New member 96 DCM Caprice Wagon

Hi all - new member here from west Chicago suburbs. Just purchased a 96 Caprice wagon, DCM color, LT1 motor, car only has 52K miles on it and is in incredible condition. Got a great deal on it. Purchased it off a very nice small dealership outside Milwaukee. Excited to learn more.

I am on the Impala SS Forum as well now.

- Dan

Welcome aboard Dan and a nice find.

Tom

nice. Welcome.
The impala forum is pretty much dead now, but has lots of good searchable information.

Welcome to the forum. You have what many feel is the best color. Happy modding.

Hah... the twin of my car...right down to the mileage!

Well, there were just over 600 made and we know where two of them are. Welcome to the forum!

Welcome on forum! Nice car!!

thanks all. looking forward to enjoying this car for many years to come.

i've already discovered the lack of positraction after doing a one-legged burnout. mechanic i bought it from said no tow package on it. curious as to what options it has.

here's my service code sticker:

Dang, I think this is the one I wanted to buy in Minneapolis a while back.  It disappeared and then reappeared on the Milwaukee craigslist a week before I came home from work.  She's a blue twin to my white one.  Nice score man!  You're gas mileage will be pretty good on the highway with those 2:56 gears!

Nice clean ride!

Non-tow gives you the all-electric cooling and tall axle gear. (42 MPH per 1000 RPM) Certainly a personal preference on if that is a plus or not.

Rev Bob wrote:

Non-tow gives you the all-electric cooling and tall axle gear. (42 MPH per 1000 RPM) Certainly a personal preference on if that is a plus or not.

In 12 years I still haven't met or read about anyone who prefers 2.56 gears. They suck, plain and simple, especially on the stock tune.

""Certainly a personal preference on if that is a plus or not.""

The long gear reduces NVH in general and provides added drivetrain longevity. Each owner decides what is important in their ride.

Maybe we will meet at the next wagon gathering.

To each their own. Someone could prefer 2.56 gears. I was just saying I had never met anyone before for whom that was the case. I could see tolerating them if I had to commute long distances daily on a perfectly flat surface. like North Dakota flat.

I would strongly disagree that drivetrain longevity is increased with 2.56 gears. It would be my educated guess that the 2.56 cars are far more prone to 3-4 clutch failure due to their constant 3/4 hunting.

I rarely have the occasion to drive over 100km (65-ish mph). 90km/h is pretty much my max speed in day-to-day driving. With 2.56, you essentially need to keep it in "D" in order to prevent constant shifting between 3 and 4. With the 3.73, my RPM is basically 100 rpm higher than with the 2.56 since I can actually efficiently use 4th gear. With a tow pack car (2.92), I could use OD and RPM would be even lower.

I've crossed the continent 6 times with B-bodies using 2.56, 3.42 and 2.92 gears. What you gain in the prairies with the 2.56 you more than lose in the mountains. Best overall mpg was with the 2.92. 3.42 and 2.56 were a wash.

""constant 3/4 hunting.""

Haven't experienced that.

""To each their own.""

We agree.

Glad to see you like them. If you haven't done so yet, get a PCM tune. You should be able to optimize the shift pattern and gain a few mpg.

I know the lt1 in the orange wagon is stressed much less with the 3:73's than the 2:56's,. the tune we have in it right now is for commuting,. its locked up in overdraive at 45mph iirc,.and it'll accelerate with out unlocking the converter,.
It;s been my experience thay people who have 2;56's and swear by them,. usually haven't driven anything else,. kinda like TBI owners defending their motors,. till they own an lt1,.

with the converter unlocked more than its locked,. the 2:56's will certainly warm up a transmission,.
unless you pull it back to 3 for even the slightest hill,.it,s abysmal in a 3/4 cross wind on the prairies,.
Some folks understand the hydraulic slide,...gm only put the 2:56's in so they could meet their cafe requirements back then,.

Glad we are all agreeing to disagree ,..

2.56:1 gears come into thier own at about 130MPH.  Sounds good to me!!

Welcome to the forum, where opinions run rampant!

Whelp, this happened. My mint condition, 63K mile, T-56 swapped, 4.10 gear havin,' road trip king had a bit of a barbecue this winter.







Car was up in storage from the winter (f*** Chicago snow & salt). Was a garage in Wisconsin with a heated floor and I had a canvas cover over the car. She was all nice and cozy but apparently too cozy. Fireman estimates that the radiant heat dried out the air in there. My father was up at the property for the weekend and had been in and out of the garage, apparently some gas fumes found their way under the canvas cover and got trapped in there. At some point, a static shock was introduced somehow and ignited the fumes.

The cover caught on fire, burned at a low burn for a couple hours, and went out. The car itself never caught on fire but the roof, roof racks & hardware, windshield, cowl, front and rear wipers, hood, window trim, belt-line trim, door handles, rear bumper, rear glass hinges, and rear quarter glass (on both sides) were all torched and melted. The cowl and wipers themselves just disintegrated into ash. My poor father's garage was thankfully still standing and undamaged, apart from all the drywall needing replacement and every square inch being doused in soot.

Insurance 'totaled' it and paid out a chunk but will be lucky to save it for that cost. I've got it at a paint and body guy now, he's found a lot of the parts and we're hopefully on track to have her fixed up by July. So much for car show season ...

Faaaaaaaaaack! I hope it can be salvaged. What a nightmare.

that sucks. Glad there wasn't too much damage to the garage. Looks fixable though.

ouch,.. hard to get the burnt plastic smell out of a bbq car,..

Wow,what a weird,perfect little series of events,that created this travesty. Good luck.

This is UNBELIEVABLE. So sad to see this.

I shared this and will be GLAD to look for parts here locally.

There was this SUPER CLEAN Caprice at Wrench-A-Part here in Austin in February that I yanked some parts from. I'll try to run down there this weekend and see if it's still there.






All the best!

-Michael

wagondan96 wrote:

Whelp, this happened. My mint condition, 63K mile, T-56 swapped, 4.10 gear havin,' road trip king had a bit of a barbecue this winter.

No way! Hate it when it happens to some absolute gems, but it looks very save-able. I hope it comes together for ya! Now you can say your cars been STORMIN' through a giant BLAZIN' fire and made it out alive!

81X11 wrote:

There was this SUPER CLEAN Caprice at Wrench-A-Part here in Austin in February that I yanked some parts from.   I'll try to run down there this weekend and see if it's still there.  

Ever walk through a pick n' pull, see a really nice one and ask yourself "how in the hell did this mintyness make it in here?"

Wagondan, super sharp car. I hate to see what happened to it. I hope that you get it back looking better than before the mishap. I would like to ask about your wheel and tire set up. They look like factory truck wheels? If you don't mind letting me know what they are off of and tire size I would appericate it. Thanks
MildBill

MildBill wrote:

Wagondan, super sharp car. I hate to see what happened to it. I hope that you get it back looking better than before the mishap. I would like to ask about your wheel and tire set up. They look like factory truck wheels? If you don't mind letting me know what they are off of and tire size I would appericate it. Thanks
MildBill

Definitely stock truck/van 5x5 wheels. Probably a 275/60R15 on them. Looks pretty bulky in the sidewall.


Welcome, btw.

Mild Bill - thanks, they are the 15x7 stocker steelies that came factory. They used to sit under the wire hubcaps, then I removed the caps and found some cheap plastic/imitation cop center caps on Ebay.

Tires are MileStar StreetSteel - 245/60/15. They are a muscle car-era replica tire but work great so far for an all-season, only have about 5K miles on them in dry and rain. Love the look with little checkered flag motif around the tire. Rides a little lower than the stock 75 tread wall tires, also my speedometer is off a couple mph (though I never re-calibrated it after the T56/4.10 gear swap, so that's likely to blame).

Interesting - did you drill the holes for those center caps then?