Caprice engine swap?

Non-repair car talk
kevm14
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Motorweek - Retro Review: '03 Mercury Marauder

Post by kevm14 »

Adam wrote:
kevm14 wrote:The problem is I don't know what the ideal RMS is, and therefore cannot recognize it when I come across it (ideal referring to configuration, year, condition, miles, location).
V4P?
Yeah a V4P Fleetwood is tempting, just because it is such a rare beast, and perhaps the cream of the crop of B/D-bodies. For Bill, that was an optional towing package which enabled (are you sitting?) a 7,000 lb tow rating. Unlike the V92 tow pack on the 94-96 B-bodies which only gives you 5,000 lbs and 2.93 gears, the Fleetwood's V4P package included, notably, factory 3.42 gears. Which is crazy. It's a Fleetwood! Also, the trans (or at least trans program) was noticeably beefed up as owners have reported very strong transmission performance at WOT on those cars. At least one guy said his chirps the 1-2 shift, and it did that with almost 200k on it. Something along those lines. Also, those cars either have FE2 or some other beefed up equivalent. It's the closest thing to a FTS (Fleetwood Touring Sedan) if GM were to make such a beast. At least one community guy actually modified his Fleetwood into an FTS in the spirit of that, which is cool.

I am not going to get a mint V4P for $2k, however. I miss my Fleetwood, and I like the value of the RMS. I also like that I haven't had a RMS before. A B4U Caprice is cool but I think I need more fanciness.

Context for Bill: I am actually spoiled here, because any 94-96 B/D-body, save for a base model Caprice or some terribly optioned 9C1, ALL have the LT1. The performance level is still acceptable by modern standards, and I may go further and say the performance of these now-20 year old cars would STILL surprise folks on the road. A Monte SS? Nothing surprising at all. In fact, what would be surprising, is taking a stock one and trying to race someone in a new Kia, and getting walked hard. People expect those cars to have something, even if they know it isn't stock. A B/D-body? Who expects anything? That's why they are more interesting to me.
Adam
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Re: Caprice engine swap?

Post by Adam »

kevm14 wrote:Oh, I forgot a couple on mine. I will update in bold.
Oh yeah, the gauges. I tried to fix mine. Its better than it was, but I still loose segments/see Error frequently.
bill25
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Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:20 pm

Re: Caprice engine swap?

Post by bill25 »

How about this for your B-Body replacement:
http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/5287937602.html
kevm14
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Caprice engine swap?

Post by kevm14 »

STS is great in theory. That would be interesting. However, there are 2 major flaws, and I will list them:

1) 3.6L high feature V6 (non-DI, timing chain woes and who knows what else), or

2) Northstar (yeah it's the same Northstar in my SRX so it has 320hp and probably pushes that car around very nicely, but as a daily? To replace a bulletproof B-body? Not sure I want to sign up for that)

I already have the one good Sigma car: CTS-V with an LS6.
kevm14
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Caprice engine swap?

Post by kevm14 »

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/cad ... -road-test

That reminds me: you could get an AWD Northstar STS. That's pretty cool, even though I would never do that. Ever.

As for amenities, these cars were available with basically every possible mid-2000s luxury feature, which is pretty cool. So no issues there, like ventilated seats way back in 2005.

Zero to 60 mph: 6.0 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 15.7 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 6.3 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 14.6 sec @ 97 mph

That was with the old 5L50. So I should see if the 6L50 helped at all (2007+). Trapping 97 is very healthy and would be great fun for a daily, considering that's bone stock.
kevm14
Posts: 16018
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Caprice engine swap?

Post by kevm14 »

Also, guess who is still using the 6L45:
6L45
2007–2010 : BMW X3 - 3.0si / 2.5si / 3.0i
2007– ... : BMW 3 series - 330(x)i / 328(x)i / 325(x)i / 323i / 320i / 318i / 316i
2007– ... : BMW 1 series - 130i / 128i / 125i / 120i / 118i / 116i
2009– ... : BMW X1 - 2.8i xDrive / 2.5i xDrive / 1.8i sDrive
2013- ... : Cadillac ATS[1]
Yep. I'm so sad that Bill assumed this was a German trans that GM was using. Come on, give them some credit. Half of those even seem like Euro-market only engines, too.
bill25
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Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:20 pm

Re: Caprice engine swap?

Post by bill25 »

So why wouldn't you go with this and LS swap this when the Northstar dies?
kevm14
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Caprice engine swap?

Post by kevm14 »

Because that's too much money.

In all honesty, the LH2 Northstar is probably not that scary to own. But it can't approach what I have come to expect from my Caprice in terms of how stout and indestructible it is. I think the interior space is still a step down from B-bodies, though being bigger than my CTS-V, it's probably acceptable.
kevm14
Posts: 16018
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Caprice engine swap?

Post by kevm14 »

kevm14 wrote:http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/cad ... -road-test

Zero to 60 mph: 6.0 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 15.7 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 6.3 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 14.6 sec @ 97 mph

That was with the old 5L50. So I should see if the 6L50 helped at all (2007+). Trapping 97 is very healthy and would be great fun for a daily, considering that's bone stock.
On the other hand, 14.6 @ 97 mph, is totally, 100%, within the realm of what you can do with a daily drivable B-body, without really even trying that hard or spending much money. So the STS V8 wouldn't be a performance-based buy, it would be for literally every OTHER thing.

Translating that to G-bodies for context, 14.6 @ 97 isn't something you are going to do with an L69 with bolt-ons. Not even close. If nothing else, I am trying to paint the picture that B-bodies are actually still relevant from a performance standpoint. That also paints a pretty clear picture of how significant the performance was in the mid-90s, especially in a fullsize car like that.
bill25
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Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:20 pm

Re: Caprice engine swap?

Post by bill25 »

Well if the stock performance is about the same, I would take the STS for a couple grand more all day. I wouldn't mind this as a daily driver at all. I actually liked these when they came out, but they didn't do as well as the CTS.
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