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1980 Caprice Classic Question


80 caprice
01-05-2004, 04:28 PM
I bought a 80 Caprice V6 3.6, the auction is the link below. I was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to get a v8 engine in there? if so what kind and where do I start? I am somewhat a newbie. also its missing the dome light cover on the inside, know of a good place to find little things like that? I need sun visors to. any response to any of this is highly appreciated.... THANKS!

P.S. is there any other good forums/sites that have 80 caprice stuff?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2444538589&indexURL=0

a1supersport
01-06-2004, 04:44 AM
These cars were made mainly with V8's...how did you get a V6? That's rare. Just finished checking out the pics...nice car :). The easiest way to do it is to find a late 70's to late 80's Caprice, which will most likely have a V8 already (2 door, 4 door, or wagon), and grab everything you need from this car and swap it into yours...that includes your dome light. The mid-to-late 80's cars will have a lot more electronic stuff, so you might want to avoid those. Most likely the cars that you'll find will be running, used a lot, and cheap. If possible, go to a local Police auction, where sometimes you'll get lucky and "run into" a used patrol car. It would have a lot of miles, but it'll have all the parts you'll need, PLUS police car/heavy duty parts, like thicker sway bars, heavy duty springs and suspension parts. And by the way, everything from the donor car will bolt right into yours...no cutting, welding or drilling. Have Fun :).

ziffdine
01-09-2004, 06:24 PM
try checkin out a junk yard. they're usually filled with caprices/impalas and the various other b-bodies, considering there were well over 12 million produced in their lifetime. i got a dome light cover from one down here in fl for free... i actually stole it cause that's all i needed anyway and i had already paid a buck to get in.

good luck with the v8 search, but i think it may be easier to just get another caprice with a v8 already and use the v6 for spare body parts and whatnot.

randy78
01-17-2004, 04:03 PM
4.3L are more common than you think, alot of caprices had the V-6 in them, and it is not a 3.6L it is actually 4.3L, 3.6L does not exist

you can find a parts car like yours for very cheap, most ppl buy them for demo derbies, you should at least find somone stripping one out put a classified ad in local paper, someone will have something, you should not have tpo pay over 50 or 100 for a whole parts car like yours these cars are EXTREMELY common still. knock on doors where a car liek ytours is sitting and looksd like is not running or is abandoned, that will be a godo parts car candidate, they are sitting all over the place,

quaddriver
01-27-2004, 02:06 AM
I bought a 80 Caprice V6 3.6, the auction is the link below. I was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to get a v8 engine in there? if so what kind and where do I start? I am somewhat a newbie. also its missing the dome light cover on the inside, know of a good place to find little things like that? I need sun visors to. any response to any of this is highly appreciated.... THANKS!

P.S. is there any other good forums/sites that have 80 caprice stuff?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2444538589&indexURL=0

thats a 3.8L v6 - chevy made a 229 inch v6 based on the 305 until 81? it was the base motor in the base impala/caprice. At any rate, you can fit a big block in a B car with no problem. However, there are tons of 305s and 350s you can put in there, if you want to be cool, you can use an 81-on engine and ecm/harness and you can even try EFI. if you want to stay low tech, just graft the EST distributor, springs, radiator, mounts and motor out of another 79/80 305 caprice (some 4bbls exist, but most were 2bbls)

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