1964 Buick Riviera

I came to the conclusion that the the way I restored those parts years ago (when I first disassembled them) just doesn't match up to the body and paint work that the car has now. So back at it....
Ahhh -- "Mission Creep". We all know how that goes...The Riv is looking killer - very nice and detailed work.
 
Mission creep.......perfect. :p That definitely sums up this project.

Thank you guys for the kind words. Feels like the home stretch .....but the road is long!

And agreed on the wheels, Crash. The more I looked at wheel and tire combos, the less I liked the look of the tire profile in this big wheel well.....and it kept pushing the wheel size up ....and tire profile down. I had no intentions of going this big since. So to balance it all out and lean more toward the classic look: I have a set of white-walls on order from Diamond Back. ;)
 
And now to play catch up on the rest of the restoration pics from this project (I dragged my feet for the last few months transferring pictures to a new computer.....).

After finishing up the chassis, drivetrain and the metal work along the bottom lower edge of the car, it was time to strip it and get into the bodywork. After wanting to throw my Eastwood blaster across the backyard a few times and the thought of having to remove the crazy amount of stuff buttered up all over the outside of this car, I decided to have a Mobil Blast-A-Way come to the house and do it. Money well spent....

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Turns out it was hit in the back.....but no worries. Nothing 1/2" of body filler couldn't level out.



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The guys were nervous to continue blasting the removable door panels since they didn't have any support so they stopped after the top layers of paint and I agreed to remove the rest with a grinder to be on the safe side.

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They were there most of the day cutting through the million pounds of paint and filler that was on this car. Which didn't make any sense since the car was pretty solid. Why they plastered this much mud on the car to level out the hack repairs I can't understand.

After it was done:

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And this was some of the after effects.....

This was what was left in the corner just from the parts. Between the blast media, filler and paint.......I raked out 2-wheelbarrows full of crap out of the crass! :oops:


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Sorry I had to laugh, when we used to do extensive blasting around our shop, it threatened to turn our yard into desert dunes. Sand once even found its way into our wash bucket, which was almost a huge problem! We don't do on-site blasting anymore...
 
LOL! No worries; Crash. I laugh about it now...much like everything I look back at. Wasn't feeling the same when I was raking that crap out of the lawn though!

Since they use water with this process, they call it dustless blasting. After they were done packing everything up, we stood around b.s-ing and looking at the yard. The guy turns to me and says: Yeah, we said it was dust-less blasting.....not mess-less. :p
 
BEAUTIFUL CAR, that generation of Riviera has always been one of my favorite cars. Each year has something unique that I liked.if I was to do one, it would end up being a mix of all 3 years.
 
And now to play catch up on the rest of the restoration pics from this project (I dragged my feet for the last few months transferring pictures to a new computer.....).

After finishing up the chassis, drivetrain and the metal work along the bottom lower edge of the car, it was time to strip it and get into the bodywork. After wanting to throw my Eastwood blaster across the backyard a few times and the thought of having to remove the crazy amount of stuff buttered up all over the outside of this car, I decided to have a Mobil Blast-A-Way come to the house and do it. Money well spent....

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Turns out it was hit in the back.....but no worries. Nothing 1/2" of body filler couldn't level out.



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The guys were nervous to continue blasting the removable door panels since they didn't have any support so they stopped after the top layers of paint and I agreed to remove the rest with a grinder to be on the safe side.

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They were there most of the day cutting through the million pounds of paint and filler that was on this car. Which didn't make any sense since the car was pretty solid. Why they plastered this much mud on the car to level out the hack repairs I can't understand.

After it was done:

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And this was some of the after effects.....

This was what was left in the corner just from the parts. Between the blast media, filler and paint.......I raked out 2-wheelbarrows full of crap out of the crass! :oops:


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The 1/2" of body filler looks pretty bad, but I'm not sure about the crack that was uncovered when blasting the lower part of the front fender.:eek:
 
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When I had the shell of my 64 sand blasted by a mobile blaster when he was done the front of my house was covered in sand and dust. It makes a huge mess. The next time around I pushed the car on the rotisserie down the street a ways lol
 
I’m getting things lined up to sand blast a 1979 K10. I have done many many thousands of pounds of traditional sand blasting but concrete trucks, storage bins and farm machinery are all thick metal. Fill up the 600 pound pot and let the diesel compressor roar. I’m kinda intimidated doing the body on their truck. It is a rust bucket and being my young friend are novice body men plan to replace a lot of panels,where available. Better than burn time attempting to repair panels that can be replaced for $30. I have never warped a 1/4” thick plate In my life but a truck cab ain’t that thick. I’m hoping that the amount of curves on the cab portion will provide more resistance to warping. I will reduce the media flow and as much as possible lower the compressor output and still flow a stream of sand.
Tips and even smart Alec jokes are welcome. Tell me what you think.
Dave
 
Even though that should have been obvious to me I never thought of that. Lol. We will have plenty of bad panels to adjust the blaster / compressor on and practice.
 
Nice Jim.....rub it in. Probably the only time I regret my green grass obsession. :p

It was nice getting the body cleaned up but of course, all the sins came screaming out. Good eye, Chevman. Although partly original ( front bumpers are actually attached through the fenders), it was distorted from a likely previous hit and partly buttered over with filler.

Here's some surprises after blasting...

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Whoever did the previous work on this car, just cut out rot and tacked some sheet metal over the holes. Then they just caved them in and buttered over the top with a bunch of filler and re-sculpted the body lines with filler. Nutty.

Some of the repairs...

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The lower fenders were the most challenging for me. The passenger side was not as bad since the rear edge was still intact so it was easier to figure out and duplicate the original shape.

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The drivers side was much worse so I had to use the parking lamps and the passenger side to make templates and figure out the shape. Started by making up the front and rear edges.


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Then made a pattern for the middle but had to figure out a way to make the correct curve. I ended up breaking the edge first and then made a buck to hold the edge and roll the sheet metal to the proper shape.




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And I lose track of time on this project but somewhere in between all the metal work, I hit the car with two wet coat of SPI epoxy.


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Sorry for the radio silence on the progress here but the summer kicked off with a big project list including painting the exterior of the house and fixing some trim. I was able to sneak in some time between projects and keep the Buick inching forward though.

The tires arrived from Diamond Back.....and they are awesome. Finally had them mounted and stuffed the rear wheel-wells full of rubber. I'm not sure how I'm going to get the exhaust out the back since they originally ran through the wells next to the tires and there is no more room in there for them. For now, it sounds great with straight pipes when I fire it up. :p

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I was nervous at first with the size the wheels...but I could not be happier with how they worked out. Just about as I imagined them in my head. I'd like the car to be just a touch lower (it has 1-inch drop springs) but there's still a lot of weight to go back in with the interior and glass. Plus, I really don't want to get too far away from the original ride these cars had.


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Finished up the front end trim and added the emblem on the hood spear......little touches like this keep me staring at the car for hours. :)



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Up next: getting to the Interior.....finally.

I'll post more in the next day or two.

Stay tuned.....

Mark
 
Well; so much for the next day or two! LOL. Life marches on and so do other projects keeping a steady workflow going.

Finished up getting the insides wrapped with Kilmat. That was an unexpectedly big job that took way more time than anticipated. Then again, I've learned throughout this project that my ability to estimate time to do work never pans out and never improves. Good thing I don't do this for a living or I'd be giving money away with each job. :p


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Finally moving onto some of the finish interior work....the head liner was up next.

The original fiberglass insulation from the roof was in surprisingly good shape so I dusted them off and glued them back in. Also replaced all of the old, dry-rotted tack strips along the perimeter for the headliner staples.


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Here goes nothing.....

Hanging the headliner by the bows.



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Then patiently working the headliner with a steamer until the wrinkles are chased away.


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The headliner is outlined with metal trim all around the perimeter and glass. The standard interior has the metal painted the same color of the headliner but there is a Deluxe option that has those metal pieces chrome plated. Fortunately, this car has the Deluxe option and the chrome was in decent shape (the chrome on these pieces tend to be pretty snotty). A bit of chrome polish and fine steel wool brought them back beautifully. Pictures don't do it justice as the chrome trim and silver headliner make a stunning (and unlikely) combination with the black interior.



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First; the new sail panels.....



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And finally capped off with shiny chrome glory!


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