Is the 96 Impala SS the new GN?

[novaderrik]

throw the same amount of wisely spent money at an Impala SS as you throw at a GN, and it will wake right up.. keep in mind that when you get past the front mounted distributor and reverse flow cooling, and you are dealing with a regular old small block Chevy.
bolt on some headers and exhaust, 3.73 gears, and the HOT cam kit from GM and you'll have one hell of a beast that is still as docile and civilized as a stocker- with 2 more doors than a GN.

I disagree due to me and a friend of mine both have the Impalas and the Turbo buicks and more money spent with less results with the Impala SS. With the upgrades you mentioned you will spend about 3k and run maybe, maybe 8.90-9.30's in the 8th...And mine ran 9.55 bone stock! Now change heads with the cam, exhasust, gears still very little pickup unless you take it too the level of the usual ground thumping SBC and then its not the cruiser it was meant to be. I do agree they are different cars and I love them both but if you spent money on your Impala first you would find yourself saying that damn for the same cash I could be flying in the Buick:biggrin:

you might be at $3k if you buy the "legal" parts for the Imp- but the chassis is the same going back to 77, so regular generic $99 long tube headers for a small block chevy bolt right up. a dual exhaust kit for a Chevelle fits with a little work. you'd lose the cats and any emissions legality, tho, but i'm not bound by those rules and if you start with a 94 Imp you don't need to worry about the after cat O2 sensors..
the HOT cam kit can be had for $600 or so and installed in your garage in a weekend.

 

[garyk1970]

Please post in Non Buick Cars for sale otherwise your gonna get banned:biggrin::biggrin:

i swear to god i just spit chunks of brunswick stew out my nose:biggrin:

 

[Black3]

No.

 

[allblackcars]

you might be at $3k if you buy the "legal" parts for the Imp- but the chassis is the same going back to 77, so regular generic $99 long tube headers for a small block chevy bolt right up. a dual exhaust kit for a Chevelle fits with a little work. you'd lose the cats and any emissions legality, tho, but i'm not bound by those rules and if you start with a 94 Imp you don't need to worry about the after cat O2 sensors..
the HOT cam kit can be had for $600 or so and installed in your garage in a weekend.

After the upgrades you mentioned how much HP do you think it will gain from the base 260? Also only the 96's have the o2 behind the cat.

 

[novaderrik]

After the upgrades you mentioned how much HP do you think it will gain from the base 260? Also only the 96's have the o2 behind the cat.

the 94 is the best one to get- in 95 they went to a hybrid OBD1/OBD2 setup, and 96 went full on OBD2 and that just complicates things in every way.
after the stuff i listed, hp would probably be in the 400 range at the flywheel.
the LT1 in the B bodies got a lower HP rating than almost the same engine in F bodies (275) and Corvettes (285, i think)- partially for marketing purposes, and partly because of the more restrictive exhaust setup used to keep the Caprice quieter- they had a 2" dual exhaust setup with lots of unnecessary bends and kinks with 2 mufflers in front of the rear axle and 2 resonators right behind the rear bumper. a 2.5" true dual setup with long tube headers would take care of that problem... the Caprice LT1 had better flowing iron heads with more efficient combustion chambers than the aluminum heads in the Vettes and F bodies. the Caprice LT1 heads were what they based the vortec truck heads on when they came out in the 96 pickups, and those are the best cast iron heads GM ever installed on a small block.
there is no reason that a Caprice LT1 with good exhaust and the HOT cam setup won't make in the area of 400hp with a ton of torque- with the deeper 3.73 gears (which would have about the same final drive ratio with the Imp's 28" tires as a GN with 3.42 gears and a 26" tire) it would at the very least be close to an equal match for a similarly prepped GN for either owner to be able to say that their car was the best.

i can say from experience that a stock 227,000 mile 94 Caprice cop car with 3.08 gears felt at least as fast to my "butt dyno" as a stock low mile 87 GN, and it was very stable and undramatic when it hit the high speed fuel cutoff..

 

[blackmonte]

I had two of them 95,& a 96 , not even close!!!!but I am still LMAO at that video

 

[87lightweight]

heres my 96 with the lt4 conversion and a few other goodies :wink: dont run to bad for its size!

 

[allblackcars]

Any 1/8 mile times?

 

[87lightweight]

not yet, its been 13.50's in the 1/4 on street tires, i need some good back tires and thinking 125 shot

 

[Vampire]

I want that 1:10 of my life back.

 

[bmackinnon]

Does anyone have that brotha's number? I need some supadupa weed... and NO... the impy's got no 'cred on the GN... Damn... he high as hell...lol :biggrin:

 

[bmackinnon]

YouTube - Re: 96 Chevy Impala vs 87 Buick Grand National

Or maybe this dude's number?... I need some oxycontin.... :tongue: Lambo? Ferrari?

 

[SGRIM]

heres my 96 with the lt4 conversion and a few other goodies :wink: dont run to bad for its size!
View attachment 111309

Yall sure nobody wants a low mile one that looks just like this cheap:biggrin: I got a 60K mile car priced to go at 12K

Oh snap, I might get banned:tongue:

 

[JOHNDEEREGN]

Yall sure nobody wants a low mile one that looks just like this cheap:biggrin: I got a 60K mile car priced to go at 12K

Oh snap, I might get banned:tongue:

Ya'll sure is one thick headed mfr :biggrin:

SGRIM=