I think it depends more on the specific vehicle than the maker, a Taurus sucks to work on, but an 90ish Ford truck is pretty easy. The worst cars I have seen were a PT cruiser, and my GF's newer Celica (I don't know how tuner people bother, it was like the car was built around the damn engine.)
I still think GM is the easiest to maintain in general, my 93 FS Blazer is a breeze...

Posted by Samurai after working on several of them, I beg to differ... Samurai

I second that

Posted by bandi I second that

LOL, guess I'm fortunate then. I've done some work on GM trucks, both fullsize and S-series. Those are pretty decent for the most part. The exception would be four wheel drive S-series before they grew a brain and put remote mount oil filters on them. I helped a friend put an ImpalaSS engine in his '95 Caprice and that sucked ass. I have a '77 Caprice project car, and it's great to work on. Hard to believe it's the same platform as the '95.

Any pics of the Caprice? Is it a 2 dr with the wraparound window? Those are cool.

So after having a little incident with a friend having a seizure at the bar saturday night... I've found another pretty sweet UE vehicle... an ambulance! Total sleeper effect, people pull out of the way for you, there's TONS of space for gear, and it's not going to look out of place anywhere! (Yeah, I got to ride in the front seat... wheee!)

Power and handling were actually pretty impressive for a big van.

Posted by DopeNess Monster LOL, guess I'm fortunate then. I've done some work on GM trucks, both fullsize and S-series. Those are pretty decent for the most part. The exception would be four wheel drive S-series before they grew a brain and put remote mount oil filters on them.

Yeah, I always loved removing the driver's side wheel to get the ooil filter off of these, and even the, the inner fender was usually so packed with dirt and crap that it took another couple minutes of weaseling around in there...

I don't mind working on Chev trucks at all, they're pretty accessible... aside from the vans (full size and Astro/Safaris)

Oh, and the Polystyrene mounted U-Joints are a pain in the ass...

Posted by bandi So after having a little incident with a friend having a seizure at the bar saturday night... I've found another pretty sweet UE vehicle... an ambulance! Total sleeper effect, people pull out of the way for you, there's TONS of space for gear, and it's not going to look out of place anywhere! (Yeah, I got to ride in the front seat... wheee!) Power and handling were actually pretty impressive for a big van.

Wow, hope your friend's okay. That totally reminds me of Cannonball Run though.

Posted by MattTrakker Any pics of the Caprice? Is it a 2 dr with the wraparound window? Those are cool.

You got it Always dug the body style and think it's really overlooked for whatever reason. I'm in the process of completely rebuilding it with beefed up, lowered suspension, huge brakes, possibly a twin-turbo small block, etc.

Basically as it sits:

That was at my friend's restoration shop where they did some metalwork on the body.

A concept rendering I did:

I might two-tone it with a darker blue from the beltline up.

Probably not the ultimate UE vehicle though ;P

i see a 67-68 Camaro chassis behind it and a 64.5-66 Mustang behind that...

I've always loved the BIG Impalas/Caprices... up here they are a vanishing breed. Between the weather and the demolition derby idiots, there aren't many left.

Samurai

Posted by Samurai i see a 67-68 Camaro chassis behind it and a 64.5-66 Mustang behind that...

Yes sir There's always at least one Mustang and a couple Camaros there. And several early 'Vettes. They do lots of 1st, 2nd and 3rd gen 'Vettes.

I've always loved the BIG Impalas/Caprices... up here they are a vanishing breed. Between the weather and the demolition derby idiots, there aren't many left. Samurai

Same here. I was extremely lucky to find one in as good a shape as that. The bottom, inside edges of the doors are even still perfect. Just had some bad spots in the quarters and rear body mount areas. Luckily, the two-doors are rare enough that you don't see them derbied much. Tons of 4-doors though. Hmm, would that be the collective term for a group of Caprices. A Ton of Caprices...

Posted by DopeNess Monster Yes sir There's always at least one Mustang and a couple Camaros there. And several early 'Vettes. They do lots of 1st, 2nd and 3rd gen 'Vettes. Same here. I was extremely lucky to find one in as good a shape as that. The bottom, inside edges of the doors are even still perfect. Just had some bad spots in the quarters and rear body mount areas. Luckily, the two-doors are rare enough that you don't see them derbied much. Tons of 4-doors though. Hmm, would that be the collective term for a group of Caprices. A Ton of Caprices...

Dude, that shop is awesome, and your CAR is awesome. I thought I was the only person on the planet who would want to do that! That rendering is sweet too.

Once I get situated I plan on getting a 77-79 Caprice 2dr like that style, there are a few nice ones out my way for sale now, around 3500 bucks. Really nice ones.

Samurai, I know people online who take MINT 71-76 Chevy "passenger" cars, and destroy them, along with other B and C bodies. It's a sin.
Even when I look for fenders or other parts, and ask, they won't sell me any, they'd rather ruin them. There was one guy in Montana who sent me parts like filler panels and things but I haven't heard from him in ages. Did you guys see my 74 in the other thread here? lol

Dopeness if I'd known you had that taste in vehicles I'd have shown you my Impala when you came out to Danvers!

i spy with my little eye , what i belieee to be a tune port lt1?

Posted by 816customshop i spy with my little eye , what i belieee to be a tune port lt1?

Tuned Port Injection was before the days of fuel injected LT1.

Posted by ghostkilla Tuned Port Injection was before the days of fuel injected LT1.

Tuned Port 305's and 350's ran sooooo much better than the Quadraflood cars, or the gack! tbi engines... the downside? they were installed in the heavy F-body.

Samurai

Posted by Samurai Tuned Port 305's and 350's ran sooooo much better than the Quadraflood cars, or the gack! tbi engines... the downside? they were installed in the heavy F-body. Samurai

My old 89 350.

click to view

That's a nice Iroc there. My friend had an identical one in HS but it was a toilet when he got it...lol

I don't mind TBI personally, they seem to be a little lacking on the power side of things but they're pretty reliable and easy to work on. The newer SFI engines like to blow intake gaskets and other stuff...LT1s have a distributor that's a PITA to get to and costs almost as much as the car to get replaced...

Posted by MattTrakker That's a nice Iroc there. My friend had an identical one in HS but it was a toilet when he got it...lol I don't mind TBI personally, they seem to be a little lacking on the power side of things but they're pretty reliable and easy to work on. The newer SFI engines like to blow intake gaskets and other stuff...LT1s have a distributor that's a PITA to get to and costs almost as much as the car to get replaced...

i thought the LT1's were a DIS engine... i Know that in the 4th gen F-body, GM in their infinite wisdom buried the engine half under the dash thereby making it a fucker to work on the back half.

My brother had an 87 Firebird Formula 305 H.O. with the electronic Quadraflood on it... that was running 305! I've never seen a 305 like that one did. Anyways, the downside of the car was that it had been rolled over and the subframe had been tweaked... he had it on a straightener a bunch of times and never got it just 'right'. As far as I know, it's still running around here somewhere.

I've got a funny Camaro story, but i'm at work... i'll tell it later when I have more time.

Samurai

Posted by Samurai i thought the LT1's were a DIS engine... i Know that in the 4th gen F-body, GM in their infinite wisdom buried the engine half under the dash thereby making it a fucker to work on the back half. My brother had an 87 Firebird Formula 305 H.O. with the electronic Quadraflood on it... that was running 305! I've never seen a 305 like that one did. Anyways, the downside of the car was that it had been rolled over and the subframe had been tweaked... he had it on a straightener a bunch of times and never got it just 'right'. As far as I know, it's still running around here somewhere. I've got a funny Camaro story, but i'm at work... i'll tell it later when I have more time. Samurai

I know that on 94, the LT1 had a weird distributor under the WATER PUMP haha...

There was a problem with seepage of coolant damaging the Optispark system or something to that effect. I think 95 and 96 used this dist. too but I'm not sure. I'm also not certain what it was driven by or if it spun at all.n I'm pretty sure the engines didn't use coilpacks and all that.

those front distributers are a bitch to change , i spent 250 in labor alone....

in this.....