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Hello All! Its been a good while since I roamed this forum but back in July I plunked down my $$$ for a 2018 Impala Premier In the months that have followed I've done a few mods, learned a LOT about vinyl wrapping and wound up falling in love with this machine like I never thought I would. So much so, I've decided to resurrect the license plate that used to grace my beloved 2001 Grand Prix GT coupe THDRBAT Yup, the Thunderbat rides again. While it may not be a W-body, its a worthy descendant and I look forward to lots of happy miles. (especially since thise jewel only had 9k on the clock when I bought it) Before Current

I'm a fan of the comfort, the crisp handling for car this size, the power (310hp stock) which smokes my 2001 GP by a lot, the huge trunk, the goodie list and the hi-way mpg is insane (30mpg @70mph with this much power??) The mod list is as follows, 19x8.5 +30 ESR wheels, 245/45 BFG g-force Comp2 tires, hi-flow 3rd cat, Flowmaster HP-2 resonator, Magnaflow 4x9 mufflers, debadged, color trim sill plates, Lloyd floor mats, blue carbon interior trim kit, 35% tint all around, painted mirror housings, carbon fiber wrap side spears, trunk trim and grill BowTie, gloss black mesh grill insert, carbon fiber wrap upper/lower grille surrounds, satin black wrap window trim, carbon fiber door handle covers, pedestal deck lid spoiler, honeycomb light tint tail light wrap, K&N drop-in air filter, delete intake tube sound muffler...and I have some custom "Thunderbat" decals on the way. Oh yeah, and the 2010 Camaro hood louvers! (non-functional)

West Coast/ Southwest !! I'm in Vegas.. Deals do come up.. Got my '96 Regal Custom w/65k last year on FB Marketplace for $1000 !! Pristine 100% Rust Free Granny's car from So-Cal.. watched it for a month.. Originally listed at $3000, then 2500, 2000, finally.. 1500.. Couple moving to Chicago, needed it GONE. Offered 800, got for 1000 Needed new AC comp, radiator, tires, and brakes. PURRS like a kitten.. I won't move anywhere where cars rust away. Would drive me Insane..

Here are a couple more shots Tinted tails / carbon fiber wrap trunk trim Better shot of the grille and trim I do have to say the one thing you can get for a Camaro that isnt available for the Impala that I wish I could get is a set of rear window louvers. The slope of the back glass on this car I think they would look great!

I’ve got two 284s sitting on the bench now. One is needing a ‘rebuild’ lol or exploratory surgery to see how they come apart and never go back together again. I haven’t quite got the engine rebuilt yet that is going to go together with the good 284 I have. The rebuild should be finished up by spring. Need to source out a good cradle yet.

Before this turns into a Camaro debate, I just wanted to say that I really like what you've done to the Impala! The original car was a little bland (as Impalas normally are). The upgrades really made a huge difference visually. Can you list them? I see about 10 things you've done to the outside (spoiler, wheels, hood vents, trim paint, mirrors, grill, tint, etc).

And here it is back home. And a couple pics of the before and soon to come.

I’ve actually been working on this a little bit lately. The engine has been completely overhauled and I just finished overhauling the transmission last week. While I had it apart I changed the final drive ratio from 2.93 to 3.69 and it also got a transgo shift correction kit. Additionally I changed the torque converter from a 1900 stall to a 2400 stall and I am also planning to put a pulley on the supercharger. I expect I will probably get the engine and transmission at least bolted into the car in the next couple of weeks. I still need to get my drive axles sorted out.

I'm interested to see this project finished. Big fan of the Z34 and the swap to the L67 opens up all sorts of performance options. Great engine! Although I have to admit, the 310hp my 2018 3.6 makes blows me away when I think about how much I spent on my GP hunting for more go-go power. That Z34 with a 3.6/6spd would be a beast! (Yes, I'm taking foolish brain surgery!) LOL

It's long and I haven't watched it all the way to the end yet. Probably nothing any W-body old-timer didn't already know, but still pretty cool to see a W-body review in 2021.

Just bought an '08 GXP LS4 and have been getting familiar with it. It's a glorious engine, and it happened because I was thinking randomly what it would take to put an LS4 in my '92. My suggestions: Don't go crazy with the cam, you'll regret it with a 284. Cammed engines on manual transmissions are not merely challenging, they are next to impossible to tune for smooth drivability, and you'll feel every little quirk in the tune that'll make you forever try to fix it and hate the swap in the end. Nobody else will tell you this, but trust me I've learned the hard way on multiple cars. Stay as close to the factory tune and specification as you possibly can on a manual-trans swap. The engine already makes over 300HP stock, and you're putting it through the same wheels you use to steer. And now you're doing it through a trans that's short-geared for a high-revving V6. It's already more than enough. Get the output-shaft support bearings that replace the oil seals for the 284. It's Fitzall/TeckPak 75125LRB.

Found this over on the Corvette Forum - some C5 folks are excited about having found a head unit that's single-DIN with a centrally-mounting 8.8" touchscreen display that can fit entirely behind a 1.5 DIN-height bezel. I've already converted my C5 to double-DIN, but I saw potential for the GP. JOYING JY-HOS01N4G-2 It's an octa-core with 4GB RAM/64GB ROM and capacitive touchscreen running Android 10 with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support, DSP w/EQ, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, SWRC, optical outputs, 5GHz Wifi, 4G LTE, and options for DVR, TPMS and backup camera. Our 1G W's have an extremely shallow mounting depth that has made upgrades challenging to say the least. However with finally jettisoning the antiquated disc format from new head units, shallower mounting depths are now possible. I've never seen a factory unit with CD, but I'm wondering how it fit. C5s have more mounting depth than we do, but I'm still thinking this is one of the strongest possibilities yet. Its mounting depth to the back of the display is a mere 129mm, or 5". I have to take some measurements tonight but I think this might fit - and be the manifestation of a product I've been looking for for more than a decade!

I get it for sure. I drove a LaCrosse and actually liked the styling better than the Impala but it had a few too many gadgets for me. Not crazy about the start/stop (which I could've deleted with a tune) and the electronic shifter bugged me just a bit. Probably could've gotten used to that tho. Overall, a great looking car. Below is a photo chop of what I would've done with the LaCrosse (shooting for that Turbo Buick GN look)

Pull the rubber/plastic plug on the starter side of the trans grab a set of pliers/vice grips and pull the clutch fork out and unbolt he trans and it’ll come off easy

Searching ebay and amazon today for the tools to do it right. Will order a intake manifold gasket too. Got called out of town, and have to leave again... so hopefully by next weekend I will have what I need to finish this. Was always a great car, and look forward to having it on the road again. For a 93 with under 65k miles... it's worth fixing.

I like your Impala. My daily driver is its Buick stablemate, a 2013 LaCrosse. Mine's the 4cyl hybrid. Performance is a little anemic but the fuel economy is adequate compensation. It gets in town about what my 2011 Impala (3.5L V6) got on the highway. I was actually looking for an Impala like yours when I found the LaCrosse and it was just too good of a deal to walk away from.

Many 3800 guys have put down 400whp up to 800whp through a getrag 284. He shouldn't have any issues behind his cammed LS4.

...

. Oh man I apologize if I seem to come across as hacking on your car, I can see how my previous comment might be after reading it again. You put some serious time and mods into it and it looks great, definitely a head turner.

I really like that color on that Impala.

I've replaced three belts. None of them were ruined. The first two, I just made paint marks on the belt and each pulley. Pulled the old belt off, counted the notches between the paint marks, and marked the new belt in the same places. Put the belt on with the paint marks aligned, engines ran great. The third time I did a belt, I actually used the "special tools" to pull the pulleys off the end of the cams, lock the cams in position, etc. It's a pain in the ass, but with no "old" belt to guide you, it's about the only way. I'm kinda thinking that there's a corrugated spacer between cam and pulley, and you're supposed to replace it each time. I went nuts looking for 'em; never did find any, so I re-used the originals. They changed the design some time after '93, no more corrugated spacers. If you're in there anyway, you might want to consider doing the Service Bulletin Update for camshaft/lifter oiling. You'd need to get the thrust plates machined a little thinner, other than that it's really easy when the head is removed for head gasket replacement; it's less easy with the heads still on the vehicle. I did an extensive "How To" article on www.60degreeV6.com http://www.60degreev6.com/vb5/articles/-1991-1997-dohc-aa/424720-lq1-service-bulletin-57-61-09-lifter-tick-cold

A little late, but better than never I suppose. I brought the car home from storage at my brothers so I could continue working on it. But, before I retire the current engine, I wanted to make a couple long overdue video clips to show that it actually runs and drives. After emptying the old gas and adding a splash of fresh 91, I took the back roads from my brothers house back home. I had my son with me to help with the cell phone recording, so excuse the shakey cam (he's only 9), And the dash cam clip is merely an old dash cam stuck to my sunroof glass.

Ok... can't say IO don't procrastinate sometimes. Two years later... Finally put it in my garage. Pulled the covers off and cleaned out all the muck from the belt... Now to try to align the marks and put the belt on without the cam tool that I do not have.

Agreed. I prefer the integrated type, kind of like this. This is also why I always thought the 88-94 Cutlass dash actually ends up looking more current than the 95-97, if you put a screen in it. Seems like integrated is going out of style though. This setup actually resembles that aftermarket HU a lot. These days, a screen mounted on the outside looks just as OEM as real OEM screens. Oh yeah, and then there's the Tesla 3/Y dash where the infotainment literally looks like a PC monitor mounted on the dash.

I really don't like how the screens in modern vehicles, aren't integrated into the dash. It looks like they just stuck a screen on top of the center stack and called it a day. I guess, it is better than looking down and taking your attention away from the road. On the other hand it could be even more distracting since the screen is higher up and easy to look at it. Not sure which is worse/better. Seems like the BMWs are mounted very high. I always notice them when driving around.

I'm the opposite! I've been adding screens into cars back before it was even a thing - back when it could only be found in German flagship sedans. This looks like a cool idea, but that screen's ginormous bezel is going to be hard to mount it entirely inside the dash bezel on most of the early W-bodies. Looks really good in a C5 though. I've noticed on a lot of modern cars, the screen sticking out of the dash in its own housing is actually quite common, so mounting it on the outside of the dash doesn't actually look as out of place as I might have thought 10yrs ago. I see them like that from the factory all the time these days.

Just to finish this up, I pulled the rear drums, verified that the rear brakes were in altogether too perfect condition--41K miles, the shoes look like they were installed two months ago. The rear brakes must hardly work, which explains why the front pads haven't lasted. (second set down to the rivets!) I dicked with the rear adjusters, tightened them up some. They're supposed to self-adjust when the park brake is used...but it's a fookin' automatic transmission, I don't use the park brake. The Leading/Trailing shoe brake design is piss-poor engineering as far as I'm concerned, 'cause I'm not the only person who doesn't stamp the park brake--which means the rear shoes never adjust. Adding insult to injury, the damned rear drums are less than 9 inches in diameter, with narrow shoes. How powerful could they be? Fookin' GM, cutting corners on the 2nd Gen W-bodies by making disc rear brakes optional when the older cars had decent rear discs as standard equipment. Anyway, I flushed brake fluid through six bleeder valves--one at each wheel, plus two on the ABS unit. Flushed until I got nice, virgin-clear fluid at each one. One of the ABS bleeder valves sputtered a little before giving me a solid stream of fluid. Pedal height is improved. Performed my usual after-brake-job test drive to burnish the new pads. Three hard "slows" from 40 mph to 10--15 mph, then several hard "slows" from 70 mph to 40 mph. At that point, the pads seemed nicely bedded; the car didn't shift side-to-side any more when slowing; and the pedal effort for a hard stop reduced considerably. Nice and predictable. I also began to smell the brakes a little. I continued at highway speed for a couple miles, then slowed hard from 90 to 40. Powerful, sure, stable. Good to go! I don't allow the wheels to "stop" when bedding brake frictions--finned drums and vented rotors are centrifugal air pumps; and I want as much cooling air flow as practical--especially when braking from high speed. Going from 90 to 0, and allowing the brakes to roast with no air flow is brutal--keep the speed up if possible so the air flow carries the heat away. Of course, if traffic conditions require a full stop, that's what you do--but don't hold heavy pressure on the brake pedal while stopped. Release as much pressure as possible while keeping the vehicle stationary. This reduces the heat put into the pads, and therefore the heat put into the calipers and fluid. And the pads/shoes don't "weld" to the rotors/drums. The rotors and drums are designed to get hot; ideally the pads or shoes, calipers, rubber seals, and fluid should be kept cool if practical.

Needed a "surprise" front brake job on my '98 Monte Carlo. Ordered my usual pads, (Made in USA Performance Friction "Carbon Metallic" 0376.20) and found some "Genuine GM Original Equipment" 177-0972 brake rotors on Amazon. The rotors came in GM-looking boxes (one box opened, rotor had very light surface rust, one box still sealed with the rotor in a sealed plastic bag inside.) The new "original equipment" rotors were Made in China. Bummer. They're also full-cast which didn't bother me any, nor do I consider it an upgrade any more, which I once did. The old rotors were on my driveway overnight, it rained, they rusted. The braking surface wasn't rusty in-use, but the rest of the rotor was, as is usual. The stamped-steel center vs. the cast-iron center is visible in the next photo. I also took pictures of the lug studs with the all-cast rotor and the composite rotor: First up, composite About an inch and an eighth of stud sticking out, compared to about one inch for the all-cast rotor. Looking at the lug nuts in the background, you can see that the composite rotor has about an eighth of an inch more protrusion than the all-cast rotor. I have no idea how that eighth-inch can cause problems. Of course, I wire-brushed the hub flange and around the lug-studs to remove loose rust before sliding the new rotors over the lug studs. As is my proclivity, I also pulled the calipers apart for cleaning and inspection. The most-contaminated brake fluid in a brake system is usually in the lowest point--the calipers or wheel cylinders. I was concerned that the driver's side caliper might be sticky, as the pad was down to the rivets while the passenger side still had some life left in 'em. In fact, the calipers looked fairly good inside, and slid easily on the pins. God bless iron calipers! I did this same job on my Trailblazer (Aluminum calipers) and the aluminum calipers tend to corrode behind the square-cut seal, leading to seized or at least stiff-moving pistons. The iron calipers were beautiful inside, and the pistons were pristine behind the outer dust-seal. The pistons were ugly on the part that sticks out of the dust seal, but that cleaned-up nicely on a wire wheel. The part that sticks out doesn't really matter, but anything that would slide on the square-cut seal has to be perfect--no pitting, no flaking chrome. I pulled the square-cut seals out for inspection and cleaning. Sometimes the square-cut seals develop a hard "crust" from deposits in the caliper. That crust would have to be peeled off with a fingernail. These calipers didn't have any of that. The seals were nice. The dust seals are pressed into the caliper; they've got a metal reinforcement molded into the rubber. I left them alone--removing them would likely wreck the metal reinforcement or tear the rubber. I sprayed the bores with Brakleen, and wiped 'em out with paper towels. Then lube the seals with clean brake fluid before reinstalling, and lube the pistons before trying to cram the pistons back in. Just like any other multi-piston caliper, it's a pain in the ass to get both pistons out, and worse getting them back in again. Compressed air will usually blow the pistons out, (put a piece of wood against the piston, so it doesn't bang into the iron of the caliper when it pops out) but one pops free before the other--and then you've got a big hole in the caliper so you can't build pressure to force the second piston out. One piston has to be stuffed partially in-place to sort-of seal the hole, while using compressed air to remove the second piston, or to inflate the dust seal over the other piston during re-assembly. Then you have to secure the partially-installed piston so it doesn't blow back out when you try to inflate the dust boot over the other piston. I found that my C-clamp vice grip was not shaped properly for these pistons. I needed to drop a pair of 3/4 steel nuts into the pistons so the vice grip would press on the bottom instead of the side of the vice-grip pushing on the top rim of the piston. This photo shows one piston held in place to prevent air leakage, just before inflating the boot over the closer piston. Wear leather gloves, the piston will get pushed away from the bore as the boot inflates, and your fingers will get kinda pinched against the outer edge of the caliper. It's not bad, but gloves help some. Once the pistons are started in the bores (with the bottom edge past the square-cut seal) they ought to press the rest of the way down with hand pressure. I lube the pins with brake caliper grease, and I apply anti-seize to the threads of the various fasteners EXCEPT the banjo bolt for the brake hose. I've had exceptional luck re-using all rubber seals, copper washers, etc. These parts are not always re-usable, check them carefully for signs of wear, cracking of rubber, etc. Time to quit typing, and flush the brake fluid, then put the wheels back on...

The V8 has been done earlier, (not an LS), there was for a short time here about 5 yrs ago a Russian fellow who dropped a Caddy 4.9 & trans into a 92? GTP. Can't remember his id at all, he supplied photos of the work, really tight fit, did all the custom work himself. The photo are more than likely still available somewhere on the old site.