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Is an '89 considered 2nd gen? My dad beat the snot out of my Firebird for years and only changed the oil. That trans has been fantastic to me, got even better when I serviced it. I don't know why people hate on the 700R4 so much. I'm gonna blame "peddle stabber" type driving, where the treat the throttle like an on/off switch. -
@Tiggie: Definitely for appearance; I haven't noticed any difference in wind noise since pulling the trim. Plan with Kira is to get as much urgent body work and any wear items that pop up done before winter hits. The pace is going to be fast and furious. Some stuff will have to wait until I get Ebyt back in late September but the sooner I bang this other stuff out the better. Long term plan is 285/45or50/R17 tires at all four corners (supposedly you can run 275s easily on these cars and eyeball test seems to agree), '94-'96 Impala SS wide track disc brake rear end, 3.23 or numerically higher final drive, bigger front and rear disc brakes, quicker steering box, revamped suspension front and rear, polyurethane bushings for anything that needs to stay put, delrin bushings for anything that needs a range of travel, full HVAC delete, welded in roll cage, carbon fiber driveshaft, extra chassis bracing, ceramic coated long tube headers with 2.5 inch straight pipes, 383 stroker with forged rotating assembly, port matched stock heads & stock intake plenum, Lunati camshaft for a slightly broader power range, and upgraded 4L60E internals from Sonnax. Probably missing something but those are all the big ticket items I could name off the top of my head.
@DerekTheGreat: Do it. Just be 100% sure it hasn't been neglected mechanically because 700R4 based transmissions and gen 2 SBCs are highly intolerant of such treatment. Depending on how skeptical you are of the former's reliability you can just run a big stacked plate cooler and call it good. Or go above and beyond with parts from Sonnax to. (You'll want a beefy aftermarket cooler in either case). I put thousands of hard miles on Ebyt every year and expect to do the same with Kira once she's more suitably equipped to do so. Will spring for upgraded 4L60E parts before long....
Good news all around here. Was able to schedule a whole bunch of work for the following week- door hardware (pins, bushings, etc.), tune up, and alignment. Also found a guy who specializes in rust repairs and metal fabrication- got quoted ~$800 to patch the driver side rear quarter, driver side rear dogleg, and middle of the rocker panel on the driver side. Stuff's going to be left in self etching primer which isn't ideal but it's better than leaving gaping holes with exposed metal. The guy's done a couple of these cars before and is familiar with the multitude of inside-out rust that they tend to get. Would like to get some work done on the passenger side too, time permitting.
One area that won't be getting any help before winter is the front section of both rocker panels. You know, the stuff that meets the cowling? It's already blown out- especially so on the driver's side because of some hack job bondo bucket repair job. Was fun scraping all that garbage out earlier. So I'm not particularly worried about it becoming any worse over this winter because it's already fucked. That will get done come spring 2021, plus the doors, plus whatever remains on the passenger side. Then it's maintenance, HVAC delete, audio upgrades (head unit, speakers, subwoofer, amplifier), wide track rear end, better final drive, and wider wheels & tires. Exhaust if I can swing it, but I'd like to get some big ticket items done on Ebyt too so we'll have to see. Really excited in any case. Land yacht master race!!!!Leave a comment:
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My guess on that trim is either appearance or wind noise reduction. I’ve noticed similar stuff on the wife’s S10. Full of cavities to catch salt. Hers is mainly in the Xtreme trim stuff. I guess GM was designing it to last whatever the corrosion warranty was.
What’s the plan for this one?Leave a comment:
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My '94 Caprice "Kira"
There are two main flavors of cars that fall under the "must own before croaking" category- automotive idols if you will. One is '79-'94 panthers. The other is '91-'95 B bodies- specifically Caprice sedans and any one of the three station wagon models. Been researching go-fast parts on and off over the years. The B bodies remarkably similar to panthers in that regard- there are plenty of readily accessible avenues to tricking one out. The same concepts apply! Reduce weight, increase torsional rigidity, upgrade brakes, suspension, and tires. Improve engine reliability and increase power when possible. It all comes down to how much you want to spend. Obviously there are going to be rust problems from normal use as well as water traps- that comes with the territory. But I figured a bubble B body would be more familiar to me than not. And considering they're slightly newer than most panthers I was eyeing, I figured a car like Kira would be a slightly less rust prone basis from which to build the ultimate land yacht. Not a competitor to Ebyt or Eva, but a stablemate. A different take on the same amazing concept. A sensible acquisition if there ever was one.
Little did I know what I was getting into whilst shooting the shit with a coworker at a nondescript UPS warehouse in early 2019. Plans for our fleets was among the many things we talked about. He mentioned having a '94 Caprice as a winter beater/backup spring daily driver. He had more or less a complete service history from his entire 5+ year ownership tenure. I also consulted with him periodically as he knocked out some wear items on his summer cruiser- an interesting olive drab '06 Grand Marquis. As the wild peak season of 2019 wound down and snow began to melt, problems began to mount with my coworker's Caprice. It was starting to spring small leaks from multiple areas. It needed a tune up. And it was becoming a little too far gone to keep as a winter beater/backup spring daily driver. After some further discussion and running numbers for wear item replacements on the Caprice, my coworker elected to have the car go to someone who will go the distance and restore the car as opposed to just part it out and then junk it. The price was right. FREE!
The car was optioned right- tow package LT1 car so it's got sort of okay cooling for power steering and transmission. All four fluids were done religiously every other year so those systems are in great shape. LT1 has 200,000+ miles but plenty of compression and power. Cloth seats that last forever and are super comfy. And so on. Just a really solid car mechanically and ergonomically- though the sloppy shift linkage makes it easy to miss 2nd gear when manually rowing the gears.
What wasn't right? The body. For a car 5 model years newer than Ebyt and 9 model years newer than Eva you wouldn't know it. '91-'96 B bodies have a number of built in design flaws when it comes to rust. You will see them in detail in the first build update video. Needless to say I vacillated between excitement and nervousness when I took ownership of Kira yesterday. But in spite of many things being very wrong with her, I never felt unfulfilled or disheartened at the purchase. There was never a dull moment- eerily similar to my early misadventures with Ebyt and Eva. It all just felt okay. That's when I knew this was the right path. And it's always the first step that's the hardest.
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