My new (family) car
 

Well, last week lovemysan posted how he bought an SUV, and no one flamed him, so I guess I'll come clean and show you what we bought a couple weeks ago. It's a '94 Buick Roadmaster complete with genuine fake paneling. ;)
The wife had to have something that carries more than five people.
We try not to drive it much, 'cause with the LT1 engine in it, she gets REAL thirsty. Besides being too tempting to keep your foot in it... :p
http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/100_2207.jpg
I call it The Bomber 'cause it's about as long as a B-29.
Gee, could they put anything more draggy on the hood?
http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...mberpremod.jpg

There, that's my first aeromod. :thumbup:
http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...100_2531-1.jpg

Looks like a clean nice car. I am not sarcastic. When you need a car like that, you buy a car like that. I respect Buicks. But what is genuine fake paneling;)? Also, I don't like the mod! Just kidding! May be now I am sarcastic afterall, but still friendly:p:D.
BTW, I notice that you drive a Vibe. I drive a cousin of the Vibe, namely the Matrix. Nice cousins:)!

Hey man, I wish they'd bring the station wagon back. :)

Tango,
I think you did pretty good for a +5 seat vehicle
very clean - even has the beginnings of a wheel skirt
in fact the only thing I see working against you is the roof rack

I would be very interested in what FE you can get
should be better than any SUV - if you keep your foot out of it:)

I would drive it, half skirts, nice start for a kammback or boat tail. Plus you could do this and still seat 5.
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/c...oadmaster2.jpg

Looks like it could do well aero modded. Full rear skirts, lower front air dam, ditch the roof rails, lower it a tad, could run very well. Plus since you have an LT1 you could swap in the 6 spd from a 'Maro in there. That would be sick.

Nice car. There are plenty of user forums for them online. That platform shares many parts with the 2wd suburban like the one that I have. You can get good parts from any boneyard and they get really good mileage for their size.

Thanks, guys. It really is a clean car.
bbjsw10, that modified photo is great! Made me laugh. :D

swng, 'genuine fake paneling' is just a silly reference to the vinyl decals they stick on the sides to simulate the wood grain. Which reminds me of a joke...

A couple of hillbillies (or insert your favorite politically incorrect classification of person here) bought a station wagon with the fake woodgrain stickers. As soon as they got it home, they immediately start peeling off the woodgrain. Once they had ALL the stickers peeled off, they step back to admire their work. Then the one hillbilly says to his friend,"You know, it looked better when it was still in its shipping container."

I always liked the Caprice Estate and Roadmaster. Wagons deserve the respect equal to their utility.

So I expect an LT1 under the hood there? :thumbup:

I nearly bought a new '95 Imapla SS with the same engine (for those unfamiliar, it's essentially a sport/luxury civilian version of the Caprice Police Package). I opted for a Level-II Beretta V-6 and saved a few bucks.

Kudos on the first aeromod :p It's the official "Police Pursuit" mod from the era. :)

At least the wood "paneling" isn't like the 1-inch thick plastic paneling from the "Town and Country" version of the LeBaron Wagons from 1979:

http://www.speedypix.com/products/al...y_Wagon_Hi.jpg

As a kid, i didn't get the plastic wood on my Uncle's new ride. :confused:

RH77

Well, if you are going to waist gas you might as well look good doin it. :thumbup:

An havin good reasons too. Why else would you drive a station wagon anyway?

So you are going to start choppin the top next week? The material from the mods could be recycled and spent on gas.

You could take the top off of a school bus and use it for a belly pan.

Just kiddin man don't get your panties in a bunch.

It's a nice looking car and better aero than a mini van. It's got potential.

I just can't believe you let lovemysan step up first...scaredy cat! :D

Glad you got the joke in it, I was bored. Nice ride. Would look good all black with some nice rims.

I have always loved wagons of any sort. I only wish my wife did! Especially the old Volvo 240's.

Same here -- I point them out on the road and get the "Ugh, it's a wagon".

Even the "Classy" ones like a BMW, Merc, Volvo, and the Euro Accord Estate (essentially a TSX wagon) and I get the :rolleyes:

I'm slowly chipping away, with the realization that a crossover-utility is too expensive to operate and maintain.

I think the stigma just comes from growing up riding in one. As a kid, I rode in the likes of 70's and 80's GM "intermediates" -- '76 Cutlass, '80 Caprice, '82 Malibu, '88 Cutlass Classic RWD (still in the stable -- threw a rod).

For her, it was a brown Volare wagon.

I think I get it now :o

RH77

Don't feel too bad about having an inefficient vehicle. If you need it, you need it. If you don't then try not to use it much. Getting 12 mpg and driving 1 mile is still better than getting 40mpg and driving 100 miles each day.

BTW, I still think I have everyone beat here for having the worst gas hog. Here is a quote from an enthuiast site. I just have to laugh when I read it.

Just for the record, I really never drive the vehicle. Its a project car.

You shoulda got one of these!

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-ju...plane-limo.jpg

It was either this or going into debt for a Honda Pilot. The wagon's EPA is 18 combined, 23 on the highway. The Pilot's is 17 combined, 21 highway. Must be a frontal area thing.
We decided to use our tax rebate money to stay out of debt and got the wagon for $2500.

My wife grew up riding around in a wood-grained station wagon. She has the same feelings as pint's and RH77's, but she's resigned herself to it. I keep telling her, "but it's a cool car, honey!"

All black with some sharp rims, eh? bbjsw10, I like how you think! :thumbup:

Daox, what's your project car?

The car is a 1973 Jaguar XJ12. Its a restoration project. I'd eventually like to show it.

The Buick Roadmaster is a great car! You can carry 6 people ans tow a boat with that thing! I doin't want to sound like an idiot here, but my father had a 1994 Roadmaster and being an "Old School Hypermiler" or maybe just cheap, he managed almost 30 MPG from that tank on the highway at around 60 MPH. The only mod he had was a vacuum gauge.

That car will last a long time if you take care of it!

my friend so happens to have a 6 speed swap for sale right now. We pulled it from his wifes Caprice wagon today.

Man that wagon was fun.. 6 Speed, Full exhaust with cut outs, lowered, thick sway bars, wide wheels and tires on all 4 corners.. Painted flat black.. Coolest wagon ever


and you get the Vista roof in your wagon.. very cool!

Tango Charlie -

I took the half raindrop :

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/2...ar02by3.th.jpg

Cut it into "just the outline" :

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/7...3cutxm8.th.jpg

Applied it to the end of your wagon to get an 8 degree Kamm Back that I stop at the "bumperline" :

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/9...er03ok5.th.jpg

And ended up with this :

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/9...er04lg8.th.jpg

CarloSW2

Thanks, cfg83!
That's pretty cool. I've thought about trying to fit a temporary kammback if we end up taking a family vacation this December. If I do, I'll be sure to let you know about it.
Don't think it'd be worth it for around town.

now the critical question

Will your wife let you aero-mod her family truckster?;)

oohh! I looked a long time for one of those. $2500 is cheap. Don't be scared of the LT1 it'll do 27mpg easy. And this will seat 8 won't it?

It'll haul more'n that if you're hauling a bunch of skinny-butt kids! :D
I need to get a vacuum gauge in it soon. You say 27mpg? Mullet said his dad pulled 30 out of his. Oof. We sure ain't see'n that driving it around town.

Very nice ride....looks to be real clean. I have always thought that wagons made a lot of sense, and I dig the roof on those Buicks.

Very nice car. I love those GM boats. The Roadmaster Wagon is the best of them all-- it's an Impala SS in disguise.

You could probably put a really tall-geared rear end in it, and get halfway decent MPG for an aircraft carrier, and still have a reasonably quick car that can haul a baseball team.

highest my friend got in his was 17 mpg.. But thats due to all of the mods and the awesome 6 speed.

Thanks, jams.
I was thinking along the same lines about putting taller gears in the rear end. Where would a guy get taller gears? I've never done such a thing.

The easiest way is to get another axle from a junkyard.

If you really want to sound like you know what you're talking about, you want a low-ratio axle from a '77-96 GM B-Body. Numerically lower ratios are taller gears, and there's no shortage of information on those cars on the web. A quick googling seems to indicate that they went as low as 2.14:1.
Edit: You're looking for an axle with an 8.5" ring gear. G-bodies (RWD Monte Carlos, etc) sometimes used 8.5" rears, but their axles were narrower, so you would have to switch out the gears between axles, rather than just swapping whole axles, but at least it opens up different possibilities.

Then, I found this:
B-Body World Wiki - B-Body World Wiki

The Caprice Sedan my friend had,would return 24-mpg on round trips between Denton,TX and Fayetteville,Arkansas.Smooth,quiet,roomy.With 5-passengers,thats 120 passenger miles per gallon,same as a HONDA Insight!

Re: Post #26

I have thought this idea has mucho merit. There is a company in suburban DC that will convert Caprices over to T-56 manual on a turn-key basis.

B-Body High Performance Inc. - 6 speed your Impala SS!

Mate that up to GM6.5 or Cummins 4BT3.9, use Impala SS parts to lower the ride height and Viola! 35 MPG.

Sweet! I've done more than my share of lurking in the wagon section of the impala SS forum. I was looking for one a few years ago when I needed to replace a car with something that could do some towing. Unfortunately I found a Tacoma first.

At the time I was looking those wagons seem like the perfect vehicle: room for an army, a ton of cargo (4x8 sheets of plywood!), or any combination of the two. Towing capacity of a 1/2 ton truck, but better mileage and more passenger and covered (& locked) cargo room. Only downside is the bad mileage when you're not using it to capacity.

That forum has a number of people with T-56 (6speed) transmissions, and there was one guy who put in a 6.2 diesel

Around town due to all the weight it'll be drinking it down fast. If I recall, the older ones with the tbi motor responded a bit better to mileage mods than the lt1's, but for an all highway run, 25mpg should be a piece of cake, 27 shouldn't be too hard and with a few more mods and/or slower speed 30 ought to be within reach.

My bad! BBHP is out of business but there is an outfit called F2B that makes a T-56 swap kit.

The Impala SS Forum is an excellent source of B-Body info. They helped me out with a bad digital odometer. Their fix saved me $400.

I just picked up an Impala SS (always wanted one) to drive while I mess with the truck. Excellent car! Roomy, fast and durable. B-Bodies are favorites to export to the Sandbox. They are favored for their solid suspension (able to take the rough roads) and killer A/C. Just posted my first run. I can see they are not city cars but my driving is only 35% city.

I drooled over the idea of ecomodding a ‘Vette, but the harsh reality is that you can tear a ‘Vette all to pieces and still command a price over $10,000. Tango Charlie got a pretty good-looking wagon for $2500. Now that is in the range for a project car. If you started with a tatty wagon, executing bbjsw10’s little distortion is not impossible.
Let’s think on that.

It looks like there is about 40 inches behind the C-pillar. If you have a clunker to start with (you don’t feel bad about starting with an application of the ol’ emergency grinder) you start by narrowing the tailgate by 16 inches. Narrowing it 8 inches per side is an 11 degree taper. Likewise lower the tailgate by 8 inches (holding the 11 degree taper), and maybe raise the bumper by 3 inches with a diffuser and you have reduced the wake area by 41%.

Since I haul more stuff than people, I could go more radical. Weld the back doors shut and make my breakers at the B-pillar. Now I have 60 inches to work with. I could hold my 11 degree angle (a 1-in-5 slope is 11.3 degrees) and narrow the car 12 inches on each side and 12 inches down. Assuming a 3 inch diffuser, that is a rear wake area reduction of 56%. With this setup, one would probably have to put a narrowed rear axle and relocated the wheelhouses inward a bit. This much what the old Insight did.

These cars offer a lot of scope for other aero mods.

In either case, a suitable diesel engine and a T-56 along with a 2.73 ratio would put you into drivetrain nirvana.

I think 45 MPG is doable.

Wagons Unite!
 

Nice. I point out the Roadmasters to my wife all the time when ever I see one.

This last winter, we lost the Subaru Outback and replaced it with a new Jetta TDI Wagon. It is very nice and gets low 40's when I drive it, but my wife gets high 40's - low 50's.

Here is a picture:
http://www.l-d-j.net/images/tdiwagon.jpg

I cannot mod it until it is paid off. :(