Intro: Impala SS 1996.....Newbie

Greetings all... found this cool group.. figured I'd throw a shout out to all of you members.

Back in June, I went and did something pretty idiotic, sold my daily driver with 53k on it, mint condition GP.. and jumped off the proverbial B body cliff.... Purchased a 2 owner '96 Impala DCM. My excuse was I needed four doors for the family.

Thousands of dollars later, it's up to snuff somewhat.. but a hell of a lot of fun to drive! I think it was driving front wheel drive reliable crap boxes for 13 years since I had left college that pushed me over the edge.

Car has 87k on it. No rust. Near mint original paint, interior is flawless including the driver's seat. I have the history on the car, where it was bought, who owned it for how long and how it ended up here in N/E from Indiana a few yrs back.

I have gone thru the entire front end, calipers, rotors, pads at all 4 corners. shocks at all four, some lines, trans flush, msd ign, wires +plugs, new carpet for the stupid a/c drain that flooded the interior this summer, tires, mufflers, k&n cold air kit, HID lighting, new hoses, .... the list keeps goin.. hypertech tune..

But in all seriousness, I bought the car to have fun again. I'm nutz enough to have gone and purchased a set of LTZ Caprice wheels to run this winter with winterforce tires on them. Should be crazy driving it through a winter, but... you live once... why not drive old school year round?

Anyhow.. I have rambled enough... cheers

Beautiful car, are you really gonna salt it up this winter though?

Pooge wrote:

Beautiful car, are you really gonna salt it up this winter though?

Yup... I am . Gasp.. Gasp.... These were made to be enjoyed..... I already have one car in the garage to be preserved for my son.
Life is short.! I pass a car wash every day going to work.. got a monthly pass..

Pooge.. I bought some door caps from you this summer I believe...

I don't see the idiotic part???

Welcome aboard! And that is the nicest color.

Sweet ass ride man! Welcome aboard

Nice ride. Hate to see it in the salt but drive it like you stole it. Good times in a great car.

A new member actually doing an Intro thread!


DO YOU NEED AN LTZ BEZEL!!!11!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!

Welcome! Hurts to see it get winterized but as long as you keep it clean I guess it aint all that bad.

Beautiful car too! Can't wait to see it at a meet.

Welcome to the insanity known as a b- body ownership.


Very clean car..... looks familiar? ...... Did you get it recently?

.... While it is a very nice car and your a lil nuts for driving such a clean car throu the winter, I am with you all the way on driving one of these machines through the snow.

....... I've done it years past.... If You can survive the winter in a B body you can pretty much drive anywhere.



..... what part of NE due you hail from?

Welcome!

toomanytoyz wrote:

I don't see the idiotic part??? .......

Agreed. Dumping a GP for a Impala? ...in a heartbeat.

Pooge wrote:

Beautiful car, are you really gonna salt it up this winter though?

Wraith'SS wrote:

I pass a car wash every day going to work.. got a monthly pass..

You can spend plenty of time in the car wash & you'll still lose that car to Mother Nature & her high sodium winter smorgasbord

Wraith'SS wrote:

..... I already have one car in the garage to be preserved for my son.

Do tell?

Welcome! Beautiful looking Impy ya got there.

welcome!
nice looking car!
I too plan on driving my purpala all year round. I good set of winter tires and we'll be just fine. It helps to have a short commute also!

Just put them up on a lift and Fluid Film the crap out of the bottoms. Shit works great.

Also, i had a buddy, had a 91 caprice from FLA years ago, he used to put used motor oil in the rear quarters, and drilled small holes in the top of the rockers, door jambs, b pillar had a spray can he filled, and sprayed it in the holes. lol, car NEVER rusted out in those spots.i think had 200+ on it before he got rid of it. So you could always try that. lol

Thank you all for the shout out welcome. Glad there are some B body owners out here in New England.

This car has a undercoat system that was done back in the day. Lots of little black drill caps all over the doors, rockers, quarters. Underneath is covered every inch in a film. Someone wanted it to stay rust free and I can bet it saw some winters out in Indiana. Little "z" symbols on those black drill hole plugs.

The deal is I have about 25 miles round trip each day to work, not bad. On the real shit days, wifey's car will be used on the wet crap salt days.
I just wanted to make sure if I get caught at work and the snow rolls in, I got fresh nob's to grip. These factory wheels/tires are llike butter on in a hot fry pan with a hint of dew on the road. Its absolutely nutz, I sneeze and the car will go sideways if the pedal is pushed to hard on wet roads.

I like all the cars you guys have out here. Glad to see some personality in them. I tend to lean my own car too stock looking with a few things done tastefully.

My other car that some of you have asked about, is a '77 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. Had it since '91.

I posted a pic on the thread last nite where the movie Impala's were shown .. and Seinfeld episode of George driving a SS, going past a '77 parked on a street. Some of the guys were mentioning they liked the old Colonnade coupes from the '70s.
As some of you may know, the B body's have their roots in the Colonnade's footprint from those cars back in the '70s'.

Enough babble... time to figure out some stuff thats nagggin me on my ride.. be looking for some insight...

Enjoy the game tonite.. Go Pats!

Wraith'SS wrote:

Thank you all for the shout out welcome. Glad there are some B body owners out here in New England.

This car has a undercoat system that was done back in the day. Lots of little black drill caps all over the doors, rockers, quarters. Underneath is covered every inch in a film. Someone wanted it to stay rust free and I can bet it saw some winters out in Indiana. Little "z" symbols on those black drill hole plugs.

The deal is I have about 25 miles round trip each day to work, not bad. On the real shit days, wifey's car will be used on the wet crap salt days.
I just wanted to make sure if I get caught at work and the snow rolls in, I got fresh nob's to grip. These factory wheels/tires are llike butter on in a hot fry pan with a hint of dew on the road. Its absolutely nutz, I sneeze and the car will go sideways if the pedal is pushed to hard on wet roads.

I like all the cars you guys have out here. Glad to see some personality in them. I tend to lean my own car too stock looking with a few things done tastefully.

My other car that some of you have asked about, is a '77 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. Had it since '91.

I posted a pic on the thread last nite where the movie Impala's were shown .. and Seinfeld episode of George driving a SS, going past a '77 parked on a street. Some of the guys were mentioning they liked the old Colonnade coupes from the '70s.
As some of you may know, the B body's have their roots in the Colonnade's footprint from those cars back in the '70s'.

Enough babble... time to figure out some stuff thats nagggin me on my ride.. be looking for some insight...

Enjoy the game tonite.. Go Pats!

It's been Zee-Bared or how ever you spell it! Thats the better company than what my two door got. Then again that car only saw snow if the little old lady owner HAD to grab some milk down the street

Your pictures aren't working Pete. I'm not sure why it seems like you're doing it right. I can only see them in the reply page. Weird.

Speaking of those roots, do the body mounting parts interchange??? OPGI makes the collars for the bushings, they're scare for 77-96 chassis. If you know I'd love to hear about it!

1984twodoor wrote:

It's been Zee-Bared or how ever you spell it! Thats the better company than what my two door got. Then again that car only saw snow if the little old lady owner HAD to grab some milk down the street

Welcome to our twisted little world of gas guzzling, full size body on chassis, anachronistic, type-Mesozoic "Iron Dinosaurs"!

I believe you may be referring to the following company:

http://www.ziebart.com/rust_protection/

I used to use Tuff-Kote Dinol. A local guy I knew would always execute an extremely comprehensive application for a nice tip!

http://www.trademarkia.com/tuffkote-dinol-73749505.html

I think they were acquired by Ziebart about 20 years ago.

Wraith'SS wrote:

upes from the '70s.
As some of you may know, the B body's have their roots in the Colonnade's footprint from those cars back in the '70s'.

Their configurational roots as a full chassis go back to the first "A"bodies circa 1964, , ,
- but the first identical chassis engineering actually comes from the 2nd gen "F"body's front suspension, which is "part for part", the same!

Wraith'SS wrote:

Pooge wrote:

Beautiful car, are you really gonna salt it up this winter though?

Yup... I am . Gasp.. Gasp.... These were made to be enjoyed..... I already have one car in the garage to be preserved for my son.
Life is short.! I pass a car wash every day going to work.. got a monthly pass..

Pooge.. I bought some door caps from you this summer I believe...

That's all i was looking to see..... Your paint job looks immaculate !!!

My 200K car is looking good for it's age. I used to DD in the winter but have a winter beater now.

An Welcome

My advice to you .... weld the hood shut and just drive...

-ALF out....

Welcome, nice looking car! If you keep it clean in the winter I'm sure it will last. I've done the motor oil in the body crevasses before, and it actually worked on my old Suburban for a while, next owner didn't and it rotted out. I found a car-wash that includes an underbody flush that you drive over entering the bay, which I plan on using this winter. I also use Klasse All in One for polish and Klasse Sealant Glaze, then wax over that stuff before winter, helps keep the crap from eating through the paint...it's an acrylic coating.

Does anyone know any of the big similarities/differences from the 71-76 cars to the 77+ cars? Is it just a bigger frame with mostly the same parts, with some different/bigger simply because it's probably a wider and longer chassis? Most parts I've had to get for them were the same as the 77+ cars.

I'd like to see pics of the Cutlass, didn't see them pop up in that other thread?

did you get that from the pros in mansfield?