September Wagon of the Month!

My name is Brent, I’m 34 years old, I live in a small town in Northeast Wisconsin, the dreaded salt-belt!  My dad is fully responsible for my wagon addition, as he owns a Funeral Home and always used the wagons for his removal cars.  Just for a brief history, I know my dad had a 79, 82, 85, 87, 91, 93, and 2 96 wagons!  ☺  I started driving in about 1995, and I HATED his wagons!  All my friends in High School called them the “meat wagon”, so I got a lot of crap for that and hated the wagons until I graduated from high school and realized that the wagons were pretty impressive cars under their woodgrain skins!  Lol  I was driving my dads 1997 Dodge Ram as I worked with him in the business and attended college.  My dad would always insist that we towed huge trailer loads of wood behind his wagons and not take the “truck”!  I thought this was crazy until I rode with him a few times and soon realized that the LT1 in the wagon could stomp the 5.9L with 4.10 gears in the truck.  I was so blown away that I found myself driving his wagon to do everything from towing to blasting thru deep snow.   Ever since, I’ve had the itch to modify a wagon in some way or another!  

The majority of my time was spent behind the wheel of my dads 96 Roadmaster Wagon.  In 1998 my dad got the itch to find a nice Roadmaster Sedan Limited, so I found him a Clean one in Florida with about 45,000 miles on it.  I jumped on an airplane and drove the 94 Roadmaster home from Florida and had a disaster of a trip home!  Lol   Florida had fresh snow at the Northern end of the state and that same storm dropped 15 inches across the US all the way from Florida to Wisconsin.  So,  away I went with slick (really really bald) Florida street tires!  When I made it to Georgia I soon realized that Florida people didn’t use “antifreeze” windshield washer fluid, so the washer fluid reservoir turned into a block of solid ice.  I was buying huge water bottles at the gas stations and dumping that on the windshield as I was driving to clear the windshield enough to at least see the road!  Lol  I counted over 300 cars in the ditch on the trip home, but I made it safely!  My dad ran this Roadmaster to 160,000 Miles and it rarely gave him any trouble.  

Somewhere around 2007-2008 I bought a 1994 Caprice SS wagon that was built by a wagon nut from the impalassforum.  It had 100,000 miles on it, but it was the nicest wagon I have ever seen in person (I don’t see many wagons, so it is what it is).  It was DGGM color and everything from an Impala SS was swapped into it and it was all done RIGHT, not cobbed together.  It had SLP headers, MSD ignition, Aluminum driveshaft, cold air intake, export pipes, 3.73 gears, etc on it.  I think I sold the car about 3 years later as It just wasn’t practicle to drive because I was afraid to park it anywhere, and was afraid to haul anything in it, because it was absolutely mint on the exterior and interior.  I sold that car with 120,000 Miles on it and got $10K for it, so you can gauge how nice it was.  

A few years ago I bought the Silver 95 Caprice Wagon that I have now.    I bought it from an ad a guy had on the impalas forum.  The previous owner had it listed for over a year and a bunch of guys all backed out and he finally lowered his price so far that it was worth it for me to drive 14 Hrs each way to haul this car home!  ☺  The previous owner (Rick) had planned on making it into a custom wagon and started disassembling it to paint it.  He had the car torn apart and he installed sound deadening insulation on every inch of the interior of the car.  I loaded all the parts into the wagon as much as I could and then the large things went in the box of my Truck.  I hauled parts out of Rick’s attic for 3 hours, and once again it was a snowstorm!  Lol  Rick’s kids or grandkids were all around because the schools were all closed!  After I had everything loaded up, I headed back Home to WI and decided to crash somewhere around Indianapolis I think.  The only reason I remember is because they were calling for -15F air temps and 60 MPH winds overnight and my Duramax NEVER sits outside and I had no clue if it would start in the bitter cold.  It was only a couple years old, so I really wasn’t worried, but I was a long way from home and wanted to get on the road North early in the morning!  Morning came, and the oil-burner fired right up and we motored North in 50 mph headwinds!  The Turbo was singing and the fuel gauge dropped like there was a hole in the tank!   After I pulled into my driveway at home, my wife came out and said “oh my god”!  I asked her what they meant and she said “it’s the ugliest wagon I have ever seen”!  I said, “yes indeed, but give me a few months”!  I must say it looked like vomit, black steel wheels, most of the trim missing, mirrors off, bumper covers, grill, etc!  lol    I fired the LT1 up with no exhaust other than the manifolds and stock cats, and it rumbled into the garage for its transformation!  For the next 2-3 months my wife rarely saw me, and she always came to see if I had another woman in the garage or just my wagon!  Somedays I wished it were a hot blonde, but lets face it, I can hardly handle the one woman I have, muchless a second one!  Lol  

The first few days were spend peeling the masking tape off of the body as Rick was planning out his custom paint sceme, and man was that 3 year old masking tape a pain to remove!  I then moved to fixing the roof rack leaks and sealing every inch of that thing with sealant and reinstalling the roof rack.  Then I had to finish sound deadening the roof and install the headliner!  Once the headliner was in, things went FAST, as the interior just needed to be put back in and obviously put on in the correct order.  Then I moved on to struggle with the dang door handles and lining up all the rods and things with only my 2 hands, I needed a helper to hold things or something because that took me longer than it should have.  Now it was time to install the inner door panels and that sound deadening material made this job 3X harder than it needed to be, but the end result would be well worth it!  After a few trips to the hardware stores to buy all the stainless steel sheet metal screws they had, I was back to working on the interior.  A new set of speakers were installed, and the armrest from the 96 RMW was dyed red and installed in the Caprice.   Now this was looking like a “Car again” according to my wife!   She still wasn’t into the red interior, but I didn’t care what the interior was because I had a low mile basically rust free wagon on my hands!  BTW, it had like 68,000 miles on it I think.  

Now I was moving onto some of the mechanical stuff that needed to be done, so I ordered a Pypes X pipe and 2 Dynomax VT mufflers and away we went making an exhaust system.  The export pipes were installed and OMG did this sound amazing, LOUD when you stand on the gas, and stockish quiet while cruising and driving easy around town.  When I say Loud, my buddy lives 2 miles from me and he called me and told me he just heard me pull out of my driveway and floor it!  (oopppssiieeee)   Now, it was time to scrap the mechanical cooling fan and convert it with Gary’s harness!  That worked great and made the car soooo much quieter. I hated the mechanical cooling fan on the RMW, and should have did this years ago to my other wagons.  I then sent the PCM in for a tune!

Luckily my wifes uncle owns a body shop, so it was now time to repaint the one rear quarter that someone fixed years ago and did a horrible job.  The SS grill needed silver paint, and I wanted the mirrors painted to match the body.  I had all the side moldings removed already.  They did a good job painting it, so I was pleased.  

After the paint was done, it was time for the SS Wheels to go on and a few other minor things.  I had the rear windows tinted, and installed a trailer hitch!   Now it was time to put the front inner door panels on and think about finally driving the old girl!  

I must say with the rear sway bar from a crown vic, (the previous owner was the original guy who found this mod), the Bilsteins, and the SS wheels and tires, this car handles soooo much better than my stockish 96 RMW.  It also stops on a dime because the previous owner put Police brakes on it, and the cooling ducts.  It’s almost hard to drive because the brakes grab the instant you touch the pedal!    

The last thing was to do a major cleaning of the car, it was filthy inside because of all the insulating and odds and ends and just sitting (inside) for the past 7 years!

Overall, the build process took me about 3 months to mostly finish, but then the last few things took forever (getting in to paint booth), so it took like 4-5 months to really complete all the things I had to get help with.

Green wagon











MY CAPRICE BUILD!

Insulating roof


Insulation


Roof rack off


SEM Roadmaster armrest Red!

Inside of my Dynomax VT mufflers.


Rear sway bar


BEFORE








AFTER

Since I’m posting pics, here’s a few pics of the 96RMW taking a beating and never missing a beat!

White Woody buried in snow drift lol!

Woody hauling lumber!








My wagon addiction will never end, and I refuse to run my Caprice in the Salt, so I bought this to get me to and from work! ☺ Its no LT1, but the baby Hemi Rips!


So that’s my story! Hope you enjoyed my rambling…….

Well done, Brent!

I love the snowstorm retrieval stories!

Next time I plan to pick up a southern car and bring it home to Michigan, I'm going to check your schedule first. I don't want to make that trip when you're bringing one home!  

Your Caprice looks SWEET!
And I love the "working wagon" pics, too.
Great write-up.

Great write up Brent,got a lot of respect for you and your Dad for reasons we both know.

 I always say you should have kept the DGGM wagon,you loved that car.

  Nice job on Rick's,thanks for the visual,I have he same color  9c1 that I am really trying to like.

 Your grill and headlights are in my plans so your pics are appreciated.

I think it's pretty funny that the Dodge Maqnum is the one being sacrificed to the Wisconsin winter salt gods. Saya a lot about how much you love the B-body in comparison.

lornejay1 wrote:

Great write up Brent,got a lot of respect for you and your Dad for reasons we both know.

 I always say you should have kept the DGGM wagon,you loved that car.

  Nice job on Rick's,thanks for the visual,I have he same color  9c1 that I am really trying to like.

 Your grill and headlights are in my plans so your pics are appreciated.

Thanks
Don't forget to paint those mirrors too, that really made the body flow better!

lakeffect wrote:

I think it's pretty funny that the Dodge Maqnum is the one being sacrificed to the Wisconsin winter  salt gods. Saya a lot about how much you love the B-body in comparison.

Ya, its mostly all plastic on the lower body, so that will take the salt much better! The Magnum being on the Mercedes Chassis is actually really impressive! Its no B body, but for what it is, I love it! It rides as smooth as my dads 04 Caddy DTS!
The Magnum I bought is an 05 with 30,000 miles on it! I didn't have a picture on my computer,so thats just a google pic of an identical car......
No worries, the Magnum is getting Tuner, Exhaust, etc right now! lol

Great write up Brent, great back story and pics. I drooled over Rick's car, but was in no position to bring it home. I like the silver/red color combo although not really a red interior kind of guy. I'm glad it stayed in the family and you have done right by it. It looks great.

I waas seriously looking at a Magnum....until I compared it up against the B-body wagon. Hauling capacity, gas mileage weren't even close. I was shocked and happily surprised and then found me a wagon, which um, led to an affliction we share.

I just like the Magnum because its the only thing I could find thats a realistic daily driver with 350 HP and rear drive!

I drove it on the highway about 140 miles at 63 mph and it averaged 28 mpg with a few wide open passing episodes, so I liked that, but in town it gets around the same mpg as the Caprice! The 4cylinder mode is what helps it on the hwy.

Brent,please thank your father for me because he created a awesome B body wagon fanatic.Your DGGM wagon looked great but this silver caprice is in a whole different category.If I was to keep my 95 RMW,silver would be my choice of color if I was to paint it.Wondering if its a genetic thing thats causes us to become wagon fans with the B body our wagon of choice!

Really enjoyed reading your write-up, and you've had and do have some nice cars! I really like that silver over red on the current toy. Great colors, and I'm so happy you saved it from a custom paintjob. It looks clean and classy just as it sits now.

Oh and the pics of the white woody buried in snow and driving in mud hurt to look at.....  

-Mike 

Thanks guys!

The white woody already had holes rotted thru the rear inner fenders, so it was tired already!

I just sold the White woody to a family in Minnesota and they LOVE it and are becoming wagon nuts themselves! They drove 5 hours to buy the wagon from me! They already took it camping, etc. I think they will buy another wagon before long! I told them, "its a disease" and its not curable! lol

turn them on to the site

Deadmanonduty wrote:

I ordered a Pypes X pipe and 2 Dynomax VT mufflers and away we went making an exhaust system.  The export pipes were installed and OMG did this sound amazing, LOUD when you stand on the gas, and stockish quiet while cruising and driving easy around town.

I was wondering how quiet stockish is. With my setup I have a very noticeable drone at light throttle and cruise below 70mph but over 70 it does go away. I have been considering the VT's for a while now to replace the turbos on my current setup. I just wanted someone with 1st hand experience with a similar setup.

I must say the is one fine looking Caprice and wish my Roady was even close but mine has spent its whole life in this salty environment and is holding up fairly well considering.

Honestly, at 63 mph (where I always set cruise), you can't hear them in my car, but remember, my whole car is sound deadened. Even If I open the windows when the valves are closed, its very quiet. No rasp, no roar, nothing, just a light exhaust rumble (i mean very quiet). Valves closed remind me of a newer Dodge truck with a Hemi on their factory magnaflow muffler. You can hear the faith rumble, but it better be real quiet or you won't hear them.

I'll post up a few video's of them in here.... One video is of it cruising with the tailgate open and then I stood on it to show the loudness of the valves opening. If you let the cats on, these mufflers are WAYYYYYYYY too quiet. I could barely hear them even with the valves open, but the export pipes fixed that. lol

VT's   cruising around 55 mph, and then step on it to open valves...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqmiapiP1m4

Normal-moderate acceleration, valves open...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7zSKiFb1Us

WIDE OPEN up steep hill!  lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3gjR0VTwAo

2nd gear let off down steep hill...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iRl7a2KxeA

Revving it in garage the day the mufflers went on....NOTICE they sound much crisper, becuase I used my wife's newer digital camera for this, so the sound is more accurate!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8_QKmocuyw&feature=youtu.be

That all sounds fine what I am wondering about is mostly the sound or lack there of while normal cruising at lower speeds under light throttle like 20% and under and under 50mph.  I do have the stock cats and have added sound deadening on the back half up to the front of the back seat on everything that didn't require the removal door panels, headliner or front seats (just don't trust myself to not get everything back correctly without damage and same reason my rear PS window rollers are still broke).

Here is a clip I shot to show my HID setup in the smoked housings which is different than the one I posted earlier and can hear the drone at various times over the radio (must of had the radio as loud as I did just to mask the drone). On that clip I was probably in the 40mph area where it actually is a little quieter than at 25.

Oh god no. Mine at 5,800rpm with windows up isn't even very loud inside. I know its insane loud outside.
40 MPH cruising I can't even hear mine unless I open the tailgate. If u let the cats on, yours will be silent at any cruising speed. They are very tame mufflers. If I rev it up in neutral slowly, the valves stay shut and even at 5,000 rpm its not very loud outside because the valves stay shut. Now stomping the pedal opens the valves and makes NASCAR like tones! Lol.

Thanks for the input, sounds like something I may do in the next couple weeks. I just really wanted input from someone with personal experience since it could of be a $300 mistake even tho the on throttle sound would of been worth it alone.

Ancient_1 wrote:

That all sounds fine what I am wondering about is mostly the sound or lack there of while normal cruising at lower speeds under light throttle like 20% and under and under 50mph.  I do have the stock cats and have added sound deadening on the back half up to the front of the back seat on everything that didn't require the removal door panels, headliner or front seats (just don't trust myself to not get everything back correctly without damage and same reason my rear PS window rollers are still broke).

Here is a clip I shot to show my HID setup in the smoked housings which is different than the one I posted earlier and can hear the drone at various times over the radio (must of had the radio as loud as I did just to mask the drone). On that clip I was probably in the 40mph area where it actually is a little quieter than at 25.

Watch this one and its clearly obvious that its silent. The slower you go, the quieter they get as the rpm drops.
VT's   cruising around 55 mph, and then step on it to open valves...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqmiapiP1m4

Did u buy them?

Yes, the earliest I can get them installed is next Thursday locally. They will be here tomorrow and I could probably run into Madison Sat or Mon but the shop here quoted me $60 to cut out my existing and re-weld the new ones (which I thought was quite reasonable) in so I will just wait till next Thurs.

I put 2 on my Magnum! Its super quiet. Almost stock quiet. I ripped the resonators off and now you can kinda hear it!

The difference is very noticeable in person , but not quite as noticeable on the clips I took of before and after.

Here are links to two clips I took starting out with a little WOT then set cruise to 65mph for a bit then sped up to 75 and set cruise for the remainder. My original Turbos weren't that loud but were just loud enough to get on my nerves.

Turbos

VT's