Picture of the Caprice with the rear end installed.

I got the 8.5 installed that I got out of a 83 police cruiser. Lower control arms, shocks, Canuck Motorsports 1.5" lowering springs. I will say they lowered it quite a bit and these were for the 1979 Caprice not the 1994-1996 Impala SS. I wish they made a 4" plus backspacing with the wheels I got on the back they did not and they are only 3.75 so I am hoping the rear don't squat too much and hit my new 275x60x15 M/T drag radials. The fronts should be here this week they are 15x7 rims with M/T SR's that are 245x60's. Now I just have to get the driveshaft shortened, re-welded, balanced and new U-Joints and should be just about ready for the road again.



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She's coming along nicely!

Good looking wheels! What are they, ARE's?
I ran a set of Cragar Quick Trik wheels on my white impala for a while. They're similar to yours but were all steel.

ARE's Outlaw 2's. Wanted to get a little weight out of it. I know the 11" drum brakes on the rear made up for it.

thanks for the pic, im getting those springs now

I'm waiting for my front wheels to be delivered today with M/T SR's mounted and balanced for free plus delivered for free from today from Summit. Then I will see what the front looks like then I will install the front drop springs.

I was limited on back spacing on the rears because they are 5x5 lug pattern. I still have about 1.5" of clearance between the tire and the frame.

Picture with the front tires and rims now.   I do have room for the drop springs for sure. I was going to drop the driveshaft off at the place to get it cut but I am heading to a swap meet today and who knows I might score a couple interior parts or something.



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Really slow now that is cold and snow on the ground. I did get it running and drove around the block a few times. With the 4.30 gear you can feel the trans shift gears now. It might trip the tires with a shift kit put in even with the 305. I found two great deals on a rear set of emergency brake cables as well. Purchased them new in the old NOS boxes for 50.00 on ebay.

Do you have a tach installed? what kind of rpms were you running with those 4.30's? Also did you get the specs of the drive shaft? Once i find an 8.5 ill be doing pretty much what you just did, thanks

No I don't have a tachometer in it yet but I got an old one in the garage I am going to put in it. Measuring the driveshaft from the center of the U-joint cups center to center it is 57" long. It was 59 1/2" long from the factory.

Measuring from the center of the u-joint cup on the rear end yoke to the trans rear seal is 59 1/2" They cut it down approximately 2 1/4-2 1/2 inches. Remember my car originally had a Turbo 350 in it instead of overdrive. My output shaft sticks out of the trans seal area about 1/2". I still got to pull the driveshaft back out and put the speedo gears in it. I disconnected the speedo cable because I did not want to peg the needle and break something. Going from a 2.41 to 4.30 gears might do something bad.

so did you go with a 700r4 or 2004r? I was curious about rpms with those gears because i thought you kept the th350 in, and i know highway driving aint gonna happen with that combo lol

No, right now I still have the Turbo 350 and later probably a Turbo 400 if I go big block. If I go small block 406 route I will go through the Turbo 350 or another one.