2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Tell us about your new PPV, show us some pictures, let us know how you did what you did!
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BluesBro
Posts: 134
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 1:26 am

Re: 2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Post by BluesBro »

Got a lot done this week, it was relatively cool so the cooling issue didn’t present itself for me to troubleshoot.

Once again I started the audio install with great intentions of documentation with pictures…took 2 pictures while taking out the factory speakers and totally spaced it for the rest of the day. I installed audiofrog gs62s in the front doors, used scosche GM speaker mounts with some thin closed cell foam on the back to seal to the door and a ring of open cell foam to seal to the interior panel. They sound great but could really use an amp, so that’s another thing to add to the list.

The sub install was much harder than my usual experience, I really don’t like running high lines to amps but the factory head unit didn’t leave me much choice. As I had seen in the amp install thread the 14+ cars don’t have an easy way to tap into the lines so I ended up intercepting them in the right and left kicker panels under the dash. I don’t recall the amp model off the top of my head but it’s a new alpine class d 400w unit, powering a Phoenix gold 12. These cars are much more insulated than I had previously thought and it’s somewhat troublesome because very little of the sound it making it through the back seat into the cabin. The rear deck has a rattle that I will need to track down.

In the process of running all the audio stuff I pretty much removed every trim panel in the car front to rear. Whoever decommed my car did a real sloppy job putting the headliner back so I took a little extra time to remove all the trim to tuck it in. Having owned and disassembled a lot of GM vehicles I am really impressed by these cars and the way they fit together.

Another unfortunate discovery was that, whoever decommed the car, cut the rear seatbelts…might be a silver lining though as they were aftermarket units that buckled at the top of the seat. So if anyone has an extra set of rear belts I’m interested, along with the passenger side trim piece that goes to the side of the rear seat.

It also got some nice ceramic tint.

Final unfortunate discovery is that the headlight adjusters seem to be broken and the headlights are aimed as far down as possible, making for a rough night time driving experience. I might be swapping them with the car we are doing a manual swap on for now and worry about finding new ones when that car is close to ready.

The final upgrade done this week was I pulled the metal console base from the black car. It won’t be compatible once the 6speed goes in it. So in my car it went.

Edit: bonus footage of solo exhaust
https://youtu.be/3QLuTf1FiWQ

Edit 2: video reminded me that I also put in a new spotlight bulb, old one was yellow and cracked. I know most of you guys don’t like the spotlight but I’m a fan.
2014 Caprice PPV 6.0L - TSP Stage 1 Cam, Solo 3in Mach Cat Back, VCM OTR, Pedders Coilovers, HP Tuned
2002 Avalanche 5.3L - MBRP Exhaust, RC 6in Lift
BluesBro
Posts: 134
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 1:26 am

Re: 2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Post by BluesBro »

Changed the oil last weekend, got rid of the E-core filter that came on the car and went with mobil1 filter and oil.

This weekend I got the brakes and front wheel bearings done.

Existing pads were absolutely rotten, guide pins were seized.
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Went with the powerstop z23 kit, very happy with it so far.
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Rear wheel bearings are actually good so I didn't need to have that battle right now.

Front wheel bearings were chunky, technically I probably could have left them but I got some Timken units for a reasonable price.
I am very thankful for the aluminum knuckles, made replacement very easy. I was expecting the usual struggle of extracting them from iron knuckles.
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2014 Caprice PPV 6.0L - TSP Stage 1 Cam, Solo 3in Mach Cat Back, VCM OTR, Pedders Coilovers, HP Tuned
2002 Avalanche 5.3L - MBRP Exhaust, RC 6in Lift
BluesBro
Posts: 134
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 1:26 am

Re: 2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Post by BluesBro »

Hit the picture limit with that last post but I wanted to add a decent picture of the car from the other day.
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2014 Caprice PPV 6.0L - TSP Stage 1 Cam, Solo 3in Mach Cat Back, VCM OTR, Pedders Coilovers, HP Tuned
2002 Avalanche 5.3L - MBRP Exhaust, RC 6in Lift
BluesBro
Posts: 134
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 1:26 am

Re: 2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Post by BluesBro »

After weeks of research and back on forth on decisions I finally ordered an intake. This item wasn't really high on the list of things for this car but the more I tuned and logged, the more I saw a need for it. My choices came down to the rotofab, vararam, and VCM. I ended up going with the VCM, it was more expensive than the other options but the quality and flow will be worth it.

I live at high altitude so this car is at a pretty big disadvantage as far as incoming air goes. Most days I'm seeing between 11.5psi and 12.0psi barometric, which if you go by conventional knowledge is at least a 30hp difference from sea level. I am losing around another 1psi to the intake tract high RPM, killing the airflow.

Here are some screenshots of logs for those who are interested. The MAP reading is what I am basing my thoughts on.
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The VCM OTR comes next week so I'll see if I am correct.
2014 Caprice PPV 6.0L - TSP Stage 1 Cam, Solo 3in Mach Cat Back, VCM OTR, Pedders Coilovers, HP Tuned
2002 Avalanche 5.3L - MBRP Exhaust, RC 6in Lift
BluesBro
Posts: 134
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 1:26 am

Re: 2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Post by BluesBro »

Got the VCM OTR yesterday, install was pretty easy, was made a bit more difficult due to the history of my car. The radiator support is from a V6 car which has some different tabs/mounts that had to be removed. Side note, it was real fun getting emissions done when I first got the car when the tester saw the 3.6L emissions sticker on the radiator support :|.

Stock intake picture
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The VCM OTR was packaged impressively
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One of the tabs that had to be removed
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Finished picture
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Got it roughly tuned last night, will need some refinement later this week. The difference is pretty drastic above 4500rpm, the pressure loss at the manifold I was seeing is gone now. It needed a fair bit more fuel up top, and going by airflow/fuel math it gained between 24 and 47hp across the power band, seat of the pants dyno agrees.
2014 Caprice PPV 6.0L - TSP Stage 1 Cam, Solo 3in Mach Cat Back, VCM OTR, Pedders Coilovers, HP Tuned
2002 Avalanche 5.3L - MBRP Exhaust, RC 6in Lift
s/c'd cav
Posts: 1382
Joined: Mon May 30, 2016 3:12 am
Location: PHOENIX AZ

Re: 2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Post by s/c'd cav »

BluesBro wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 9:49 am Got the VCM OTR yesterday, install was pretty easy, was made a bit more difficult due to the history of my car. The radiator support is from a V6 car which has some different tabs/mounts that had to be removed. Side note, it was real fun getting emissions done when I first got the car when the tester saw the 3.6L emissions sticker on the radiator support :|.




Got it roughly tuned last night, will need some refinement later this week. The difference is pretty drastic above 4500rpm, the pressure loss at the manifold I was seeing is gone now. It needed a fair bit more fuel up top, and going by airflow/fuel math it gained between 24 and 47hp across the power band, seat of the pants dyno agrees.
the core support is the same for all motors , you purchased the incorrect intake for your car , and they list them oddly so it makes it kinda easy to get the wrong one
BluesBro
Posts: 134
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 1:26 am

Re: 2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Post by BluesBro »

s/c'd cav wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 5:33 pm
BluesBro wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 9:49 am Got the VCM OTR yesterday, install was pretty easy, was made a bit more difficult due to the history of my car. The radiator support is from a V6 car which has some different tabs/mounts that had to be removed. Side note, it was real fun getting emissions done when I first got the car when the tester saw the 3.6L emissions sticker on the radiator support :|.




Got it roughly tuned last night, will need some refinement later this week. The difference is pretty drastic above 4500rpm, the pressure loss at the manifold I was seeing is gone now. It needed a fair bit more fuel up top, and going by airflow/fuel math it gained between 24 and 47hp across the power band, seat of the pants dyno agrees.
the core support is the same for all motors , you purchased the incorrect intake for your car , and they list them oddly so it makes it kinda easy to get the wrong one
Interesting, the tab on the passenger side also interfered with the fuse box cover so it had to go anyway. Also the other 2014 we have does not have those tabs...nor does the 2013.

Edit: Just double checked and it is the VCM intake kit for the 2014+ models.

Edit again: Dug through some pictures...seems those tabs are on the 2011-2013 models...so my rad support is from an older car...and the 2013 we have has the support from a newer car....haha.
2014 Caprice PPV 6.0L - TSP Stage 1 Cam, Solo 3in Mach Cat Back, VCM OTR, Pedders Coilovers, HP Tuned
2002 Avalanche 5.3L - MBRP Exhaust, RC 6in Lift
s/c'd cav
Posts: 1382
Joined: Mon May 30, 2016 3:12 am
Location: PHOENIX AZ

Re: 2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Post by s/c'd cav »

BluesBro wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 10:34 pm
s/c'd cav wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 5:33 pm
BluesBro wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 9:49 am Got the VCM OTR yesterday, install was pretty easy, was made a bit more difficult due to the history of my car. The radiator support is from a V6 car which has some different tabs/mounts that had to be removed. Side note, it was real fun getting emissions done when I first got the car when the tester saw the 3.6L emissions sticker on the radiator support :|.




Got it roughly tuned last night, will need some refinement later this week. The difference is pretty drastic above 4500rpm, the pressure loss at the manifold I was seeing is gone now. It needed a fair bit more fuel up top, and going by airflow/fuel math it gained between 24 and 47hp across the power band, seat of the pants dyno agrees.
the core support is the same for all motors , you purchased the incorrect intake for your car , and they list them oddly so it makes it kinda easy to get the wrong one
Interesting, the tab on the passenger side also interfered with the fuse box cover so it had to go anyway. Also the other 2014 we have does not have those tabs...nor does the 2013.

Edit: Just double checked and it is the VCM intake kit for the 2014+ models.

Edit again: Dug through some pictures...seems those tabs are on the 2011-2013 models...so my rad support is from an older car...and the 2013 we have has the support from a newer car....haha.
it was a running change on the tabs , and all over the counter ones did not get them

i was pissed when the body shop called on my G8 telling me the side panels and intake no longer fit properly , this was before VCM made the brackets to replace the tabs on the older cars

i also wonder if the core support change is why it looks to not fit with the fuse box cover ?
BluesBro
Posts: 134
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 1:26 am

Re: 2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Post by BluesBro »

Another part came yesterday. Took some shots of a test fit before painting.
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2014 Caprice PPV 6.0L - TSP Stage 1 Cam, Solo 3in Mach Cat Back, VCM OTR, Pedders Coilovers, HP Tuned
2002 Avalanche 5.3L - MBRP Exhaust, RC 6in Lift
Pursuit
Administration Staff
Posts: 969
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:39 pm
Location: Omaha, NE area

Re: 2014 9C1 Daily Driver

Post by Pursuit »

What is that wing from? Or is it aftermarket?

Maurice
Maurice Sheil

mhsheil@gmail.com

2011 Caprice Phantom Black 9C3
2012 Impala 9C1
1995 9C1 Caprice
1996 GMC Sierra C1500
1996 Chevrolet K2500 Extended Cab, long box, 454, 91,000 rust free miles
1974 SJ Grand Prix 455 well optioned with factory moon roof
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