55 roadmaster riviera resto mod

[thegnu]

just seems right to continue my build here . in brief I had seen this car a couple times at shows for sale an now its mine , as to its condition its had a lot of bad owners who either started repairing something an stopped or had a decent idea on how to fix something an just didn't follow through. some made changes that would be too much of a pain to remove an return to oem . Now it falls on me to undo the wrong an get this beauty back up to a nice respectable condition.
things I have already done or started , removed the rear seats an installed 04 Pontiac Bonneville leather rear seats front power to follow, made all new 1/4 panel upholstery boards as well as door panels as kick panels ,removed all glass cleaned a greased all window regulators, realigned the body panels , swapped out the front drums an converted the car to disc drum brakes with a dual resivior master cylinder , ordered an electronic ignition system (yet to be installed ) , an finally last night I began work on the heating system all of witch had been bypassed .

 

[thegnu]

more progress

swapped out the front seats found the heater controls hiding in a local scrap ,yard cleaned an installed them , totally replumbed the heating an trans cooling systems , (anyone know where I can source a new thermo static controller? I tested mine out of the car an reinstalled now its leaking !) since the last post .

 

[322bnh]

(anyone know where I can source a new thermo static controller? .

If you mean the Ranco valve, there are rebuilding services available for about $100 or or you like to do tedious bench work, a seal can be installed for about $10.

 

[jacob]

Are those front seats going to lean forward to give access to the rear seat? Just thinking because a Pontiac Bonneville is a 4 door.

 

[thegnu]

Jacob , it was a pain in the rump to get them positioned , but yes after you rock the backs of them forward then run the seat up, in an out you have lots of room . I have to take all that out this weekend , I am going to mock up a custom made console an install the gauges an with luck my new wiper motor will arrive so I will be installing that as well an assembling the dash for good hopefully .

 

[thegnu]

wow where to start , the list of annoyance problems continues , went under dash to change out the gauges an the wiring harness was laid in beautifully , but not a single grommet or piece of sheathing to prevent chafing where the wires pass over or through metal ,an weak connections, the radio was hacked apart clearly for its parts (???why???), an not a single control cable would function remotely close to proper . an correcting these problems took me for ever . now I should be able to actually get back on track installing the new wiper motor , ,replacing all the ductwork , an building the console . I'm frustrated but satisfied now these issues wont become bigger problems later especially in the electrical system!

 

[thegnu]

back on track !

installed the new ,quality gauge set , instead of the cheapo's that were in there , also installed the electric wiper motor , easily the best an fastest conversion kit I ever have used ! just 1 thing about it I didn't like was you cannot use the oem switch bezel but I found a way .all heater ducting replaced an installed had a few minor issues with the heater control cables not wanting to move as freely as I previously had them but that's ok . (not like this will be out in bad weather when its finished . added all wiring I will need for the stereo I plan on installing an a smaller fuse panel added behind the planned console local . next up build a console .

 

[thegnu]

console

I've been thinking about how to build this for a week ,last night , proof of concept ! mocked up the console for the buick tomorrow i may narrow it about an inch an a half at the most , it just looks a tad too big . i just absolutlely suck with wood . probably gonna be making tooth picks instead of a console ..

 

[bob k. mando]

i have to say, that's a purty car.

 

[thegnu]

console built

i have to say, that's a purty car.

Thank you Bob , not as preety as it will be now that I got it .


alllllright , i am no carpenter but i think i just impressed myself ! an i never wanna do this again ! hand build console no planer , joiner ,basicly no nothing that you should have for wood work ,except a square , straight edge an a jigsaw. an I been at this thing since 9 am now its midnight . I did narrow it only 1 inch an it should give a 1/2 inch of room on the seats now . 3 things left to do to it in the morning cut an opening for the radio an fill an sand it an prime so its ready for paint an upholstery .

 

[thegnu]

console prefit out of car only

last nights console work finished now . i could not read nor did i want to read a measuring tape any frickin more so i did not push to finish an i am glad i didnt ! today all i want to do is put it in the car to look at , but thats doing double work cause id just have to take it back out to actually finish it . i pulled it off !

 

[bob k. mando]

measure twice, cut once!

:thumbsup:

 

[thegnu]

measure twice, cut once!

:thumbsup:

I measured 4 times an cut once , but with all the angles WOW that console is wider 11 inch at the bottom an 9 inch at the top , an at the rear its 10 an the front its 12 . mind melting numbers .

 

[thegnu]

console filled smoothed an blocked

block sanded, smoothed, filled, primed, pre wired , ready to fit to the car an forget about for a lil while. while the solvents vap out . going to be doing some mechanical work like changing the alternator removing the vacumm assisted fuel pump an installing electric . an pre cutting all the stereo speaker openings.an installing actual lug studs instead of lug bolts .

 

[thegnu]

installed

installed

 

[jacob]

Looking good! its amazing people survived without cup holders.

 

[thegnu]

I know ! when this ones done I will most likely drive it quite a bit in the summer an into the fall going to various shows an meets cup holders are a must have . the wrecker I built has none an its a pain in the azz on long drives .

 

[thegnu]

finally refinishing things !

after about 2 weeks of repairing annoyances on this buick i have finally begun painting ! almost all of the interior trim got black last night . an hopefully this weekend i will dye the headliner, seats , make some more trim peices for the doorpanels an begin to install all the upholstery . almost forgot an i dont know how ? going to repaint the top of that hideious metal flake dashboard !

 

[thegnu]

dove head long into getting the interior started tonight gutted the car out , repainted that horrid metalflake dash ! green steering wheel no more an the rest of the gloss black trim work painted . tomorrow assemble what I can , I dye the seats , headliner ,sun visors , and anything else that I can think of that needs it .

 

[thegnu]

IT was a long weekend as in lots of hours on the interior Saturday I did all the dye work an sunday I pulled most everything back together , an did some upholstery work on anything that didn't need to come back out of the car when the rugs get here .