B-Body InterchangeI have a '79 Caprice two-door that I'm working on. It has a pretty basic 350 four-barrel with a TH350 trans, and worst of all, a 2.56:1 posi. I'm having a terrible time finding parts (suspension, fiberglass hood, and interior trim). I've also been told that a rearend from a '94-'96 Impala or Caprice will bolt right in. Any information you could give me about any of this would be a huge help.C. J. JamesArlington, TX
Not too many people modify fullsize Chevys of that vintage, so finding specialty performance parts like fiberglass body panels is going to be tough, if not impossible. Similarly, replacement interior panels and parts are going to be limited to lucky N.O.S. finds. Make friends with the local GM parts-counter guy so you can get him to scan the national inventory for obsolete stuff that may still be sitting on a shelf somewhere. Then start scouring eBay; the good part about searching for parts for less-popular cars is that the likelihood of being outbid is appreciably lower than if you were chasing stuff for a Camaro or Chevelle.
The good news is that the chassis under your Caprice is the same from '77 to '96, so you can bolt on the good stuff from some of the better models, including the '94-'96 Impala SS. The rearend from the Impala SS is an 8.5-inch 10-bolt, which is plenty stout, and the gearing is 3.08:1; posi-traction was standard. If you find a police-package car of the same vintage, a 5.7L equipped model will also have 3.08s, and most have posi-traction. A police-package car with the 4.3L Gen II V-8 will have a 3.23:1 rear gear, while some earlier police-package models had 3.42 gears (around '90). Note, however, that all police-package cars as well as the Impala SS use the larger 5-on-5-inch lug pattern, while your car has a 5-on-4.75. But, finding a good rearend from a cop car or Impala might be a good excuse to swap the front brakes to the larger 12-inch setup found on those cars (yours are 11-inch), as well as on station wagons, which also have the 5-on-5 pattern. By the way, the Impala and '94-'96 police cars also have rear disc brakes as a bonus.
Correction...On page 96 in the Apr. '03 What's Your Problem ("Killer Cougar?"), you recommended that the owner of the '91 Cougar find a roller-cam-compatible block rather than building his current one. Just wanted to correct you: All '87-and-later Ford passenger cars were roller-cam equipped from the factory. An H.O. and a non-H.O. block are exactly the same. The only difference between a non-H.O. short-block and the (Mustang/LSC) H.O. short-block were the pistons and the camshaft, both still being roller, just with a different firing order, lift, and duration figures. As an aside, Ford trucks in the late '80s and early '90s were equipped with roller-cam blocks as well, but were shipped from the factory with flat-tappet cams installed.Matt Footevia e-mail
Thanks, Matt. All the late Ford pushrod V-8s we've dealt with were H.O. versions; the switch to roller blocks across the board escaped us.