need help picking out my first caprice

[forfeit]

Hey all.. I've recently gotten interested in getting a caprice as my first car. I've always liked the bigger cars, and I love the look of the caprice cop cars from the early to mid 90's... so here I am. I live in canada and have been checking out the local Auto-Trader mag's seeing what was avaliable and the prices for them. From what i've seen, a used caprice will run me about $2000-$3000 CAD, which is pretty decent I think, but what I'm not to sure about is which year(s) I should be looking for. originally I was interested in the 91-93 caprice's, but over the last little bit of reading on here and on other places I found on google, it seems most people want the mid (93-96) caprice's. I have a few questions that I was hoping all you Caprice lovers/freaks would be able to help me out with.


1. What are the benefits of the later years over the earlier? (93-96 over 91-93)
2. How do you tell if it's the 9C1 (police package) version of the Caprice or not? are there any eaasy ways to tell?
3. does anyone know of any companies that make body kits for the caprice's

and any other helpfull info you can provide.. websites, etc.. I'm interested in reading just about anything I can on them.

[1986Z28]

the 91-96 are good years, if its a 9c1 it will have 9c1 on the spid on the trunk lid

[KCBigTimer]

i own a 91 LT1 caprice with an engine swap with an intercepter and i strapped on a supper charger just for kicks. i've search in and out and the results for body kits is a negitive. the only thing i have found is custon "bentley styled" grill so sorry no body kits

[HLandin]

Each model year seems to have its advantages and disadvantages.

Many prefer the 94-96 year because it came with the 350-cid LT1.

After 1991, the Caprice had a gear driven water pump instead of a belt driven one (gear driven is supposed to be more reliable).

The Caprice body was drastically changed in 1991 from the boxy to the bathtub and stayed that way (despite some minor exterior changes) until 1996.

From what I've heard, the Opti-Spark ignition system used from 1994 to 1996 was fairly problematic.

350-cid V-8 was available with police Caprice (9c1) from 1986 to 1996. The 350-cid had four barrel carb from 1986 to 1988, throttle body injection from 1989 to 1993, and sequencial multi-port injection from 1994 to 1996. Was also available with 262-cid V-6 from 1986 to 1990, 305-cid V-8 from 1989 to 1993, and 265-cid V-8 from 1994 to 1996.

Rear end gearing on 350-cid was 3.08 ratio from 1986 to 1988, 3.42 ratio from 1989 to 1993, and 3.08 ratio from 1994 to 1996.

You can tell if it is a 'police package' car by looking on the Service Parts Identification (SPID) label in the trunk. If the label says 9c1, that car was made from the factory with police package options (heavier duty frame, brakes, suspension, etc.).

[forfeit]

Wow HLandin, thanx for all the info.. that detailed just about everything I needed to know.

Thanks to everyone who postted

[Mercurybarring]

hey man check out www.streettrends.com

[1986Z28]

on ebay they got front and rear smooth bumpers, and one custom

[HLandin]

Also, forfeit, here are the vehicle brochure from Chevrolet:

1989 - http://www.9c1.com/brochures/1989/89_9c1.pdf
1990 - not available, but only thing that changed from 1989 to 1990 was the usage of different front seat belts (active to passive) and a boost in compression (9.3:1 to 9.8:1)
1991 - http://www.9c1.com/brochures/1991/91_9c1.pdf
1992 - http://www.9c1.com/brochures/1992/92_9c1.pdf
1993 - http://www.9c1.com/brochures/1993/93_9c1.pdf
1994 - http://www.9c1.com/brochures/1994/94_9c1.pdf
1995 - http://www.9c1.com/brochures/1995/95_9c1.pdf
1996 - http://www.9c1.com/brochures/1996/96_9c1.pdf

Hope this helps

[ncinirator]

I have two caprice's I`m getting rid of. Both are LT1's with positraction. One has a power drivers seat. e-mail me if your interested.