Repair-It

Interestingly optioned car. Almost like an LTZ. Jenn will hate the features sadly. I think having options is cool for a 1992 anything. Plus she can annoy Ed with the keyless entry.

Cornering lamps!

Also, I found this in my basement. One very solid 92-93 L05 9C1 3" Y-pipe. Factory 409 stainless, and this was the original on my 93. I've never measured the outlet before and I got more like 2.75" but yeah. This (along with the rest of the exhaust) was worth 10hp on the 92 9C1 over the 91 9C1.

Also, other minor engine mods can surprisingly wake up the L03. Obviously I have all the tuning equipment for that. With the 3.08 donor axle, this thing will drive decently well.

I may have the air intake snorkel at my parents' house (was missing from this 92). But the "Caddy air intake mod" may be the end goal there.

Adam wrote:AM6 - SEAT FRT SPLIT BENCH

Jenn may like this, though I guess the 9C1 interior could go in...

CD2 - INDICATOR WSWA JAR FLUID

This is fancy. I don't have this on my 9C1 (low washer).

DD1 - MIRROR I/S R/V TILT, DUAL READING LAMPS, COMPASS

I didn't notice a compass. That and auto dimming would be fancy.

DL8 - MIRROR O/S LH & RH, REMOTE CONTROL, ELECTRIC, HEATED

Nothing at all wrong with power heated mirrors, on even the most basic of cars. An essential feature, imo.

D64 - MIRROR I/S FRT VAN RH, SUNSHADE, ILLUM

Even the passenger vanity mirror is lit.

D84 - PAINT CUSTOM TWO TONE
D85 - STRIPE BODY SIDE LOWER ACCENT

Hmm....

MD8 - Transmission?

Yes. Transmission, Auto 4 SPD, THM 4L60

N30 - STEERING WHEEL DELUXE

My 9C1 has this same option so this isn't the really nice leather wrapped LTZ wheel. That would have been desirable.

N40 - STEERING POWER, NON-VARIABLE RATIO

Same RPO as my 9C1, believe it or not. Same box I suppose. Pretty cool, combined with F41. This won't be a total boat to drive.

QNP - Tires?

TIRE ALL, P225/70R15/N WS1 R/PE ST TL AL2

T82 - HEADLAMPS CONTROL AUTOMATIC ON-OFF

Twilight sentinel! Cool. Though the headlight circuit is busted and this probably doesn't work. I'd definitely fix this, and it would probably start working when the headlight switch is fixed anyway.

UQ4 - SPEAKER SYSTEM 4, BASE
UU8 - RADIO AM/FM STEREO, CD, NAVIGAION, RDS, MP3 DECODER, DVD (don't think the description on this is correct)

Right. Should be "RADIO, AM/FM STEREO, SEEK/SCAN, AUTO REV MUSIC"

I have a source that says UQ4 is "SPEAKER SYSTEM, BOSE, 4." Or "SPEAKER SYSTEM,BOSE 4-SPKR W/AMPS" on an F-body site.
Most interesting typo ever (Bose -> Base). Sadly, the car probably has very little of the original system and may be difficult (or even expensive) to restore.

U38 - INDICATOR LOW COOLANT

I don't have this, either.

U41 - INDICATOR LOW FUEL

Or this.

U75 - ANTENNA POWER, RADIO

Or this.

Z09 - ?

MODEL CONVERSION, CAPRICE CLASSIC

D84 - PAINT CUSTOM TWO TONE
13L - SECONDARY COLOR EXTERIOR, STERLING FROST TTN (95)

Two tone? Looks all white to me.

209 - ?

SEAT BELT, COLOR VERY DK SAPPHIRE

Didn't you think the interior was blue?

So this car is interesting. As a long time 9C1 owner, loaded Caprices are actually a bit of a novelty to me. Mine's loaded for a police car but not like this car is.

Ok, so here's the deal with this car.

Short story: It needs some work.

Back story: its his daughter's car. She's had it for 4ish years. They bought it from a "younger" kid who had done things like poorly install a stereo and tints. The tints are gone (inspection) but some of the terrible stereo wiring is left. He also has a set of 20s with new tires for it, although it has some snows on the original (?) 15s currently. The 20s are a separate purchase. Sigh.

Mechanical drivability - it has a severe drivability issue where it idles OK but surges and misfires when ANY throttle is given. This appears to be a clogged catalytic converter. The owner had done a basic ignition tune up to try to address the issue and has replaced the cat-back system previously FWIW. The front pipe also appears to have lost its original flanges, so there are some repair ones on it where it attaches to the manifolds. Which are leaking, 'caused clogged cat. Fuel trims were terrible, but no CEL.

Interior - its well worn for something with only 110K on it. The leather is ripped or worn through in some locations and has holes in other locations. The carpet is dirty everywhere and stained in other places. The ignition lock is worn to where it doesn't properly spring back out, so it requires some fiddling to start it. The dash has some damage and modifications, some of which I will discuss in the electrical section below. Non factory stereo. Supposedly worked, we didn't check. At least the front power windows worked. Didn't check much else as we were focused on the drivability problem. Really needs a cleaning. Headliner is in decent shape.

Exterior - its in reasonable shape for the year. There are some small dings on various panels. Its missing the hood ornament. It appears to have an Impala SS grill (or cheap knockoff) installed. The rear bumper cover was damaged with some minor accompanying damage to the drivers rear quarter and the possibly the inner trunk at the impact point. Taillight on that side has a crack in it. Was undercoated. Some areas on the frame or body have rust starting to come through the undercoating, but should be treatable. Still pretty good for a New England car of this vintage. The lower B-pillars have rust. Its not totally destroyed, but it could use some attention, at least a lot of rust treatment. It looks like someone tried to "fix" the lower B-pillar on the driver's side by covering it with Bondo, which has since cracked and started to fall off. The driver's rear body mount point on the body had a repair, possibly related to the rear bumper damage. It isn't pretty, but doesn't look like its about to fall off. There is some rust starting on the lower A-pillar at the bottom of the doors and at the rear of the quarter panels behind the wheels. Pretty minor, hasn't even broken through the paint.

Chassis - drives nice (except for the clogged cat part). Brakes work well. Fast-ratio, higher-effort steering like a 9C1. Feels pretty planted (ie doesn't float around). Owner recently had rear shocks and springs replaced. The upper shock/spring perches were rusty along with the inner wheel well in the rear that Midas "fixed". The inner wheel repair didn't look terrible. Didn't really get to look at the other part of the repair, but the car sits flat and doesn't bang around like the rear suspension is going to fall out of it.

Electrical - stuff seems to work. Except the headlight switch and wiring was bypassed with some other ugly wiring and a switch installed into the dash "because they stopped working". Its functional currently, but I would want to remove all the BS and fix whatever the real issue is. The horn has a similar modification with a push button switch on the dash and an aftermarket trumpet-equipped horn zip-tied to the lower radiator support. That is probably also repairable. Don't know if the power antenna is functional but poor stereo installation might be a benefit here as many people don't understand how to drive an OEM power antenna with an aftermarket stereo.

TLDR;

The car would probably need to be towed somewhere to start as it definitely won't make it to anyone's hose as it sits (probably not even James' apartment which is only a couple miles away).

Once its somewhere, it would need a catalytic converter immediately. The front Y-pipe should also be replaced. Kevin has a 9C1 Y-pipe in good shape which would save a couple bucks. Also its stainless where aftermarket replacements would be aluminimized BS. This would require the use of a 9C1 cat. Fortunately they are pretty much the same price on Rock Auto. It would require an adapter to mate up to the existing cat-back, but that should be manageable.

Once this is done, it could be driven (after doing some cleanup on the ignition wires which are currently draped all over the place). The next biggest thing should be addressing the existing rust. With POR15 or similar so its not a problem any more (maybe). Address the rear bumper cover and cracked tail light (I conveniently have a whole rusty 9C1 with a good rear bumper cover and non-cracked taillights). Then look at the functional-but-wrong items like the headlights and horn. Then address the cosmetic issues in the interior like the seats and carpets. And ignition lock cylinder. I have a 9C1 set with the single-key-for-everything set that works pretty good. Also the driver's door sometimes doesn't open. Could need latch lubrication. My Fleetwood had the same problem which I solved by adjusting the position of the tab on the inside of the exterior handle.

Cat
WALKER Part # 15622 $118.99 at Rock Auto (9C1-specific)

Y-pipe
Kevin's basement

Seats and carpet
My garage

Rear bumper cover and taillights
My Caprice

Hood ornament
My Caprice

Full size spare
My Caprice

Horn repair
My Caprice had its horns replaced when I got it, the wiring was in good shape too.

Headlight wiring
My Caprice was fully function but did not have twilight sentinal

Keyless entry remote
ACDELCO Part # 88959920 $60.79 at Rock Auto

Ignition lock cylinder
ACDELCO Part # D1401H {#19240047} $20.99 at Rock Auto or from my Caprice

Future items:

- 9C1 cat back to go with the cat and Y-pipe
- 3:08 axle with rear disk brakes, requires master cylinder and proportioning valve from my Caprice
- Cadillac intake mod
- 20s. No, not really

Fun fact: it looks like the aftermarket cat-back system is the same part numbers between the 9C1 and non-9C1 cars. Also the ball flange on the converter attaches to the intermediate pipe rather than the Y-pipe, so the 9C1 Y-pipe and converter will bolt in w/o any adapters. Score.

kevm14 wrote:

Adam wrote:

209 - ?

SEAT BELT, COLOR VERY DK SAPPHIRE

Didn't you think the interior was blue?

Yes. Very dark sapphire blue.

Fun redneck suggestion: Sawzall the Y pipe north of the cat enough to open up some flow. Maybe just a single cut will flow enough exhaust to let it run a little better and be drivable, but not so much flow that it attracts police attention. I have a Ryobi cordless reciprocating saw...

Adam wrote:Fun fact: it looks like the aftermarket cat-back system is the same part numbers between the 9C1 and non-9C1 cars. Also the ball flange on the converter attaches to the intermediate pipe rather than the Y-pipe, so the 9C1 Y-pipe and converter will bolt in w/o any adapters. Score.

On the catback, look closely because the 91 used the civilian exhaust while the 92-93 had a bigger system. I don't believe the catback is the same on the 92-93 L05 9C1 cars.

EDIT: Ok I guess you're right. Different cat but the rest is the same. Fun fact: I also have my OEM 93 muffler which is in good shape. Unless there's chunks of cat converter in it. Wait, no, I put that muffler back on the car, and just gutted the cat. So the muffler should be fine.