Repair-It

Did you buy that B4U yet?

I think you should suck it up and Roadkill that thing back up here. Didn't your last Caprice come from one of those Carolinas?

You have so many parts... That would just need to be painted black. Heck, your trunklid already has the fancy spoiler, which you would obviously need.

Weatherstripping.. If you're talking about the generic door weather stripping, you can get a full brand new set from rockauto for like 60 bucks. I have a full brand new set sitting in my garage.

Black with tan interior, with an LT1 and all your fancy parts fit. Including the rear 'control arms' (try not to break any teeth this time...) and the rear axle from your car. You want disks and a loud working posi back there anyways... Plus an LT1 car with 3.42's would probably be pretty sweet.

The only problem I see is that you never keep your LT1 cars. But maybe now that the rest of the local B/D body community has them, you'll stick with it. I'm sure you will have lots of support when you immediately spend a weekend swapping the opti and waterpump. And then your LT1 problems are probably over. The other thing is that you'll likely just keep the stock drivetrain in it forever. Because it's fine and you have the CTS-V for LS-fest.

You would bring all the new coolant hoses/oil lines with you to pick it up. Probably in the CTS-V... Two plane tickets definitely skews the equation towards driving, plus tools and spare parts.

Bob, I see that you have excellent taste, in that two of the Craigslist postings you showed were wagons. I like that maroon '94 caprice wagon.

I think the Vista glass on the Roadmasters severely limits rooftop cargo capacity, while increasing the number of places the car can leak. And you need that rooftop capacity more often because the height of the cargo area is fairly limited (and further limited if the headliner sags due to leakage..)

Anyways, buying a B-body wagon was probably the coolest family-car purchase I could have made. It gets comments all the time, to the extent that my wife is beginning to really appreciate the car as well.

Not sure the sedans share that level of notoriety though. The wagons are coming into their own as they've been gone long enough for people to start to miss them.

Fast_Ed wrote:Did you buy that B4U yet?

No, I also haven't called the guy back. Since I am still looking at a low ball of like $1500, I'd prefer if he was the one making contact with me.

Fast_Ed wrote:I think you should suck it up and Roadkill that thing back up here. Didn't your last Caprice come from one of those Carolinas?

Yes, Charlotte area. I did tell him this which he thought was kind of funny.

Fast_Ed wrote:You have so many parts... That would just need to be painted black. Heck, your trunklid already has the fancy spoiler, which you would obviously need.

Weatherstripping.. If you're talking about the generic door weather stripping, you can get a full brand new set from rockauto for like 60 bucks. I have a full brand new set sitting in my garage.

Black with tan interior, with an LT1 and all your fancy parts fit. Including the rear 'control arms' (try not to break any teeth this time...) and the rear axle from your car. You want disks and a loud working posi back there anyways... Plus an LT1 car with 3.42's would probably be pretty sweet.

On the trunk thing, I could probably work with my father in law and actually paint my trunk and spoiler black (with real equipment), and then put it on the car.

I will have to see if Rockauto sells sedan kits, too. The guy said it didn't leak and Bob said he believed him.

Swapping the axle would be easiest, since that moves the gearing, Truetrac, disc backing plate, rotors, calipers AND that armored brake line which is different on disc cars (mine is even stainless). Except the wonderful helicopter noise will also transfer. Which may prevent a deep depression when I realize my 93 is no longer "the car."

Fast_Ed wrote:The only problem I see is that you never keep your LT1 cars. But maybe now that the rest of the local B/D body community has them, you'll stick with it. I'm sure you will have lots of support when you immediately spend a weekend swapping the opti and waterpump. And then your LT1 problems are probably over. The other thing is that you'll likely just keep the stock drivetrain in it forever. Because it's fine and you have the CTS-V for LS-fest.

Yes, it's true, I didn't keep the Camaro that long (for me - like 3 years or so), and the Fleetwood (which I miss dearly) was only a little over 2. Also you may be right about the stock drivetrain. EXCEPT, it's a 96. So I would consider investing in OBD-II LT1 tuning software. More money to buy something for which I already have the equivalent on my 93 (and can do 94-95 LT1s).

Fast_Ed wrote:You would bring all the new coolant hoses/oil lines with you to pick it up. Probably in the CTS-V... Two plane tickets definitely skews the equation towards driving, plus tools and spare parts.

I don't even think I would bring spare parts. I'm sure it would make it back fine. On the flight down, I have points for one ticket, so I'm only buying one ticket for my co-pilot, unless someone else has points they want to use. It would condense this affair into a weekend easily. I have less than 10 days to negotiate, make a decision and book plane tickets. Or wait until after thanksgiving. Or drive. Or I don't buy it because he's holding out for like $2200 or something.

If I were him, I wouldn't sell me the car for $1500. I'd just continue driving it. But I don't know what his financial situation is. I DO know he has a work van now, so regardless of what profit he makes, it's all profit.

Again, what annoys me is, in the 5 years he's had the car, he has only ruined the car. Zero improvements. And yet, I'm not sure the market really cares, which means I have to pay more than I should for a car with some issues.

Fast_Ed wrote:I think the Vista glass on the Roadmasters severely limits rooftop cargo capacity, while increasing the number of places the car can leak. And you need that rooftop capacity more often because the height of the cargo area is fairly limited (and further limited if the headliner sags due to leakage..)

Side note: the headliner on this 96 is fine. Basically the sedans don't tend to have headliner issues. But you already knew that.

Fast_Ed wrote:Anyways, buying a B-body wagon was probably the coolest family-car purchase I could have made. It gets comments all the time, to the extent that my wife is beginning to really appreciate the car as well.

Not sure the sedans share that level of notoriety though. The wagons are coming into their own as they've been gone long enough for people to start to miss them.

I find my Ranger more useful (but less interesting) than a B-body wagon. A lot of it is due to the tall covered area, not to mention I do retain the ability to remove the cap. It depends on your lifestyle. Plus I already have a truck. But I agree, Bob needs a B-body wagon.

kevm14 wrote:Seat and arm rest upholstery... I honestly have no idea. For the seat, maybe $100 to repair and fix the padding and for the arm rest maybe $75 to recover?

I think the seat repair is going to be minimum $150 and may be upwards of $300 or more. Maybe this is the single biggest unknown and from what Bob was saying, I don't think I'd want to put up with it for very long. Also, this is common (including the Impala SS). Only the 9C1 came with properly heavy duty seats.

I have some 9C1 seats. They are blue, though.

Some years ago it would have been easy to get an entire replacement seat. Not anymore.

From looking on the SS forum, it seems like both the padding could be crushed and it could even have a broken seat spring.

Here's a mint 11,600 mile example of a 95 Impala SS.

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/5271599331.html

The resale on these has seemingly not change at all. In fact, resale probably hasn't gone down on any, only that more higher mileage and used examples exist which drive down the average transaction price. But the price of very well kept examples is still high. Unlike the G-bodies, these didn't drop and come back - they never dropped.

kevm14 wrote:Some years ago it would have been easy to get an entire replacement seat. Not anymore.

From looking on the SS forum, it seems like both the padding could be crushed and it could even have a broken seat spring.

Sounds like you are trying to talk yourself out of replacing your Caprice.

I may have unrealistic expectations about the effort and cost of making a 20 year old B-body meet my standards. My Caprice may be a shadow of its former self, but...seat repair? That's just something I've never had to deal with and it just makes me realize how old these cars are, even if 9C1 seats do hold up fine.