B-BODY for Pro-Touring??

[Motor City Impala]

Hello everyone. New guy here. I just responded to the posts on the Mule and I hope I was of some help.

I myself could use some helpful hints/direction. I have an intrest in building a 77-90 B-BODY i.e. Impala, Caprice, Delta 88, Buick Park Lesabre/ Electra, Pontiac Bonneville/Parisianne as a Pro-Touring Ride. Anyone want to weigh in on the merits of Weight-transfer, braking, power to weight ratio kind of stuff? I have a great affection for the Impala (hence the screen name) and I have about 5-6 different versions stuck in my head that I want to build. I havent done anything about it but research at this point. I havent found much other than a yahoo group for 77-90 B-Bodies. I also wanted to know if anyone has had the chance to drive a HotRods To Hell Center Drive Kit installed in a car/truck? (www.hotrodstohell.net (http://www.hotrodstohell.net))


Any help/info would be greatly appreiciated. Ive already built two toys 1979 Elcamino and 1986 Monte SS, so Im not new to hard work. I am even wondering if there is strong enough interest in Impalas alone to build a buisness based on the B-Body.

Anyway thanks for leting me get this off my chest.

TODD K.

[surlyjoe]

I think a b-body would work quite well.

I have an 85 lesabre put 4 wheel disks 12's front 11's rear all from the junk yard. With new shocks it actually handles surprisingly well. It seems like a well balanced car. It is not a protouring project just a beater. I weighed it and with 3/4 tank of fuel it was 4050 lbs. I never weighed my 81 turbo ta but I would bet it would weigh very close to the same. The lesabre still has all the weight trunk was empty.

I also have a 94 fleetwood lt1 car. It is a fun daily driver and an awesome car but in my opinion not suited to protouring.

I am not sure how much market there would be. Lots of parts for impala ss are available most of which will fit on any year. Some 2nd gen f-body parts fit also.

Definitely would be fun and could probably be done on a reasonable budget.

[astroracer]

Hey Todd, you need to talk to a Mr. Jeff Swartz that frequents this site and is an advertiser... He built a Fleetwood a few years ago that got him a lot of ink...:cool:
Mark

[speedfreak]

hey love the b-bodys..ive been collecting parts to do a '78 bonneville for some time now..i love my big cars..anyway..the frames on these cars were all the same from 77-right through 96 so any suspension stuff for the impalla SS can be made to work(police package caprices are also a great source of inexpensive parts).....the biggest problem i'm seeing is getting some of the pork cut out..im looking into whats involved with molding my own fiberglass parts(hood,feders,decklid,bumpers and possibly the doors)might be more than im willing or capable of..but ill try almost anything once..if ya need anything just ask ive been researching these for a few years now..as youve prolly realized there isnt a huge interest in them so knowlegde is pretty scarce..and like mark said jeff swartz would be a guy to talk to what he did with that caddy was amazing..and from what i read pretty simple too

[jeff s]

Yea, here's a link to my 82 Fleetwood.
2002 Car Craft Real Street Eliminator Champion
www.schwartzperformance.com/cadillac.htm
Thanks

[speedfreak]

jeff

love the caddy,what kinda susp. mods are done? is it stock geometry in the front? after reading the article about your car a few years back i was convinced i could make my b-body handle the way i want, but i could never get any specs on what you did other than solid bushings in the rear if i remember corectly..
would it be possible to get your e-mail so i can pick your brain if you wouldnt mind? also whats the weight of your car?

[Chevy350]

No - don't do it in emails, do it here! :) I'm another madman in the same boat as you guys, with a lot of thoughts about what can be done to the b-body cars. (Please see the homepage in my profile, and read up on my '77 Caprice if you want to). My car is also a low budget beater, and my last score for it was a complete '76 Caprice (last of the BIG B-cars) front suspension, which gave me 12"x1.25" rotors almost free, as well as other HD parts. (Read the details at the homepage).

A lot of the issues this chassis has, are very similar to the A-body, only with 500+lbs of dead weight added to the mix. And I have to congratulate Jeff S for that acievement, that's no small thing!

[Diognes56]

I don't know if these would be of use to any of you guys, but it is worth a shot: http://www.theherd.com/tech_articles.html

There is also a lot of B-body info on (I know there are more, I will have to check when I get home), not necessarilly pro-touring info but you know:
www.4adrive.com
www.b-body.org
www.impalassforum.com

Also, here is a thread from www.ls1tech.com about a 6.0L swap into a '95 Caprice (shouldn't be terribly different than swapping one into a 77-90). http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=282381 I wish I had the money to do this to my '93 9C1 :( .

David

[grand_marquis_gt]

I'm a fan of the big cars, but I am the ford version....

That caddy is really sick!!!

[burnscityboy]

I am currently working on a 1979 impala with a 468 bbc in it. I like the big cars as well , I have several impalas .

[72LeMans]

Heres my daily driver 1 of 127 with this color combo. 1995 9c1 with a LT-1.

[FoxGranadaChuck]

Yea, here's a link to my 82 Fleetwood.
2002 Car Craft Real Street Eliminator Champion
www.schwartzperformance.com/cadillac.htm
Thanks

Your '82 Cadillac Fleetwood rocks!!!