Boosted Falcon

G'day all,

You can be among the first to know, I've just put a deposit down on a little black WM Caprice from an auction place in Dandenong called Slattery Auctions. It is an ex-repossessed vehicle which despite higher than average kms is still in decent nick. What sealed the deal was it has the optional sunroof.









To retain comfort and refinement, I have no plans for mods except for mafless tune and OTR intake. This is similar to the set-up I had in the VT and according to some tuner on the LS1 forums, he got a quarter mile improvement from around 14.1 to 13.3 in a Caprice just with this mod, whilst the car remains as quiet as a mouse under normal driving. Seems like they go alright for something weighing the better part of 2 tonnes.

For those who don't know, the Caprice has a few neat tricks including DVD player with 3 screens, Bose audio, tyre pressure monitoring, front/rear parking sensors with display, bi-xenon headlamps, tri-zone climate control, 6.0 L98 (*corrected*) and 6 speed automatic. Should be fun!

looks nice, i was checking out a grange the other day, they certainly look like a comfy car

not meaning to be picky, but i think you''ll find that the engine is a 6 litre L76.

Very luxurious and clean. Great buy
Centre console/dash is different looking...

nice car
what'd u score it for if you don't mind me asking.

Cheers guys!

Raven, not to be picky on your pickiness but it is the L98 (*edit: corrected*). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_LS_engine

John, well they wanted $29k for it as is and I managed to knock another $1k off. Compared to most that are on the market that is very cheap, though we'll see how it turns out when I take it for a RWC. Kms are 128k but will still have plenty of life in it.

deffinately a great score.

considering the grange i looked at was a vt era one with the 255 ls1 in it, the yard was asking $20999 for that... so id say 29k for one as new as yours is a primo score.

Damn! You've done well!

Awesome! They are seriously GREAT cars. Fairlanes died in the ass because they seriously had nothing in the way of features compared to these things.

My old man bought one in September, brand new. He's going overseas in a couple week's so it's going to be my rig while he's away. It's a VHA/VHB limo, and I'll be driving it for work and play It's just a 6 though

In pre-delivery;



We can make this the "Show us ya Caprice" thread

Good work mate . looks nice . Gotta love the sunroof
Any plans for this .

Troutman wrote:Cheers guys!

Raven, not to be picky on your pickiness but we are both correct. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_LS_engine

John, well they wanted $29k for it as is and I managed to knock another $1k off. Compared to most that are on the market that is very cheap, though we'll see how it turns out when I take it for a RWC. Kms are 128k but will still have plenty of life in it.

That is an awesome buy, congrats.

Troutman wrote:To retain comfort and refinement, I have no plans for mods except for mafless tune and OTR intake. This is similar to the set-up I had in the VT and according to some tuner on the LS1 forums, he got a quarter mile improvement from around 14.1 to 13.3 in a Caprice just with this mod, whilst the car remains as quiet as a mouse under normal driving. Seems like they go alright for something weighing the better part of 2 tonnes.

For those who don't know, the Caprice has a few neat tricks including DVD player with 3 screens, Bose audio, tyre pressure monitoring, front/rear parking sensors with display, bi-xenon headlamps, tri-zone climate control, 6.0 LS2 and 6 speed automatic. Should be fun!

OTR & tune will see definite results, the 6lt are very responsive to mods.

Sundeep wrote:Awesome! They are seriously GREAT cars. Fairlanes died in the ass because they seriously had nothing in the way of features compared to these things.

My old man bought one in September, brand new. He's going overseas in a couple week's so it's going to be my rig while he's away. It's a VHA/VHB limo, and I'll be driving it for work and play It's just a 6 though

We can make this the "Show us ya Caprice" thread

I've got a WK Caprice, and although positively ancient compared to a VE, they shit all over Fairlane/LTD for features and for being different to the base model Falcodore. I looked at a few BA/BFs and they look/feel so pov IMO. Not hard to see why they died a slow, uneventful death...

If your dad's is the SIDI V6 with 6sp auto, they are surprisingly spritely to drive.

Epic car. I'd love one of these.

Ford didn't keep up for years with the LWB segment. Even a VS Statesman or Caprice is more loaded up than the NF/DF.

Nice buy! I delivered an ex-gov caprice a customer about 2 weeks ago, very similar but was newer and had very high kays for it's age (180,000). He only paid ~23k for it too! Damn good value for money these things. It's a lot of car!

very nice pick up! Not a fan of the VE handbrake setup, but an amazing car despite that!

RAVEN wrote:not meaning to be picky, but i think you''ll find that the engine is a 6 litre L76.

hmm i thought vz non hsv was L76 while non hsv ve's are L98? i thought LS2 was hsv only?

nice car regardless

Whoops, there is SFA difference between them but yes I think L98 is the correct term. With the previous generation, 'GenIII' meant Holden and 'LS1' meant HSV - again just marketing BS.

BTW thanks again for the comments guys, it's great to see such open-mindedness. I agree on the comments regarding the late Fairlane/LTD. Clearly Ford had no budget to work with, even sharing headlights, taillamps etc between SWB and LWB. In comparison, I think the front doors are the only external panel common between WM and VE so they put in the effort. The extra funding came from the success of the Caprice in the Middle East.

Sunny, is that the series II? They've added a couple of neat (well, overdue) features including a reversing camera.

yeah cos VZ HSV was a 6LT and ve HSV is a 6LT but there are a different5 6LT if that makes sence lol.

bujt ive noticed caprice and hsv change alot of things found on base models

BTW, where is the tyre moniter read out on these? i thought i had it on my ute but dont know where the readout is?

Awesome car and good price!

I used tow a few cars for slattery they have some decent cars down there and trucks!

Troutman wrote:Whoops, there is SFA difference between them but yes I think L98 is the correct term. With the previous generation, 'GenIII' meant Holden and 'LS1' meant HSV - again just marketing BS.

BTW thanks again for the comments guys, it's great to see such open-mindedness. I agree on the comments regarding the late Fairlane/LTD. Clearly Ford had no budget to work with, even sharing headlights, taillamps etc between SWB and LWB. In comparison, I think the front doors are the only external panel common between WM and VE so they put in the effort. The extra funding came from the success of the Caprice in the Middle East.

Sunny, is that the series II? They've added a couple of neat (well, overdue) features including a reversing camera.

Nope! Last of Series 1

Looks like a nice car mate!
The dash looks horrible though

Cheers guys!



LOW_XR: I have no idea at this stage. I'm limited to paying $5k per day through my bank so won't be able to pick up the car for a few more days, but I'll check it out. The latest Maloo R8 certainly has the feature listed on its specifications. Here's a Maloo TPM pic.

http://kereta.info/wp-content/uploads/2 ... 00x319.jpg

Sunny, nothing wrong with a series I - we just miss out on the fancy touch screen and its various sub-functions. The rest of the car is sincere flattery to the original. If you get a chance some more pics would be good.

Michael, cheers, I see where you're coming from regarding the dash. Clearly the original colour scheme was black-on-black, with this lighter theme being an afterthought, retaining a black steering wheel et cetera. It's a bit of a dog's dinner in the photos. However I decided to accept this compromise because I thought the black interior, whilst aesthetically better, was a bit gloomy for passengers. On the plus side, the aluminium highlights are actually aluminium, as opposed to painted plastic.

Also for anyone curious, here is an American article regarding the Caprice's forthcoming role as an American law enforcement export. I believe they will be offered to US departments starting this year. I've never understood why Ford is so uninterested in exporting the Falcon in a meaningful way, but that's how it is.

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2009/10/20 ... e-car.html

Yeah I'll get some more pics and throw them up. Had a bit of a bad run with the car so far, my Dad knocked it here and there about 3 times within 4000km. Still has a slightly warped rear bar.

I saw one of those Caprice Police cars on Dorset Road in Bayswater about 2 months ago. I took a picture of it, I'll chuck that up too lol.

Congrats, nice pick up! That's a whole lot of car for under 30k.

Great buy for the money. Nice looking car and will go well.

Troutman wrote:I've never understood why Ford is so uninterested in exporting the Falcon in a meaningful way, but that's how it is.

I think you'll find that's mostly Ford US not allowing that to happen. One of the advantages of GM's (former) many brands is that they could bring the re-badged Holden's in without cluttering or confusing a brand. That only goes part of the way to explaining Ford AU not exporting more to the middle east etc.

Cheers guys, I expect to get the RWC this week, starting with new tyres and oil change tomorrow. I gave it a quick wash today and got some new pics.











I'm very enthusiastic to run the car on E85 since there are a few servos around these days, so will be doing research into this before getting the mafless tune done.

Cheers.

E85 tune sounds good..

Once again, awesome car mate!

Cheers Ash, now in true Troutman fashion, it only took me 5 months to do 1 mod. Previously, the car gained detail touches like custom plates in the all-number 'yuppie' style, as well as V8 badge removal, but that's about it. My focus has been keeping it serviced to a high standard.



Regarding ethanol, I learned that the flex-fuel Holdens have many modifications including different fuel tanks, lines and some internal engine mods. They also have a sensor near the fuel pump so the engine management computer can adjust the AFR in real-time depending on the ethanol content. I hope to retrofit this system in the future but right now I'm in no position to do anything experimental.

Today, however, Con from C&A Auto Fashion in Blackburn - as recommended by Dylan - did my MAFless dyno tune as well as a cold air 'OTR' intake. He'll be doing my servicing in future too, I think. Unfortunately I don't have my camera with me now but I'll aim to get some pics under the hood in the near future.



An honest effort for a basically stock car. Compared to the VT, the gain was smaller in percentage terms, but on the other hand the 6.0 L98 developed more power stock compared to the MAF-tuned VT (approx 211 vs 192 rwkW). With the intake, the WM's engine note at higher revs is noticably more hard-edged, too.

I've bought a motorcycle helmet off eBay and plan to do my first ever quarter mile run at a Heathcote Test & Tune possibly late this month. If I can achieve a high 13 I'll be more than satisfied.

Cheers!

not a bad result.
Mr CVE has just picked himself up one of these too

Do an IQ retrofit and let me know how that goes too

Hey what's the go with the headlights moving in these things? Does it automatically adjust aim based on whether you're traveling up and down hills and stuff? That's one thing I've always been wondering. There was one more but I forget.

Our August '10 build has 55,000km on it. Going great guns still.

Any issues with the car ?
I just bought a MY08 Caprice.

Seems okay, but am having a couple issues with it.

Needs a bigger boot !

Nice work mate, should be much more lively to drive now! I quite like the "yuppie" plates!

Cheers guys!

Sunny, I just did a quick search and I believe the headlamps use a self-levelling system on start-up to compensate for any load inside the vehicle that would affect the height of the suspension. I think this feature is required by law. It has nothing to do with hills or bumps and to my knowledge does not adjust while driving.

CVE, congrats mate, you might have to chuck up some pics. There is a useful thread regarding issues even if it has a very pessimistic tone. Most of the issues are quite minor. Mine has had a replaced radiator and a new drivebelt which fixed a squeak on cold start-up. My biggest issues at the moment are a rough idle when hot (possibly o2 sensors, of which there are 4) and front suspension rattle. Also a bunch of really small things that I'll get onto when I can be bothered.

G'day all,

I swore I wouldn't do this but apparently I was wrong.

http://wmcaprice.com/

lol... 10 years from now.....

What are the issues with yours? Would be good to know. Ours just hit 60,000km - only been on the road since November last year! Has been trouble free so far. Only issues for warranty have been a BlueTooth mic I think, rest has been going OK. Still smells brand new lol.

Website needs moar forum.

caprice.i8.com

ha! The i8 thing was just a cheap way to have a reasonably short URL at the time, but now we're all upmarket and stuff.

Forum will be coming at some stage, I figure I'll try and build up a bit of demand first. What can happen is a forum just sits there with zero posts and yet is being paid for monthly. The forum would potentially be international when it does come.

Hmmm issues... my Caprice has had a new radiator as the old one had a leak. A new serpentine belt has addressed a squeak on cold start-up. Still need to fix the front suspension rattle which Con at C&A reckons is just bushes. My ignition key no longer flips but is still usable. Some owners also make a fuss about really small things which are usually easy to fix, like the front seats can make a creaking sound when you lean into them.

One thing that must be said is that compared to the old days, the newer models are much more advanced in terms of what they can do, yet almost all of the issues are minor nuisances to do with unwanted noises etc. I think the later models like yours will be a lot better anyway, as many small design flaws have been addressed.

Creak in the seat happens at random :/ Was bad during hotter months, has quietened right down now. Weird.