New project

I finaly found replacement to my Caprice. It is a 1998 Ford Crown Vic P71. It have served as a Fire deparment car in Cedarville, NJ.

I am hoping it is not as much abused as copcars are. No rust, solid car and what is best; it still has all the original emergency equipment.

Car will be shipped to Finland early 2015 so I will keep you posted what its going to look like!

Here is a pic when it was picked from seller:

Sold, sold sold!

Car is sold, so I wont be updating anything here in future...

Short video about car

More more more toys

There is never enough gizmos in my car.

Managed to find two items from ebay. Been looking those for a while.

First was car camera. Icop is a bit newer model, but it is realy cool. It fits right in to the radio slot and needs no space from the trunk. Got awesome deal on this.

It has cameras front and back. Can´t wait to get this working.

This the other new toy, it is Uniden scanner. Those are realy expensive new, but i got one pretty good price becourse it is refurbished. 

Now I just have to wait until may, when I fly to Boston and get these with me back to Finland. Then it takes few days to get them wired and work in my Caprice.

Will be reporting then more...

For sale or not for sale

For a brief moment I tried to sell my Caprice.

I was asking 10000 euros for it but no real buyers. I think the price was realy reasonable. Have seen these sold in police auction 6000,- dollars but those are in bad condition everything stripped. Just like my car was when i got it. Then it needs shipped here, thats 2000,- and taxes paid about 5000,- .

And it would still need to be rebuild like mine, thats easy 3000-4000,- euros.

So I think my price was very cheap.

Only copcar that i have seen sold, was in England and asking price was 30000,- £ !!!

My plan was to get an other one ( Crown Vic), that would be much less driven, not so old as my Caprice and it could be driven every day as a daily driver. Would had been unmarked one...
Will get one some day.

But for now, I will enjoy my Caprice, add some new toys to it and have fun.

Junkyard find

I managed to make great find in junkyard.

My old rear deck was horrible. Find a right color, decent shape carpet from junkyard. It has been sitting in carage. Finaly it is changed.

Looks good

Even had little help from my dumbass Brother.

Got new rooflight

I managed to find nice rooflight from Ebay and a seller who has low prices and what is more important; shipping realy cheap to Finland.

I was Very happy about it. Very happy.

But it was a bit disappointment when opened the box. UPS has managed to busted that light badly. Other side was cracked and inside the rotators were broken.

Rotators I managed to fix and glue back on, but one side of it is now busted... Looking for new part...

 

 

Yesterday we started to fix this lightbar with my brother. Took old amber traffic halogens off, and replaced them with Led ligts. Thats much better then those old 50W (six of them) halogens.

Those leds are REALY bright!

Electronics fitted nicely to behind lights

They are BRIGHT

Led units fitted just where old lights were. They are glued in.

Lights are taken from my old Voltex set, I got it from ebay. Here is sellers video those lights in use:

Lights are sold here: http://www.voltexlights.com/ and i can highly recommend them.

 

Few more pics

Hääauto Wedding car

Just a short video of my Caprice used as a wedding car. This is outside of Ulvila church.

Sananen suomeksi -something in finnish too

Laitetaan nyt pieni teksti suomeksikin, kun täällä kuitenkin käy porukkaa.

Tämä on siis blogi harrasteautosta, joka tuurilla tuli hankittua vuonna 2012.

Auto on aito poliisiauto jenkeistä, palvellut Los Angelesin sheriffillä partioautona kymmenen vuotta.
Tekniikka on edelleen rautaa, tosin yli 300tkm mittarissa on jättänyt jälkensä.

Olen auton "entisöinyt" perustaidoillani, en ole ammattilainen mutta pienet virheet antaa anteeksi kun tekee itse, eikös vain?

Olisi mielenkiintoista kuulla jos joku on sattunut vaikka bongaamaan auton jossain, ottaamaan jopa kuvankin. Lisäisin mielelläni muiden ottamia kuvia tähän juttuun.

Myös kysymyksiä olisi kiva kuulla; laittakaa niitä vaan tuohon alas niin vastailen varmasti!

Changing door handle

It was long time painful to get inside car. Pulling door handel didnt do nothing, had to you push door inbound to door open.
That is annoying.

My last trip to junkyard was succesful. Managed to find 1995 Caprice there and get some good parts from it and those were frikkin cheap too. I think I paid 5 dollars for that door handle.

Yesterday I opened my door panel (it is worn out, want to find new one same day).
Old handle is easy to remove. Its just two nuts 11mm (I think they are supposed to be 10mm but it didnt fit and 11m was a bit too big but did the job).

Door handle is only attached with one small plastic plug. It goes inside to that rod in picture and then snaps to it by locking it. I didnt do it right first time, didnt notice that top of rod goes INSIDE that handle. Got it right second time. (try it first until putting all parts and panel back, dumbass....).
Old door handle moving parts were very loose. Thats why it didnt worked as supposed to.

Now I am happy. It is so much better to go inside car. Small things make big difference...

From those holes you can access nuts. You need long tool.

That rod bends inside door handle, but it is only thing attached. Very easy to remove and replace.

Black is where the rod is. Red arrow spots the hinge that gets loose.
 

Its been a while

I have been lazy, havent even driven my car for a while....
Yesterday a managed to take this video. Sorry about camera been a bit too down.

Enjoy.

Service and more service

So many new nice shine parts changed to my Caprice.
New police shocks, police springs and new brake hoses. Now it rides like it should.

Also got it Inspected, MOT passed. Now its road legal an other year again...
Also thing that they didnt liked, was those serach light. Finnish road law doesnt know what kind of lights they are. But its okey as long as they dont work.

Car also has new winter tires.

Shake shake baby

There is few fixes made to this car this week.

Gearbox was a bit loose, it gave awful noise when speeding hard. But its fixed now (new rubber holder) and there is no more extra noises. And I am happy!

I also changed light switch panel, it had too many holes drilled in to it:

Lower panel off first, then just open one screw on bottom and just pull it towards you. It comes off easy.

Two connectors need to be remove. Here you also see left and right clips that holds that in dash.

There was nothing wrong on my lightswitch by I opened it in case somebody likes to know what it looks like...



New panel on. That nasty bit thats missing is on lower panel, have to fix that someday or find new lower panel

You can never have enough LEDs

My lightbar originaly only has amber LEDs. I added some blue and red there, to make it more cop...

Those are not very bright. but in showroom they look like (and when its dark). Lights have 18 flash patterns but I just chose those.

Note to myself: When going for a spin after assembling more lights, remember to turn them OFF...

How to replace blower motor.

Problems with your blower? Here is some tips:

1. Blower motor only works in speed 1 and 2.
- your relay is busted. Change that.
2. Blower motor only works in high speed
- your resistor is busted, change that.
3. blower motor stopped. Might run sometimes.
- open the shield under passenger side dash. You see motor on right. When car is running, hit it hard with stick or something. If it starts running, you know its life is near to the end. You need a new motor.

Here is how you find and change these parts. (I have done it twice, took me 20 minutes.)

These are tools you need. Screws are not tight, but if you dont have power on your hand, might need extra help with socket. Socket is 6mm.

 First open passenger side plastic panel  and remove parts

 Open plastic shield under dash. Dont have to remove it, just push it down.

 Here you see part locations. Screws that holds motor are number 1,2,3. Number 3 is in difficult place, you need small hands.
Remember, screws are not actualy tight, dont give up. Base is plastic, so be careful not to open wrong way, or overtight when you get them back.

Heat resistor was from www.nippelit.fi

 Open connection.

 Take plastic cover from old part and replace it to new motor.
Put motor on its place (it is a bit tricky, but you know when its in right place when it stays there by it self.)

Last screw (number 3) is a bitch to put back. With a help of tape like this, you can do it.

Then just put all covers back, and you are done!

If you found this helpful, please leave feedback! Thanks!

Is it just a piece of junk?

Soooo many mechanical problems with this car. The thermometer on cauges was not working, so didnt knew that engine was overheating. Lucky we fixed it, so I saw that in time.
waterpump is leaking, that needs to be fixed first. Then the ABS system needs some TLC, it is busted too.

But for funside, here is some videos:

Fixing mechanical issues

Its time to fix those mechanical issues on this car. First all four corners is getting new brakes and bearings.

Also power steering is busted, its leaking and need to be fixed. Bigger problem is rear; bushings are totaly busted and needs to be changed. It is a much intens job and going to cost more money then i was prepared. But it has to be fixed, this car is driving like a shit now.

There is also horrible noise when speeding hard, that might be turbine or it is just coming from joints becourse rear is so loose. Also rear is leaking oil; need to be fixed too.

Then i have a funny job, blower motor is busted and needs to be replaced. I have done it once before to Caprice so I know how fun that is to change it under dash.

Water temperature meter isnt working, needs to be re wired.

When these are done first, then we will figure out what else there is...

We are very fortunate to have good local American car shop, Pasi Mahlamäki http://www.autokorjaamomahlamaki.fi/. He is good and reasonable priced. I know he can fix everything.

So much have been replaced

Here is some list of parts I replaced and also some info where to get them:

New deck cover. Old was realy busted, but with this it deck looks much better.
Got it from http://www.carid.com/1991-chevy-caprice-wood-grain-dash-kits/coverking-dash-covers-136432.html

There was no button to open trunk lid. Originaly car had open button left of streering wheel. I found this on www.rockauto.com and it even works!

All door trims were replaced. Now every window works! These are from www.ebay.com . Also got remote door opener, thats from ebay too.

This mirror records awesome HD video. It works by it self, starts when car is started. It was around 200,- euros on ebay, origin from China.

My favourite; the new console. Siren is from http://www.autodirectsave.com/  Its not quite as good as professional Whelen, or others would be. But it was cheap, looks good and sounds ok. 

Center console was also from ebay; http://www.ebay.com/itm/350530722655?item=350530722655&viewitem=&vxp=mtr
all the toys fits here. Price was right, perfect fit. I am very happy to this console.

 6 switch box is also from ebay. New carpet i got from local shop http://www.sepponiemensivu.fi/

The rear have changed most. New tail lenses (rockauto), trunk emblem and trim (http://www.ebay.com/itm/370447037705?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649), fender trim (ebay).

Front has new headlights (rockauto), new HID (ebay), new grill and trim (ebay)

LAPD logo stickers are from ebay. Get yours here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LAPD-ADAM-12-Los-Angeles-Police-Department-Decal-SET-/190696651056?_trksid=p4340.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D388831868318623346%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D1%26

I painted wheels and added new covers (ebay). There is new brake discs and bearings etc. now in every corner. Those are bought localy too (http://www.sepponiemensivu.fi/)

New stickers

Finaly got those 911-stickers to rear of car. Took picture this morning. It may have been prosessed with photoshop...

When I get off work, job is to finish wiring center console.