PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Tell us about your new PPV, show us some pictures, let us know how you did what you did!
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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.
bstoner
Posts: 233
Joined: Wed May 05, 2021 2:12 pm

Re: PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Post by bstoner »

Looks good. Looks identical to mine. I got the same rims. I put a 3.45 rear end in mine. Strongly recommend. Makes a nice difference. Definitely not too aggressive. Especially if you stay N/A.
2014 Caprice PPV, 6.0L, BTR Stage 2 Cam, 3.45, 3" exhaust, Rotofab intake, Chris Henry tuned, future LSA....
JUNKYARD_JACK
Posts: 134
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 10:13 am

Re: PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Post by JUNKYARD_JACK »

bstoner wrote: Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:14 pm Looks good. Looks identical to mine. I got the same rims. I put a 3.45 rear end in mine. Strongly recommend. Makes a nice difference. Definitely not too aggressive. Especially if you stay N/A.
Everyone seems to recommend that, maybe its something I need to look into doing, I had planned on doing a cam, full exhaust and tune, then go with a LSA blower later down the road. Maybe I need to do cam, full exhaust, rear end, and a tune first to see how much I enjoy it.
bstoner
Posts: 233
Joined: Wed May 05, 2021 2:12 pm

Re: PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Post by bstoner »

You sound exactly like me. LOL. I did rear end and working on tune now. Also working on getting parts for exhaust but everything is on backorder and taking months. I plan on going big as well. LS3 stroker with LSA. For tune I have HPTuners and I am using Chris Henry from https://www.chenrymotorsports.com/. Awesome guy to work with. I highly recommend. I still have a few small things to take care of as well. Just got car back from body shop yesterday. Needed front fender repainted after the butchered removal of the decals. o2 sensors feel welded into the bungs. Can't get out. Condenser is leaking and will replace this weekend. New plugs/wires. I like your build!
2014 Caprice PPV, 6.0L, BTR Stage 2 Cam, 3.45, 3" exhaust, Rotofab intake, Chris Henry tuned, future LSA....
JUNKYARD_JACK
Posts: 134
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 10:13 am

Re: PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Post by JUNKYARD_JACK »

So I have been fighting with a CEL a little bit, P219A Fuel Trim Cylinder Balance Bank 1. Did a little research and found out that this is a possible injector issue. I'm trying to save money for a few other things right now so I'm not racing out to buy new injectors, although I have a friend that wants to sell me some 80# injectors but that's way overkill for my stock engine. So long story short, I was a dealership mechanic for 11 years and I had about 8 bottles of injector cleaner laying around so I poured them all in the tank and went to fill up. Drove around until I got to about 1/4 of a tank and the light went off. Fast forward about a month or so and the light comes back on, same code. I figure I need injectors eventually but I decide to try to run E85 through the thing first. E85 isn't the easiest thing to find near me but I first did half a tank then filled it back up again to make sure it was more E85 than just regular gas and finally after about half a tank of E85 my light went off again.

Biggest thing I've learned is that if you have the opportunity to get E85 it might not be a bad idea to run a few tanks through your car. I think I am going to try to run it in my car more often.
DapperDanMan
Posts: 47
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2020 6:41 pm
Location: Georgetown, TX

Re: PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Post by DapperDanMan »

How are you liking those brake rotors? Want to replace the brakes but don’t want driller rotors.
2015 Caprice 6.0
JUNKYARD_JACK
Posts: 134
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 10:13 am

Re: PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Post by JUNKYARD_JACK »

DapperDanMan wrote: Mon Nov 01, 2021 8:51 pm How are you liking those brake rotors? Want to replace the brakes but don’t want driller rotors.
Realistically I got them for the look haha but they have worked great so far. Slotted rotors and OEM pads are a good combo. Brakes feel fine with plenty of bite. Time will tell if I can warp them or not.
JUNKYARD_JACK
Posts: 134
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 10:13 am

Re: PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Post by JUNKYARD_JACK »

When I got my car the windshield washers never sprayed, can hear the motor running, saw washer fluid all over the engine but saw a missing hose and figured that’s a quick fix. Finally today I got around to it. Come to find out it was not that quick of a fix. Lol. There was a piece of hose missing that ran from the passenger side to the driver side. I replaced that and then deduced that something was broken in the wiper cowl. This is where the adventure begins because I was bound and determined to fix this but most of my tools are at the shop. Using what I had on hand I managed to get it all apart and was able to cobble together a working washer fluid spray by rearranging the nozzles and buying a small piece of fuel hose and some connectors from O’Reilly’s.
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It’s not the prettiest work when you look real close but it works and it’s all hidden under the cowl. It seems that the washer pump pushes fluid from the tank across the front to the passenger side did of the car then runs back to the strut tower over to the far driver side and then loops back hitting a T at the driver wiper blade and then a 90 degree up to the passenger side wiper blade. I ended up swapping that using the wiper hose that was still good along with the 2 foot section I bought so it now hit the T on the passenger wiper and then 90s into the driver side wiper. Not the coolest thing done to a caprice but it’s one more thing to cross off the list.
HoldOn SV

Re: PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Post by HoldOn SV »

Nice work, or as they say in AU 🇦🇺: "Noice work mate!" 👍 I replaced the entire LH cowl vent on my WM (2013) last summer, and have a new spare RH cover and side reveal moldings gtg when I eventually replace the windshield. I replaced the wiper arms too because the nozzles were clogged and couldn't get them a la carte. I tried compressed air 1st, but they still wouldn't fan the pattern. Cheers!
JUNKYARD_JACK
Posts: 134
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 10:13 am

Re: PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Post by JUNKYARD_JACK »

I documented most of this over at http://www.newcaprice.com/forum/viewtop ... 6&start=20 but I wanted to post it here again just to have as much of what I did on my caprice in one place.

I had a BAD steering wheel vibration that was really present from 50 mph to 70 mph which is particularly an issue because that is the speed I'm traveling at the most. I was changing wheels and tires and re-balancing my wheels again and again. I went as far as swapping out my rotors and pads because I thought I had a caliper that was dragging and that was warping my rotors and causing the vibration. Ended up taking a closer look at my suspension and find this.
Radius arm bushing.jpg
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Pro Tip: The bolt that goes through the subframe and through the radius arm threads into a nut that is welded to the subframe. This was not obvious to me at first and I broke a ratcheting wrench trying to break this nut free. lol.

I was not sure if this would cause a vibration but looking into this apparently its a common enough issue that there were a few posts about it on other forums for G8s. It does control that side to side or toe in and out movement. I had a TON of movement side to side because of this collapsed bushing. I believe this was causing my car to have a slight "death wobble" that just felt like a tire vibration.
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Used a ball joint press, like a huge C clamp, to press the old bushing out and the new bushing in. Easy process, real quick fix. Car drives 100% better. The OEM bushings were very inexpensive and I decided to go this route instead of something stiffer because at the end of the day I just want a fun and fast street car.

I will soon be going with SS Springs and new PPV struts, Whiteline upper mounts and sway bar bushings. This should round out my suspension rebuild and after this I hope I'll have a nice riding car to cruise around in.
JUNKYARD_JACK
Posts: 134
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 10:13 am

Re: PROJECT BOOZE CRUISER

Post by JUNKYARD_JACK »

In my last post here I said I’d eventually be on SS springs, white line mounts and new front struts. I finally got around to doing it and I’m very pleased, both my upper mounts were trashed, I mean wore completely out. The struts were probably ok, I might could have gotten away with reusing them but I always replace the strut with top mounts. Took the car out for a test drive and still had a little clank, I heard the clank when banging on my sway bar but I thought that was because the other side was taken apart. I apparently bought the wrong sway bar bushings as I had to grind off material to make these fit but in the end my car is now smooth, quiet, and just a little bit lower than I wanted it to be but I’m sure any other option would have made the car even lower. Time to find a fender roller now, especially if I ever go to a wider than stock tire. I wonder if some speedway motors spring rubbers would help my issue in the rear with tire scrub. Those plus rolling the fenders might allow me to go wider on the tire but that’s a issue for another day.
Really happy with the car now and next up will be working on my exhaust to make it sound better by hacking up some dynomax mufflers off a 5th gen Camaro and making them work on my caprice, that’ll be my first project with my new Eastwood welder!
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