Crusin' Caprice Wagon Drivetrain Upgrade

(Jimmy)>> You're watching Powernation!

(Jimmy)>> Today on Carcass Christmas came early and we add some reliable horsepower to our family truckster.

(Jeremy)>> Plus we add a couple more goodies, wrap this thing up, and take it out for a little cruise. [ Music ] [ engine revving ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Welcome to Carcass! Well we're finally back on our 1984 Chevrolet Caprice wagon, and it's been a hot second since we've been working on this thing. So to catch you guys up to speed this is what we've done so far. We serviced the rear axle from end to end, replaced all the worn out suspension plus the steering, and then we upgraded the brakes. Now you're probably wondering what's going on behind me. We also pulled out the tired old 305 that was lacking in the horsepower department and was having a hard time moving around this 4,000 pound station wagon. When the guys over at Edelbrock caught wind of that they wanted to send us a brand new 350 cubic inch small block Chevrolet.

(Jimmy)>> This thing is really awesome because it's 100 percent brand new fully assembled with the best quality parts from the block up. This is a high quality entry level hot rod engine making 430 horsepower and 420-pound feet of torque with their Pro-Flo-4 e-f-i system calibrated specifically to this engine. On top of all that it has great street manners and has a great sound.

(Jeremy)>> Since our Caprice wagon had a small block in it this thing should fit like a glove. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]

(Jimmy)>> Let's do it! [ engine hoist squeaking ]

(Jeremy)>> Just make it! [ engine hoist squeaking ]

(Jeremy)>> Can you see that side? What's it look like? [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> All good! Get the hoist out of here.

(Jeremy)>> Get it up in the air and get the transmission on it. [ Music ] The transmission we're gonna be putting behind our small block Chevrolet is a 700-R-4 four speed automatic transmission. We got this one from the guys over at TCI, and this Street Rodder transmission should give us great street performance with long lasting durability. [ Music ]

[ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> Gotta tilt it. My way! Then probably go down. Now go up!

(Jeremy)>> I gotta go down on my side. I'm in right now.

(Jimmy)>> Give me like a half a step on the pedal. Yep! [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> That was simple. [ ratchet clicking ] [ Music ] [ ratchet clicking ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> Get this guy up here. [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Line this up. [ Music ]

[ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> Get the driveshaft back in here. Of course we're sticking with a small block and a 700-R-4. So the stock driveshaft goes right back in just like it's supposed to. [ Music ] [ ratchet clicking ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Coming up, we tackle our fuel system so we can upgrade it to match our e-f-i.

(Jeremy)>> Moving right along on our Caprice wagon it's time to tackle the fuel system. Our car originally came carbureted, and since we're moving over to the fuel injection side of things we're gonna need to bump our fuel pressure up from seven pounds all the way up to about 50 pounds. Since our car did not come with an electronic fuel pump we're gonna have to add one, and we came up with an ingenious way to do that. What we're gonna end up doing is replacing the stock fuel sending unit in our tank with a fuel sending unit that came from a later model wagon that was already fuel injected. The only downfall to that is a later model fuel injection only called for about 13 to 15 p-s-i, and that's not enough to run our new injection system. So the guys over at Edelbrock were nice enough to send us a 255 liter per hour direction replacement fuel pump for this fuel sending unit. Best part here is that it is exactly the same size and they even send you this pigtail so you can connect the two together. Beyond that what we're gonna have to do is find a way to get our fuel up to the car and make sure it can handle that pressure. So we also went to Summit Racing and picked up these adapter fittings. The way that these work is we just cut the ends off of our sending unit here. These slide over the top, and there's a little brass seal in here. As you tighten that down it grips around the tube and makes a positive seal. Plus this also converts this over to dash-six line. From there we can run that up to the firewall and to our fuel pressure regulator. To get all this started the very first thing I have to do is get rid of that stock fuel pump. Once we get the fuel pump out of the way we'll go ahead and put on our adapter fittings. [ Music ]

Then we'll reinstall the new fuel pump. [ Music ]

Install it back in the tank. [ Music ]

[ hammer tapping metal ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Get it back up underneath the car. [ Music ] So we have the car down on the ground and the fuel system is pretty much buttoned up. Went ahead and mounted the fuel pressure regulator over there on the passenger side inner fender. Now it's time to move on to the wiring. Don't be afraid of this step. It's all very, very simple. Edelbrock does a great job of labeling every one of their connectors. All you have to do is plug it all in. [ Music ]

That will wrap up the wiring.

(Jimmy)>> Next on the list is the exhaust system. So I'll get these headers on here and we'll start working our way back. [ Music ]

[ Music ] Now that we have the headers installed we can start creating the exhaust system. We're gonna go pretty simple on this. We're gonna follow a similar route that the car had on its original system. It all starts off with this ball and socket coupling that we'll get up here on the headers. Then from the driver's side we'll cross over, meet the passenger side in a "Y", and then we'll go ahead and get our catalytic converter, muffler, and we'll dump it in front of the rear axle. Just gonna mig weld it, keep it simple, make it easy. [ welder crackling ] [ Music ] [ welder crackling ] [ Music ]

[ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> One of the things we're gonna make sure our engine does as it runs down the road is stays nice and cool. To pull that off we're gonna be installing a brand new radiator that we got from Duralast. Duralast designs their products to ensure exact fit, form, and function, and this is an easy drop in installation. Since our Caprice has air conditioning it has a thicker core. Plus it also has an automatic transmission. So it comes with the ports on the side tank so we can hook up the cooler lines. Since it's an exact fit for our Caprice our radiator hoses go right on. Jimmy fluids are all topped off. I even primed the fuel system. It should fire right up. We'll see how it runs here. [ engine starts ]

(Jeremy)>> It sounds pretty good! It's gonna take a little bit for it to learn itself. Have to get it up to operating temp.

(Jimmy)>> Got a nice rumble!

(Jeremy)>> It's gonna run? Nope, gonna shut off. Let's put the hood back on it, wheels and tires, and then we'll get it out, run it through its paces, and see how it runs. Up next, we slap on some wheels and tires and head out for one final touch.

(Jimmy)>> I can't wait to see these new wheels and tires on the Caprice.

(Jeremy)>> These things are gonna look amazing. We've had them sitting around the shop for a little while. To get these on this car finally and get this thing on the ground is gonna look awesome. [ Music ] [ drill humming ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> I've got to get in it goofy cause there's no working door handle on that side.

(Jimmy)>> Let's hit the streets!

(Jeremy)>> Let's get out of here. There was a really skinny person in here. [ Music ]

Just a positive engagement.

(Jimmy)>> Perfect shift.

(Jeremy)>> I'll take that. [ Music ] [ engine revving ] [ Music ] We're having way more fun than you are! Nice Porsche! Having way more fun in our Caprice wagon though. Good brakes, steers nice, goes down the road straight, floats, shifts good, runs good.

(Jimmy)>> I don't know what more a guy could ask for. People think your car's cool. You drive by and everyone loves it.

(Jeremy)>> That's a huge check. [ Music ] [ engine rumbling ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright Barry, we have another one for you but we decided to bring it to you this time.

(Barry)>> We appreciate that. You guys gave us a great idea. We've got some killer samples and can't wait to show you what we've got.

(Jeremy)>> Let's take a peek at them, and then we're gonna let you guys get at it.

(Barry)>> Let's go! Come take a look at what I've got.

(Jeremy)>> Let's see this.

(Barry)>> I built this kit a long time ago for a Jeep Wagoneer, but they were different. A lot of color in those. Every panel on a Jeep Wagoneer is framed in with a different trim. They were light, dark, light, dark. So I adapted it to get a solid woodgrain across the entire body of the car, but I also kept these little strip pieces in case we want to do some kind of cool little trim around the top and down the sides. But you can see how rich the woodgrain is gonna really be.

(Jeremy)>> It looks real besides it being on the screen. So you've gotta print this out and then you do that here.

(Barry)>> We'll print this. We do everything in house here. We'll send this to the printer. Once it's printed we'll laminate it. Then it's ready to install. [ Music ]

[ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Barry and Micah, all the guys here at Graphic Effects, you guys knocked it out of the park. It's a completely different car.

(Jimmy)>> We thought we made it cool by lowering it and putting it on wheels but now it's like the ultimate wagon with the woodgrain, perfect!

(Micah)>> It turned out killer.

(Jeremy)>> We're not too far from the highway. We're gonna hop in the car, run her down the highway, see how many looks we can get.

(Barry)>> We appreciate it. We had a blast doing it. Thanks a lot!

(Jeremy)>> We'll get out of your hair.

(Micah)>> Let us know on the next one. [ engine rumbling ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> All in all the car's done now. It's wrapped, we're driving it. If you had to pick your favorite part out of the car what would it be?

(Jimmy)>> I think it's the stance. It's very basic changes that we made. In the grand scheme of things relatively inexpensive. We threw some suspension parts at it and got it a little bit lower. Then simple wheels, tires, hub caps especially to wrap everything together. So the car just looks tough.

(Jeremy)>> I think it's got a great look. To be honest I'm a big looks guy, but I would have to say the best part of the car is when it's sitting idle just the chop of that cam.

(Jimmy)>> I think the sound matches the look now too. A real rough and tumble sound with the cam, and you look at the car and it sits low. It's just going uh!

(Jeremy)>> And the fact that it's got so many seats.

(Jimmy)>> I think we just have to go show the guys and see what they think.

(Jeremy)>> Maybe we'll pile everybody in and go for a ride. Like clown car right? [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> Stay tuned as I rage on the roundabout. Let's go!

(Jeremy)>> Gentlemen you've seen the car before, but we did a little something-something to it. Thought we'd show it off and see what you guys think.

(Jimmy)>> It's a masterpiece of sorts.

(Jeremy)>> And it seats an awful lot of people.

(Peyton)>> Lambo-gini panel wagon!

(Jeremy)>> We figured it's about lunch time. Hop in and go for a cruise?

(Peyton)>> Sounds good to me.

(Joel)>> Put the kids in the back.

(Jeremy)>> The youngsters back there.

[ Music ]

(Tommy)>> That a check engine light?

(Jeremy)>> Service engine soon! I don't know how you service it.

(Joel)>> It's talking about the engine they pulled out. We're having a hard time recognizing it.

(Jeremy)>> Where is that engine? Still back in the shop.

(Peyton)>> At least if we're gonna get rear ended me and Eric will be the first to know, and the first to go!

(Jeremy)>> Favorite part of the car is the chop. That tah-dah-tah-dah-dah-dah. And the fact that you can put six dudes in the car.

(Jimmy)>> We've got an extra 1,000 pounds.

(Joel)>> Why's it got to be dudes?

(Jeremy)>> You can put whoever you want. All encompassing Joel. Everybody is welcome. The seats and everything lay down flat. Could use it as a pickup truck.

(Peyton)>> I think you need to cut the whole top out of it and do one of those vinyl snap down roofs. Then you could just peel the whole thing back and have open top.

(Joel)>> How selfish of us. Let's do everything that Peyton wants to do.

(Jeremy)>> Do, what do they call it? The sunroofs that run the full length of the roof.

(Tommy)>> Sliding top.

(Joel)>> Like on the Crown Vic ones.

(Peyton)>> That was a dumb idea when it was my idea.

(Joel)>> Now you're getting it.

(Eric)>> This is one hell of a grocery getter though.

(Joel)>> This car is a prime example of how big of a difference stance and wheels and tires can change an entire project. Even the attitude of it.

(Peyton)>> This thing was pretty hideous when you got it.

(Jeremy)>> It's nuts how you can do a lot of things. Put an engine and trans in it and make it perform, but when you visually change the stance of something. You can take it from this family truckster grocery getter to a hot rod style.

(Jimmy)>> And wheels and tires are relatively cheap for the things that you can do.

(Jeremy)>> And the wrap! I think that was the most drastic thing we did.

(Jimmy)>> Make it a little unique.

(Joel)>> It encompassed the entire project. It was the cherry on top of the sundae it needed.

(Peyton)>> We need a fan.

(Jeremy)>> You got no air moving back there?

(Tommy)>> I want to say I really appreciate you guys having it at an exact 72 degrees in here like I requested.

(Joel)>> Once around the park Bitterman. I'd like to see the wildlife.

(Jeremy)>> Think that's the next thing we should do is get the a/c working in it. Figure out something with the headliner. I like the seats though. I wouldn't touch the seats.

(Joel)>> That's the beautiful part of a project car. They're never 100 percent done.

(Jeremy)>> It looks so good as you watch it go through the windows and see the reflection. Definitely lower with all of us in here.

(Peyton)>> Riding back here you don't know where you're going but you know where you've been.

(Jeremy)>> I'd be so sick right now. I'd be yacking right out the back.

(Eric)>> It's surprisingly smooth back here.

(Jeremy)>> Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament! Take pictures! Next stop, Wally World!

(Peyton)>> Sorry folks, park's closed!

(Joel)>> Come on Jimmy! Gas pedal's on the right.

(Jeremy)>> You got nothing if you can't drift this around the roundabout with six guys in here.

(Jimmy)>> I guess I'll just make another circle.

(Peyton)>> I'm getting a little sick now!

(Tommy)>> I see why Nascar made the oval bigger.

(Jimmy)>> And the cars much faster too!

(Peyton)>> When the heck are we getting ice cream!

(Jeremy)>> I was thinking lunch instead of ice cream, but whatever.

(Joel)>> Peyton can get ice cream.

(Jeremy)>> Yes Peyton, if you eat all of your lunch we'll let you get some ice cream.

(Peyton)>> As long as they have dino nuggets.