wrong, but Im sure some buick GS fanatic **** his pants when he found the 2 hoods leaning up against the wall in one of the baysou::laugh:
I think the '72 grille looks better and it's cast iron, the '71 grille is made of plastic. There are a few '71 Rivieras with a 1972 grille here in the Netherlands, the owners like the '72 grille better :TU:
Once again we disagree. I really don't like the look of the 72 grill compared to the 71. However I do like the metal construction of the 72.
Gee rob wish I read this thread before I did all the typing on thread http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.p...A-coded-engine&p=2038787&posted=1#post2038787 a bit of extra info on cams etc that goes with this there. ---------- Post added at 12:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:13 AM ---------- ok just realized how old this thread is - dont know why it showed as new post
