1994 Chevrolet Caprice Wagon, Los Angeles $3,700

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/5728341486.html

 

That sure is nice, priced right too, actually low for a nice LT1 wagon.
It looks like the person who originally ordered it liked the '91-'92 white and gunmetal gray Olds Custom Cruiser color combo.

 

Sharp looking car for a good price in my opinion. Little ding in the passenger rear quarter, but I could live with that.

 

I contacted the owner. Said the odometer flashes random numbers and "error", which s/he said is common with the digital dashes. Also reported an oil leak. Uncertainty about the odometer makes me nervous. Otherwise still a good looking car.

 

Appears to have dropped to $3,500 as of today. Is the digital display issued described that big of a deal?

 

Wouldn't be a big deal to me as long as the car looks as good in person as it does in the pictures.

 

It is a common problem though the dash speedo.

Had a 94 with a supposed 200K on it. Odometer kept reading different. When I pulled through the inspection station it read 454K miles.

Not too hard to change from what I read.

 

The digital dash speedo repair is under 150 bucks from what I've seen. The Impala SS forum has a lot more info on it in any case.
I'd worry about the oil leak more than that. That has the tow package going by the fan shroud and it may have something to do with the with the oil filter adapter or the line connections, pretty common. Mine was leaking like crazy and it needed new gaskets and a few O rings, NAPA had everything. It was pretty easy to do, The LT1 may be a lot different, a real pain to work on in almost every aspect compared to a basic small block Chevy.

 

I keep reading similar comments on how much of a pain the LT1's are to work on compared to an L05. That's what is scaring me away from buying a '91-'96 wagon. I'm not a mechanic so this translates to $$$ for me. But most recently my tastes seem to be attracted to these wagons more than before. Oh the dilemma!

 

Aside from the issues with the Opti-Spark and the water pump I don't see any big deal about working on the LT1 compared to the L03 or L05. The LT1 also has a better more refined fuel injection system and overall engine controls in my opinion. You also get an additional 80hp over the L05. No real comparison in my mind if you are strictly comparing stock to stock.

 

Good to know!
Pardon my ignorance around this generation of engines (my experience thus far with classic Chevy's has been with the 1970's until my recent purchase of my '87), but are the L05 and LT1 both 350's?

 

The L05 is the same first gen engine they had been making since '55 with obvious upgrades along the way to engine controls and is a 350. The LT1 is also a 350 and shares a lot of the same geometry internally and externally with the L05, but it has several different changes like the Opti-Spark, gear driven water pump, and a reverse flow cooling system (cools the heads first) off the top of my head. It was a pretty big deal when they introduced it in 1992.

 

The LT1 was a 350, but the Caprice of this vintage could come with a smaller engine as an option and it somewhat appeared to be the same as the standard LT1.

And don't let anyone fool you with "Corvette engine" LT1 ads.

The LT1 isn't that bad to work on. Just has a few minor gotchas on the cooling system (reverse flow, gotta bleed it, etc) and the optispark (DO NOT get it wet).

 

Ah yes, the L99 (often called baby LT1) was also available in the sedans. It was a 265. At a glance it looks identical to the LT1. The L99 was never installed in the wagons from the factory so unless some unscrupulous owner installed one it should not have it in there.

I hate the "Corvette engine" comments in ads. I believe the Corvette LT1 was rated at 300hp. The F-body LT1 was rated at 275hp and the B-body LT1 was rated at 260hp. The B-body LT1 had iron heads as opposed to aluminum on the other two versions. I'm sure there were other minor differences in the intake and exhaust as well.

 

True, but it's still worth mentioning. 20+ years is plenty of time for the original engine to have gone belly up and been replaced with whatever the junkyard had laying around that day.

A true Corvette engine actually is a decent thing. I just get so irritated and everyone saying "same engine as the 'vette!" in all of the ads when it's obvious if you know anything about the engines that they are NOT the same.