1965 Buick Riviera: Trying to right the wrong.

Discussion in 'Members Rides' started by slowlane, Jul 12, 2020.

  1. slowlane

    slowlane Member

    I reassembled the repainted/polished gauge cluster this evening. It looks 100% better then before. I ordered a new carpet and door sill plates. I decided to go with black because the green carpet kit is way off in color from the rest of the interior and would clash just as bad as the current carpet. The car already has a black headliner and steering wheel so it should tie in okay.

    Restored gauge cluster. I neglected to take a "before" photo for comparison, but I can tell you, it's worlds better than it was. A lot of the interior chrome on this car is pretty pitted but I don't even want to imagine the bill to re-chrome it all.

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    1972Mach1 and Dano like this.
  2. slowlane

    slowlane Member

    Well it took a while but I have finally finished up this project. The new used wiring harnesses worked out great after a few minor repairs. I lost my ambition for photo documenting my progress during reassembly. I've been on vacation this week and a few of the days have been rainy, so I have taken that time for one last push to get the Riviera back together. There were a few problems along the way, most annoying being the windshield wiper wiring.

    Once the car was all together I was testing things and the wipers behaved very erratically. Both speed positions on the switch resulted in high speed at the motor and the low speed on the switch also turned on the washer. Pushing the washer button resulted in low speed at the motor but it switched back to high as soon as I let off the button. I took out the switch and tested it with the multi-meter and everything functioned as it was supposed to. I put the switch back in with no change. I unplugged the washer wire from the switch, but the freaking washer is still pumping away when I turned on the wipers. Thoroughly annoyed, I looked up the wiring diagrams in the manual and compared them to my car. Turns out someone had swapped the washer and low speed wire positions on the under-hood side of the firewall pass-through connector. AAAGGHHH!!! Those wires had also been swapped in the corresponding connector in the old under-dash harness that I replaced, which explains why the wipers worked normal with the old wiring. I swapped the under-hood wires around to their correct locations and the wipers worked as they should.

    The headlight motor also was having problems. It was getting power at the at the motor but wasn't always working. Once after taking it for a drive they worked fine a few times and then yesterday, nothing. Something is probably loose or worse in the motor, but I had a spare functioning power vent window motor that can be used as a headlight motor by swapping the tops. I got that installed this morning and now the headlight doors open and close reliably.

    A bit off topic but my headlight motor micro-switches were broken and I found that with a little modification, you can use the shifter control micro-switches from an 80's era Club Car electric golf cart as a workable replacement. They are not sealed as well as the originals but my car is pretty much just a fair-weather cruiser, so I'm not too concerned. I got a pack of 4 switches on Amazon for under $15.

    Here are some pictures of the car today after I finished up the headlight motor and cleaned 3 months worth of dust and grungy finger prints off it. I need to get some better pictures but it was raining out so in the garage will have to do for now.

    I am really happy with how the dash and console came out. All the masking was very tedious but it paid off in the end. The Rustoleum green was just a bit lighter than the original color. All the black was repainted as well and the chrome polished. It's so much nicer looking down at the gauges while driving than before.

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    The Riviera all cleaned up again. I need to get some better pictures outside but it's been raining all day.

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    The headlights on with the doors opening again.

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    Last edited: Oct 22, 2020
  3. buick66lesabre

    buick66lesabre Well-Known Member

    That is looking really great, nice job!
     
    OHC JOE likes this.
  4. FenderVents

    FenderVents New Member

    Great job on the restoration project. It is a beautiful car. I’ve never seen one in that green color.

    A project like you completed requires so many different skills — all at one time. It turned out very nice looking.

    Sometimes, people complain about colors not matching exactly to factory, but I’d rather have a completed, driving car, with slight variations in color, than one still disassembled, waiting for the perfect paint match.

    Enjoy your ride. Your Dad would be proud.
     

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