My main dilemma was still the old, outdated drivetrain and suspension. My dream scenario would be to have a Nailhead / manual combo, but I knew that having this anyways was going to involve first, finding one, and second, some major fabrication on the existing frame....and even then, I'm still stuck with updating the suspension and brakes, all of which were seriously tired. I was going over and over these things again and realizing how much work I was getting into. On top of all this, the straight 8 engine was cool, but took a lot, and I mean a lot, to get a decent amount of power....coupled with the fact that the dynaflow trans is about the most pathetic example of an automatic transmission out there.
I had steadily been returning to Dan Speakin's cardomain page (see HERE) where Dan took a mid-70's Cadillac Deville chassis, cut the body off, leaving the floors and firewall, shortened the frame 6 inches to match wheelbase, and welded the Buick body on the Caddy floors and chassis. This way, you get the updated suspension and in this case, huge ass 472 engine, and everything is done for you. Dan also channeled the body a bit to drop the body down more on the frame, eliminating any need to lower the suspension.
Many on the Buick boards had talked about using a 71-73 Riviera. The wheelbase is exactly the same (well, off by 1/2 inch) as the Special, at 121.5". Come to find out, the 74 and 75 Rivi's also use the same wheelbase. This way, you get the 455 engine, 400 tranny, and 12 bolt rear end to boot. Power brakes, front disc, power steering, and even A/C make a whole lot of options I couldn't dream about doing on Betty. Only trouble would be finding a good 71-75 Riviera that's not too far away, and actually has good floors in it to swap over. Well, I let a 73 get through my hands for 400.00, but it was in New Jersey, and it was trashed, rotted floors, and a possum living under the hood. Probably better that I let that one go.
So I waited and waited, kinda giving up on the idea. I'd see the occasional one pass, but 71-73's are usually always going for between 3-5K, even in bad shape. 74's and 75's are so rare, that you never see them. Then, 2 days ago, I found one for 1,600.00 on ebay.
It was a 1975, 60K original miles and nearly everything original on the car. I almost hated to hack the thing up it seemed to be in such good shape - but then again, I don't see a long line of people waiting for one. What's better, is that they lived just a few hours away on the other side of Michigan. I managed to get ahold of the people and snagged the car for 1,500.00.
Once we got on the road, all the fun began....
The 2 feet of snow we had got in the last 2 weeks suddenly melted the day we left, when temperatures shot up to 55 degrees in about 12 hours, coupled with rain. The result was a super thick fog that literally made for less than 40 yards visibility all the way there. Fun.
Here she is in all her glory. Notice the thick Steven King horror story fog in the background. The car was really in miraculous shape. Outside of one busted front turn signal lens and a plastic piece on the corner of the trunk, the car didn't look too bad. No rust anywhere, solid floors, motor sounded pretty fair...just sounded old - even with 60K miles! Even if I ended up giving up on the Betty project, this car could fetch some money if re-worked correctly. Then I got the bad news - apparently the tranny started slipping on the way to the meeting point. According to the sellers, the car had never done this before, and they had just had the transmission serviced a few weeks prior. I opted to take the car anyways, as the sellers reassured me that if anything went wrong on the way home, they would take care of it. Unfortunately, things went way, way wrong.
The car took about 5 miles to get up to 55MPH. 1st and 2nd gear slipped so bad I'm surprised they even moved the car. The transmission chattered and banged like hell until it finally dropped into 3rd gear. I managed to get it up to 60MPH for a brief 50 miles until the oil pressure light came on and the car started making some funny noises under my feet. Rather than risk anything, I made a bee-line for the nearest exit. The car died at the stop sign at the end of the ramp. I got out to find antifreeze pouring out from underhood. She had overheated badly and I didn't even know! Nice to know the idiots at GM decided a coolant temp gauge wasn't important in those days.
Luckily, I had left a towstrap in the Ridgeline and we used it to tow the Rivi-beast into the gas station nearby. The Ridgeline happens to be the best damn truck in the world and should you come across one, you should buy it. (Shameless Honda Ridgeline plug). Upon inspection, the car did have a new radiator and water pump, as the sellers indicated. I noticed, though, that the fan clutch was just free-spinning, and that was bad news. My guess is that the high revs of the tranny slipping, coupled with the fan clutch, over-heated the motor. Here I am calling the sellers. I hate to be a pain in the ass buyer, but unfortunately, this one was a deal breaker. The over-heating part didn't bother me that much - that's easy to fix, not to mention, the motor was going to be ripped apart anyways...but I didn't expect to do a tranny rebuild. The sellers were pretty rattled by the fact the car did this. We agreed to two choices. One, I could buy the car for $1,000.00 and figure out how the hell to get it across the state and home, with them washing their hands clean of it...or two, they come get the car, rebuild the tranny with documentation proving so, and deliver it to me. I really thought they'd opt for #1, but apparently this guys' mechanic rebuilds transmissions and does a lot of them, and offered to do it for them for a cheap price. I left the car and got a call later that night that they had picked it up, and were going to deliver it to me in a few days. Score! Now I get a rebuilt tranny out of the deal.
Now my plans are to pull the 455, drop in some higher compression pistons (try to get it up from the enemic 8.2:1 the smog motors became) and get it up to 9.5 to 10:1, a new cam, manifold, and some headers. That should be all I need to move Betty with some conviction.
But for now, I wait for the car, and it's back to body work on Betty. I need to get the body work done first, then we'll work on removing both bodies and doing the swap. The Riviera will stay parked until I get the body done, and should something happen, I can always sell the car off. I just couldn't pass up a deal like this. Stay tuned, the fire is alive again! -TH
