chevyhead420

so today i stumbled across an 89 rs that has literally become part of someone's yard to be quite honest im not even sure how we found it but anyway i know what our thinking. this car is junk well its not, some how some way there is no rust on it anwhere no dents nothing. so let me get to the point the guy tells me that 10 years ago he put an 89 5.7L caprice cop car motor in it and drove it for sometime until the TBI went along with a water pump and the project became a lost cause. so my question is this is there anyway WITHOUT takin the motor out to tell if this is really a cop car motor??? the 65 yr old man who this amazing looking car belongs to tells me he only wants $500 for this car.... i still think im dreaming

Atilla the Fun

The '89 Police Caprice engine was nothing special. Just the same 210-hp 350 used in the fullsize pickups, complete with swirl-port heads. swirl ports are not performance heads. Still, just the rust-free, never-crashed (I assume?) shell is worth $500.

3rdGenSuperman

from what I can see the caprice came in the 305 v-8 up till 1991, the police package was the only one with the 350 as far as caprice go. Also 1988 was with a 4bbr and 89 went to TBI. I can't find the engine code to look for the caprice but if it's a 350 and fuel TBI it's a good chance he's right. SOOOO what does that mean?

the police package engines were rated at 210hp the IROCs were rate 230 or 240 hp
so your not losing to much, and way more horses than the 6cyl or even the LO3 5.0, look in the block and if you see LO3 it would probably be the stock engine, either way it's worth at least $500 so your good there.

If the body is straight and you already have a 350 in it, then your off to a good start. Just clean it up hi-perf the engine an you've got a solid platform. You have a few options for the engine. Water pumps are pretty cheap and easy to throw in. Easiest would be to put a 4bbl on it, then you can run with very little electrics and computer work.

however make sure and look that engine over really well if the waterpump went it may have some problems from overheating.

skirkland1980

iTrader: (2)

it should say 5.0 or 5.7 on the back of the block. if the H2O pump is leaking it may have ran hot and fried the engine.