21 yrs & 520,000km's - engine untouched
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Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Originally Posted By: brianl703
Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Because back then US federal law required 55mph interstate speed limits and an 85 mph speedometer. Even US market Ferraris had an 85 mph speedometer lol. Oh yeah I think the police got a higher mph speedometer.
As I recall the Reagan administration did away with the 85MPH speedometer mandate in the early 80s. I don't know why the automakers continued to make cars with 85MPH speedometers until the early 90s.
I guess the automaker had plenty of 85 mph speedo stock and wasn't going to change speedometers until the whole platform got redone.
My dad's 1987 Hyundai Excel had an 85 MPH speedometer, but I am thinking that it is because it is impossible for the factory engine to get it beyond 75.
Originally Posted By: brianl703
Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Because back then US federal law required 55mph interstate speed limits and an 85 mph speedometer. Even US market Ferraris had an 85 mph speedometer lol. Oh yeah I think the police got a higher mph speedometer.
As I recall the Reagan administration did away with the 85MPH speedometer mandate in the early 80s. I don't know why the automakers continued to make cars with 85MPH speedometers until the early 90s.
I guess the automaker had plenty of 85 mph speedo stock and wasn't going to change speedometers until the whole platform got redone.
My dad's 1987 Hyundai Excel had an 85 MPH speedometer, but I am thinking that it is because it is impossible for the factory engine to get it beyond 75.
Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
The '80-'90 Caprice has always been my favourite GM car. Over here in the Middle East, they used to be the best thing since sliced bread, and were well known for their durability. Still a number of them on the road today, and one in decent condition does get you some good money - especially in Brougham and Brougham LS trim. Sure, things do go wrong (had 6 in the family) - central locking, sunvisors falling down intermittently, headliner falling down, exterior door handles breaking from their plastic frame, weatherstripping drying out...the list goes on. But these are all minor issues, and they are mechanically pretty sound.
I will add the Caprice in the 80's 90's and even in the 70's had one awesome cooling system...You were able to sit in 7 hours of bumper to bumper traffic with the a/c on and the car would not overheat..The bulk of the cars in the 80's and 70's would overheat as soon as traffic came to a crawl with the a/c on...I had a Caddy and several other cars that overheated all the time in traffic with the a/c running in heavy traffic...Besides that the a/c in the Caprice could have probably cooled off a 7 room house.
The '80-'90 Caprice has always been my favourite GM car. Over here in the Middle East, they used to be the best thing since sliced bread, and were well known for their durability. Still a number of them on the road today, and one in decent condition does get you some good money - especially in Brougham and Brougham LS trim. Sure, things do go wrong (had 6 in the family) - central locking, sunvisors falling down intermittently, headliner falling down, exterior door handles breaking from their plastic frame, weatherstripping drying out...the list goes on. But these are all minor issues, and they are mechanically pretty sound.
I will add the Caprice in the 80's 90's and even in the 70's had one awesome cooling system...You were able to sit in 7 hours of bumper to bumper traffic with the a/c on and the car would not overheat..The bulk of the cars in the 80's and 70's would overheat as soon as traffic came to a crawl with the a/c on...I had a Caddy and several other cars that overheated all the time in traffic with the a/c running in heavy traffic...Besides that the a/c in the Caprice could have probably cooled off a 7 room house.
Ya know shiningarcanin i wasnt going to post again until i got back to new york but i just had to say something here. Im reading and posting this from an iphone so please forgive the errors lol. Anyway i cannot believe that you are saying that buying something from another state is like buying from a foreign country. Things made in usa help contribute to the gdp and things made in usa by american based companies contribute to the gnp as well. State makes no diffrence.
In my experience anything that has an american/canadian sourced counterpart, said us/canada part is usually. Of better quality. Wheel bearings fo my cav for example. The ones thatvwee on it were not origonal and were made on china. The passenger side lasted a mere 20k ish miles. The originls were made in usa and lasted 100k miles or so.
Anyway back on topic. It does not surprise me one bit that a sbc would got for that long. Heck itd probably do a million. What i wpuld do however is fix it up slowly and use another car as the primary driver. Alternate between the two. The tcc lockup would be the first tuin i fixed personally.
In my experience anything that has an american/canadian sourced counterpart, said us/canada part is usually. Of better quality. Wheel bearings fo my cav for example. The ones thatvwee on it were not origonal and were made on china. The passenger side lasted a mere 20k ish miles. The originls were made in usa and lasted 100k miles or so.
Anyway back on topic. It does not surprise me one bit that a sbc would got for that long. Heck itd probably do a million. What i wpuld do however is fix it up slowly and use another car as the primary driver. Alternate between the two. The tcc lockup would be the first tuin i fixed personally.
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Well I bought a new winter beater tonight, a well maintained 120k mile 2000 Cavalier that my best friends wife owned for the past 7 years. The Caprice will get a bunch of stuff fixed over the summer and a new black paint job. It might get driven again next winter if my commute is shorter once again, but for the next couple months I'll be driving the Cavalier. I paid $1500 for it but can probably put 20k on it over the next 6 months and sell it for what I paid and still be ahead. I did however have to borrow the whole $1500 from a good friend, but I think it was the right move.
On another note, the Cavalier I bought has not broken down once in the 7 years they owned it so I think it might be a good one. Apparently it gets over 40mpg (imperial).
On another note, the Cavalier I bought has not broken down once in the 7 years they owned it so I think it might be a good one. Apparently it gets over 40mpg (imperial).
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Originally Posted By: caprice_2nv
Well I bought a new winter beater tonight, a well maintained 120k mile 2000 Cavalier that my best friends wife owned for the past 7 years. The Caprice will get a bunch of stuff fixed over the summer and a new black paint job. It might get driven again next winter if my commute is shorter once again, but for the next couple months I'll be driving the Cavalier. I paid $1500 for it but can probably put 20k on it over the next 6 months and sell it for what I paid and still be ahead. I did however have to borrow the whole $1500 from a good friend, but I think it was the right move.
On another note, the Cavalier I bought has not broken down once in the 7 years they owned it so I think it might be a good one. Apparently it gets over 40mpg (imperial).
Sounds like it would be the 2.2L OHV with the 4 speed automatic then. Cavaliers are good cars, they will hit a point where a few things need replaced, but overall they are fundamentally sound. Watch out for the Alternator, and from what I have heard (haven't had any problems with it yet, knock on wood) the cooling system.
Well I bought a new winter beater tonight, a well maintained 120k mile 2000 Cavalier that my best friends wife owned for the past 7 years. The Caprice will get a bunch of stuff fixed over the summer and a new black paint job. It might get driven again next winter if my commute is shorter once again, but for the next couple months I'll be driving the Cavalier. I paid $1500 for it but can probably put 20k on it over the next 6 months and sell it for what I paid and still be ahead. I did however have to borrow the whole $1500 from a good friend, but I think it was the right move.
On another note, the Cavalier I bought has not broken down once in the 7 years they owned it so I think it might be a good one. Apparently it gets over 40mpg (imperial).
Sounds like it would be the 2.2L OHV with the 4 speed automatic then. Cavaliers are good cars, they will hit a point where a few things need replaced, but overall they are fundamentally sound. Watch out for the Alternator, and from what I have heard (haven't had any problems with it yet, knock on wood) the cooling system.
Keep it going 'til it rots out from under you. Guys from states where they dont salt the road sand dont see this. Road salt damage has killed most of my cars. Normal driving habits combined with routine maintenance will keep just about any car running. I ran an 88 BMW 528e 350k miles on routine repairs and supertech conventional 20w50 and STP oil filters I know guys with 500k miles on cars that are used daily. It is the level of maintenance a car receives that determines its longevity.
Originally Posted By: eljefino
The 4 speed automatic cavaliers are great. You should like it at 75 MPH. The 3 speeds kind of revved out at highway speeds.
I can attest to this. A couple months ago I sat down and figured outbthe engine speeds at certain speeds in 3rd. 3rd is easy because its a 1:1 ratio. O think it worked out to 3200 at 65 and 3600 at 75.
Oh and andyd if youve seen the pics of my car in the salt belt thread you might change your tune. Not quite sure how but my cav saw 125k miles and 12yeArs on lake erie where it snows and salt is a fact of life, and remained pretty rust free.
The 4 speed automatic cavaliers are great. You should like it at 75 MPH. The 3 speeds kind of revved out at highway speeds.
I can attest to this. A couple months ago I sat down and figured outbthe engine speeds at certain speeds in 3rd. 3rd is easy because its a 1:1 ratio. O think it worked out to 3200 at 65 and 3600 at 75.
Oh and andyd if youve seen the pics of my car in the salt belt thread you might change your tune. Not quite sure how but my cav saw 125k miles and 12yeArs on lake erie where it snows and salt is a fact of life, and remained pretty rust free.
I drove the Cavalier almost 150 miles yesterday and I'm starting to get used to it. It really drives like new for being 10 years old and 120k on it. It was undercoated a couple times so it's not too rusty, just needs touching up in a few spots and a good undercoating and it should last me a long time. I see these cars in our shop for regular maintenance a lot and they are pretty solid. Most of our technicians and other workers own one as well.
At least I can say for sure its not the end for the Caprice, although I might pull the original 305 out for something more powerful and convert it to a 5 speed or 6 speed manual.
At least I can say for sure its not the end for the Caprice, although I might pull the original 305 out for something more powerful and convert it to a 5 speed or 6 speed manual.
GM did pretty well by the cavaliee/sunfire. Its not the most luxuriois, definitely not he fastest, but what it does it does well. That is to say, fairly reliable, confortable transportation at a great price.
I have 165K on my 02 with the Ecotec and 5 speed. A good car except for the hideously complex electrical system.
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Originally Posted By: caprice_2nv
the Cavalier I bought has not broken down once in the 7 years they owned it so I think it might be a good one. Apparently it gets over 40mpg (imperial).
According to Google Calculator my 1996 Cavalier 2.2 L, Auto-3 also gets 40 MPG imperial highway.
33 miles per US gallon in miles per imperial gallon
33 (miles per US gallon) = 39.6 miles per Imperial gallon
the Cavalier I bought has not broken down once in the 7 years they owned it so I think it might be a good one. Apparently it gets over 40mpg (imperial).
According to Google Calculator my 1996 Cavalier 2.2 L, Auto-3 also gets 40 MPG imperial highway.
33 miles per US gallon in miles per imperial gallon
33 (miles per US gallon) = 39.6 miles per Imperial gallon
Ahhh. Then slunds like the 3 speed. I forgpt the imperial gallon is different because ive heard thebus system called the imperial system. The 2.2can be decently fast but with the 3spd its kind of a dog. Oh well it will still serve you well.
I hope you keep that old Caprice running. I'd like to see how far it'll run before the engine finally give's up the ghost. How's the oil consumption on the engine? I am approaching 350K km's on my 350 TBI in my truck and the oil consumption is next to nothing running 0W30 synthetic year round.
The Cavalier has the 4 speed 4T40E in it. It still revs a lot higher on the highway than the Caprice but oh well, it is getting better mileage.
Oldswagon, don't worry I'm not scrapping the Caprice yet. I want to see if I can rack up more miles on it yet. It is going through a lot of oil but mostly leaking it. There appears to be very little blowby visible out the breather and nothing coming out the exhaust.
Oldswagon, don't worry I'm not scrapping the Caprice yet. I want to see if I can rack up more miles on it yet. It is going through a lot of oil but mostly leaking it. There appears to be very little blowby visible out the breather and nothing coming out the exhaust.
I want to know how you got the transmission to last that long. I had a Caprice with 4L60 (3 speed + overdrive) and it was known to go out relatively early, at 140K miles say. Only reason mine lasted was because I had a external transmission cooler, which came with the towing package.
Loved that car - or wagon.
I say don't put any FRNs into this car but find a nice 91-93 B body wagon on FeeBay, they don't cost anything there.
Loved that car - or wagon.
I say don't put any FRNs into this car but find a nice 91-93 B body wagon on FeeBay, they don't cost anything there.
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