update on the 89 Caprice - 529,000km's/329k miles

[caprice_2nv]

LOL, that is awesome, my friend had a Jimmy he had to do something similar with his body mounts, his method was not as original as yours though.

Actually the car is worth about $250 to take the whole thing to the junkyard right now, and I would likely first pull the engine and trans and replace them with junk ones just for the weight, and get the same amount.

Or I could pull the engine and trans, and sell other misc parts like the front header panel and grill (grill was a brand new replacement by the last owner when a drunk driver hit her), rear bumper filler, tilt steering wheel and column, etc. and I would likely make more than $250 total, plus save spare parts for the 83 Caprice.

I just want to put a few more miles on it and save getting salt and sand on the new one until next year. I also want to upgrade the new ones suspension a bit for better handling, add an O/D transmission for better fuel mileage, and swap in my posi 3.08 rear end I have for it.

 

[addyguy]

I love hearing about 'hack' body/floor repairs using stuff like hockey pucks, sheet metal, roofing tar....real 'Canadian' stuff, LOL!!!

Sounds like a good plan, get the last use you can out of this one, and then use the other one next year. I went back to the thread you posted on your 1983, and was reminded of just what a nice car it is!

Get it rustproofed, and it will go forever!

 

[Papa Bear]

About 25 yrs too late on that rustproofing ....

 

[caprice_2nv]

Nope, not on the 83. It was undercoated every year since new and stored every winter until last winter. There is currently no rust whatsoever on it or under it. It's too late for the 89 though that's for sure.

 

[Oldswagon]

That old Caprice just won't die! I have had my share of beaters too, but be careful with the holes on the floor. I mean, I remember when my winter beater '85 Olds was nearing the end of its life the floors started to rot under the rear seat. I knew I was getting rid of the car soon, so I just cut the old rusted sheetmetal out, riveted in fresh steel, then sealed it all up to make it water tight. Took me a few hours to fix and even after driving though a rain storm, it was bone dry under the rear seat. When the the car went to the scrap yard (soley due to rust), the patches still were fine.

Around this area, the police and MTO have projects to pull unsafe cars off the road. Be careful traveling back and forth to Toronto you don't get stopped. Most cops don't know much about cars, but even one with basic knowledge can spot holes in floor boards.

Keep that '83 Caprice, these are next to impossible to find in mint shape in Ontario. If you get it Krowned it should help it last through the winter. My dad drove a '76 Malibu in the winter up until a few years ago and the Krown kept it virtually rust free (ALL original sheetmetal), but he is also VERY meticulous.

If you ever sell that '83 Caprice, let me know, I might be interested.

 

[caprice_2nv]

update:531,642km's tonight - highbeam switch buggered up tonight and now its stuck on highbeams so I'm going to have to fix that tomorrow. Other than that it's been trouble free lately, just keeps going and going.

There is no rev limiter but I do rev it to to the point where it stops making more power, on a regular basis.

I'm definitely not selling the 83. I'm going to do some handling upgrades next summer to get it ready for driving. It needs better springs/shocks, front and rear sway bar upgrade, trailer hitch, and wider rims. Then it should handle a bit more like my 89 does now.

I am not driving to Toronto much now, since things didn't work out with me and the girl I was seeing there. Now I just drive along hwy #7. Not sure if the MTO does any of their blitz [censored] out here or not. The cops here are pretty decent though.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Update, I'm at 534,700km's now. I just changed the oil filter to a larger capacity Wix one for a 454 dump truck, holds like like a qt of oil, but haven't changed the oil since 527,200. It's black now and I just stopped putting synthetic in. Switched to whatever cheap dino 5w30 for top up (leaks about a litre every 800 miles or so) but no visible signs of blowby, appears to be leaking from a combination of the valve covers, oil pan gasket, back of intake gasket and a bit of the timing cover gasket.

 

[caprice_2nv]

-31C cold start 89 Caprice with 535,000km's on it

 

[caprice_2nv]

Also have a video on photobucket of my girlfriends 99 Subaru with about 70k miles on it, trying to start the day before. We suspect it needs a fuel pump, takes sometimes 50+ tries to get it to start and stay running, but the transmission is starting to slip really bad so were looking at getting her something older and more reliable.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

When I watch the old In The Heat Of The Night TV shows it reminds me all the time how awesome those cars were.

 

[caprice_2nv]

I finished off the car the other night, I was off roading with my gf in the fields behind her house and got hung up on a rock that I couldn't see under the snow. I blew a brake line trying to rock the car back and forth to get unstuck. At that point I decided it wasn't worth fixing again, so I gave no mercy until I finally got out. Then drove it pedal to the medal the whole way back. The temp gauge was almost in the red by that time and I looked under the hood and the exhaust manifolds were glowing bright red. It still runs fine but it has a blown brake line, loose shifter linkage, and an exhaust leak now.

I spent an hour digging out the 83 Caprice from the snow and swapped the battery in and it started right up. So the 89 Caprice is done now, but it did reach 535,700km's and it was being driven very hard towards the end.

 

[addyguy]

Awesome - getting every last ounce of use out of an old car. THAT'S the way to do it!

 

[Scienceman]

Cool!