GM B-Body Forum, 77-79 Caprice/Impala Forum

Join Now If Your A 1977- 1979 Caprice or Impala owner or other GM B-Body owner!!!
Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BBodyForum?ref=hl

Join the forum, it's quick and easy

GM B-Body Forum, 77-79 Caprice/Impala Forum

Join Now If Your A 1977- 1979 Caprice or Impala owner or other GM B-Body owner!!!
Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BBodyForum?ref=hl

GM B-Body Forum, 77-79 Caprice/Impala Forum

Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.
GM B-Body Forum, 77-79 Caprice/Impala Forum

A forum for the owners and enthusiasts of General Motors B-Bodies from 1977-1990, but dedicated to the owners of 1977-1979 Impalas and Caprices. Join up now!


+5
solo79
Sweet Seventy9
Gooched78Caprice
Danver
bj383ss
9 posters

    79' Caprice Classic

    bj383ss
    bj383ss
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 15
    Join date : 2015-04-26
    Location : TX

    79' Caprice Classic Empty 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  bj383ss Sun Apr 26, 2015 8:41 am

    Hello All,

    Just found this forum. Here is my 79' I have owned since 95'. It is my first car and near and ear to my heart.

    79' Caprice Classic 15550308037_626687c698_bPicture 269 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    388ci stroker that is currently in it.

    79' Caprice Classic 15550425828_06e7a1b68b_bCaprice 003 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 15595187357_5bd66d4357_bDSCN4910 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 15778447651_b405c2c992_bDSCN4920 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 15595153137_2f80b316c6_bDSCN4925 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    It is currently waiting its turn for some attention, when I finish restoring my 64' Chevy stepside.

    79' Caprice Classic 16008399909_ca41c1e154_bDSCN8864 by bjohnson388, on Flickr
    Danver
    Danver
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    10th Year Anniversary
    10 years of being a member on our forum!


    Posts : 20
    Join date : 2014-06-14

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  Danver Sun Apr 26, 2015 9:30 am

    bj383ss wrote:Hello All,

    Just found this forum. Here is my 79' I have owned since 95'. It is my first car and near and ear to my heart.



    It is currently waiting its turn for some attention, when I finish restoring my 64' Chevy stepside.

    Nice looking car.  Thanks for the pics.

    I have a '77 and I'm building a '63 Chevy stepside.
    Gooched78Caprice
    Gooched78Caprice
    Freshman Member (Tier 3)
    Freshman Member (Tier 3)
    10th Year Anniversary
    10 years of being a member on our forum!


    Posts : 108
    Join date : 2014-11-06
    Location : Border riding in the 3-6-oh & 5-oh-3 WA/OR

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  Gooched78Caprice Sun Apr 26, 2015 10:27 am

    That looks like an awesome car! A lot of nice upgrades seemingly everywhere you look but maintaining an overall mostly stock appearance... other than the hood that lets you know there's more than meets the eye. The wheels, smooth bumpers and chrome trim all compliment each other extremely well. Thank you for sharing and I can't wait to see what you have planned in the future.
    Sweet Seventy9
    Sweet Seventy9
    *Senior Moderator*
    *Senior Moderator*
    Helpful and Responsive Member!
    Very active with responding and helping other members with questions and concerns.
    10th Year Anniversary
    10 years of being a member on our forum!


    Posts : 973
    Join date : 2013-11-03
    Location : Upstate NY

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  Sweet Seventy9 Sun Apr 26, 2015 1:18 pm

    Welcome to the forum! Very nice ride!

    We have a ton of info here covering everything from production numbers to part numbers, to RPO/SPID codes, to part ID sheets, even a couple Fisher Body Service manuals. Feel free to DL copies of anything you want.
    bj383ss
    bj383ss
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 15
    Join date : 2015-04-26
    Location : TX

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  bj383ss Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:15 am

    Thank you guys for the welcome. I have always loved these cars but you rarely find anyone who is interested in them. Especially the 4 door. They either get it or they don't.

    I have a lot of documentation of all the stuff I have done to the car and if you guys are interested I can share. I have a ton of photos but unfortunately they are all 35 mm photos so they need to be scanned in.

    I do have a few already scanned and uploaded to my Flickr account.

    So here is the story. My parents bought this car in 1985. It was a rental car and had around 80,000 miles on it. The first thing my dad did was yank the 305 and sell it as a boat anchor and put in a rebuilt 350. Then he painted it an awful Light Blue. When I got it in 95' I was 17 and the first thing I did was flip the tires around to blackwalls.

    A few photos of when I first got her.

    79' Caprice Classic 17080939107_8db68f3f1a_bcaprice 001 Aug-96 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 17102175159_ac8f37884d_bcaprice 002 Aug-96 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 17100782220_035f910678_bCaprice 005 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    I got in a wreck on the passenger side a car was parked and turned into me when I passed them. Damaged both passenger doors so I went on the hunt and found 2 doors. I primered the passenger side and the plan was to just paint this side and the front header panel where I shaved the hood emblem. I also pulled the hubcaps painted the wheels silver and bought some BFG's with white letters. This is how it looked while I drove it during High School. I also had a cat back dual exhaust that I wasted $255 that didn't sound any different then stock.

    79' Caprice Classic 17262401626_1ea49ce716_bCaprice 004 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 16665888324_7ce5f85e7c_bCaprice 002 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 17262402406_35c747abf1_bCaprice 001 by bjohnson388, on Flickr
    bj383ss
    bj383ss
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 15
    Join date : 2015-04-26
    Location : TX

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  bj383ss Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:39 am

    During this time I also put a stock 4bbl carb and intake I bought at the junkyard and cleaned and painted the best I could under the hood. Rebuilt the entire front suspension with Poly bushings and blasted and painted the A-arms and springs Red. At the same time switched out the rearend to one out of an 81 Olds and put 3.42 gears with posi. It has the bigger brakes and 5 on 5 bolt pattern. Didn't take any pictures of either of these upgrades. Not sure why. I took photos of everything else.

    79' Caprice Classic 16668288963_b6807ebca8_bCaprice 001 May 97 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    After high school I pulled the engine and did a little refresh. Put an Edlebrock intake, Carter AFB 625cfm, K&N Filter, Accel wires with fiberglass boots, Holley fuel pump, Mini starter with heat shield and Carb Shop HP HEI. Also stripped and painted the headers and put a chrome oil pan. Also painted the entire engine bay. This was around April of 99'

    79' Caprice Classic 17100579288_f8c59626f7_bCaprice 006 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 16665886264_a1cffce577_bCaprice 007 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Nasty engine bay.
    79' Caprice Classic 17287848791_735aae51e1_bCaprice 005 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    For some reason I went crazy and decided to paint everything under the hood Blue. You can also see the whole car has been sanded an primered at this point. Also had the Prime wheels on by this time. I bought them in 97' but never took a pic of them installed.

    79' Caprice Classic 17101087040_bacc6b8363_bMarch 10 001 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    This is the whole car primered. I drove it this way until I painted it in August of 2000.
    79' Caprice Classic 16668419853_55e0bb0c7a_bCaprice 002 by bjohnson388, on Flickr
    solo79
    solo79
    *Senior Moderator*
    *Senior Moderator*
    10th Year Anniversary
    10 years of being a member on our forum!


    Posts : 458
    Join date : 2013-02-06
    Location : Kentucky

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  solo79 Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:19 pm

    Welcome to the Forum!! My first car was also a '79 Caprice except mine never got that horsepower! Looking good! Great back story too!!
    IROCFST
    IROCFST
    Newbie (Tier 1)
    Newbie (Tier 1)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 8
    Join date : 2015-04-04
    Age : 59
    Location : Jenison MI

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  IROCFST Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:27 pm

    Looking good!
    bj383ss
    bj383ss
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 15
    Join date : 2015-04-26
    Location : TX

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  bj383ss Tue Sep 05, 2017 7:07 pm

    Hello guys. Sorry for no update for such a long time. A lot has changed since my last post. Sold my house and bought a new one with a 3 car garage. Moved all of my stuff out of the big garage I was using at my Mother in laws. I finally brought the Caprice home.

    Sadly it hasn't been started in over 4 years but that is about to change. So she had to be towed home.

    79' Caprice Classic 36882443022_e7c0c43bd5_b20170817_103528 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 36865168816_2b44ecd232_b20170817_093641 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Once I got here home she fit very snug in the garage.

    79' Caprice Classic 36882443162_0c7d076ecb_b20170817_111816 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 36865168526_5b01ae670c_b20170817_111711 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    So my solution for that was tuck the front and rear bumpers. And I have to say I should have done this years ago. I really like the way the front looks. It was extremely easy to tuck the bumpers. I was surprised that all for bumper shocks still had gas in them. Only thing I don't get is when I pushed the back ones in they leaked out oil. The front ones did not.

    The back no longer needs the filler piece that rotted and fell apart many years ago.

    79' Caprice Classic 36882345392_71ee2e6a1b_b20170903_115042 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 36882346512_21b994f543_b20170903_143210 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 36864910286_c3ce97d425_b20170903_143223 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    She now fits and I have walking room in front of her with the garage door closed.

    79' Caprice Classic 36882348052_67c4d4275f_b20170903_143356 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    I am very close to getting her started again. When I parked her she had lost oil pressure. I never messed with since I moved April of 2013. But I changed the oil and filter and made me a oil priming tool out of an old distributor and primed the motor and it showed 60lbs of pressure so everything looks good. Should get her fired up in the next few days and get her running on her own power again.

    79' Caprice Classic 36761268316_30a5025836_bIMG_20170831_184124_546 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Bret
    bj383ss
    bj383ss
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 15
    Join date : 2015-04-26
    Location : TX

    79' Caprice Classic Empty She drives again!

    Post  bj383ss Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:55 pm

    So I got her running again. Adjusted the valves and reset the timing. Took her around the block and it has about 40psi oil pressure when it shifts gears @2500 rpm. So the engine is good enough to move around under its own power.

    79' Caprice Classic 36977059342_a2f930e690_b20170910_105112 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Haven't drive the car in so long I forgot how awesome it drives. Can't wait to get some new tires and registered so I can drive her around more.

    79' Caprice Classic 36312298914_9cd8e5bb0a_b20170910_121528 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Bret
    efladerr
    efladerr
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 35
    Join date : 2016-02-29
    Age : 27
    Location : Kuwait

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  efladerr Thu Oct 12, 2017 9:58 pm

    Nice car. how high is you cowl induction scoop ?. I'm going to get one for my 86 caprice Smile.
    terry cronk
    terry cronk
    Freshman Member (Tier 3)
    Freshman Member (Tier 3)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 249
    Join date : 2015-08-19
    Age : 77
    Location : Mid-Michigan

    79' Caprice Classic Empty 79 Classic

    Post  terry cronk Sun Oct 15, 2017 9:49 am

    The bumper closer looks good.

    I would think their the same bolt pattern.

    Is all you did was remove the gas shocks and bolt it back?

    Are you running the turbo 350 trans.?

    It looks a lot more "old school" appearance.

    Nice!

    P.S.  I like my 383 also.  Pulls nicely.
    bj383ss
    bj383ss
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 15
    Join date : 2015-04-26
    Location : TX

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  bj383ss Sun Feb 10, 2019 8:14 am

    efladerr wrote:Nice car. how high is you cowl induction scoop ?. I'm going to get one for my 86 caprice Smile.

    It is the 4 1/2" outlaw. I liked it when I was younger. It is too big though. I plan on removing it and doing the 2" Z28 style.
    "

    terry cronk wrote:The bumper closer looks good.

    I would think their the same bolt pattern.

    Is all you did was remove the gas shocks and bolt it back?

    Are you running the turbo 350 trans.?

    It looks a lot more "old school" appearance.

    Nice!

    P.S.  I like my 383 also.  Pulls nicely.

    Terry I removed the gas shocks, drilled a hole to release the gas and then pushed them in. I still need to weld them together to make sure they don't move.

    Bret
    bj383ss
    bj383ss
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 15
    Join date : 2015-04-26
    Location : TX

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  bj383ss Sun Feb 10, 2019 8:37 am

    Finally an update!

    I swapped in a used/built TH350 to replace my tired broken original.

    79' Caprice Classic 46638278742_aba2fa6b07_b20190110_093523 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Underneath is nasty. I still have no idea why I painted everything Yellow at one time.

    79' Caprice Classic 32816089238_515244a677_b20190110_094243 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Headers have seen better days.

    79' Caprice Classic 46638281062_e989bc10d6_b20190110_100138 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Used a trans jack my Grandpa made back in the 60's. Worked like a charm.

    79' Caprice Classic 45969484684_5d403188f9_b20190110_140531 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 45969485454_235903a8fd_b20190110_141458 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Nasty thing.

    79' Caprice Classic 45778928425_3cb693bd94_b20190110_141939 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Did some cleaning and painting while it was out.

    79' Caprice Classic 45969487104_61ea87aa98_b20190110_161059 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 39729265813_bc0cecea2e_b20190110_161937 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    New trans ready to go in.

    79' Caprice Classic 46729919371_d86de0bb53_b20190113_131620 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Exhaust cleaned up and painted.

    79' Caprice Classic 31788429257_2116114797_b20190113_115904 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Soaked headers in vinegar and re painted them.

    79' Caprice Classic 46029351274_34912bec22_b20190115_102109 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 46701564242_528b10d286_b20190115_102118 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 46131028174_f130350cf9_bHeaders restored by cleaning rust by soaking in Vinegar and then a fresh coat of VHT flame proof paint. by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    79' Caprice Classic 46137975324_951acc7170_b20190124_110222 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    Installed.

    79' Caprice Classic 46018735504_29117c9b78_bTH350 reinstalled into Caprice by bjohnson388, on Flickr


    Quick video I made of it shifting through all 3 gears. Still need to do some fine tuning with the vacuum modulator. The trans has been broken since 2006. It still worked but no 2nd gear. Would shift from 1st to 3rd. So as you can imagine not very fun to drive. I only have a few more things to fix and she will be ready for daily driver status again. Needs all new tires. They are from 2002 and severely dry rotted. I new fuel level sending unit and the carb really needs to freshened up.

    If you click on the picture it will take you to the video.
    79' Caprice Classic 46883876891_a1f6615f58_b1979 Caprice Classic by bjohnson388, on Flickr

    thanks for looking,

    Bret
    avatar
    1978terrorizer
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    Active Member (Tier 2)
    5th Year Anniversary
    Celebrating 5 years of being our member!


    Posts : 11
    Join date : 2018-04-05

    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  1978terrorizer Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:22 pm

    Very cool. Im looking forward to seeing more.

    Sponsored content


    79' Caprice Classic Empty Re: 79' Caprice Classic

    Post  Sponsored content


      Current date/time is Mon Dec 09, 2024 5:40 pm