New to American cars, new to V8's, new to wagons.

Hey folks. Recently picked up this wagon as an impulse buy. Had seen it a few weeks back outside a local tow shop and laughed at the idea of buying it. Then on my way to coffee the next day I stopped by to check it out. There's some rust, a few dings here and there, but for the most part the body is ok. Asking price was $1900, got it for $1200. 104K miles, 5.7L TBI V8, burgundy interior, tow package, vista roof, rear facing third row, most things are power.
Tow shop got it with a bad fuel pump and keys snapped in the ignition. They replaced the keys and fuel pump and it starts up fine every time. AC pump is intermittent, blows coldish eventually, little sound from right side speakers, and the driver seat belt has been removed :screwy: I'm thinking once I pick some tires I'll get some D window wheels with some meaty fitment.

As my other thread mentions, the Oil pump started going bad a few days after ownership (go figure). Picked up another TBI engine on craigslist for $400. GM Goodwrench crate motor that was in a '93 2500. It's a Gen I Vortec according to the block casting #'s, heads are too dirty to make out. Either an L31 or ZZ4, so once that's all cleaned up I'll be figuring out what hodgepodge of parts to put back into the car.

My car history by age of vehicle '73 Mercedes 280C, '77 BMW 320i, '07 BMW M Coupe (gone), '09 Audi A4 (gone), and now this Roadmaster. Love it so far, took 7 friends to dinner last night. Engine swap is a pain but for <$4000 into the car in the end I can't complain.

Welcome aboard morel!

Impulse buy! I love that because that's how I came to own my OCC. Just drivin' by in my Grand National back in 2001 and had to have it. My coworkers love to pile in to hit the pizza buffet on Fridays and the two biggest guys get in the way back.

Welcome aboard and have fun.

Thanks folks! Yeah I'm a college student so my friends are already eager for group rides, lucky for them I don't mind.
I guess here would be the best place to ask for light mods/easy fixes to do when the car is down for the swap.
Planning on
brake check up (intermittent ABS light)
T-Type steering wheel
Jeep steering shaft
Some stereo work (put some nice rears in, gotta do fronts and head unit+sub)
Fuel Gauge fix
Rear power window fix

Congrats on the best impulse buy ever.

Glad you found us.

I think you picked up a great first American car to start wrenching on. The first thing you will like is the parts prices.

I would skip the Jeep steering shaft and keep the airbag in the steering wheel.

I would put 6x9 subs in the rear and then seal up the area and try to dampen the mount to get better sound transmission. You don't get much of any treble communicated to the front of the car anyway. If you're transporting people on a regular basis, this is the best subwoofer solution, packaging-wise.

Definitely do the fuel gauge fix. I posted a how-to on the Impala SS forum.

Wait for the rear window sliders to fail before you dive into those doors. No sense doing that work ahead of time.

Nice! Welcome. You will be a wogoner for life now.

sherlock9c1 wrote:

I think you picked up a great first American car to start wrenching on.  The first thing you will like is the parts prices.  

I would skip the Jeep steering shaft and keep the airbag in the steering wheel.  

I would put 6x9 subs in the rear and then seal up the area and try to dampen the mount to get better sound transmission.  You don't get much of any treble communicated to the front of the car anyway.   If you're transporting people on a regular basis, this is the best subwoofer solution, packaging-wise.

Definitely do the fuel gauge fix.  I posted a how-to on the Impala SS forum.

Wait for the rear window sliders to fail before you dive into those doors.  No sense doing that work ahead of time.

You have no idea. I'm used to a minimum of $500 per repair for the cars. The old Benz is the worst of the bunch as the newer cars had warranty and the old BMW is cheapish. Looking at the catalogue for parts on the Roadmaster makes me so happy.

I'm fairly sketched out by airbags of this vintage, and my airbag light is on so i want to ditch it. With or without it it's still the safest car I currently own. And I figure with the engine out the steering shaft would be too easy to not do.

I like the sub idea. There's the lockable cargo and spare wheel well, space for one sub per side. And I saw a company makes door enclosures so I could throw a speaker or two in each rear door down the road.

Got a link for that? I haven't made an account there yet so searching is a pain.

Well the windows down't go up or down so I sort of have to fix that for the sliders to go bad right?

I have a sub in the driver's side rear compartment. It was simple. Take the panel out. Remove the door. Seperate the bucket part of the storage bin. Trace onto MDF. Cut hole for 10" sub. Carpet it. Screw the MDF to the bucket and install the prewired sub and drop the wires through a small hole you drilled but I forgot to mention. Reattach the storage bin to panel. Wire to amp placed on tire well. Drop panel back in place.

You're in business for a few bucks and a couple hours. Sounds great, too! It's not going to win any SPL contests, but rounds out the system nicely for short short money.

perhaps use a mechanical guage to check oil pressure,,
It'd be aggravating to do a swap and find its just the sensor?
good luck!

Toomanytoyz, that's exactly what I was imagining! Thanks for the pics.

Phantom, yeah there's valve train noise once it warms up and there are metallic flakes in the oil.

How to refurbish your sending unit. I did this 6 years ago on two B-bodies and they're still running great and non-optimistic on their fuel levels.

http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=235185