Hello everyone, I think the title sums it up. I recently bought myself a Buick for my 44th birthday. I drove over 500 miles to buy what I think was a great deal on a mostly original 70 Riviera and drove it home to Arkansas. I purchased it from an older gent who had owned it for the last 15 years. Seems to have 90k original miles, motor was bored 30 over and refreshed about 1500mi ago (2016) due to a burnt piston. It had a repaint in the original color and vinyl top removed 12 years ago. Paint is great at 10ft not as great up close. I have every intention to drive the wheels off this car. I want to start hitting some of the traveling style car shows like Cruisin the Coast and Power Tour and the like when I get to where I am confident in it and get creature comforts working. Throwing up a few pic for your viewing pleasure. Thanks, Brian
Previous owner has bypassed the in tank pump and installed an in line pump that kicks on with key in the run position. I would prefer an in tank pump as it is a little weird to hear the click clack of an electric pump on a car of this age. However I can't seem to find an original style replacement sending unit. Also my gas gauge is pegged out past full. I grounded the tan wire in the trunk and gauge stayed full so I am going to have to get under the dash next to test the gauge. I would love to have a set of the long skirts painted to match so I could swap back and forth if I felt the need to change up the look.
Quick oil pressure question. When engine is hot and I am stopped in gear at a stop light the oil light flickers. My aftermarket oil pressure gauge is reading 20-22psi when the dummy light starts to flicker, is this normal or should I look at bumping up my idle rpm some? I don't have a tach inside the car yet but I set the idle speed with the tach on my timing light and have idle set at 750 and that gives me around 600 rpm when in gear and stopped. I am currently running Lucas Hot Rod oil 10w-40 as this was the only oil I could find on my road trip I was confident in would have the proper amount of zddp. Plan on swapping to Rotella T4 15w-40 on the next oil change.
As far as the fuel pump goes, read this, http://1badriv.com/hardway.htm#Hi Po Fuel Pump The idiot light sender is only supposed to light between 5 and 7 psi. If your aftermarket gauge reads 20 psi, I would confirm that with another mechanical gauge. If the pressure is confirmed at 20+, I would replace the idiot light sender and make sure the wire leading to it isn't intermittently grounding somewhere.
When I first drove my GS400, the oil light would randomly flicker on. I found that one of the previous owners had installed an aftermarket oil pressure gauge, and the wire connector to the original sending unit (that was removed) was bumping up against the AC bracket, causing the dash light to come on. My idle oil pressure was around 25 psi on the gauge. Once I taped the wire up, that light quit coming on.