83 caprice wagon wheelie build (hopefully)

[Blmpkn]

I fell in love with wagons while owning a turbo subaru outback. I fell in love with big v8 rear drive American cars while owning a crown vic..

So when it was time to purchase a weekend cruiser.... I combined my loves and bought a big one.

1983 chevy caprice classic Station wagon. Fully loaded. Dismal 305/700r4 combo. 2.72 rear gears. 15.6 seconds to 60. Wouldn't spin a tire. It DID get 21ish mpg though.

Drove it for the summer, decided it would be more fun if it was fast.. and started amassing sbc turbo parts.

When I learned about how much easier it was going to be to make big power with an LS.. I sold off my sbc parts and jumped on the bandwagon.

Now... 4ish years later... after acquiring a bank breaking amount of parts... I've finally got the car from where it had been hibernating to my house where I can finally start the swap.

Hopefully next weekend will bring the removal of the old motor & tranny.

All said and done.. the car will have an e-carbed 4.8 twin turbo LS, an FTI level 4 transbrake th400, a ford 9" rear end, big sticky tires, and hopefully still look like a complete bucket.

Making the interior safe to sit In after years of mice inhabitation will probably be more work than all the mechanical crap..

Being this close to driving the car again has me super excited and motivated.

At first all I wanted was a neat old turbo car that could actually do a burnout.. but considering my potential power output has gone through the roof going from a gen1 to a gen3 motor my ultimate goal now is to get it to pull at least one front tire off the ground when I let off the transbrake.

 

[racsan]

Find a way to mount a V8 350 in the back & utilize a V-drive. easy wheelie. google “stubby bob-roadkill”. Same general idea.

 

[Blmpkn]

Find a way to mount a V8 350 in the back & utilize a V-drive. easy wheelie. google “stubby bob-roadkill”. Same general idea.

Stubby Bob sure does rip a sweet wheelie lol, kinda cheating though. I wanna do mine the old fashioned way

 

[89Twincharge]

Truck ls and $500 ebay parts that thing will pull some wheels, what ya doing for trans 4l60? If so better get Billit internals!

 

[Dirtman]

A turbo 400 can handle that all day long.

 

[snoranger]

Find a way to mount a V8 350 in the back & utilize a V-drive. easy wheelie. google “stubby bob-roadkill”. Same general idea.

I would think an old Caddy 500 and turbo 425 would be the easiest way to accomplish that.

 

[Dirtman]

If the caddy 500 is in the front I doubt any amount of power would be able to lift that thing off the ground. Those iron dinosaurs weigh almost half a ton

The 6.2 LS makes nearly twice the power (way more than double the power if we're talking a bone stock 500) with nearly half the weight.

The old big block caddies were cool but they are absolutely archaic compared to any even slightly modern engine.

 

[Blmpkn]

(Terrible) parts pictures!

In order..

•ChingChong up & forward turbo headers, tial wastegate (need to purchase another one)

•holley sniper intake, FiTech electric carb

•holley conversion oil pan kit

•b&m nitrous holeshot converter 2700rpm stall (for now), holley dipstick

•ICT billet valley cover and conversion motor mount plates, ICT timing cover w/ turbo drains

•ChingChong breather tank & air oil seperator

At my mothers is an FTI level 4 th400. Rated for 900hp, trans-brake, retains engine braking in 1st and 2nd. Google "th400" if your too impatient for me to take a picture of this.

I have everything I need to put the motor and tranny in the car, minus new mounts. I'll just need to figure out at what position I need to put the conversion mount plates on the motor, and move my tranny crossmember back a few inches.

The "to-buy" list for it to run & drive is a bit longer..

New fuel tank, pump, and lines
Ignition controller
Fittings and line for pcv
Tranny cooler, lines & fittings
Bigger rad & e-fan
Custom driveshaft
Front end rebuild
Wheels/tires
Shifter
Exhaust


Not that much right? Lol. It probably won't end up being turbo'd this year.. as that'll add over a grand in "extra" parts.. but I'll just be happy to have it back on the road and having fun with it after seeing it sit for way too long.

When I inevitably grenade the stock 10 bolt rear I'll be slapping in the ford 9". Curious to see how long itll last, even without gratuitous use of the fun button.. probably not too long lol.

Truck ls and $500 ebay parts that thing will pull some wheels, what ya doing for trans 4l60? If so better get Billit internals!

Putting a built th400 in it that has fancy billet parts

 

[89Twincharge]

I googled!! Actually was trying to identify a trans on a G body today and that's what I think is

 

[Blmpkn]

I googled!! Actually was trying to identify a trans on a G body today and that's what I think is

I don't believe the th400 was put in a g-body from the factory, but I could be wrong. I think it being a th350 Is more likely.

The th350 pan would be square with a corner "cut off" a th400 pan is weirdly shaped.

 

[snoranger]

If the caddy 500 is in the front I doubt any amount of power would be able to lift that thing off the ground. Those iron dinosaurs weigh almost half a ton

The 6.2 LS makes nearly twice the power (way more than double the power if we're talking a bone stock 500) with nearly half the weight.

The old big block caddies were cool but they are absolutely archaic compared to any even slightly modern engine.

You put it in the back... the Th425 is basically a th400 transaxle. That puts all the weight over the rear and nothing up front. Sure you could adapt an LS to the TH425, that would be a better solution.

 

[Dirtman]

Oh yea i forgot some of those caddys were front wheel drive... interesting idea. 1,000 pounds of engine and transmission in the back would definitely help get the front wheels up lol

 

[Uncle Gump]

Seen it...

Just not sure those half shafts would hold up to some real horsepower and all the weight.

 

[racsan]

front clip from a ‘70’s tononado/eldorado. 455V8. not sure on trans, at least th350 guts, maybe 400.

 

[dvdswan]

Turn it into a sleeper and make the entitled generation to start having trust issues.