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New from Oregon

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 1:19 am
by reuben2002
Bought my first Caprice today. It is a 2012 in silver. I bought it in Washington, and drove it home today. Noticed that no one wanted to pass me on the freeway :lol:
Car is in decent condition, some bumps and scrapes, nothing too major.
First thing I did when I got home is to remove the push bar, looks much better now.
Originally I was going to remove the spotlight for sure, but now I am undecided. It is pretty nice, and I would have to fill the holes.
Driver's seat is worn out and needs replacing, I'll start with a seat cover.
I also noticed that I need a cupholder (the ones in the door are worthless), and possibly an arm rest.

I have an automotive background (BS in Automotive Technology, and I used to be an ASE certified Master Technician), and then I changed directions to get a Mechanical Engineering degree and I've been an engineer for the last 8 years. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions for this board.

Also, I have noticed that I am typically not brand loyal, and this car is a first for me in that I have owned a Chevy before (albeit a 1948 2-ton truck). Otherwise I have owned a Honda, Willys, BMW, Pontiac, Nissan, and Scion, and the wife has had a Dodge, Jeep, and Mazda.

I've wanted a G8 for a long time, but I can't justify the cost for the condition of what's available. The Caprice is not as well known, and much more affordable relative to their condition.

Before today my daily driver was a Scion FR-S (made by Subaru), which is a super fun car, but not big enough for my two sons. The Caprice has a huge back seat! The Caprice drives way different, but it is a monster of a car, even in stock configuration. The torque is unreal.

Feel free to ask questions, I'm here to help as well as to learn.
Reuben

Re: New from Oregon

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 4:53 am
by elc32955
Hi Reuben!

Welcome to the system! We've got some of the most knowledgeable owners here on the Caprice, the car really is out of the public eye because of the "no retail sales" pronouncement by Chevrolet years ago. GM could have made a very successful livery (aka Taxi) version of this car IMHO by utilizing the LFX package, but Chevrolet, in their quirky ways sale restricted the car to law enforcement only. Of course, if they had attempted to logically market the Caprice they would have sold a lot more of them probably, then they may not have been able to shut the factory down as easily come 2017, yada yada. It's truthfully the square cube that tried to fit into the round hole of the GM product stable. Right now this car, bar none is the best dollar vs. horsepower deal available out there.... if people know where to turn to get one. What folks in Australia were paying $45K AUS or more for we got rather heavily discounted.

We appreciate greatly your willingness to share your knowledge with fellow owners. There are a increasing amount of professional folks on the forum that do provide good information and advice, we've been lucky here in that most of our user base are really car owners and a lot of the basic horsepower & performance mods have been covered in some depth early on in system history. Now people are exploring more radical mods using the Caprice platform, and this is where good general automotive knowledge comes in quite handy in pushing boundaries.

Again, welcome! And... you may as well get used to the "don't pass the cop!" routine, it happens... lol!

Thanks
Eric

Re: New from Oregon

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 5:20 am
by lastcall190
Welcome. I too was looking at G8s, but the asking prices far surpassed what were being asked for Caprices. Sure the Caprice lived what was likely a harder life, but it's bigger, newer by at least 2 years (more in many cases), and cheaper. All for what amounts to just a newer/bigger version of the G8. Enjoy yours!

Also, the back seat is a delight when loading my daughter in the car. At 6'2 I can stand up and just bend down whilst adjusting her seat.

She can't even reach my seat if she decides to swing her legs around either :lol:

-J

Re: New from Oregon

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 8:26 am
by No Moa
Nice, Can you post some more pictures of the Pushbar? I'm interested to know the makers as i'm searcing for one.

Re: New from Oregon

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 5:02 pm
by Mooseman
Welcome! Looks like it`s in pretty decent shape after police duty. Yeah, that push bar was fugly. As far as I can tell, most people seem to leave the spotlight as I would imagine finding an interior pillar molding without the hole would be difficult. I probably have one of the few anywhere without it.

Re: New from Oregon

Posted: Mon May 14, 2018 11:39 pm
by reuben2002
I can't find anything identifying the pushbar. I see "DOP1300" and a serial number. I'll try to get more pictures, but I can't promise when I'll get to it. I've pulled off everything outside of the bumper, and when I pull the rest of it out I'll probably list it. It is really nice, doesn't look like it has hit or rubbed on anything, and it still has small lights on the sides.

I've noticed that now that the push bar is removed, people have no issue passing me. Still, with the rims and spotlight I see people take a second look.

Now I've got to make a list of what I want to do with this beast. First I've got to address the P0521 code (plan on cleaning the screen - I didn't have the right socket). Tires are on my short list, as is some solution for the driver's seat (repair or replace).
Then there's headers, lowering springs, bodywork/paint, etc. I was planning on jumping right in and doing the DoD delete and a cam upgrade, but I figure I would address the other issues, and get used to the power and torque of the stock setup.

Re: New from Oregon

Posted: Mon May 14, 2018 11:45 pm
by reuben2002
Oh, and I plan on converting the front grill to Holden, and blacking out the grill surround and the rear trunk spear.