Riviera across country aGaiN

[edwinn]

Prepared for this trip all last summer

I've taken the 97 Riv across American again this spring.. out to California for a while. The trip was 2,875 miles in four days. The engine is still running VERY good, and with a new set of Michelins there was no worry about tire failure. Driving was tough in central New Mexico at over 6,000' altitudes, 70 MPH speed limits and 25-30 MPH headwinds. There wasn't enough power to run cruise control under those conditions without it downshifting and CRANKING going up long hills! I figured a lot of that was too much of a beating so "drove" it manually instead.

Still the Riv is very good cross-country travel equipment. Let's call it TTE: Transcontinental Travel Equipment. The trunk is spacious, it's comfy to sit in for 12-13 hrs/day and I felt safe and secure inside at all times, even in the desert.

West of the Mississippi it gets Conoco Phillips fuel. British fuel such as BP cause rough idle in the central states like Ohio and Indiana. I'd never buy BP gas again.


New Mexico filling station

Here's a photo of the 97 Riv (with 135,000 miles) at a filling station in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. It sure looks great out here in sunny California and turns some heads on the road.




Next time back east.. think I'll have a new steering rack put in?


-Ed

[012620]

Interesting. Thanks.

[gmtech1]

Cool, sounds like a good trip.

[edwinn]

Originally Posted by gmtech1

Cool, sounds like a good trip.

Yep.. but there was more vibration than last year. The new tires seem to translate "road surface" into the chassis, which manifests in vibration of the floor and arm rests. In certain conditions the steering wheel would shimmy, then clear up. It could be off-cambered turns, off-camber (tilting toward median) straightaways or play in the tie-rods.

It took 100 gallons to drive from Virginia to Southern California at a cost of $387. That's with running the A/C in the desert and a loaded trunk. I wasn't too happy with the newer tires. They were balanced ok and I hope they settle down. LOTS of road surface feedback! The steering rack might be a problem now.

We'll see about more photos.

-Ed

[edwinn]

Originally Posted by 012620

Interesting. Thanks.

Yeah hey.. if you want to check out the location of that photo (notice the RED spot on the sidewalk across street) plug the following coords into Google Earth, or Google Maps with Satellite mode turned on: 34.94821°, -104.643798°


-Ed

[gmtech1]

That's pretty cool! I think I see you!

[edwinn]

Originally Posted by gmtech1

That's pretty cool! I think I see you!

Lol.. yep!

Well I'm back in Virginia after another 2,735 mile drive across the U.S. from Los Angeles to the Washington DC suburbs. The Buick ran great!! and I can report the engine didn't really miss a beat, but the new Michelin Primacy's were very stiff.. and translated every little detail of the road surface to the interior compartment causing some form of vibration or another. They did however seem balanced on GOOD road surfaces, and even while cruising at 85 in a 80 MPH zone on I-15 in Utah.

The Riv is a very good cross-country ride with long wheelbase, spacious trunk, comfy leather seats and auto climate control. It turned heads everywhere. I'll see about coming up with an Ave mileage figure riding on the stiff Primacy's at 30 PSI.

Climbing the Rocky's in Colorado.. there are TWO hi-ALT segments. Veil Summit at 10,680' and I-70 Summit at 11,170'. The Rive barely had enough power with loaded trunk and fuel tank to climb these stretches, and I had to downshift to 2nd gear cranking 4,000 RPM to hold 60 MPH climbing to eleven thousand feet ASL. That was on some mix or 85, 87 and 89 grade fuel. Never before did I rev the engine at 4k for minutes at a time. It handled the stress just fine and continued on another 2,000 miles across the mid-west, and that's with 138,000 miles on it!

It used only ~1 quart of oil during 48 hours of operation, and the coolant reservoir was at Full Hot after pulling in the garage [at home] in Virginia! Nice. The initial idle stability after a hot start still isn't too good though. Time for spark plugs and new vacuum hose, and maybe induction service.


Here's a photo of the 97 Riv parked in front of the [now defunct?] GM Service Technical College in Burbank on Aug 3, 2013.




The GM college is located at 1105 W. Riverside Drive in Burbank, California. It's described in the video "Who Killed the Electric Car."




Yellow arrow above is the direction photo was taken.


-Ed