Buick Buzz and Bling

I'd been lurking around eBay looking for people selling Riv parts, and if there's a new seller with a decent variety, I'd write and ask if they have a wiper arm...so on Tuesday, one of said sellers wrote back and said yes, he would part with his wiper arms and list them as a 'buy-it-now' item, though it would take a couple of days because he wanted to post them with a picture.

So I've been eBay-stalking this week, just waiting for those wiper arms to appear. And to quell my desires, I wound up bidding on (and winning) the replacement hood insulation pad I'd been drooling over for a while....

In other news, the Riv got mentioned at my Kiwanis meeting on Weds, when one of the members suggested I add it to the list of auction items for our annual wine-tasting/silent auction, to which we're thinking of adding a live auction element. Hmmm, I don't know. There just aren't that many folks who show up to that...and it's not really a car-shopper's paradise. But it would make for a great publicity stunt for the event, and provide some certainty to the Riv's 'sale-date'.

Back Seat Drivin'

Okay, the blog needs an update. There have been not just one, but two weekends since my last post. Here's the latest:

1) The two front wheel hubs I ordered from Florida have arrived, and I'm stuck between trying to replace them myself (see, it really doesn't look that hard), and taking them into the shop for 'professional' repair.

2) The Riv is signed up to join the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile on December 6th in the Johns Creek Founders Day Parade. The Johns Creek Kiwanis Club is raising money to help buy a new wheelchair for a young woman with spina bifida. Our plan is to add some banners and streamers to the fenders, tape the Kiwanis logo to the hood, and prop this woman up on a set of cushions in the back seat. On the weekend shopping list is a car blanket that plugs into the cigarette lighter, and while I'm at it, I'd better check to see if the lighter actually works.

3) I tried accessing the right rear quarter window motor by removing the interior trim panel, but succeeded only in removing a few screws and the window switch. When I pulled two screws, it sounded like clip backings tumbled into the nether reaches of the body, and it became pretty clear that the screws weren't lined up to anything when I looked behind them. As Scooby would say: "Ruh-Roh!"

I've found a supplier of window switches (5 pronged little suckers) on e-bay for $20.00 a piece, but I'm trying to figure a way to test the motor before buying new switches. If I knew the wiring color codes, I could close the circuit on the switch wiring, but I'm hesitant to play roulette with the wires, knowing that there is a control circuit that is opened and closed by the switch, and a primary circuit that gets opened and closed by a solenoid attached to the control circuit.

And I'm still watching the hood insulation pad on e-Bay. It'd be worth it if I were taking the car to shows, but I'm really just getting it ready for sale, right? Umm, right.

Look Ma, No Hands!

Tuesday's election and a busy week at the office distracted me from the Riv for a bit, but I did get a referral for the suspension work that I've decreed to be beyond my pay grade. The Riv needs new front wheel bearing hubs, and a new CV-jointed drive axle on the left side. My plan is to collect the parts over the next week or so and then drop them off at the shop, letting the professionals do the underbody work.

I also installed the new hood struts this morning, and gave the blue pole that had been holding up the hood a nice healty retirement boot. I've found a replacement hood insulation pad on eBay and am sorely tempted to bid high and discard the torn original stained with good ol' Piedmont clay.

Not quite ready to go back inside, I sprayed a little degreaser around the base of the carboretur and the frame surrounding the radiator. One puzzle (of many) remains: I don't know where the horn speaker is located. I've seen pictures of replacement horns on the net, but nothing similar resides beneath her bonnet.

Rewinding the Clock

The Riv scored a number of jealous stares Saturday at the Kiwanis Bike Ride, and she was pressed into service at the end of the day as a sag vehicle....trolling the route to check on the last riders straggling back to the finish line. About 40 miles of driving on an absolutely beautiful fall afternoon; I was not complaining.

On Sunday afternoon, I glued the new rear-view mirror to the windshield, and installed the repainted quarter-panels I'd picked up on Tuesday. I could only get 6 of the 7 screws back into the brackets, but the fit looks pretty good, and the paint couldn't be much closer.

Before:

During:

After: