Ok, so I made a thread for the DGGM...lol

So as you all know I bought Bill's '95. As soon as I saw it for sale I knew it was time to check one out, and this one seems really nice for the price.



The night before I looked at it, I opened the Sept. 2012 HOT ROD that was sitting on my friend's coffee table. The magazine opened to the page where the subscription card was, and what do I see but this article:



I took that as a sign, I guess.

The car needs a few things:

- 2 tires. I want to keep the stock size for now, I think. When Glen had this, I guess he put a pair of General Grabber UHP on the back, and I have to say they are a really nice looking tire. But I don't think they make them in 255/50/17 anymore! I also think they are formally sold as a "sport truck tire", but who cares! I'll ask around but if I don't find anything, I will probably look for some Ecsta ASX or the Nitto NT555s like I used to have on the white car. I really don't want a tire that's going to bump steer or "tramline" across ruts in the highway and crap, if I can avoid it, though!

- Front driver's side turn signal won't work. Didn't get a chance to look into it much yet, but I swapped the bulbs and that did nothing, and it won't flash with the hazards either, so I guess that eliminates bulbs or flashers. The rear D/S taillight does flash, but both sides flash a little faster than they should, so I think I need to replace something like the mini-bulbs in the corner lights or whatever. This car came with the T87 cornering lamps from GM, I always wondered if the SS even got those. Did it come on all of them? If possible, I may try to find a harness and put it in this car so they work again, I already have some lenses for that.

- Fuel pump relay circuit fixed. Right now, the car runs off of a wire that goes from the fuse box, bypassing the whole factory circuit, right to the fuel pump, no relay involved. The problem seems to be between the fuses and the relay itself. Haven't gotten to investigate it at all yet, but the car seems to run fine this way. I don't know a whole lot about relays and electrical in general, but I'm pretty sure a relay acts like a "gate" giving power to designated systems when 12v is applied as you turn the key? But also somehow keeps circuits from getting overloaded/overheated? A friend mentioned to me that he had bypassed a factory relay once because the ECM wasn't sending a signal to run the pump. So he wired up an independent relay for the fuel pump instead or something...

-SEM Rust Shield or equivalent on the undercarriage. I have to say this car is pretty damned solid. It has rust in places but it almost all seems to be surface only. The only trouble spots are a dime sized hole on one side of the pinch weld at the bottom of the rear quarter on one side (it's really odd, never saw that happen), and a very small spot in the driver's side rear wheelhouse, but it's more of where some seam sealer fell off the car and rust started getting at the flash edges of the metal it was sealing. I'm just going to wire brush everything I can reach and paint it. I don't know if it's going to be warm enough to use SEM anymore this year though, so I may just do a quick job getting the loose stuff off, and brushing black Rustoleum on there, unless that would make me unable to use SEM later on. It's a little rustier than my Caprice underneath, but isn't crusty either.

-AC compressor, but that will be next year if ever. I'm just very used to A/C now and would like to put it back in there at some point if it's possible.

-CLEAN OUT THE BLOWER MOTOR!!!!
I totally had a panic attack over this damned car the other night. I had been starting it up and letting it run for a couple minutes for the heck of it each night, so Saturday when I did, I got out and closed the driver's door (not tightly), then walked across the backyard to talk to my dad as he was getting into his truck. I made mention of smelling a campfire to him...then walked back to the SS. As I opened the door I was greeted to the WHOLE inside being full of white smoke! This would have put Cheech and Chong to shame, it was that bad. The dome lights illuminated all the smoke, and all I could see clearly was the digits on the speedo. I freaked out, reached in to shut it off, then disconneted the battery, I was sure it was some electrical thing. The car stunk like when people get wasted at a fire and throw a ton of leaves and pine needles into it.

I aired it out and looked but never saw any kind of flames or anything. After about 30 mins I went back inside and went to bed, barely slept wondering if the car, which isn't on the road yet, would explode or pull a Christine and drive up my street with no one behind the wheel while looking like this:



Bill actually stopped by the next morning (which was awesome on his part, what a guy, seriously!) and we took a look around. Noticed no burnt wires or anything, but that in front of the vents in the dash, it smelled like burnt toast. I was nervous about hooking the battery up again, but we did anyway and then when the car started, the vents spat out some crap that had been in the blower motor. It worked fine and didn't emit any smoke, but you could still hear some crap in there. Noticed some pine needles on the cowl area, so I figure that's what's in there along with maple keys, AKA "Tha little friggin' tree helicoptah things, d00d!"...I'm going to drop the motor and try to clean everything out up inside there. Blower motor ran for a good 10 minutes at least without even showing the sign of an issue but still. The funny thing is, my Caprice was like this when I first bought it. I'm assuming this time around, something jammed the squirrel cage of the fan, the motor got very hot, and began smoldering pine needles and leaves.

Aside from that, need to run an underhood light but may use an 88-98 GM truck reel lamp instead anyway, fix trunk light, and general cleaning. It's def. not as dirty as my Tahoe was, for damn sure. I do hear a "whine" when I'm driving it but it almost sounds like the e-fans making the noise from walking around the front with the hood open. It's not very loud but it's there, and almost sounds like a PS pump noise, however doesn't change pitch when you turn the wheel.

Still have to run the the NH reg. and bill of sale to my ins. agent so they can run the paper work to the registry for me. Still haven't even told them I got another car yet. LOL.

I think I'm excited!

I'll take more pics when I get around to it!

Congrats Matt.

I am extremely jealous and wish you the best of luck with the car! Best color EVER. haha

Very cool!

Let me know what you find with the Grabbers, I have a set of 3 of them, I need at least a 4th. If you find a full set and only want two I'd buy the other 2. Otherwise I'd think we could run the 275/55/17 on the rear...

Doug

Ok now that you made the thread don't change the title, it's perfect

If you ever want help with any of this...when it gets warmer...let me know and I'll stop by!

I would get on that pine needle issue ASAP because of what happened with Dave's 9C1, you don't want to have to replace the ducting I'm sure!

Once again, sweet car and a good buy!

I loved the General Exclaim UHP's I had. Great tires!

Good luck with the car! But keep the campfires OUTSIDE, mmmmkay???

Matt
Think of a relay like your starter
You energize the solenoid & the high amp contacts close to start the vehicle
So.... Relays are used to distribute load ( amps) throughout the vehicle

Bet the whine is the alternator

Good luck with it

bfurches wrote:

Congrats Matt.

I am extremely jealous and wish you the best of luck with the car! Best color EVER. haha

Thanks! And another vote for our side on the color debate!

Pooge wrote:

Very cool!

Let me know what you find with the Grabbers, I have a set of 3 of them, I need at least a 4th. If you find a full set and only want two I'd buy the other 2. Otherwise I'd think we could run the 275/55/17 on the rear...

Doug

Will do. I'm going to call a couple of places and see what's up. The same place that I got the skinny whitewall Dunlop SP60s for the Caprice found me 2 Firehawks that are unobtainium, last I checked. We'll see...I'm seriously considering putting some bigger tires on the back (Grabbers) and running the skinnier ones on the front, but I wanted to rotate them...

1984twodoor wrote:

Ok now that you made the thread don't change the title, it's perfect

If you ever want help with any of this...when it gets warmer...let me know and I'll stop by!

I would get on that pine needle issue ASAP because of what happened with Dave's 9C1, you don't want to have to replace the ducting I'm sure!

Once again, sweet car and a good buy!

Yeah, thank god nothing worse happened. It was truly a frightening scene, I honestly wish I somehow had a photo of what it looked like, However, nothing seems actually burnt or melted anywhere, and the blower motor works fine, so it seems. Still need to drop it and clean out in there, the cold has kept me away...

toomanytoyz wrote:

I loved the General Exclaim UHP's I had. Great tires!

Good luck with the car! But keep the campfires OUTSIDE, mmmmkay???

Thanks Crovo. You know, I like campfires, but I hate the smell that's on your clothes and stuff when you get home afterward. Well that's what the car smelled like inside! It's going away now, should be gone once I clean out the motor area....

sdstick wrote:

Matt
Think of a relay like your starter
You energize the solenoid & the high amp contacts close to start the vehicle
So.... Relays are used to distribute load ( amps) throughout the vehicle

Bet the whine is the alternator

Good luck with it

Thanks Steve. And that's what I figured relays were (kinda).

I thought the alternator as well, my '93 needed one as soon as I got it because it had been used sparingly for the previous years and I'm guessing got kind of seized up. It got loud, then there was no noise from it and the battery light came on. Drove the 2 miles home, took my truck to Advance, got a new alternator, came back home, installed the alternator, total time from problem arising to hood closing after new part install was like 40 minutes, haha. Either way, this one says it's charging nicely according to the idiot light/gauge on the dash.

Alternator will charge AND make that noise.....forever.

I know you wont change it but pop the belt off & see if the noise goes away.

FINALLY got to screw around with this car a little last night, in the dark of course, and tonight, in the dark again. I hate that it gets dark so early now!

I pulled the blower motor with little fanfare aside from cussing out that screw that's ahead of the motor closest to the firewall. Seriously? The couldn't flip it around the other way when they designed it so all the screws would be accessible?

When the motor dropped out a little pile of what looked like random cottony substance, pine needle fragments, tree helicoptah things, and god knows what else fell on the floor of the car. I was actually expecting a lot more to be up there. The open space where the squirrel cage goes didn't seem to have anything packed up around inside. The black rubber cover for the motor DID have mouse poo in it, but only a little.

The main suspect of the smoke was an acorn I found in there that must've been bouncing around like in a roulette wheel. One side was ground off, couldn't tell if the motor or the mouse chewed it. I surmise that the nut jammed the motor's cage, and it got really hot, setting a little of the nest crap in there on fire, or maybe smoldering it. But I didn't see a lot of burnt crap...so who knows...





Hmmm...turds...


Definitely looks like some vile rodent was kickin' it on top of this thing and pissing on it....


I think this might be a replacement motor, but can't be sure? I have heard the shorter cages are replacement ones?


S'a bit nuttay, isn't it?


All it takes to potentially burn an Impala...


The mouse's crib that came falling out of the dash...


Seems clean, I don't know what else to look for up there...


I don't know what the hell the original owners were up to in this car but whatever it was they sure as hell liked going to the beach...I could put the North Reading sandpits out of business with this car! Also found enough money under the backseat to register it, I think.


Money can be exchanged for goods and services!


Cleaned that out today...found some badass napkins from Sonic in there and the remains of an old Six Flags coupon...lol.

Noticed it was hard to start a few times, cranked a little longer...seems like a fuel pressure thing.

Tomorrow I'm going to go nuts on the interior and do a couple other things...stay tuned

sdstick wrote:

Alternator will charge AND make that noise.....forever.

I know you wont change it but pop the belt off & see if the noise goes away.

Def. have to try that out when I get a chance. If the alternator is doing and could be quiet, I may swap it, but it would be nice to know what the noise is. It's not too bad really, just that my Caprice doesn't really do it so it's odd...

Certainly sounds like a fuel pressure issue at startup.

The other night I continued cleaning, I got all but the driver's door panels all spic and span, vac'd it out, had to vac out the doors, got some kind of kids glittery pink/purple nail polish off the door (Glen?) and I also got the blower motor back together. I felt around up inside the air box and it seemed pretty clean, I sprayed some febreze up in there as well as on the motor cage itself then let that sit a while, reassembled, tested tonight to make sure nothing was wet (I had actually cleaned off the motor with soap and water while trying not to submerge it, it was filthy), and it works nice. There does still appear to be something up in the ductwork making a slight ticking/flapping noise like a leaf, but it's minor and I'm not too worried. The car just needs to be driven and used I think.

I just read through this today and had a few comments.

Use a screw driver to pinpoint the whine noise. Put the tip on an accessory and put it up to your ear. You'll hear pretty quickly once you've put it on the right one.

Use some compressed air in the vents. It will back flow any crap stuck in them to the blower motor area. If you dont have access to a compressor just go buy a can of compressed air.

As for a quick fix for rust coverage on the underside, I just wire brushed and sprayed some rustoleum under my old Roady. It lasted through the winter. That should get you through to spring when you can take your time and do it 'right'. It shouldn't make it much harder to do the other stuff. Just need to scrape it off. After the winter it will probably be a bit flaky anyways, if you plan on driving it through the winter.

About the crap in the blower motor, I can't believe my wagon had NOTHING anywhere in the car or under the hood as far as critters. It was sitting untouched since at least '07. I only found some live hornets nests in the door jambs that I solved with some brake cleaner.

GasTT wrote:

I just read through this today and had a few comments.

Use a screw driver to pinpoint the whine noise. Put the tip on an accessory and put it up to your ear. You'll hear pretty quickly once you've put it on the right one.

Use some compressed air in the vents. It will back flow any crap stuck in them to the blower motor area. If you dont have access to a compressor just go buy a can of compressed air.

As for a quick fix for rust coverage on the underside, I just wire brushed and sprayed some rustoleum under my old Roady. It lasted through the winter. That should get you through to spring when you can take your time and do it 'right'. It shouldn't make it much harder to do the other stuff. Just need to scrape it off. After the winter it will probably be a bit flaky anyways, if you plan on driving it through the winter.

About the crap in the blower motor, I can't believe my wagon had NOTHING anywhere in the car or under the hood as far as critters. It was sitting untouched since at least '07. I only found some live hornets nests in the door jambs that I solved with some brake cleaner.

Thanks Tim- That was my plan for this. I figure SEM can pretty much go over anything anyway, but don't quote me on that. I'm just going to use my long wire brush to get whatever I can, then just spray bomb it with black Rustoleum, floors and frame. It's weird because the car def. has surface rust all over the frame, but the quarters are solid and even the bottoms of the B-pillars and stuff are excellent. I wouldn't quite call it crusty just yet but it needs attention before it causes any issues! I don't think I'll bother with any undercoating...on the Caprice I used that in the wheelhouses because they were in good shape, after I'd painted them first...

The blower motor ductwork still has that campfire smell which sucks, but I can't tell that much and it's going away. I think if someone got in the car and wasn't aware of what had happened they'd be like WTF happened in here? I think they sell some sort of deodorizer you can blast in there though?

Matt Trakker wrote:

......... I think if someone got in the car and wasn't aware of what had happened they'd be like WTF happened in here DGGM's are the wrong color & stink too?

fixt

sdstick wrote:

Matt Trakker wrote:

......... I think if someone got in the car and wasn't aware of what had happened they'd be like WTF happened in here DGGM's are the wrong color & stink too?

fixt

This will never end eh Steve?











I hope not because it's too much fun telling you how awesome DGGM is

It can end....

Can of black paint & smelly xmas tree.

sdstick wrote:

It can end....

Can of black paint & smelly xmas tree.

I'm just going to have to buy one of each color in the future to compare I guess


Plus, my frame is black isn't that good enough!

1984twodoor wrote:

.... my frame is black isn't that good enough!

Guess you have to answer your own question....why black?

Nevermind...I know...it's ok....

OK...back to DGGM thread...

sdstick wrote:

1984twodoor wrote:

.... my frame is black isn't that good enough!

Guess you have to answer your own question....why black?

Nevermind...I know...it's ok....

OK...back to DGGM thread...

Because they didn't offer DGGM SEM!


Speaking of SEM, to get this thread back on track Matt that stuff works awesome on B-Body frames!

Did a little more tonight in the car. The inst. cluster lens appeared as if Edward Scissorhands once owned this vehicle, so since the trim was off around the cluster, I polished it.

Befoahh:





Aftah:







When I picked up the car, I found it odd that the I/P lights lit up where the column goes under the dash. Then I found the gasket that goes there in the car when I was cleaning it, so I reinstalled that thing...haha.






I think this car is pissed at me or something, last night I was screwing around putting a few things back together and went to open the driver's window, and one of the rollers broke in the window regulator (I think). Back side of the window hangs up while the front half goes down in the door, but if you hold it and guide it you can still make the window go down. Since I can still crack the window, I'll fix that in the spring.

I'm split on what I want to do with this, I wanted to just register it right away, but part of me thinks I might get screwed on excise tax if I have it registered for December of this year instead of just January '13 onward. I always forget how it all works out. But I may have it on the road this week, I'm sick of looking at this in the driveway!

Just wait and don't winter the poor thing

You'll only pay for December 2012......THEN 2013

Your not gonna want to drive around alot with that window 1/2 functional
Something always comes up where you need to operate the window
Paying tolls by opening the door sucz

If it has the stock wheels & tires (still)...dont even THINK about driving in the snow

Cluster looks much better, what polish? Novus?

That's exactly how the window in the Fleetwood has been operating.... for the past 9 months or so... 3 out of 4 windows have busted rollers.

I feel the same way about the wagon sitting. Everytime I see it at the garage I just want to drive it. Hopefully soon I can finish it. Been too busy with work.

1984twodoor wrote:

Just wait and don't winter the poor thing

Yeah, but something tells me letting a car like this sit for a winter isn't the same as letting a carbureted Impala with few options sit in a tent over winter (still need to take it out a few more times and get some Sta-Bil in the tank of that car/prep it a little better)

sdstick wrote:

You'll only pay for December 2012......THEN 2013

Your not gonna want to drive around alot with that window 1/2 functional
Something always comes up where you need to operate the window
Paying tolls by opening the door sucz

If it has the stock wheels & tires (still)...dont even THINK about driving in the snow

Cluster looks much better, what polish? Novus?

It appears you guys have forgotten I have the Tahoe listed in my sig! I've been driving that most of the time lately anyway, I've been fiddling with the Caprice swapping wheels and stuff on there but that's about it...
I would never drive the Impala SS in the snow unless it was an emergency- that's why I was thinking about putting the chrome wheels with the BFGs on there. I had to drive the old Impala in the snow for that movie "The Box" back in 2007 with a set of BFGs on the same set of wheels (since have gotten new ones, they only have a couple thousand miles on them), and it went pretty damned decent, however those were 235/60 and these are 255/60...

The window will technically go down I guess, all the way, but you have to "guide" it with your hand on the side toward the back of the car...then it would come back up on it's own because the glass is pushing against the back of the driver's door window frame. So I guess that must mean the rearmost roller near the door latch is broken? When it happened, I heard a loud "knock" in the door that didn't sound good, then when i played around with it in a state of distressed confusion, it made that noise again, so I don't think I'm going to roll that one down much until it's fixed... I know people say to replace all the rollers if you have the door apart, but maybe I can just pull the panel, take out the broken piece, and snap the new roller on to replace it with channellocks without drilling out rivets and all of that.

Steve, I used Plast-X for it, I've had the same bottle for about 4 years now I guess, maybe longer, it's good stuff! I didn't even wetsand the lens.

I figured I'd pay for this month on excise taxes, but it seems some towns try to pull some BS where you have to pay a minimum amount of excise tax no matter how little of a calendar year you registered it, etc. My dad is always freaking me out with this nonsense to do with my plate running out in January anyway and swapping it then, blah blah insurance, blah...I'm sure he's got no idea what he's talking about. I still don't know if I should get a new plate for this car and cancel the ones on the Caprice, or swap those over, that was actually my first license plate I ever had that's currently on that car.

GasTT wrote:

That's exactly how the window in the Fleetwood has been operating.... for the past 9 months or so... 3 out of 4 windows have busted rollers.

I feel the same way about the wagon sitting. Everytime I see it at the garage I just want to drive it. Hopefully soon I can finish it. Been too busy with work.

Yep. I walk by the car at least 10 times a day, so it's annoying. And it doesn't need much, the main issue really is the fuel pump crap and it's not like the car won't start or run or anything, it actually runs pissah! Just have to figure out what I need to do to have a relay or something in place so that in an accident, the pump will shut off with any loss in oil pressure (engine off) I suppose...I think this could be the oil pressure switch or the ECM causing it too (probably repeating myself).

If I can brave the cold I'll probably do some more stuff to the interior today.

It's my thought that this car should be named "MistreSS"

Because it's like your seeing the newer, more toned, sleeker model behind your old lady 74's back.

Hahaha...this car ain't no lady with what I've been through!

Will probably be on the road next week at some point. The plates from the white one will be going on this car I guess, I was going to try to register it today but I didn't have time and it's not worth dropping the paperwork off on a Friday really.

Tonight I cleaned the dash and console real good, then treated them with 303. The campfire smell from the dash is almost gone, I didn't really notice it tonight, seems if at all it just comes and goes very slightly. Found out the head unit has a remote... also found what I think was the GM packaging for an NOS grille bowtie in the car with the red bowtie shaped protective vinyl covering...

I don't think I mentioned the exhaust on this car, it sounds really nice. Some kind of Flowmasters with I THINK an H-pipe or a crossover under there (might be wrong), with cats but no resonators. When I first drove this, it seemed quieter than you'd expect, but I think that's just because the pipes are going straight back instead of angling out, so you're not gonna hear it as much sitting in the driver's seat unless you're backed up to a wall. Being that this is a car and not a pickup truck, I didn't want to deal with droning from mufflers mounted under where people sit. I'd throw up on myself I'm sure...haha. It has a nice tone in general that isn't overpowering, but it's enough to let you know it's there. If you rev the engine this car sounds mean and pretty pissed off...it has that very slight "glasspack" style popping effect when the revs drop back down too, not always but sometimes. Badass!

Matt Trakker wrote:

........... this car sounds mean and pretty pissed off...it has that very slight "glasspack" style popping effect when the revs drop back down too, not always but sometimes. Badass!

Ya....I bet if you ever let it out of the driveway it'll be MUCH happier...

sdstick wrote:

Matt Trakker wrote:

........... this car sounds mean and pretty pissed off...it has that very slight "glasspack" style popping effect when the revs drop back down too, not always but sometimes. Badass!

Ya....I bet if you ever let it out of the driveway it'll be MUCH happier...

Maybe I'll FLOOR it when I drive by you on 28 in N. Reading like you did to me!

Matt Trakker wrote:

sdstick wrote:

Matt Trakker wrote:

........... this car sounds mean and pretty pissed off...it has that very slight "glasspack" style popping effect when the revs drop back down too, not always but sometimes. Badass!

Ya....I bet if you ever let it out of the driveway it'll be MUCH happier...

Maybe I'll FLOOR it when I drive by you on 28 in N. Reading like you did to me!

You will both have to drive past me flooring it and I'll be the judge of which one sounds cooler. Matt is a point ahead for color, but steve did a sweet burnout in front of my house one day so... Let the games begin!

The cah is registah'd!!!!

State of Mass. charged me 433 bucks to put this on the road, and after Bill had gone back and made sure NH called it an Impala SS on the registration, MA still registered it as a 1995 Caprice Classic. I'm sort of pissed because they kept the Maine title I had from when Glen had the car (gave them that to bolster the fact that the car was legit), I wanted to keep that.

I drove it on a bunch of errands tonight, made it back so I guess that's good right? I cleaned all the seats except the driver's seat (since I was gonna sit in it) and treated them. Just have to do the carpets and floor mats, couple other minor things, re attach a washer fluid hose that is off somewhere (I can hear the fluid running down the cowl somewhere) and get those god damned BFG KDWS tires off the front, they are awful!!!! I think I'm going to Plastidip the chrome rally wheels I have satin black, in hopes that it will protect the chrome for the winter, and leave the smooth caps chrome with a bunch of wax on them. Or just wax the hell out of the wheels. I don't plan on using this as a snow car at all like I said before, but I'm sure it will have to be out when the roads have some crap floating around on them...

Does anyone know if the glove box door is supposed to have a rubber bumper in the latch area? Is there a way to tighten it so you can't push in and out on the door while it's closed?

No pics yet, but I did just buy a sweet camera from CL tonight...so hopefully tomorrow. Going to change the oil as soon as it's "nice" out again too.

Matt Trakker wrote:

The cah is registah'd!!!!

State of Mass. charged me 433 bucks to put this on the road, and after Bill had gone back and made sure NH called it an Impala SS on the registration, MA still registered it as a 1995 Caprice Classic. I'm sort of pissed because they kept the Maine title I had from when Glen had the car (gave them that to bolster the fact that the car was legit), I wanted to keep that.

I drove it on a bunch of errands tonight, made it back so I guess that's good right? I cleaned all the seats except the driver's seat (since I was gonna sit in it) and treated them. Just have to do the carpets and floor mats, couple other minor things, re attach a washer fluid hose that is off somewhere (I can hear the fluid running down the cowl somewhere) and get those god damned BFG KDWS tires off the front, they are awful!!!! I think I'm going to Plastidip the chrome rally wheels I have satin black, in hopes that it will protect the chrome for the winter, and leave the smooth caps chrome with a bunch of wax on them. Or just wax the hell out of the wheels. I don't plan on using this as a snow car at all like I said before, but I'm sure it will have to be out when the roads have some crap floating around on them...

Does anyone know if the glove box door is supposed to have a rubber bumper in the latch area? Is there a way to tighten it so you can't push in and out on the door while it's closed?

No pics yet, but I did just buy a sweet camera from CL tonight...so hopefully tomorrow. Going to change the oil as soon as it's "nice" out again too.

You can lend me the car for the day and I'll change the oil for you!

You'd think the registry would LOVE to call it an Impala so they could charge extra.

I'll see your 95 Caprice & raise you one.....

When I registered Matts 95 they called it a 94...wtf?....its a VIN thing..whateva

You DO know the important thing is to have it insured for its real value.

In your case, it might not be fighting for YET...but I'm sure you'll want to look into that after you go through it & get it where you want.

Of course...thats more $ but....not THAT much more.

PS....real Impala's sit on winter wheels in the snow...that's IF they're allowed out.

sdstick wrote:

You'd think the registry would LOVE to call it an Impala so they could charge extra.

I'll see your 95 Caprice & raise you one.....

When I registered Matts 95 they called it a 94...wtf?....its a VIN thing..whateva

You DO know the important thing is to have it insured for its real value.

In your case, it might not be fighting for YET...but I'm sure you'll want to look into that after you go through it & get it where you want.

Of course...thats more $ but....not THAT much more.

PS....real Impala's sit on winter wheels in the snow...that's IF they're allowed out.

Yeah, I do want to look for a set of N97s or even civi wheels if they fit to put some skinny tires on, but I can't really afford that right now so I was going to just mount that other set of wheels for the time being so it at least drives better.

A lot of insurance companies are acting like the registry these days- I switched the Tahoe (and the Caprice, now the Impala) to Vermont Mutual. They have the Tahoe listed as a Chevy Avalanche according to the VIN number for some reason. I looked into it with my agent and she said they do that sometimes and as long as the vin listed is correct I should be fine, but I'm still going to look into it with VM to be safe...

More progress today-

Fixed the washer fluid issue, the hose was off the tee under the plastic cowl screen thing so I took that apart and fixed it...changed the oil, lubed the front end, and swapped the 2 front tires/wheels with my chrome rally wheels. The car drives a whole hell of a lot better now. Needs an alignment but not bad.

There's a lot of stuff in this car I was not aware of now, and I don't know if Glen or Bill did it, lol. Car has one of those nifty Japanese (Fumoto?? I forget) oil pan drain valves instead of a drain plug, had all my tools out and was trying to squeeze under the driver's door like I was used to, (for some reason this car is way easier to do it all from under the front bumper), and then realized I didn't need a socket. For a second I thought I wasn't going to be able to change it, thought it was some kind of quick drain thing a lube place installs (that I've heard of but never seen) so only they could work on it.

I also noticed the car has like all new front end parts in it. All the ball joints are new, the A-arms look new, the springs look new or painted anyway, some of the steering linkage looks fairly recent, even the front brakes don't look that old. The spindles look new or painted, the backing shields for them are shiny and black. Still has the Hotchkis tie rods in it, don't know if those do anything or not...lol.

I couldn't get the rear wheels off the car with a lug wrench, they were on too tight and I didn't want to strip them (after my last experience with a stripped lug and an SS wheel, I'll pass), so I'm taking it to someone I know nearby tomorrow to zip the lugs off and put my other wheels on the back. I was thinking of Plastidip-ing the wheels black, but I don't think I will now. Why? Because I already have wax to put all over the wheels, and I'd have to buy the Plastidip! And waxing is easier.


I washed it and was going to take pics, but it looks stupid with 2 different kinds of wheels so I'll do that another time...

Front end must have experienced some sweet jumps...

BTW....impact wrench at my house.....

Dont be shy, you have my #

(although daylight is always an issue now)

Most of the Impalas are title as caprices anyways... NBD. They're just a caprice with an option package.

Mine were titled as Caprices.

Nice progress on the car, BTW.

Thanks Bill! Here are a couple of pics I took today:





I think the headlamp harness might be screwy- I threw a new corner marker bulb (the little amber one) in the lens in the pass. side, that works now. Yesterday, I tried the driver's side, when I had the bulb out of that socket, the amber park/turn bulb inboard of the headlight went out...LOL. Next time I looked, it was lit again, just still won't flash with the turn signal. And the known good bulb did not illuminate in there. So today I tried it again fooling with it and the good bulb in the corner lens did light up, and the inboard turn/park bulb does too, just still won't "blink". I checked to see if the factory headlamp harness from my '93 would work in there, but I think the plugs are different on the 94+ cars.

Sounds like aground wire on that side or a cracked socket, the black caddy did that for a while. ended up being a tiny hairline crack in the socket that would separate only when tightened into the headlight opening,

I took the front end completely apart on that, sandblasted the a arms,SEM'd them, new ball joints, the hotchkis tierod ends when i put the hotchkis suspension in.

I did know about the drain, i forgot to take it out when i sold it to bill. Works good.

Looks great with the chrome rallys.

I did that too 13 years ago. Always looks great on these cars.

Yeah, it's been a couple months since we've seen those pics...

Bitchin!

Thanks guys, I knew what the car was gonna look like because of Billy's blue car and even the pic from back in the day I saw of Crovo's SS with the Indy 500s and rallys before it was all repainted and everything, I saw the website years ago, LOL. These tires are not so great in the rain, but maybe it's because this car is so much more powerful than the white car. Went to pull out onto Route 1 in Saugus and the car decided it wanted to be the General Lee. Takes some getting used to fo sho!

I'm going to check that ground today, thanks for the tip Indy. I suppose I could always cannibalize the sockets from the 93's original harness, but does anyone here have a 1994 and up cornering lamp harness? If so, let me know and how much. The car came with them from the factory (according to Compnine) so I'd like to put them back someday, no big deal otherwise though.

I put one of those awesomely outrageous fake suede steering wheel covers on the steering wheel today to cover the worn spot, and I think it made my hands itchy.

Matt Trakker wrote:

Thanks guys, I knew what the car was gonna look like because of Billy's blue car and even the pic from back in the day I saw of Crovo's SS with the Indy 500s and rallys before it was all repainted and everything, I saw the website years ago, LOL. These tires are not so great in the rain, but maybe it's because this car is so much more powerful than the white car. Went to pull out onto Route 1 in Saugus and the car decided it wanted to be the General Lee. Takes some getting used to fo sho!

I'm going to check that ground today, thanks for the tip Indy. I suppose I could always cannibalize the sockets from the 93's original harness, but does anyone here have a 1994 and up cornering lamp harness? If so, let me know and how much. The car came with them from the factory (according to Compnine) so I'd like to put them back someday, no big deal otherwise though.

I put one of those awesomely outrageous fake suede steering wheel covers on the steering wheel today to cover the worn spot, and I think it made my hands itchy.

You should get that old perforated wrap to go over the whole wheel and make it look SSweet

What's wrong with that wrap? I've used it quite a few times...

toomanytoyz wrote:

What's wrong with that wrap? I've used it quite a few times...

Ah...nothing Mr. President ...

Just because you see them frayed and peeling off and nasty sticky coming off of the wheel. I've never actually seen them in good shape in person.

Yeah, I was gonna get one of those actually, but didn't see them at Wal-Fahhts. Maybe I looked right past them. Those always remind me of Uncle Buck's Mercury Marquis with the missing rear shocks.




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I had one in the green '74 Impala too. I removed it once to see what the wheel looked like underneath, it was all sticky and gross, so I put it back on!

The one I got is ridiculous, the steering wheel is like 8 feet thick now.

I hate steering wheel covers. I put one in the caddy only because the leather is torn @12:00.

Yep, same with this one. It's not bad otherwise, like the ones that are black all the way around from hands running around it.

Last night someone asked me if this was my car at the laundromat, and when I said yes, they were like "shouldn't you put that away in the rain?"