LROM July 2010 - My '95 DCM (And a Decade of Caprice Wagons)

CHAPTER 1 - SOME BACKGROUND

Just wanted to share my B-wagon journey. I apologize to those of you that have seen all these pictures, but I think there are a couple new ones here.

It's been more than 10 years since I've owned anything other than a Caprice Wagon. Needless to say I kinda like 'em. I bought my first one in January of 1999. It was a '92 L03 car. It replaced a POS Taurus that I had. I immediately realized the '92 was the best car I ever owned. In February 2000, I retired my POS Honda Prelude in favor of a '94 DGGM. I wanted the LT1. By then I was a member of the ISSF, and was quickly learning some of the fun stuff that could be done with the LT1 cars. I owned these cars for years. In 2006 I finally retired my '94 DGGM. It was approaching 400,000 miles. It was practically rusted to the ground. The '92 went a year later, also rust related. It had only about 250,000 on it. Here's a picture of the first "collection"



In 2004 I went looking for a replacement for my '94 DGGM, and rounded up a '95 DGGM. I got it in Atlanta. It was really too nice to drive in the winters, so with some protest from the wife, I decided to keep driving the rusty '94 for a couple years to keep the '95 out of the salt. Then I went to get a '95 DCM (which is actually this months LROM, which I'll get to in a moment). It was in Raleigh, NC. Also too nice to drive in the winter. Now the wife was really getting upset - I now had two cars that I wouldn't let get anywhere near salt. Finally I got my '94 MAB in 2006 that was a good daily driver. It's from coastal Florida, so it ain't perfect, but it's nice. Exactly what I wanted for daily driving in Cleveland. The '94 DGGM was finally put to rest. A year later I had Fred find me a '94 DGGM from Atlanta. It was a nice car, but again not perfect. It became my daily driver to replace the '92. I have since converted it to a T56, which makes it a great car, needless to say. That's my current collection: Two '94 daily drivers (a DGGM and a MAB), and two '95 "garage queens" (a DGGM and a DCM). My signature pic shows 'em all.


CHAPTER 2 - JULY 2010 LROM - MY 1995 DCM

So... finally onto my 95 DCM. I bought this car from it's original owners, a family with two young kids. It was your typical mom-mobile with 100,000 miles on it. The clearcoat was badly oxidized, it had an adhesive pinstripe, and the suspension was shot. Still, they maintained it well, and the interior was spotless. The lady that drove it only weighs about 100 lbs, so the seats felt like new. Really a great find, and I paid $4,500 for it... during a time when prices for these things were still kinda stiff.

I immediately fixed the suspension and got some lowering springs on it (Moog 5030 in the front cut one coil, Moog CC507 in the rear, Monroe SS shocks all the way around). I also hit it hard with compound - I used 3M's Leveling compound, which removed most of the scratches and even some of the orange peel. Several intermediate steps of finer compound later I had a fairly shiny car! Here are some of the most recent shots, with it wearing some Impala SS wheels:







As most of you that have been to the fest know, this car has been converted to a T56, which is the only mod I've done to the car other than the 4.10 rear end. Yep, a 4.56 rear would be better, and is in the works now. I'm also doing a rear disc brake conversion at that time. Below are some pictures of the T56 mod, including some pictures of the bracket install, the '96 Impala SS column with the Corvette push-button ignition switch (the proper switch for a T56 car), the gauge modification I did (eliminating the "PRNDL" indicator and lettering on the gauge face), and the hand-stitched "pleather" boot in the Blazer console. The mod was the best thing I've done to these cars - it completely transforms them into a different car altogether.














CHAPTER 3 - CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS

So... that's it. Unfortunately this car is not coming to WF this year. I'll be in my T56'd '94 DGGM daily driver instead. The DCM has a 3.23 rear end in it at the moment and it just isn't a fun combo to drive. I'm sure it'd get some serious gas mileage, though!

I plan on doing the following to this car in the next year or so:

1. 4.56 rear end with Bill Harper's Disc brakes
2. Install body colored door handles and black locks (got 'em already)
3. Maybe install DCM mirrors, but I kinda like the black - I'm on the fence on that one
4. Maybe black out the B and C pillars - I did this on my '94 DGGM and I'm not sure I like it
5. Restore or remove the beltline trim and install a DCM bumper filler
6. Paint the rocker moldings and wheel openings DCM
7. Maybe black out the window chrome - not sure... I think I need something to offset those shiney wheels!

That's it. That list has existed for a while, but it's been slow going.

Thanks everyone for letting me share my wagon story, and thanks to Tom for keeping this section going. I always like hearing about these cars.

Hope to see everyone at WF '10!

Now there's a fleet that would make anyone envious. Funny how women don't understand the summer / winter car thing. 400K miles on your 94--wow! A friend of mine owns taxi cabs in Boston he used to get 550K out of an LT1.

Anyways, nice story and you still have 3 stories of the other cars to tell.

Tom

Nice writeup Kevin.

Having seen this car for myself makes me appreciate it's condition that much more.

I agree with you and also say thanks Tom for the lrom section. Lorne.

some nice cars owned by a nice guy,.
the dcm was waaay too quiet when i drove it,. practice the rev matching,. heel and toe kevin!,

Nick

Nice write up and wish my fleet looked half as good as yours!!!

Yeah, we wanna hear about the other ones too!!

Thats a wagon that any enthusiast would be proud to own and drive.But you have 4 wagons that anyone would be proud to own and
drive.Thats a collection that I can only dream about having some day but you have every rite to be proud of your beautiful foursome.
Congrats on LROM and for setting such a high standard of care for all of us to aspire to.
Take Care
Flaheroo

Thanks for sharing. Great looking car too. Always enjoy seeing it at WF.

Thanks, everyone! I do wish I had more time to get through the "to do" list on that car, but the short driving season means I just don't get to spend much time working on it. The good news is that it has a nice resting place during both the summer and winter. Although if the wife catches on to how much it costs to run the dehumidifier in the garage during the summer I might be in trouble.

phantom 309 wrote:

some nice cars owned by a nice guy,.
the dcm was waaay too quiet when i drove it,. practice the rev matching,. heel and toe kevin!,

Nick

Yeah. The quiet exhaust will be fixed this fall... I'm picking up some intermediate pipes from Frank at the 'fest.

As for the rev matching - I'm getting better at it. Heel and toe not so much. I think I need to do some dash modifications to allow more clearance for my right foot!

Love it!! Such a sweet fleet and great writeup on the DMC! (and yes....I want to hear more about the others too!)

nice fleet indeed and a real dedicated savior of the beloved b body wagon. would like to have a t-56 converted wagon some day.has anyone done a tbi car is it worth it i only ask because my 92 is such a great car bought 5 yrs ago with just over 100,000 mi from original owner how has 173xxx. it just keeps going like the energizer bunny.

It has a small(quarter size) rust thru on drivers rear quarter. i prefer this one over the 96 rmw i bought from fred in nov 2009. Keep up the good work

crazyboutwagons wrote:

would like to have a t-56 converted wagon some day.has anyone done a tbi car is it worth it i only ask because my 92 is such a great car bought 5 yrs ago with just over 100,000 mi from original owner how has 173xxx. it just keeps going like the energizer bunny.

I think the tbi cars would be great for a T56 conversion. Is it the 305 or 350? Those engines have a lot of torque right off idle. In fact. an L05 (350) might even be able to pull off a 3.23 gear if you can find an M28 code (lowest gear ratio) T56. That way you could just round up a factory 3.23 posi rear to save some money on gear changes.

car is a 350 with 3.23 posi and uses no oil and runs strong. something to think about. what year of donor cars are the best for the conversion. what is a ballpark cost of the complete job.

Nice write up- nice cars........ See you @ WF..............

crazyboutwagons wrote:

car is a 350 with 3.23 posi and uses no oil and runs strong. something to think about. what year of donor cars are the best for the conversion. what is a ballpark cost of the complete job.

I would start with a 1993 Camaro or Firebird. If you have a donor car, look for "M28" on the SPID sticker. That trans has a 3.36 first gear and a 0.62 final gear. Might just work with the 3.23 posi and the L05 engine. I say that only because the L05 has a nice low powerband with a bunch of torque off idle. It might just work. You may find that you want to change the gears later to 3.73s, but in the mean time I actually think the 3.23 would work okay with the M28 trans and L05 engine. The T56 transmissions have a tag at the tail housing with a series of numbers. The M28 has an ID code that ends in -006. That's what you want. You don't want the -007 or -009 or -016 unless you plan to switch gears right away.

Once you get the trans, you need to either fab a clutch pedal bracket or get an F2B kit ($400), fab or get a T56 crossmember ($200ish), get a flywheel and clutch ($300ish), F-body hydraulics ($200ish), some odds-n-ends (figure $300ish). It aint' a cheap conversion but it's a whole bunch of fun. With some searching you should be able to find an M28-code T56 for a grand or so.

nice heavy flywheel and clutch will help with the 3.23's,.

Nick