1964 Buick Riviera

[64Rivi]

I've been an avid reader of this site for the last few years as I worked through the bodywork of this long term restoration. Figured it was finally time to jump in and share some progress that many of you have helped me get through (a great big thank you to all the members of this site who have shared their knowledge and help to everyone's benefit!)

A big thank you to Barry and his team at SPI. What a great company, awesome products and a stellar group of employees. As many of you have said in the past, his business and customer service are un-paralleled in every way.

I've been restoring this 1964 Buick Riviera for the last 10-years. Family and life just continue to climb to the top of the ladder pushing the finish line further and fruther away. Finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now that it's wrapped in paint. A quick walk through the latest progress along with a few questions.

Body wet sanded to 400 ready for sealer

Paint sealed with SPI black Epoxy mixed 2:2:1

2-Coats SPI Black Base

3-Coats Universal Clear w/ Regular Activator (I painted when it was about 70 - 74 degrees in my garage)

To say I'm blown away with the results is an understatement (first car I've sprayed).

Now for some questions:

I shot 3 wet coats of Universal Clear all over (A big thanks to Chris Hamilton for his description of watching the clear "fill-in".....you might not understand it when you read it.....but once you spray it and you leave a coat of liquid glass behind the spray gun with UC....YOU'LL KNOW IT!). I found that filling in the clear falls in-between orange peel and runs. LOL

I was going to stop here and cut and buff with 1000, 1500 and 2000 but I keep reading that a lot of you guys block it flat after three coats and do another 3-coats before cut and buffing the final finish. Didn't really want to go that far but now i'm sort of nervous the 3-coats will short change the finish. What do you think?

Also had an issue with water on the lower side of my quarter panel. I wet the floor to reduce dust in the booth and kept putting my gun down to move the hose carefully from one side to the other. On the third coat, I got cocky........and just dragged the hose behind me. Yup.....slung a bit of water on the body and didn't see it till I was about to hit it with clear. I ran the water off with atomization air from my gun and tried to dry it as best as possible and kept going. I got lucky in another spot but this one gassed and left me with bubbles....on top of some runs because I tried to chase them out with more clear. Double whammy.

Can I wet sand this out and just hit that area again with UC and not worry about blending it since it will be cut again on my final sanding?

Thanks again!

Mark

 

[64Rivi]

Here's the picture of the problem area on the quarter panel.

 

[crashtech]

First of all, the car looks magnificent! It's a shame about the quarter, it would not surprise me if it is going to need some repair work to fill voids that will probably be left after sanding. If you are going to sand and re-clear, you could spot repair that area, spot clear it, then resand it all and apply 3-4 more coats of clear.

Just as an aside, I'm dying to know how you are going to get those skins back on the doors without hurting the paint!

 

[64Rivi]

Crash; thank you VERY much for the kind words....greatly appreciated!

And thank you for the info as well. I"m hoping the gassing only reacted in the third layer and I can sand through it to smooth clear underneath......maybe wishful thinking but being hopeful. And yes....shame it happen. But I'm not complaining because i'm still blown away with how the rest of it came out. Nothing ever comes easy. LOL

Those door skins were a GM experiment they tried only on the first generation Riviera (63 - 65). They are actually removable door skins. If you look close, you can see the studs sticking out of the panel edges. They did this to make the window mechanisms more accessible so you could adjust them by just un-bolting the door skins. Great in theory but the design never took off.

And kind of a pain in the butt when restoring the car....it was like painting a 4-door. The frames had to be prepped and painted separately from the skins so that the paint wraps around the edges. Otherwise the paint would crack when you separate them to put the windows back in.

 

[crashtech]

@64Rivi , wow, I did not know that about the doors! I've never actually had the privilege of working on a 1st gen Riviera, but imo they are the most beautiful of them all.

Maybe you'll feel like keeping us posted on that quarter problem. There's more than one way of tackling a problem like that, like if there isn't any dirt residue stuck in the clear, you might even be able to dot some clear into the pits instead of going with the whole putty/primer/base/clear. Sprayed material doesn't like to go into holes, even small ones.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Good Gawd, that thing is beautiful... inspiring to somebody on his way to his first paint job also!

I was looking at the hood and thought "what the heck am i seeing here?" ....until I realized it was the reflection of the plastic overhead! LOL

Thanks for posting the "in process" pics.

 

[64Rivi]

Crash; keep the advise coming and yes, I plan on updating as I move along with this. I'm really hoping I don't have to go down that road of repairing the area. My hope is to go at the clear with 600 wet and gently work down the clear in that area without getting down to base. If I'm luck enough, maybe I can fill the voids as you mentioned, spot clear and re-sand to level. And agree on the first generation....it's a beautiful car.

Hoosier: I was laughing at your post because I thought the same when I looked at the picture. I thought it was picking up something I wasn't seeing with my eyes......then realized it was a reflection. Ha!

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Great work on the car. The paint job is really an indicator of the quality of the prep work.
Black turns the car into a mirror and shows every flaw - your car looks fantastic.

Never heard of the removable door skins before either.

 

[64Rivi]

Thanks, 68'. This project has taken a life of its own. The restoration wasn't supposed to go this far (which ones do.....). The more I dug into it, the worse it got like. Like your Buick project and others, as you start to peel away the layers, the nightmares started. Rot was cut out and tack welded in with flat panels and sculpted out of 3/4 inches of filler. Other spots had the proverbial cave and paves. And to add insult to injury, their was hole in the trunk that was patched with metal from a handicap sign riveted to the floor and covered with trunk spatter paint.

Someone went to a lot of trouble to hide all the terrible work on this car under 10-gallons of candy apple paint. Still can't get over how people turn work out like that..

Here's a shot of the door without the skin. Again, great in theory but everywhere one of those studs attaches to the door, it distorts the metal as you tighten the panel. It's been fun trying to correct all that and fingers crossed everything stays straight when they get put on the last time!

 

[64Rivi]

Spoke to Barry today and had some encouraging news about the air bubbles since they were only in the last coat of clear. Barry suggested going at it with a soft block with 1000 wet to cut through the bubbles......and it is working great....THANKS BARRY!

Probably could have started a bit more aggressive at 800 as he also suggested but I was nervous about cutting through so took my time with the 1000. Worked great, just a little more work.

Here's what it looked like when I first started:

Wish all the bubbles were as big as the dark ones. Then I could have just dabbed them with clear coat like Crash suggested. Also was a bit unsure about the dark spots. Was 99% certain that it was the second coat of clear under there......and it was that 1% that put a pit in my stomach as I kept cutting away and waiting for cut through.

But I kept at it....

.

Checks out pretty good when hitting it with some W&G remover in the light.

At this point, I think I'll hit the remaining bubbles that are opened up with some dabs of clear and level them off with 1500 and call it a day. I don't want to keep working the 1000 to get all the voids out and risk cutting more clear off than I need to. Also have to work the other areas and the runs but encouraged by the progress so far.

Also started to cut the opposite quarter tonight with 1500 just to give it a whirl. This stuff cuts effortlessly!!

 

[JimKueneman]

Hi, very nice! I was on the fence about buying a '63 Riv the guy at the corner garage had but I chickened out because it did not look like there were a lot of reproduction parts for it but I loved the car. iI you have seen my Dart restoration that was the first one I did the 4 coats, sand and 4 coats. Would I do it again? Things I liked where:

• On the final wet sand it is damn near impossible to sand through!
• It adds a subtle depth to the color, depending. The daughters sky blue Duster would not have made a difference just because of the color. The turquoise it made a worthwhile difference. Black I would think it would make it look that much deeper. I would do it if I were you.
• Barry called this technique floating the UV's which I believe is another way of saying by doing this the UV protection of the paint job is greatly increased as well

Jim

 

[64Rivi]

Hi Jim. Thanks for the tips on your experiences with the re-coat. I greatly appreciate the input!
I really don't want to go the route of re-spraying the car again which is why i made sure to put three good wet coats of clear on. Just cutting through that 3rd coat last night to get the bubbles out made me pretty comfortable with the amount of film build that is on it right now.

Plan right now is to cut the car with 1500 and make sure I can remove any trash without cutting too much. If so, I'll move on to 2000 and buff. Once I start polishing and see what it looks like, I'll determine if I'm happy with the depth and gloss or if it's worth going to another re-coat. Believe me when I tell you, this restoration was not supposed to go this far. As the lipstick came of this pig, it spilled into virtually a frame-off....without the frame off. The rest of the chassis, and driveline are all done so it's paint, interior and put it back together at this point.

And you made a good move not getting into one of these! LOL Like you said, there are virtually no reproduction body parts. Between the mess under the paint with previous "patches" and the additional rot I found, I had to reform body panel sections myself....and I've never done this kind of metal work before. If you guys are interested, I can post pics of that work as well. It's been a long process filled with lots colorful language.

And yes, I've followed all of your previous threads and enjoyed them very much. I appreciate you sharing your journey. I've never been much of a mopar guys....but your cars make it hard not to like them. I especially like your daughters duster (although they are all equally beautiful!). Keep the posts coming and good luck with finishing the Dart! Super impressed how quickly you are ripping through that project.

 

[crashtech]

If you guys are interested, I can post pics of that work as well. It's been a long process filled with lots colorful language.

I'm interested, for sure. Salty language does not bother me at all, but we do like to keep the forum safe for all ages and kinds of people, so not sure about that part? Maybe a "click at your own risk warning?

 

[RosharonRooster]

I deal with 61-64 impalas but ive been thinking about a rivi for a long time that's a really nice car you got there

 

[64Rivi]

Sounds good, Crash. I'll start posting some pictures and the story of this restoration over the last 10-years. The colorful language doesn't come through on the pictures. Posts will all be PG-rated. LOL

Roost; these are great cars (and very sexy!) but like Jim alluded to, there are no body parts for these cars so it make restoring a tall climb as most will either have to be scrounged from parts cars or made by hand (and most of them are basket cases). The juice is worth the squeeze if you ask me but I have soft spot for this car. This was one of my dad's favorite cars that he had back in the 60's. Funny you mentioned those Impalas. The Rivi was his second favorite (he had a 65') but his favorite was a 63' Impala SS 409 in gold with a white top.

This was the car when I first bought it in 2010. It had decent paint, original interior but needed mechanical work (which I enjoy). The nightmare started once I got into.....but don't they all.

 

[64Rivi]

Well, all was going well with working through the bubbles. Once they were all gone, it all looked good wet. Then I dried and clean the panel and found out I had a few spots where I cut through to base.

At that point, I said the heck with it. Might as well touch up this spot with base and go for the re-coat. This car has a so much time in it over the years, doesn't make sense not to go the extra mile. My luck, i'll end up burning through on the buff or have some other issues.....cheap insurance. Spent the weekend cutting with 800 wet and hoping to have the car re-coat done this weekend. Then i'll work on the body panels.

 

[64Rivi]

Here goes on the history.

In the beginning, it was supposed to have been a car to work on in the long run and enjoy in the short run. Things quickly spiraled out of control once I started digging into the car and finding all the buried secrets. At first, I got into the engine compartment to clean it up and tune up a tire motor. Then you start finding what's wrong....

Again, not much much of the meat and potatoes are made for these cars. Lots of parts, but not the harder parts. The first thing I had to do with re-build the wiring harness for the engine compartment and lighting circuit. I made a layout board with the old wiring harness and mapped out another duplicate run above it with wiring staples so I could pull the wire through and create a new one of the same dimensions.

After I dug more into the engine bay, one part after the other started coming out. Eventually the car started to come apart.

Had to clean all the years of paint accumulation from others over the years so decided to blast it.

And then the rest came apart...

That's when the body gremilns started to appear from beneath paint, under-coating, filler (LOTs of filler) and even parking lot signs......more on that later.

First spoted rot on the bottom of the cowl. Started cutting that out and repairing with patch panels that had to be made. My dog was there to help hold the panels in place while I tacked them in.

 

[64Rivi]

After working on the lower cowl rot, of course their was light coming through from above. Pull the carpet back to find swiss cheese on the one side that had to be patched.

Not so lucky on the other side where the drivers side had to be replaced. There is a company that makes the front and rear floor reproductions but they are not that great. They are not stamped reproductions and more of a hand formed general replacement that can be made to fit.

Also needed to replace the passenger rear floor but only in the middle. Again, the pans that are available are not that great -as you can see- so I tried to leave as much of the original metal in there that I could.

The fun stuff starts after this.....

I'll keep posting more in the future.

Mark

 

[JimKueneman]

After working on the lower cowl rot, of course their was light coming through from above. Pull the carpet back to find swiss cheese on the one side that had to be patched.

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Not so lucky on the other side where the drivers side had to be replaced. There is a company that makes the front and rear floor reproductions but they are not that great. They are not stamped reproductions and more of a hand formed general replacement that can be made to fit.


View attachment 11760
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Also needed to replace the passenger rear floor but only in the middle. Again, the pans that are available are not that great -as you can see- so I tried to leave as much of the original metal in there that I could.

View attachment 11766
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The fun stuff starts after this.....

I'll keep posting more in the future.

Mark

Yup the best way I have found to solve these floorboard problems is to never pull the carpet back!

 

[64Rivi]

And to think I could have avoided all of this work with just a new set of floor mats.