I went to the wrecking yard Today.
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| Rancho Cordova. I just happened to be in the neighborhood. |
I hadn't done any serious wrecking yard scrounging since I was looking for the smart junction box for my Daughter's Mustang. I have the feeling that I'm going to be spending a lot more time in places like this. The entry price has only gone up a buck to 3.00, not too bad.
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| If anything, their yards are even cleaner than they were before. |
The final generation 1995-99 Buick Riviera was not as popular as GM had hoped. The first year saw strong sales, a bit over 40,000, which shrunk to less than 1,500 cars in the last year. Less than 80,000 cars were produced, over five years. The last one was built 24 years ago. How many have survived long enough to be currently found in a wrecking yard? Not many! They aren't very common on the road, and even less common in wrecking yards.
Not like my '96 -'98 Mustang.
Of course, now that I have one I'll be looking for them. I'll probably start seeing them everywhere!
My '97 was lacking a few items, the most noticeable being the right front fender wheel house chrome trim.
I also discovered that the inner fender liner was missing.
The spare tire hold down nut was gone, as was the supercharger cover. I think that these engine covers will end up like original air cleaners, frequently missing as cars pass through different owners over the years.
My car had three OEM wheel center caps, These bear a Riviera emblem, the fourth is a plain aftermarket replacement. Since I already have three originals, I'm looking for another original cap.
The console cover/ armrest on my car was broken, I fixed it, but I wouldn't mind finding a better replacement. That's the first rule when fixing up an old car, is that it's easier and more satisfactory to replace damaged items with a better part. When available.
I tried to find some of the stuff on Ebay. The fender trim was currently not available. I belong to the ROA, the Riviera Owners Association, so why not look in their classifieds?
I reached out to a guy selling 8th. Gen parts through the Riview. He contacted me and told me that he might have a fender trim, but didn't recall what kind of shape that it was in. He would let me know when he returned from vacation.
I haven't heard back from him yet, and two months have passed.
So I decided to go back to my roots, and venture out and hit the wrecking yards.
Pick and Pull, (P&P) has gone all high tech and now incorporates a searchable data base for their inventory. Inventory means donor cars, not particular individual parts. What is available on a particular vehicle is up to luck! Sometimes you find a pristine complete car, and other times you find a picked over wreck. You've got to be the first vulture at the feast.
You determine the radius of the search. I had to go out 150 miles to get a hit in Rancho Cordova. That's just east of Sacramento. These Rivs are pretty scarce.
Would I drive all that way just to see if I could find something that I needed?
Yes, I would, but it would incur a substantial cost in fuel, as well as time. Fortunately I didn't need to.
A solution presented itself, we had planned a family vacation in the Santa Rosa area. I volunteered to provide transportation for my Daughter who lives near Sacramento. I'd pick her up on our way there, and drop her off on our way back. It would only be an additional 20 miles to the wrecking yard in Rancho Cordova.
This would be a win, win, and win solution.
Northern California has been going through a hot spell with uncharacteristic temps exceeding 100 degrees.
Lucky for me, the temp was only in the mid 90's for my wrecking yard excursion.
The P&P, was located in what appeared to be a well kept industrial area. The yard itself was neat and well organized.
Now that P&P is techy enough to have a searchable database, it also now has the liability waivers handled electronically through tablets. I guess they realized that a scribbled, hand written sign in sheet couldn't be used that well in protection of any potential legal challenges. Now you must enter your name in printed format, as well as your signature. I wouldn't be surprised if the tablet snaps a photo, to tie the name to a particular individual. They don't ask for ID, but most customers now pay with a credit card, and they do gather info for their rewards programs. Did I read the entire disclaimer? Nope.
I later had my hunch confirmed, that the liability release tablet snaps a picture of the customer. The girl at the counter didn't like me asking so loudly. I suppose that many patrons would like to remain anonymous. Though I really don't have a problem with that, as it actually protects the customer also.
I will admit that it's extremely helpful to have info on the inventory available, before you visit the yard. It saves a lot of time and wasted effort. I used to cruise my local yards weekly, looking for stuff that I could use.
They also give you a print out on where the cars are located in the lot. In addition, they can also do a parts interchange search. This will give you alternatives to search for. Both of these lists are printed out and provided to the customer. These services are worth the extra buck!
As I mentioned, they only had ONE Riviera that I would be interested in. In fact I only saw that one Riviera in the yard.
I did a quick visual assessment of the car, concentrating on the single most important item that I wanted. The wheel opening trim. Unfortunately, it was missing, so was the inner fender liner. However, I've learned to look all around the car. Sometimes the part will be thrown under the car, sometimes inside, and often in the trunk.
I kept my eyes open for the wheel center cap at the same time. I found two, one had half the mounting legs broken off. The second only one and it still had the retaining ring. I picked it up, I might be able to fix it or stick it on with double sided tape. If, it was cheap enough, that is. I found that the console arm rest was in good shape except for the latch pin. So I decided to take that also. I didn't bring my little torx screwdiver set, but I was able to loosen the crews using a needle nose vise grip pliers! Improvise, adapt, and overcome! I decided to check the other cars in the immediate vicinity, clean up crews will often pick up parts off the ground, and throw them into any available open space.
I didn't find the wheel trim, but I also needed the spare tire hold down nut, which I found!
I went back to the Riviera to take another look. Looking at the car I realized that the wheel openings, front and back, looked almost identical. Could I use the rear trim on the front?
I noted that the rear trim was screwed on, as opposed to being held on by clips like the front piece. I removed the trim and mocked it up in the front opening. It fit quite well, though it's a bit shorter. I think that I can use it until I find the proper replacement.
I did another search of nearby cars and found a Supercharger cover in a nearby Park Ave's trunk. It was the proper one, supercharged engines were used on Park Ave Ultras. Under the hood, I found that someone had tried to rip the cover off this particular Ultra, but the mounting nut was still in place, so I also took that.
Likewise with the inner fender liner. I removed one from the same Park Ave. It was of a similar shape and design and I carried it back, mocked it up on the Riv. It didn't fit as well, but I could cobble up a mounting, until the proper part was found.
All in all, I only paid around 75.00 for everything, including tax and entrance fee.
Later on, I looked online, a replacement OEM center cap was 140.00! A smooth aftermarket unit was 30.00.
My car's right side window doesn't work, it's up and I can hear the window motor whir when I hit the switch, but it doesn't move. The regulator is probably bad, and on second thought, maybe the window was "fixed" or blocked in the up position. I've done that in the past myself, it is better than being open all the time.
I thought that I could easily find a new replacement regulator on the Net. I did a pretty thorough search without luck. I found a few used ones listed on EBay. My preference was for a new replacement. I should have checked the regulator on the car at the yard, but I believed a new replacement would be easy to source. Wrong!
I didn't even take a look at the window mechanism, I didn't know if the regulator was the cable and pulley design, or more like the old fashioned heavy metal assemblies.
To paraphrase the old military response to mealtime, "Take everything you need, and need everything that you take!" which should be the mantra for wrecking yard picking. Sometimes it helps to take a list with you. The donor car won't be available forever, so take it all on one trip. In my case, I won't be going back to that yard anytime soon.
Now that I have my Riviera I will keep my eyes open on CL for parts, or cars being parted out. I'll also check with P&P periodically to see if another donor shows up. This is how enthusiasts start to develop a parts hoard. We keep our eyes open and pick parts that we might want as spares or that are in better condition than the parts already on out cars.
I ended up ordering a used regulator off of Ebay, it cost me around 65.00, at least half the price of a new one, but who knows how much life is left in it? At least there's free shipping and a 90 day return policy.
I wonder if my Riviera's former owner became disillusioned when he discovered that parts couldn't be readily found. He might have thought that the car would be an easy project. He hadn't had it for too long, he only bought the car in January of this year!
Oh well, that's the old car game. I think that my Riv was a pretty good buy, it just needs a bit of TLC and a few repairs and it will be good to go.
I just re-learned a valuable lesson, don't take anything for granted, check available donor cars for any needed parts or desirable "spares" while you're at the yard. Those donors won't be there forever.
Luckily my car is in pretty good shape and was only missing a few parts. Now I have to take the '96 Mustang out of the garage to make room for the Riv.
And I've got to sell that Mustang.
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