Road race Caprice build
I'm posting this build here because of all the performance mods I've already done. It's an oddball but it's a genuine b-body. It started its life as a 1980 landau Caprice. It's currently a lowrider/sleeper/soon to be a fun as hell road racer. It's currently running a built Lt1/t56 combo w/fbody clutch pedals. I have 9c1 12" rotors up front. Tubular front control arms, 8.5 w/3.73's. Boxed rear trailing arms. ws6 front bar. 9c1 rear bar. Impala SS rear springs. Crown vic p91 front springs. Impala SS gas tank. Astro hydraboost. 9c1 steering box. Cherokee steering shaft. Chopped up 97 z28 cluster. Gbody buckets. 02 Taurus center console. The engine is a 383. Has CNC ported stock heads. Lt4 hot cam. 1.7 rockers
Mid headers. 2.5 dual exhaust. Torqhead 24x. Ford 80lb injectors. Fbody maf. Pcmforless tune.
255/40zr17 federal rs-rr on 17x10 wheels.
Ls1 Camaro rear disc brake swap.
Mods still in the works to be documented here are to add 05 Astro front spindles. 05 trailblazer hubs. 06 Gto front rotors. Ls1 fbody front calipers. Mark VIII independent rear suspension swap.
Add the ls1 fbody rear brakes and rotors.
I was gonna add a watts link or panhard bar, but I came this far so I'm gonna complete my dream of a lowrider/road racer. I'll post newer pics documenting all the mods soon. I'll have all my old suspension for sale also.
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Mid headers. 2.5 dual exhaust. Torqhead 24x. Ford 80lb injectors. Fbody maf. Pcmforless tune.
255/40zr17 federal rs-rr on 17x10 wheels.
Ls1 Camaro rear disc brake swap.
Mods still in the works to be documented here are to add 05 Astro front spindles. 05 trailblazer hubs. 06 Gto front rotors. Ls1 fbody front calipers. Mark VIII independent rear suspension swap.
Add the ls1 fbody rear brakes and rotors.
I was gonna add a watts link or panhard bar, but I came this far so I'm gonna complete my dream of a lowrider/road racer. I'll post newer pics documenting all the mods soon. I'll have all my old suspension for sale also.
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That's a pretty conservative setup. After running that setup, what would be your next upgrade? It looks like crazy fun to drive. I can't wait to get my girl out there!I'd love to get to Chuckwalla, Thunderhill, and Laguna Seca is still very much a bucket list track. West Coast Trackation 2023? Haha. I got into modding this car after living near and driving all the awesome roads around Malibu CA some years back. Mulholland Hwy, Decker, Latigo, too good!
Before I jump into my car mods, I'd say the IRS is an ambitious project that I'd be keen to see done. As far as I know it either hasn't been done or hasn't been well documented at least. While it may not be super necessary for most tracks, it'd definitely be very nice on real world roads, same with rack and pinion steering. Even the best stick axle is still a stick axle. Mustangs finally gave it up after all these years, despite having developed a very very competent stick axle in the prior generation. FWIW, there's some fairly rudimentary techniques to bring some mild camber and toe to a stick axle, but certainly nothing I'd call adjustable, unless you would consider swapping to something like this bad boy:
Cambered Full Floating CV Ball Drive Axle - CorteX Racing
Cambered Full Floating CV Ball Drive Axle - CorteX Racingcortexracing.com
but at that price, IRS swap makes just as much sense to me.....
I'll have to shoot you a PM on all the mods at some point, but it's honestly not that far from stock with A LOT of the basic chassis stuff.
Suspension
-750in/lb front springs, cut Vogland rears
-Bilstein shocks AK1053 circle track front, reg Impala rear
-1 3/8"? big solid front sway bar, stock Impala rear bar after trying many others
-10 year old rubber bushings throughout, stock arms save for UMI boxed rear LCA's
-Dick Miller triangulation braces out back
-maxed neg camber(-2.0) front with lots of caster(+8), zero toe
Brakes
-Astro Van front conversion with ducts, stock Impala/9c1 rear disc with ducts - "Got away" with stock front size for a few years until I skilled up and got faster
-G-Loc R16 front pads, G-Loc R8 rear pads
-Stainless braided flex lines
-Motul RBF660 brake fluid
Wheels/Tires
-Stock Impala 17x8.5 wheels, cheap and strong, but heavy
-255/40/17 Falken 615k+ tires - "Square" setup is nicely balanced, easy to rotate around car and cheap! These tires last a loooong time too.
3.73 final drive from my auto trans days - tall, but effective with all the available torque and stock engine redline - nice 75mph hwy [email protected],800rpm
Engine is bone stock OE 198k mile iron head LT1, with intake, full exhaust and mild 93oct tune.
One of my bmx buddies is a drag car fabricator, and built me this nice 4 point roll bar to my specs, so the back seat area is not intruded upon and I can still put all my track junk back there, since I still drive the car to every event. The cargo space is nice!
Here's a link to my rollbar thread:
Custom 4 Point Roll Bar
Hey everybody, figured I'd post some pictures of the custom rollbar my buddy built for me this winter. I use the car primarily for open track road course events and some autocross, and was looking to add some rollover protection while retaining the rear seat area for cargo/spares/wheels/tools...www.impalassforum.com
My buddy has a 97 t-bird that he tracks. It's pretty big too. We rebuilt the engine and added bigger heads cams intake, a fuel cell, coilovers, big brakes, radiator. That thing had crazy body roll. The fenders were cutting into the tires! We adjusted the coilovers and took her back out. We blew the trans and called it a day. Got it on the lift to see what the problem was. We forgot to bolt the front sway bar to the lower control arm! Haha! We ain't pros that's for sure!
Anyways, that's where I got the idea for the rear IRS swap.
That axle looks pretty awesome. I heard about the back yard way to heat the axle in the right spots to get camber and toe. Wears the ball joints though. I'd go with a heidts, roadstershop, or art Morrison irs for about the same price. This swap is pretty low buck.
Did you go with the f2b conversion or did you diy it?
I'll have to check the roll cage thread. I'd like to go that route but I enjoy the luxury of the 80's interior. I'd like to keep it sleeper/cruiser. I have an 84 Corvette that I'd like to put a cage in. I'm building a carbed 350 for it. I have a zf 6speed for it. That one is gonna be all track.
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