Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

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9C1fanatic
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Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

Post by 9C1fanatic »

I know there are very few 2014/2015 owners on the board yet so here is a long shot.

Does anyone know or have any ideas if the center console from a 2014/2015 Chevrolet SS will bolt right up in a Caprice. The dash is exactly the same and it appears that if you remove the factory installed police console mounting plate and you remove the trim below the AC controls, the console will go right in, however, I don't know if Chevrolet modified the floor to accommodate the police console mounting plate that came standard starting in 2014. Looking under the car there even appears to be a large hole that looks like it is used on models with a floor shifter, I know the Caprice has a floor shifter in other markets with the updated dash, not sure if the Caprice ever came with a manual option in other markets?

I know this console has to be out of this world expensive but its worth looking into before I decide if I am going to go the route of ordering a new police console specific to the 2014 up Caprice made by Havis and just fill the equipment mounting space with cup holders, junk tray, and arm rest.

I would not relocate the parking brake I would not relocate the shifter but nice to know I probably could later. The 2014 Column shifter is not linkage like older column shift cars, there is a shift cable that runs all the way through the center console area then through the floor to the transmission. This is all covered by the mounting plate which is removed with 6 screws.
Garner Ames



1975 Pontiac Grand Am L77 - 14.82 @ 92.89
1991 Chevrolet C1500 L31 Vortec/5 Speed
2002 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 LM7
2014 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 L77 - 13.60 @ 105.87
2019 Chevrolet Express 3500 L96
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storm9c1
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Re: Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

Post by storm9c1 »

Interesting that the column shift uses a cable. That sounds pretty simple. It's a wonder why the first gen (2011-2013) didn't come that way. I wonder if the R&D dollars would have been about the same for the more elegant column shifter solution versus the stupid offset console shifter?

I've always felt the early shifter looked more like it belonged in an arcade game. Ironic that it had to be specially designed for the 9C1 cars, and then ended up having a recall. GM missed the mark when they had the opportunity to wow everyone right off the bat, and we all know that first impressions are everything (I still hear "if the Caprice had a column shifter instead of the console shifter, our department would buy it"). It had me scratching my head the first time I laid eyes on a Caprice PPV at the Michigan State Police testing in 2010. The GM reps there convinced me that it's more ergonomic to have the console shifter where it was, but I wasn't buying it. The whole thing still has me scratching my head today.
Tom (AKA: Storm)
2011 Caprice 9C3: L77, 8K miles, first-owner, purchased July 2011.
1995 Caprice 9C1: LT1, 178K miles, summer car.
1995 Impala SS: LT1, 21K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 62K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 128K miles. Rust In Pieces
1994 Caprice 9C1: LT1, beater winter car.
1969 Chevy C30: 383ci stroker, 4L80E, rollback car hauler.
1972 Chrysler Newport: 400ci big block, survivor 27K miles, 2-door hardtop.
1969 Dodge Charger: 383ci big block.
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bsparks72
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Re: Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

Post by bsparks72 »

Tom - agreed for police use, but in the afterlife in civilian use, I'll take my chintzy 9C1 floor shift over a column shift any day!
-Brandon
2012 9C1 L77 - 228/234, .604/.609 112 cam, JBA shorty headers, Solo high-flow cats, X-pipe, Cherry Bomb single-chamber mufflers (Frankenstein exhaust), Roto-Fab CAI, CTS-V torque converter, 3.45 Camaro diff, G8 red/black seats/steering wheel
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storm9c1
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Re: Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

Post by storm9c1 »

bsparks72 wrote:Tom - agreed for police use, but in the afterlife in civilian use, I'll take my chintzy 9C1 floor shift over a column shift any day!
All of my auto-trans cars (sans my '69 Dodge Charger) are column shift, so that doesn't bother me. In fact, reaching for the non-existent shifter and hitting the windshield wipers on my Caprice PPV is way more annoying... guess I am just too old-fashioned. If I'm shifting on the floor, I want to have a third pedal!
Tom (AKA: Storm)
2011 Caprice 9C3: L77, 8K miles, first-owner, purchased July 2011.
1995 Caprice 9C1: LT1, 178K miles, summer car.
1995 Impala SS: LT1, 21K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 62K miles.
1995 Caprice Wagon: LT1, 128K miles. Rust In Pieces
1994 Caprice 9C1: LT1, beater winter car.
1969 Chevy C30: 383ci stroker, 4L80E, rollback car hauler.
1972 Chrysler Newport: 400ci big block, survivor 27K miles, 2-door hardtop.
1969 Dodge Charger: 383ci big block.
ImpalaPPV
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Re: Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

Post by ImpalaPPV »

I agree with Tom. I don't know what GM was thinking when they originally designed the car. Cops pretty much always drive column shift cars and that makes sense. Ford and Dodge figured that out and offered them on their new cop cars from the start. If you work in a city or in a department where you don't drive the same car every shift a different shifter location could become a safety concern in an emergency. Things like grabbing for a shifter that isn't there or fumbling to find it can get you into trouble when SHTF.

I have always been a fan of column shift and all my cars and trucks that are automatic are column shift. I also have the same problem as Tom when driving a floor shift car.

I also agree with Tom about floor shifters and a third pedal.
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elc32955
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Re: Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

Post by elc32955 »

IMHO, think some of it may have been not wanting to do an extensive re-design of the base Holden product. Remember, Holden did not offer a column shifter in any way, shape, or form for the G8/Caprice platform (I.E. Commodore VE series 1/2 & WM Caprice). The 9C3's used the existing center console & shifter design from Holden's Omega interior, but with the guys on the ergonomics side saying "Hey, we need more room for car electronics for the cops in the marked cars" they had to come up with some sort of solution for 2011 cars (note not implemented until late in 2011 much after the first cars were released which were 9C3's). Ergo, the offset shifter and flat console that could be quickie designed and implemented for the 9C1 package deadline (with no tap-shift option). Some decisions are really as simple as that. We expect forethought and extensive R&D, but none of us know how much time they really spent looking into designs, merely that a shifter was designed and everyone had to toe the company line and promote it. No matter what.

Now, for MY 14 they had another problem with the Evoke interior clone that was mostly used to make the lower budget Caprice interior instead of capturing more elements of the WN. They just cobbed onto the start/stop hole used in the WN, added some necessary components, and made a DASH shifter, not a COLUMN shifter. Everyone calling it a column shifter based on marketing shtick bugs the hell out of me. It's a lever sticking out of the dashboard, not the column. They could have just as easily done a steering wheel control re-assignment and put the shifter on one of the rocker switches. Now THAT would have been interesting, and used a heck of a lot less space then a shift lever. But it wouldn't be as easy to slap it down into drive and cops, for the most part being creatures of habit, are used to the lever. Concession to the old days.
System Manager and your tour guide for the day. 2015 Caprice w/LFX, former NC DPS staff car. Partial hybrid G8/SS/Camaro SS interior mods, SS MyLink radio upgrade, 2016 Camaro V6 rims, GMPP Malibu chrome exhaust tips, otherwise bone stock for now.
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Re: Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

Post by 9C1fanatic »

Well I went to the local dealer today that has a used 2014 SS on the lot and the sales guy let me in it. Looking closer, I am certain the console will work in a 2014 up Caprice, only question remains if it will require modification to the floor to mount. I don't know anyone who owns one of these cars so I will probably need to consult service manuals to see if the floor bracket are common between the SS console and the PPV floor plate (console mounting plate).

On a side note, I did not realize, the SS has the traction control and sport buttons on the console and the HUD buttons in place of where performance and sport buttons on the dash in the Caprice. SS also has an electric parking brake??? I would leave mine on the floor anyway.

And for those interested, the SS has the same headlight switch as the 14/15 Caprice but only with the fog light switch integrated.
Garner Ames



1975 Pontiac Grand Am L77 - 14.82 @ 92.89
1991 Chevrolet C1500 L31 Vortec/5 Speed
2002 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 LM7
2014 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 L77 - 13.60 @ 105.87
2019 Chevrolet Express 3500 L96
9C1fanatic
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Re: Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

Post by 9C1fanatic »

Update,
I went to the parts department the other day and learned the console is not as expensive as you might think. The skeleton is about $110 and the outer shell is about $160. Of course this is completely bare and all other parts sold separately right down to the cup holders trim. The shifter comes as an assembly and is about $220.

I took the factory mounting plate off the floor today and realized the SS shifter will bolt right in place. The Caprice has a large hole in the floor where an auto or manual shifter usually goes in a zeta vehicle. On the 2014, there is just a dummy plate with the shifter cable going through a grommet. I think the only issue is going to be the parking brake. There is a whole big bracket for the parking brake adjustment mechanism under that console mounting plate. It looks like it depends on the mounting plate being in place for it to work properly.

2011-2013 guys please chime in. I cant remember, does the 9C3 come with a foot parking brake or a pull handle in the console. For those who have converted a 9c1 to have a console is there a way around this without moving the parking brake from the floor. The SS has an electric parking brake for which I want no part of. It looks like a SS console will be cheaper (if it works out) than trying to get a Holden Caprice console shipped.
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Garner Ames



1975 Pontiac Grand Am L77 - 14.82 @ 92.89
1991 Chevrolet C1500 L31 Vortec/5 Speed
2002 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 LM7
2014 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 L77 - 13.60 @ 105.87
2019 Chevrolet Express 3500 L96
4$akn69
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Re: Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

Post by 4$akn69 »

Hey any update on this?
9C1fanatic
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Re: Caprice 9C1/SS compatability

Post by 9C1fanatic »

Not yet. I stalled out on this project because of the parking brake issue. The 9C1 uses a floor pedal and the parking brake cable is routed through the center console area to a junction where it joins up with what is likely the factory parking brake cable routing used on previous cars that used a pull handle in the center console for this parking brake. I confirmed that all Chevy SS and 2013 up Middle East Caprice use an electric parking brake so the only way to use the SS console as I see it is to either convert to electric parking brake which I don't want to do or just hope that I can bolt up an SS console with the existing parking brake cable running through that area to keep my foot pedal parking brake operational.

I think it will still work but I may have to fab something up but ultimately I just need to bite the bullet and buy at least the brackets and the main console shell and see if I can get it to work with the 9C1 style parking brake. Worst case scenario is if it does not work, I could probably save it and make some money off it in the future after its been discontinued for a while.
Garner Ames



1975 Pontiac Grand Am L77 - 14.82 @ 92.89
1991 Chevrolet C1500 L31 Vortec/5 Speed
2002 Chevrolet Suburban 1500 LM7
2014 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 L77 - 13.60 @ 105.87
2019 Chevrolet Express 3500 L96
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