My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
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One thread per car per member in this section. No thread hijacking in this section please, if it's strictly a tech discussion please move it to the appropriate sub-forum - moderators can assist if needed or requested.
One thread per car per member in this section. No thread hijacking in this section please, if it's strictly a tech discussion please move it to the appropriate sub-forum - moderators can assist if needed or requested.
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:56 am
- Location: Eastern Washington
My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
Well figured time I start a thread on this beluga. This journey starts back in 2021. I needed to get a car for credit reasons..but the market was off the wall and I didnt see value in anything for sale. After a friends suggestion I wanted a fleet vehicle and then looked into patrol cars. I went and drover all kinds locally but most were BEAT and or overpriced. The prices were still pretty stable and I found Interceptor King in Oregon. I made a call to Jason and decided on a 2015 he had. I set up financing ect..SUPER good guy to deal with. Decided to take a train ride down from eastern WA. Train came in about midnight..I got a sleeper and the bed was made when I got there. Train rocked me to sleep while I watched the moon out my window. I woke up with the sun coming up along the Columbia river..was unreal. Had just enough time to change..get ready..have some breakfast before my layover in Portland then on another train to the station no from from his lot.
Car was as described. It was pretty dark shortly after I got there. Hopped in the car and headed back north. Car performed perfect..stopped at a hotel overnight. I was impressed how everyone moved over..no on tailgated me and man..lots of power. When I got it home..kinda surprised me how big of a car it is
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"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:56 am
- Location: Eastern Washington
Re: My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
https://youtu.be/Gg1O8nY4FH4
After a while I got worried about the noises it was making so got the Blueline Probationary cam..wanted to stay with a stock converter for now. The car doesnt fit in my garage so I had a friend do the work. Glad I didnt wait til it was warmer cause the chain guide was toast. Did BTR valve springs, retainers..all the usual valvetrain updates while I was there. Also did a high volume oil pump.
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"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:56 am
- Location: Eastern Washington
Re: My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
Had a basic street tune on it and took it home. Really woke the car up. Drove it around the rest of the year like that. I have other cars so it doesn't get a ton of miles. I did another oil service a few hundred miles after all that work. About 50% into the oil mileage rang I had a low oil light warning. I swapped out the sensor and all was well. When I pulled it out this spring.it popped up again. I checked with a scan tool at it was hovering around 23 PSI at idle..kinda low. Did some looking and a few people suggested I check the oil filter. We had gotten a cheap filter cause they didnt have anything else at the time. My friend saw the "Microgard" filter and we swapped it out with a WIX...oil pressure went for 23 PSI to 40 PSI at idle. CRAZY it is that much of a difference. Now it has been great and I even noticed the valvtrain is quieter as well
Next I wanna do something about the exhaust. I got the car with the rear mufflers off and it drones like no other. I see some guys are getting paddle shifters in these...gonna get on that tooForums> Facebook Groups....always
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:56 am
- Location: Eastern Washington
Re: My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
Man...this site sure is quiet...borderline dead
But...moving right along..something cool came in
But...moving right along..something cool came in
Forums> Facebook Groups....always
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:56 am
- Location: Eastern Washington
Re: My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
So these went in easier than I thought they would. Everything came out pretty easy. I think the worst thing I wrested with was the O2 sensor connectors. Wanna unplug those before you drop the manifolds and cats. I also made it a point to order up some metal manifold gaskets
Quite the difference.. So one thing to note..is that these were not made for the PPV. These were ordered for a G8 as they dont make ones for the PPV. SO that being said...everything is a bit short since the Caprice is so much longer. So I ran it without the mufflers and....well no...too loud. SO for now I am going to run the factory mufflers..until I can get the rest finished out through shop. Ultimately the plan is so just use electric cutouts with factory mufflers.
SO how it is now..there are a few leaks as everything was spread out to make it reach where it needed too. It will be addressed when the rest of the piping is done.
As far as driving impressions..the off idle throttle is NOW and you can feel power all through the RPM...thought I would feel more on the top end but I can tell it needs a real tune done on it. The fit is pretty good for something that just came out of the box. They are never perfect. But this wasnt bad to deal with the installation. Weren't super expensive so...money well spent. I really want to look into the paddle shift so I can dyno the thing.
Quite the difference.. So one thing to note..is that these were not made for the PPV. These were ordered for a G8 as they dont make ones for the PPV. SO that being said...everything is a bit short since the Caprice is so much longer. So I ran it without the mufflers and....well no...too loud. SO for now I am going to run the factory mufflers..until I can get the rest finished out through shop. Ultimately the plan is so just use electric cutouts with factory mufflers.
SO how it is now..there are a few leaks as everything was spread out to make it reach where it needed too. It will be addressed when the rest of the piping is done.
As far as driving impressions..the off idle throttle is NOW and you can feel power all through the RPM...thought I would feel more on the top end but I can tell it needs a real tune done on it. The fit is pretty good for something that just came out of the box. They are never perfect. But this wasnt bad to deal with the installation. Weren't super expensive so...money well spent. I really want to look into the paddle shift so I can dyno the thing.
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"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
- elc32955
- System Manager
- Posts: 2748
- Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:32 am
- Location: East Central Florida
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Re: My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
Yep, you get reminded about the longer wheelbase when you least expect it. The G8 and the SS both are on the short wheelbase, and we're on the extended. First time it got me was with my old 2011 9C3, I purchased a SLP Powerflo cat-back exhaust with the special trapezoid tips that were custom-designed for the G8 (and by default the Caprice since we copied the G8 rear bumper for the exhaust cutouts). The exhaust bolts up to a G8 exactly, I had to have about 4 inches added to the tubing on both sides to extend the assembly far enough back on both sides so it'd clear the bumper. I miss those SLP tips, they are now NLA for that rig.
Another area that can get you is a tow hitch. The only stock hitch that will correctly work with the Caprice comes out of Australia. The US hitches were originally designed off the G8, and again they are too short for our wheelbase. G8 and SS, no problem.
It can be quiet here, we don't have the glitz that some of the other "professionally" managed forums have, but we're also not loaded up with pop-up ads and data-siphoning bots, plus we don't affiliate with a lot of commercial sponsors. You can find us fairly easily on the 'net but you do have to look for us a bit, the user base here is very technically competent and for the most part drama free. Another thing is that these cars do fly under the radar a lot since GM never ran any advertising campaigns for them! There's still tons of people that have never heard of this generation Caprice, when you use the word they think... "B-Body".
Nice progress on the build btw!!
Eric
Another area that can get you is a tow hitch. The only stock hitch that will correctly work with the Caprice comes out of Australia. The US hitches were originally designed off the G8, and again they are too short for our wheelbase. G8 and SS, no problem.
It can be quiet here, we don't have the glitz that some of the other "professionally" managed forums have, but we're also not loaded up with pop-up ads and data-siphoning bots, plus we don't affiliate with a lot of commercial sponsors. You can find us fairly easily on the 'net but you do have to look for us a bit, the user base here is very technically competent and for the most part drama free. Another thing is that these cars do fly under the radar a lot since GM never ran any advertising campaigns for them! There's still tons of people that have never heard of this generation Caprice, when you use the word they think... "B-Body".
Nice progress on the build btw!!
Eric
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.
Re: My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
If you want to dyno and you have HP Tuners you can use your sport shift mode button to program the sport mode shift settings to hold 3rd gear. This is what I use when I datalog. Program the shifts for sport mode to shift up into 3rd real fast, prevent the downshift to 2 or 1, hold the upshift to the rev limit, and if you have the right converter you can lock the converter on WOT if you want. So you drive normally then when you want to do a 3rd gear pull or dyno run, hit sport mode and have at it. Also for exhaust I added resonsators to extend the center section. Highly recommend resonators. LOL
2014 Caprice PPV, 6.0L, BTR Stage 2 Cam, 3.45, 3" exhaust, Rotofab intake, Chris Henry tuned, future LSA....
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:56 am
- Location: Eastern Washington
Re: My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
Hey thanks, I was actually consider a hitch..I will have to consider that when getting on. As far as the exhaust, I kinda new what I was getting into when I ordered. Kinda interesting being able to swap part from others.elc32955 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2023 12:52 am Yep, you get reminded about the longer wheelbase when you least expect it. The G8 and the SS both are on the short wheelbase, and we're on the extended. First time it got me was with my old 2011 9C3, I purchased a SLP Powerflo cat-back exhaust with the special trapezoid tips that were custom-designed for the G8 (and by default the Caprice since we copied the G8 rear bumper for the exhaust cutouts). The exhaust bolts up to a G8 exactly, I had to have about 4 inches added to the tubing on both sides to extend the assembly far enough back on both sides so it'd clear the bumper. I miss those SLP tips, they are now NLA for that rig.
Another area that can get you is a tow hitch. The only stock hitch that will correctly work with the Caprice comes out of Australia. The US hitches were originally designed off the G8, and again they are too short for our wheelbase. G8 and SS, no problem.
It can be quiet here, we don't have the glitz that some of the other "professionally" managed forums have, but we're also not loaded up with pop-up ads and data-siphoning bots, plus we don't affiliate with a lot of commercial sponsors. You can find us fairly easily on the 'net but you do have to look for us a bit, the user base here is very technically competent and for the most part drama free. Another thing is that these cars do fly under the radar a lot since GM never ran any advertising campaigns for them! There's still tons of people that have never heard of this generation Caprice, when you use the word they think... "B-Body".
Nice progress on the build btw!!
Eric
Thanks for the replay. I am just now getting setup through HP Tuners...I already got the pins and wiring for the BCM and a steering wheel on order. If I need to go in and change anything, I would rather just setup for full paddle sift control straight out of the gate. I am going to look into finishing out the exhaust soon. I didnt mind the no mufflers. But it was just too loud waiting for a shift to hit. maybe after paddle shift, Ill pop the stock mufflers offbstoner wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2023 10:34 am If you want to dyno and you have HP Tuners you can use your sport shift mode button to program the sport mode shift settings to hold 3rd gear. This is what I use when I datalog. Program the shifts for sport mode to shift up into 3rd real fast, prevent the downshift to 2 or 1, hold the upshift to the rev limit, and if you have the right converter you can lock the converter on WOT if you want. So you drive normally then when you want to do a 3rd gear pull or dyno run, hit sport mode and have at it. Also for exhaust I added resonsators to extend the center section. Highly recommend resonators. LOL
Video if it without mufflers
https://youtu.be/2tdPDRKB24E
Forums> Facebook Groups....always
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:56 am
- Location: Eastern Washington
Re: My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
Little something showed up...
MUCH nicer shape and feel. I ordered a wiring lead from a guy...when it shows up we will get this badboy installed Forums> Facebook Groups....always
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:56 am
- Location: Eastern Washington
Re: My 2015 PNW Bluesmobile
My wiring lead came it. It is just a terminated harness with a switch. Each terminal is specific to these plugs. Got excited and stayed after work and unhooked the battery and got to work. Gaining access was pretty easy, considering I have never taken one of these apart. BCM sits in the passenger kick panel. Other connector is the "horn/steering wheel function" plug. Both are pretty easy to get too.
So I appreciate the the time this guy took to find out the part numbers and sell these leads. But wasnt super impressed with the actual wire use. Just super thin and even the insulation is super brittle and cracked handling it
I may redo it in the future with better wiring. I just handled it as careful as I could. I ran the blue wire to the blue plug to the BCM and unlocked the pin lock and slid the lead into the correct location. Red wire I ran along up the steering column following the factory harness as close as I could.
Forums> Facebook Groups....always
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett
"The day you die is just like any other, only shorter." ..Samuel Beckett