New guy & box wagon from Indy (soon to be 5 speed...)

Hey, I've been a member on the impala site for awhile and figured I'd join up here as well. Seems to be a pretty good crowd with a lot of information.

I come from the world of classic BMWs and started out driving a 1991 318is. It is now turbocharged among other things, and serves as a nice weather and track day/autocross car. It's a ton of fun, and gets great mileage to boot.

Oldish pic:


This last winter, in an effort to keep the BMW rust free, I was looking around for a $500 beater to drive in the snow. I was looking for something with a stick, reasonable gas mileage, and some kind of towing or cargo ability with minimal rust. The mechanicals didn't much matter because I can fix that, but I hate bodywork. It also had to be unique. I found this gem on Craigslist for $550 so I decided to give it a look. It didn't really fit much of my criteria, but I have a friend who had an old Pontiac Parisienne that I thought was different in a good way, as box B bodies are rather uncommon where I'm from.

when I got home:




A pic more or less as I got it except for some paint covering repaired rust spots. It's loaded with stuff for moving to college for sophmore year.


It had been sitting for a rather harsh 5 years, on a guy's driveway. Luckily it was on concrete and not dirt or grass, though it was under a tree and hadn't been run the whole time. It still had a full tank of gas, so luckily the tank wasn't rusty. It had some surface rust and a hole in the passenger fender, but other than that, it was pretty rust free. Or so I thought. Also, the trans (a 200r4 in these) had only first gear and slipped like mad when it tried to go into second. It had a massive trans leak, which is probably what caused this in the first place. I was also met with the pleasant surprise of a blown brake line as soon as I touched the pedal. I got it running though, and the engine did pretty well. I was about to walk away, but the seller then proceeded to do a burnout in the driveway with that little carb'd 307 and dropped the selling price....so 3 days later, after mulling it over, I came back with a uhaul and hauled it home. In went a $100 junkyard 200r4 from a 1988 Caddy, which later got a cooler and a CK performance shift kit. I then had a running, driving longroof. It's a hell of a cruiser.

It now has front lowering springs, C10 rear springs, Monroe SS shocks all around, a crown vic rear bar going in soon, a 9c1 steering box, a small sub in the spare tire well (yes, it fits in there with the spare tire) and some other small mods. The front lip is off an Astro because the nose looked really high after lowering it, and it has a few additional lights on the front. Uhaul made me a class 3 hitch for only $288 shipped! It also has a period aftermarket tach. The rest has just been maintenance, at least until now.

semi-current pics:





A few weeks ago, a friend told me that he wanted to sell his 1989 C1500 Scottsdale, so for $500 I had another car...and an idea. The truck has a 5.7 TBI in pretty good shape, and it has an NV3500, along with hopefully everything I'd need for a swap. That will be happening probably starting in mid August, though there really won't be a rush. Until then, I'm collecting information and knowledge on the tranny swaps. If anyone has any words of advice or tips or that kind of thing, they would be greatly appreciated!

The truck, with me washing it. Probably the first time it's been washed in a decade:

Welcome to the forum.

The wagon looks good low! It seems you got some good deals on those rides.

Thanks! The truck is particularly nice, and I thought about building that up instead, but the wagon can tow just as well and is so much more fun (not to mention comfortable) to drive. Plus it's pretty unique-that's about the only body style of GM wagon that I didn't see represented at the Power Tour kickoff over the weekend. Maybe next year I can rep the boxes haha.

EDIT: if anyone knows where to get the front bumper surround or has one for sale, feel free to let me know here or via PM or something. I'm in the market, in case you didn't see the duct tape.

Truck looks way too nice to pull the engine.I would leave the truck as is and find a f body LT-1
and a 6 speed to do the transplant.Your boxy has great possibilities as well.Bet the turbo really
woke that 318 up.Good friend of mine bought a 318 new and man was it slow.Even with a 5 speed
it was a dog but as you said economical.At the same time I had a 84 Tbird turbo with a 5 speed
and the suspension package and it was a fun car in the corners.I could run away from his 318 on
a curvy road for a few minutes until the brakes got hot but as soon as the straights got a little
longer I was gone.He later traded the 318 for a first gen M-3 and then everything changed.That
was an amazing car until it was stolen while he was on vacation with his girlfriend and never
recovered.Do you watch the 2 Guys Garage series on speed?One of the host just finished the
install of a LS-1 and 6 speed into a 85 318 along with a full suspension package.Makes for a
awesome track car with AC to keep your cool.

Hey gearhead, measure the height of the cargo area from the floor to the bottom edge of tailgate window lip. I know that dirty, rotten, filthy GM screwed us on cargo height when they went from the brick to the bubble. I wanna know how much they screwed us. Thanks.
Yer Pal
Jimbeau

flasheroo, I've thought about it, but the truck looks a lot nicer than it is. you can see the bed/cab mismatch, which leads me to think either the frame is tweaked or there is something going on with the body mounts. Those flares cover up some nasty rust, and the driveshaft is in dire need of a rebuild. It also needs a new clutch master. The doors are starting to rot, and the cab is rotted with patch panels riveted over the holes. Cheap LT1 F-bodies just don't really exist around here that I've seen. At least, not for what I could get for the truck, and I don't really want to be putting a bunch of money into this. I already have a fast car and a motorcycle, heh. Plus I'm a college kid and money is, shall we say, limited haha.

Not sure which 318 your friend had; the ones with big metal bumpers were very, very slow. The 1991 models like mine had the DOHC engine, which was much better, though still not fast. On an autocross course I'm typically within 1.5 seconds of the STi's and EVOs, so I'm pretty happy with it. I don't have TV at my apartment, so I haven't been watching much of anything. I know one of the guys on 2 guys garage has an E30 M3 with an LS1 in it though. That's a hell of a car.

jimbeau, I would go out and measure it, but the wagon (which my girlfriend named Humphrey) is back home. I'm only up here in MI for the summer as an intern, so no sense in having 3 cars and a motorcycle up here haha. If I remember when I'm home next I'll check for you. But just on a hunch I'm going to say that the brick is better than the bubble. And not just because of the cargo height.

Oh, there is no doubt. I had a 79 wagon for several years, and it was noticeably more utilitarian in height.
.
PS: Don't lissen to Flasherino; he is a moran. Wagons = Cool... Trucks = Teh suck (comparatively speaking)

jimbeau,what is a MORAN?And I taught you that wagons are COOL and trucks are cool sometimes
as well.You will never be cool at least while you are upright and breathing. We have to be
careful or we will get a scolding from our wonderful mods you moran!I am pretty sure that the cargo height of the box wagons were only a inch or two difference.I know that every inch
counts with you jimbeau at least thats what your boyfriend told me!

If you misspell a bad word, the mods can't come down on you. I read it somewhere.

Now, to business. I dig the old bricks. A lot of people do. They can't tell you why, and neither can I.
Perhaps the Gearhead has told us, but I don't see where his location is (at least the state, fer cryin out loud). That looks like a pretty rust-free one. Commentary expected to follow.

I will have to remember that you duckhead!

thats a cool wagon. I would buff out the paint (or try to anyways. It might sort of come back)

my dad had 2 77s in the late 90's/ early 00's. they were awesome. I'd love to own another 77-89 wagon someday. they were very practical and cool looking cars.
and good luck on your drivetrain swap. I'm currently having a new engine and trans put in my brougham.
also, I should be able to get you the front bumper filler strip (those caprices are common in the yards here)

They are getting a tad scarce. I'd look soon.
(clean ones, that is...)

I'm from Fishers, IN, I go to school at Purdue in West Lafayette, IN, and I'm currently working at Chrysler as an intern in Auburn hills. The wagon is currently sitting (yes, it's in a garage) at home. Seems like a lot of people have a thing for the brick-I had a guy in a brand new CTS-V wagon stop and chat for a bit at one point. That was pretty darn cool.

The wagon is a lot more rust free now than it was. When I bought it, I knew that the spare tire well was rusted out, but I didn't know that there was a rather large hole in the floor on the driver's side. I made patch panels for all the holes and welded them in, so the rust is gone now, even if the panels aren't the prettiest things in the world. I tried buffing the paint, but it's so thin and crazed that it was pretty much instantly burning through it.... right now I'm pretty much just going through, sanding off all the rust down to bare metal, priming, and painting just so the rust doesn't keep going. Eventually, depending on if I decide to make it really nice, I might go back and do a better job, but I just don't have time right now. I just don't want it to get worse.

There's a guy on Ebay selling the filler for $94, so maybe I should jump on that... before I moved up here I drove the car through the carwash...that was a bad idea. The front bumper now looks like it is just levitating in front of the car haha.

jimbeau wrote:

If you misspell a bad word, the mods can't come down on you.

I know where you live!

gearheadE30 wrote:

I'm from Fishers, IN, I go to school at Purdue in West Lafayette, IN, and I'm currently working at Chrysler as an intern in Auburn hills. The wagon is currently sitting (yes, it's in a garage) at home. Seems like a lot of people have a thing for the brick-I had a guy in a brand new CTS-V wagon stop and chat for a bit at one point. That was pretty darn cool.

The wagon is a lot more rust free now than it was. When I bought it, I knew that the spare tire well was rusted out, but I didn't know that there was a rather large hole in the floor on the driver's side. I made patch panels for all the holes and welded them in, so the rust is gone now, even if the panels aren't the prettiest things in the world. I tried buffing the paint, but it's so thin and crazed that it was pretty much instantly burning through it.... right now I'm pretty much just going through, sanding off all the rust down to bare metal, priming, and painting just so the rust doesn't keep going. Eventually, depending on if I decide to make it really nice, I might go back and do a better job, but I just don't have time right now. I just don't want it to get worse.

There's a guy on Ebay selling the filler for $94, so maybe I should jump on that... before I moved up here I drove the car through the carwash...that was a bad idea. The front bumper now looks like it is just levitating in front of the car haha.

94 seems a bit high for a filler. I could get one shipped to you for about half that (or less.)

That wagon needs 8' wide rims

cadillac kevin wrote:

94 seems a bit high for a filler. I could get one shipped to you for about half that (or less.)

If you can find me one with no cracks or rotting for that kind of price, color doesn't matter, definitely let me know and I'll take it off your hands.

As for those 8" wheels, I've been looking for some kinda halfheartedly, and I really like the truck rally wheels, but for now I'm just going to focus on the swap. Seen a few sets in the $100-$200 range in okay shape. I do regret not getting the $100 set, haha. Maybe when I get new tires I'll find some and get rid of the 15x7's.

Watch Craigslist close,I picked up a set of 17" impala SS rims and very good tires on 3 of the rims for 200 bucks.The rims need to be clearcoated but are otherwise in great shape!

You will probably leave to go home before the Impala Nationals in August (Week of Woodward). If not you should check 'em out. The hotel they used last year was across the highway from Chrysler.