1988 9C1 project "Sabotage"

I kinda wanted to start a thread about this. I'd like to keep track of what's going on with the car, and to see what kind of input you guys have.

So, I've got this '88 9C1 I had shipped from New York last year. Also have an '89 9C1 for parts. I honestly must say first, that I had to send the title BACK to New York (all the titles actually) in order for the cars to be transferred properly. And no, I haven't even paid for it yet. I won't until I can legally register it.

If all that works out, which I'm confident it will, here's my outlined plans for the car.

My original reason for picking these cars up, was to do a frame off LSx swap with the '88. But, ive since changed my mind to something more affordable for the moment. I think if anything gets an LSx, it will be my '96 9C1. With that said, I've leaned toward an LT1 swap. 4L60E. The whole swap shebang including frame, from a 94-96 B body.

Here's kind of a kicker. I bought Matt's brother Tim's '94 Roadmaster Limited sedan in October 2013. It's got 18x,xxx miles, quarters are toast, B pillars, rear wheelhouses and trunk are toast, as well as the lower parts of the pkg tray and the lower area where the seat belts mount. I WAS planning a nice GS themed, lowered RMS for that car, but I wanted 95-96 doors, opera light delete, etc etc. I personally feel with all the water leaks, rot, and electric bugs, it's not worth anything other than a DD. Which it has served well.

With that said, my plan is to frame swap with the roadmaster. I'd like to strip the frame, stainless lines, all new steering and suspension, lowered a tad, my Spohn sway bars, true duals obviously and the list goes on. Many of these things for this project I already have. I plan to use the posi 3.42 rear from the '89 LO5 9C1 car with a spare disc brake swap I have.

I have a set of 643 aluminum heads as well as some BBK headers for the swap.probably the most expensive part of the swap, will be the 24x swap. Being a '94 LT1, I'll need knock sensors, a '96 timing cover, and the kit, on top of the coils, 411 PCM and all those other goodies. I'm sure someone's going to say "you could spend that $ on an LSx swap and still drive the Buick." Maybe so, but I'm eager to do this whole thing as well as try the 24x conversion. The Buick is starting to stumble in the car wash and after driving through puddles. So that had me thinking.

I realize it's not going to be a weekend project. I don't care too much what the outside of the car looks like. But a fresh rebuilt chassis and a fuel injected LT1 is my line of site for this project.

The '88 9C1, as mentioned in a previous thread, was a Pennsylvania state police car. Unmarked. Only has one antenna mount on the trunk. Manual windows, manual seats, LM1 350 that is a Jasper crate I guess. 3.08 open rear. It's got some dents, rust, exhaust leaks, headliner material is gone, and I'm sure there'll be some surprises along the way. My first car I registered and drive was an '89 Caprice Brougham. It rotted away and failed inspection. I'll never get back, the 85 Caprice with no tilt, bench seat, drivers only mirror, no cruise, with a 262 V6, or the 79 and 87 coupes I had. I'd like to try and save this one. Not the best starting point, but I'm already into it for the shipping.

Wife wants a truck. We've been searching. So, provided she gets a truck, and the title comes back with a signature for this car, I'll be using the 98 Taurus as a DD until I can find a 95-96 Roamaster sedan in better shape than the '94.

Some of my concerns about the swap are the driveshaft/tail shaft/yoke between the 4L60E and the 3.42 rear from the '89.
Body mount/bushing replacements. I've spoken to Matt B about it. Hopefully he can contribute that info on the mounting bolts here in this thread. Also getting the dash and all that stuff wired up properly to run with the new swap.

Other than that, I think it can be a straight forward swap. Main problems being old rusty hardware.

Below are pics of the car just as I parked it for winter last year. I've got all kinds of parts for this car since stripping 2 others plus 1 junk yard car. New dash piece, aux gauges, all kinds of stuff.

For obvious reasons, I've done nothing to the car besides clean it out, replace a bent hood hinge and spring I had from another car, and put $10 worth of fresh gas in the tank.

The reason I call it project "Sabotage" is the cover of the single release of the Beastie Boys "Sabotage" from the album Ill Communication, where it features them dressed as cliche 70s-80s era detectives with a black '87-'89 Caprice. Not an '86 because it has a standup hood ornament and not a '90 because the front seat belts aren't mounted on the doors. '87-'90 generation due to the "euro" composite headlights.



My little minion, for some reason, likes this car too.














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body swap is the best course. Only because you want a nice frame.
Regarding the driveshaft just use the one from the boxy car and you will be good.
I'm sure the roady one will work as well since it's the same thing but just to be safe. Worst case measure both DS's u joints and see if they are identical

That's true. Once I get all this started I'll whip out the tape measure. The Buick frame is brown. Not rust or rot, but brown. Plus I don't have to modify the frame for the AC comp.

Ironfistdog wrote:

body swap is the best course. Only because you want a nice frame.
Regarding the driveshaft just use the one from the boxy car and you will be good.
I'm sure the roady one will work as well since it's the same thing but just to be safe. Worst case measure both DS's u joints and see if they are identical

Jesus, I just remembered you have a D/S for me for my project. Do you still have that thing!?

Yeah he's right its the same thing, if the box had a 7.5" like mine you'd need the shaft from an 8.5" car but obviously you have that already. no need to worry. I'd do new U-joints anyway so just replace with ones that fit and save the P/N for service.

Playing around with the idea of just swapping in the rear end and an LT1 drivetrain instead of a whole frame. Seems like more of a can of worms. I don't have solid ground to work on, nor do I have air tools. Both of those seem pretty necessary for my original plan. Just trying to be realistic. Or even just selling the car. We shall see.

You don't necessarily need air tools. But if you feel the need, a couple hundred bucks at Harbor Freight will get you setup on the cheap.

Solid ground, however, is a requirement. Hard to move a loaded engine crane around in gravel.

You bet it is. Maybe I can pay a concrete slab under my car port. Maybe not. I have all these ideas but am unable to achieve anything because of things like, a gravel driveway.

Not a bad idea man. One of my parent's neighbors has been building a garage for 2 years, it started as a level pad and a couple of posts, drove by the other day and it's now completely enclosed. Start bit by bit and save your pennies.

I certainly wouldn't enclose me carport. I'd rebuild my shed if that were the case. I could easily fit a car in there. Just no other place to store what's already in the shed. And there's a lot.

Framing for a pad (or 2) is babyfood
Just do a bunch of stuff at once because the delivery charge is what drives the cost up

sdstick wrote:

Framing for a pad (or 2) is babyfood
Just do a bunch of stuff at once because the delivery charge is what drives the cost up

Yea, framing would be easy. I know just the slab would be $$$$. I can't possibly mix enough concrete at one time to pour one slap. I would need to have it delivered and poured for me.

I did get a $2,600 quote to pave the whole driveway. 3" thick, 2 cars wide and about 4 B body sedan lengths deep. But with jack stands and heat, I'm not comfortable with that. Maybe the slab under the car port and asphalt next year for the rest.

Yea I've never had a paved driveway but I do distinctly remember the ramp marks in my grandmother's driveway from my uncle doing oil changes in the summer. Those marks lasted for years.

Yup. I did it to my inlaws driveway and my friend destroyed his parents driveway working on his '74 Malibu. Oops....

I decided to remove all the old cracked and mangled trim. I also painted the drivers fender. A few areas touched up with paint and a couple good hand washes. Here's a before and after.

Another shot of the recently painted fender.



I took the sill plates off to remove all the extra radio and antenna wires hanging from under the dash.





I removed the back seat to assist in the removal of those wires. This is the 2nd or 3rd round I've found between this and the gray parts car



I also cleaned the passenger side floor nastiness. You can see what it looked like in previous pictures.

Decided to reduce my inventory of good usable parts by replacing and salvaging/tossing the broken stuff that's on the car.

Started with the dash and the radio. The dash had several unsightly holes in it and some bad scuff marks. While I was in there, I replaced all of the instrumentation light bulbs. Haven't gotten the trunk popper or cigarette lighter to work yet tho. Still need to install the glove box, courtesy lights, and the dash top.

There was some sort of "high quality" (for the era) tape deck installed with an amp. Apparently said radio came in Cadillacs, some g body bruicks, as well as bentleys. I took all of that stuff out in favor of the proper factory connectors and stereo. Success! It all work. Aftermarket speakers previously installed.

I also started cleaning out the engine bay with a vacuum and some spray and shop towels. I need to do some painting and install the correct green silicone hoses.

One of the pics shows some Buick skylark poverty caps I have. They have the same cap for Chevrolet with the bow tie instead of the tri shield logo. Looks pretty good. Not the end game tho. Not by far.

Progress looks good

Still tinkering with this. Put some 90s "lace" rims on today for when it gets registered and eventually inspected.

Finished up the lower dash swap. I also removed the AIR pump and it's associated hoses, and valves. Still need to remove those pesky injection pipes and cap off the leftover holes in the manifolds. She needs a good degreasing too.

Surprised still at how clean under the hood is. Even tho it's a newer engine, I expected all kinds of rust and seized bolts. Nope. A while back I pulled AIR pump and it's associated web of wires and hoses. Both check valves snapped right off as they were rusted inside. All that's left is re run the vacuum lines and install some little brass threaded plugs once I get the injection tubes out. I'll end up with headers eventually.




Last week I started the body work and prep for paint. I'd like to locate a hood and trunk lid (rot) before I'm finished. Probably won't happen this year.




Last major progress was installing the new dash, working radio/harness, and getting the HVAC to function. All that's left to do inside the car is steam clean the seats, install headliner fabric, and C pillar fabric.

Still sitting with no title. I'm still in hopes, so I did end up repairing the lower quarter rust on the drivers side and re-painted it. The whole car would eventually need more body work and complete re spray. Still has a coolness factor despite the never ending headache this has become. Hoping the next owner can really make it shine.

Looking good, I missed a 90 9c1 a month ago up here. Needed work, but would have made a good addition to the hoard. lol