New Daily Driver (Caprice)

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

My girlfriend's dad said that the front bumper shock absorbers collapsed and won't return outward. What do y'all think about that?

 

[Georgeb]

My girlfriend's dad said that the front bumper shock absorbers collapsed and won't return outward. What do y'all think about that?

Can't you pull them back out?

 

[r67northern]

My girlfriend's dad said that the front bumper shock absorbers collapsed and won't return outward. What do y'all think about that?

I'd be surprised by that too ... It's been awhile since I've been around a square b-body, should the fillers just be "inserted" under the bumper, maybe everything is okay except that they're just laying on top instead of under the bumper lip?

 

[Stewzer55]

Now that does make sense that if they're collapsed, the bumper did look tucked in a way. I don't think replacements are available, they'd be yard parts if you can find ones that are in good shape.

 

[Georgeb]

A quick look at the junk yard pick earlier in this thread seem to indicate that the bumper is pushed back.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I tried to pull it back out by hand. That didn't work at all. I wish there was a way to decompress all that and weld it open. I'd do that or put new absorbers, but I was unsuccessful in finding any.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

So I figured I'd give an update on the old girl. I worked on it the whole summer and only managed to put a new hood and do brake work on the Jimmy so let's see if I can remember everything. After I got it back and painted, it wasn't running the greatest. After much diagnosis, it turned out to be the ECM, and there's still a little funny business going on there, but it runs pretty great. I also fixed the vacuum leaks, fixed the ignition timing, replaced the EGR, replaced the inner fender, installed a battery tray, flushed the cooling system, replaced the heater core, fixed the horns, did the XJ steering shaft, and replaced the wiper motor (still not all the way right). I had a new windshield put in, and I replaced the wiper blades. I worked on the lighting, and lighting there's plenty of. I got everything going right on the outside, but I'm still coming up short on the inside lights for some reason.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

The most involved portion was the interior. I lost my before pictures, but let me just say it was awful. The headliner was slashed, the dash was cracked and embedded with filth, the carpet was worn and ripped and extraordinarily filthy, and the seats were pretty dingy. The carpet was the worst part of it by far. I overhauled the entire thing minus the headliner which the folks that painted it did for me. I took the seats out and steam cleaned them to where they looked years better than they did. While I had that out, I tore out the carpet, which I doubt had been cleaned in fifteen or twenty years if at all. It was so nasty that I just drug it away from the house and lit it on fire. Once everything was out, I saw that the floor metal had a lot of surface rust all over and rot through on the passenger side where the heater core had been leaking for God knows how long. I cleaned the floor up with one of those black stripping wheels for grinders that they sell at Home Depot, painted it, and patched the floor pan. I then began to install and figure out the carpet. It was my first one so it was easily the scariest part of the whole thing because I didn't want to ruin it. I finally got it trimmed up and installed so I put my clean seats back in. I got a molded dash cover and installed it. I didn't glue it or mutilate the old one since this one is a perfect fit and makes it look as good as new. I replaced the crushed up sun visors with a good condition, used set off of eBay. I cleaned up the dash and all the paneling, replaced the lock switches, DS window switches, window motors, rear view mirror glass, horn cap, brake pedal pad, and radio/HVAC controller. It looks so close to a brand new car on the inside, and with a few more small tweaks, it will.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

So what do I have left? Well, I could let this project go on forever, but here are some things that I will chip away at for the next few months so I can switch to working on solely my Jimmy in hopefully March. If anyone can give me pointers, it would be much appreciated.

1. I need to hook up my radio and HVAC controller, as this a sub-project in hiatus for the next week.
2. I have an amp and bought a wiring kit so this is upcoming somewhere in the next few weeks.
3. I will have to take it to the shop one afternoon to have a valve core replaced in the accumulator and the O rings at the back of the compressor.
4. I need to fix my interior lighting. I have one floor lamp that works fine, but the other one is really dim with a brand new bulb. My dome lamp, map lights, underhood light, and trunk light, don't work at all. Any ideas?
5. I need to do my instruments and lube my cable. All I have are speedo and gas. Not even the dummy lights work because the sender wires were all clipped by a dummy. I have the 9C1 cluster that @RetroC10Sport sent me, and I have the 9C1 auxiliary gauge set. I need to somehow turn the odometer forward on the new cluster and replace the lightbulbs with Silver Star incandescents. I have to install the auxiliary gauges, but I am not sold on cutting the dash. I thought about making a wood box painted with Minwax to resemble the dash that would protrude from the dash, and I could feed the wires through the ex-cigarette lighter hole. Opinions?
6. I need to replace the window sweeps, which I have, and the side view mirror glass, which I have.
7. I want to get the antenna motor working because that's a really cool thing that does work on my dad's Caprice. I also need to figure out my issues on the wiper motor...
8. I think I need to apply some supplementary sealant around the edge of the windshield. It doesn't leak, but I hear air when I drive it.
9. Something that bothers me are about a half dozen wires under the hood that are either cut or chewed, and I don't know what they go to. They're all on the passenger side and either to the side of the engine or behind it. Also, my ECM works fine, but I can't interface with it. SES light works but it doesn't flash, respond to a paper clip, or respond to my c.1985 scan tool. I'm guessing it's shorting out, but I have no idea where or if that's even the problem.
10. I need to do some odds and ends like align the steering wheel after the shaft mod, the car diesels, and there is some RPM dependent ticking that goes on only driving when it's cold. The timing's in a happy spot, the condition doesn't respond to curb idle mixture adjustment, and I have no good way to check the temp. It's only overheated once, but it was leaking coolant out of the heater core. No more since then. Fan clutch is good, both rad hoses get hot after flush, oil level is maintained, t-stat is opening. It only diesels once the car is warmed up, though, and it's only a few coughs, never more. I'd also like to put an alarm and a kill switch in there.

Once the car has been restored to a functional member of car society to my liking, I have a free L69 305 that my brother gave me with 601 heads that'll go in there. My dad had a cylinder head shop rebuild the heads, but I don't know if they ported them to 1.94, and I know he doesn't know. In my dreams, I guess. It has new rings and pistons, and the block was honed out. This is all I know of, but it could be a proto-Vortec motor, and I'm just not aware. It's practically new, and what I have planned for it is an Edelbrock 3701 Performer Intake, a Summit Racing K1102 flat tappet camshaft, a set of headers, a friendlier Y pipe, an AIR delete, and I guess a heated O2 sensor to cope with the loss of back pressure that enables the single wire sensor to function properly. I'm not gonna mess with the heads because even if they haven't been ported, they're brand new, and I don't wanna disrupt that for a few horsepower. I'm not trying to build a racecar, but I'd like a nice, peppy motor in the end. 300 HP is my goal, but if I don't get there, it'll still be noticeably better than it was with a peanut cammed LG4 weenie 305.

 

[r67northern]

Great work, you have really done a lot. You've really saved this old girl, well done sir.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Thank you! That means a lot. I did the best I could, and I'll press on when I can for the next half year or so.

 

[HotRodPC]

300hp out of a WeeOFive and without headwork??? That's a far stretch way out there buddy. Just to let you know.

You've brought it a long way though from when you got it.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

You're right there. I'm hoping something's been done to them. I'm pretty sure my dad spent a small four figures on those two heads. And that was like ten years ago.

 

[moorevisual]

nice box, and great work bringing it back to life. mine has been in paint prison for the past 8 months, damn I miss her!

I also feel like there's a lot to be done to help thwart those who want to steal it. Kill switch, security system, steering column lock, etc. Thoughts?

not sure if you ever addressed this, but on mine I added an aftermarket steering wheel with a slim quick disconnect. probably not the direction you're going since you're keeping the stock look, but just figured I'd mention it. i'm actually going to do the same thing to my c10.

pics from when I put the new carpet in, but you can see the wheel detached.

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I've done a few cool little mods, I'm particularly proud of these caddy coupe rear reading lights I fitted

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[1987 GMC Jimmy]

nice box, and great work bringing it back to life. mine has been in paint prison for the past 8 months, damn I miss her!



not sure if you ever addressed this, but on mine I added an aftermarket steering wheel with a slim quick disconnect. probably not the direction you're going since you're keeping the stock look, but just figured I'd mention it. i'm actually going to do the same thing to my c10.

pics from when I put the new carpet in, but you can see the wheel detached.

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I've done a few cool little mods, I'm particularly proud of these caddy coupe rear reading lights I fitted

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Amazing workmanship. I've seen those lights in the Fleetwood Brougham but nice work incorporating them into the Caprice. It really looks like something out of a movie. What is paint prison?