The SSheriff (1996 9C1)

I may, or may not for that matter, have stumbled upon a little known deal of a life time. This will put this project in peril of being finished in a timely manner. We shall see come the 26th. If its looking good, I will have good or bad news on the 3rd. Enjoy the bouncing emoticons....

The suspense!

Photobucket diarrhea...























So, POR15 job sucks, More has been done since pictures
All bolts need to be torqued, as you saw, I got mad and broke my torque wrench
And, maybe the communities first "smooth" RMW bumper. Not perfect, or anywhere near my end goal. A real PITA. I have some extras Im gonna do a couple mods to in the future.

Looks good.

Couple of things

How'd you press out those control arm bushings at home?
I'm thinking whatever you did must have been somewhat easy or they'd still be in like every one I ever pulled

Where'd you get those red bowtie centercap emblems?
Those are just like my 96 & I ruined 1 centercap with overly aggressive cleaning

Lastly.....there's a reason Matt B takes pictures of his feet with his boots ON...jus sayin

I don't get the boots in the picture thing, I wear sandles.

Stock bushings are STILL in the housing for now. No surprises there.

The center caps are from a Monte Carlo.

the rear is looking good. Which arms are those?

Thanks. BMR makes them.

Coming along nice! And not everyone can be as cool as I am to get the boots in the pic!

Some RPO codes that are interesting and some I cant identify yet from the SPID:

AAT- "specialized" two tone paint
ARL- Arlington, Texas
AS7- split front seat
A75/6- HD seat cushions
AF9- floor mat covering delete
EGW- ?
FE9- federal emissions certification
FLT- ?
GU4- 3.08
Was NOT factory equipped with G80 but is now.
IHD- ?
KD1- cooling system, transmission oil
KG9- 140 amp alt
LT1- duh...
NB8 emissions override, California
NG5- ?
N10- exhaust dual
N30- steering whee, deluxe (not sure what's deluxe about it. I'd have to look at the refurb papers from GB to determine if it was replaced maybe)
N97- heavy duty 15" steel wheels
P03- cover, wheel, VAR 3
P28- ?
QR8- tires?
R4Z- tires?
R6D- ?
R6X- ?
R7A- ?
R8F- sales?
R85- sales?
R8T- sales option 69 processing
UL5- radio delete
UQ0- 4 speaker system (doesn't make sense with radio delete. Scratches head...)
U11- police certified speedo, gauge cluster
U73- fixed radio antenna(again, see above)
V02- radiator, heavy duty, with trans oil cooler
V03- cooling system, extra capacity
V73- antenna, fixed
WUI- ?
YK6- ?
Y10- 10.5" ring gear, Saginaw (S.P.O.)
01L- secondary color, exterior, special(91) must be white
01U- primary color, exterior, special(91) must be black
1AA- ?
1K5- low gear lock out
1PM- ?
1SX- ?
1T1- hose, radiator, heater, silicone
1T2- ?
1Z2- vehicle prep, anti corrosion, hot melt
300- trim combo, cloth, medium dark Adriatic blue(0)
30I- interior trim, medium dark Adriatic blue(0)(94)
41Q- molding color, black (I had the body shop remove what was left before paint in '09)
6A2- steering column, S.E.O. Keyed (one key for entire car. No VATS)
6A3- floor covering, front and rear, heavy duty(rubber)
6B2- handle, rear door, inoperative
6E8- cylinder for single key
6H7- ? I assume its for the drivers headlamp switch mounted trunk release
6N5- handle inoperative RR window
650/O -?
6Y1- ornamentation, extra, moulding, front door body SI
6Y5- ?
7B3- suspension system, special handling
7L9- cooling system, oil, steering
7P8- engine oil cooling system SEE KC4(cooling system, heavy duty engine oil)
75?- most 75- codes I found involve a red color???
7X7- spotlight, left and right, halogen, pillar mounted (currently installed but not hooked up)
7Y6- switch, dome lamp, door jamb, inoperative
7Z5- circuit breakers, additional, 12 volt
8RJ- ?
9C1- take a guess


The rest is all brakes, defroster, hvac, mirrors,etc.

EGW- Fleet Program - Delayed Warning
FLT- Sales Processing Option
IHD- Trim, Interior Design (HD)
NG5- 50 State Emissions Certification
R4Z- General Tires
R6D- Control Sales Item #4
R6X- Control Sales Item #23
R7A- Control Sales Item #26
R8F- Control Sales Item #56
R8S- Control Sales Item #68
WUI- Not WU1? Switch, Instrument Panel Lamp Shutoff
YK6- SEO
1AA- Retail Amenities Delete
1PM- Paint Scheme 1 3
1SX- Option Package 22
6Y5- Exterior Emblem Non-Installed
8RJ- Left Rear Computer Selected Suspension

Thanks mike! I only glanced at one site when I was typing this up on my phone. Much appreciated!

I went to a Nissan dealership yesterday to get my tires mounted and balanced on the new rims.

A good friend from UTI and a female fellow Marine is a service manager there and helped me out.

Just a few more things to do and she's back on the road.

Can't wait to see it, ur doing a great job.

Thanks man. We're gettin there.

I've still got quite a list of items to complete

-strip and paint RM bumper support
-mount said support and bumper
-install RM grill and lower support
-torque all the suspension in the rear
-oil change
-coolant flush
-bring it to a shop to have the American thunder done right
-front end alignment
-state inspection
-should all be done in a few weeks. Just in time to go into winter storage....sigh.
I put like, 2100 miles on it this year

Dont feel bad....i have yet to put on 2100 feet! Lol.

Whats up with the exhaust thats giving you trouble?

Getting it done in the driveway on concrete and jack stands makes it near impossible for me to get it right. I just lose my mind.

It needs to be up on a lift for easier access. I don't have welding capabilities either.

MASShole9C1 wrote:

Getting it done in the driveway on concrete and jack stands makes it near impossible for me to get it right. I just lose my mind.

It needs to be up on a lift for easier access. I don't have welding capabilities either.

Got ya. What needs to be welded up? I thought american thunder was slip flange/ bolt on collectors.

If you get it driving minus that, you are welcome to come out this way and we can throw it on the lift and take care of things....let me know.

Awesome. Thanks for the help!

I want the H pipe welded up so this two pipes are all one piece.

The rest is all clamps. I want to have the freedom of removing it if need be without cutting into a $600 system.

My back cannot take the abuse of laying on the concrete, muscling this stuff together again. I need a lift. And a couple new rubber hangers now

Two tail pipe hangers and two of the thicker muffler hangers. I got mad...

They carry those hangers at AZ
After I bought some OEM ones, I stumbled upon them there.

Thanks Steve. Hopefully I can save a couple $.

I think it's Mike at Hamilton has some but he wants $8/pc. I just paid $9 for an OEM vacuum line from them.

They are great to deal with, pricy, but the tend to have all the oddball parts!

I shall check vatozone Monday and report back with part #'s and prices.

So, I was up all night. Both my wife and I couldn't sleep for some reason. We watched like 3 movies and around 6 we got our son up, made him a warm bottle, and went to the park to feed the geese and ducks.

We got home around 730 and I was like "the suspense is killing me".

So, I broke out the work gloves and swapped the N97's out and put the brand new rims and tires on. Pouring rain for that half hour of work.

I took pics, but they are rather suckish.

So, I will wait until everything is done and I can get a good back ground photo shoot kinda thing going on. Plus the rear is still on stands.

I picked up a cluster surround with a temp gauge and tach already installed along with a few other parts.

I've gotta get new torque wrench still to finish up the rear. Idk about the ST springs anymore. I may just swap in the ss ones now.

Inspection sticker is up Monday. Won't pass without the exhaust on it.

Coolant flush, oil change, and alignment coming after the above.

MASShole9C1 wrote:

I put like, 2100 miles on it this year

I've put a whole 75 miles on my Caprice this past 12 months.

.....and close to 30,000 on the Fleetwood!

Let's see those rims!

Finished some more painting today. Added some hand painted details as well.

Adjusted the trunk lid and re routed the harness correctly.

Ordering a new steering wheel tomorrow. Adapter as well.

Stay tuned for some interior dress up!

If anyone has an LAB headliner in good shape, please PM me. I can see the difference from front to back where the prisoner divider was. Very dirty...

MASShole9C1 wrote:

Finished some more painting today. Added some hand painted details as well.

Adjusted the trunk lid and re routed the harness correctly.

Ordering a new steering wheel tomorrow. Adapter as well.

Stay tuned for some interior dress up!

If anyone has an LAB headliner in good shape, please PM me. I can see the difference from front to back where the prisoner divider was. Very dirty...

You need to ask Matt (Smith or well trakker) about the way he cleaned the headliner in his 'Ho. It did come out Mint!

Cool. Thanks for the heads up. I'll give his Tahoe thread a look e loo maybe its in there.

Pretty easy to clean a headliner. Just dont get it too wet.

I finished the exhaust today! I said screw having someone else do it! I saved a bunch of $$$ too. I figured since it was raining, I'd be under the car any way. Shelter! Who needs a garage lol. It came out perfect. Tho, I found the my H pipe and clamp were pretty dented from bottoming out on my old suspension. I'm gonna eventually have a new one welded up.

I also went to a yard today and scored a few small items, rear wheel well trim, and an alternator + warranty (for the crown vic) all for $37!

One more step closer! Too bad I can't make the nexus monster bash this year...

ya know whats great about this build thread........ you havent posted an I quit or Im selling off the car cause i dont want to finish it so Im bailing on B bodys....Even with all the BS your dealing with, you still keep going with it. Nice work , keep the wrenches turning n the knuckles bleeding

Hey Brian, what was your deciding factor on the BMR arms over Umi, Spohn or even Hotchkis or Metco?

^ thanks man! I got rid of ALOT of b.s. when I got rid of that LDM junker. 2 B bodies was too much. It's better having 1 car to mod at a time.
I'm not gonna lie, I did get down and out when I lost my job in January. But the wife and I stayed on top and conquered this bastard!

Just this car alone, I've spent at least $4,000 in the last 6-7 months in OEM, NOS, aftermarket, paints, tools and what may have you.

Another reason I let the monte ss go.

Once I had my mind set on this car in California, I said I would never let it go, and that I can only make it better from here on out.

Working on cars has become somewhat therapeutic in more recent years. I ditched all the phone numbers of people with shops and tools and said fuck it. I'll do it myself! So, I cut ties and been on my own for a while. Minus you guys and google...

After this build, and we finally move, my next build thread is going to be a box body/lt1 frame swap. No farting around. Just like Matt. Strip, keep your head up, and leave it in better shape than you found it! At least, that's one of the best things I learned as a Marine. You can always make improvements. That's what I continuously aim to do with my Chevys.

As far as the BMR arms go, some brand names are waaaay overpriced for the same shit, form and function wise. I did weeks of reading up on other forums, cardomain, etc. I figured, if I pick one, I really picked all. Of course, in regards to only tubular extended arms. Unless you want boxed or adjustable. I'm simple and wanted plug and play. BMR had that and it was a simple install and perfect directions too!

Since the only reason for the arms was to relieve the eye strain of the factory laziness, price was the factor. Since I hadn't heard much bad news about BMR, I said hell, here's my PayPal.

Nice work on the car, man. I am late to the party but have been following along. Just a question, what exhaust are you running on your car? Is it a custom bent deal or a pre-bent setup?

Sorry if you have said it a million times, I didn't see it cruising the thread.

Great work!

Brian

Do you have plans for bigger sway bars? Which mfgs have you been looking into and how do they meet your needs?

Quick nightly update. I finally decided to order the "stealth" brake bolt kit from proforged! I'm pretty excited as this is the first time I've touched anything brake related on the 9c1. Since the suspension is taken care of, lets do the brakes next. Winter is coming, so I will be researching for the next few months and will begin purchasing and installing in the spring time if all goes as planned.

Brian, the exhaust is a 100% bolt on American Thunder cat back setup from Flowmaster. IIRC it comes with their 50 series SUV mufflers. It sounds perfect. The kit can be had between $500-$700 depending on where you shop. I got this kit fedex'd for around $600 buy it now on eBay.

GasTT wrote:

Do you have plans for bigger sway bars? Which mfgs have you been looking into and how do they meet your needs?

Honestly, I WAS gonna drop big $ on sway bars BUT decided since its not an auto x car, the factory 9C1 and rear bars are just what I need. I do plan on powder coating them here soon...

I can't really help ya with what I'd like do vs what I don't need to spend $ on.

It's my understanding, that some of these larger aftermarket sway bars can crack the mounting plates on these control arms. I'd like to avoid that.

I'd would have gone with any brand name since everyone has them and I haven't read a lot of complaints other than prices.

Thanks for the exhaust info, man!

bangshiftbrian wrote:

Thanks for the exhaust info, man!

Anytime!

You're gonna do the frame/body swap to a boxy from this general area (maybe) because the 9C1 is too clean to bother with


Good to see it's moving along nicely!

Thanks Matt. I'd have to really look around. One will come from the south (Alabama) and the other can be from here. I'd rather have a southern frame/suspension and deal with a somewhat rusty shell.

MASShole9C1 wrote:

It's my understanding, that some of these larger aftermarket sway bars can crack the mounting plates on these control arms...

When you say these, are you refering to the BMR arms or aftermarket arms in general?

I too have heard that the stock bars are sufficient for just regular use. My particular driving habits will require a stiffer rear bar.

These meaning aftermarket. If you want to go bigger (sway bars) I would get boxed lowers.

Ah, I see now, you have TUBULAR. Thanks for the clarification. I do plan on using BOXED lowers.

Yup. Says it in my ever growing sig. Let us know what set up you go with.

MASShole9C1 wrote:

Thanks Matt. I'd have to really look around. One will come from the south (Alabama) and the other can be from here. I'd rather have a southern frame/suspension and deal with a somewhat rusty shell.

You may want to switch that around Some of these shells don't last like the frames do! Case in point...My 84!

Matt, good point. I'm really gonna have to dig for a good pair.

Today's update has no pics (yet).

The 9c1 runs, runs great, looks good, sounds good. I couldn't ask for more right now!

I moved her around the driveway, washed her, and decided to take a quick (and I mean drive fast!) trip around the block...4 blocks.

Word to the wise: if you get grease-able control arms, grease the uppers before the get installed.

Any ideas on how to permanently adjust the PRNDL linkage/needle to be accurate with the blazer shifter? Anyone??

Stealth brake bolt mod came today!

I bought this


and heres a quick look, via crappy phone pics, of my dream coming to life

That looks great, Brian!

Thanks Bill.

SWEET!!!!!!

The offset and width of the rear wheels where perfect. No more 4WD 1500 single cab look. I measured sidewall to sidewall and the difference is just over an inch when comparing foot print front to back. I think I will be getting slightly taller tires next time. The H pipe and clamp are destroyed...anyone close buy weld???

That looks SICK! Good progress! You better bring it to the round-up if you go


If I could weld I'd come down and do it for the price of a ride! But sorry, I can't Hope you get it buttoned up soon!