JUSTICE - 2015 1LT OBE - Journal
 

I figured I'd start my own thread instead of hitch hiking on someone else's, like @hammdo's. He probably doesn't mind much but I reckon it'd be better if I don't clutter up his thread with my stuff.

This will likely be a thread that goes for long spells without updates. So far I've done a grand total of three mods since I bought my Camaro in September of 2015. None of them could be considered extravagant in any sense of the word.

The two go/no go options for my choice were color and the radio had to synch with my android phone without much trouble. Everything else was negotiable.

When I was younger I was all "standard or nuthin'!" I preferred an automatic because I've had all the clutch action I can stand with around 25 years driving line trucks, bucket trucks, split diff and other commercial vehicles during my career as a power lineman. That experience pretty much rubbed all the fun out of manual transmissions.

I'd been watching Camaro's since the first 5th gen concept showed up in Transformers. Still had kids, and for a few years grandkids, living in my house so hung on to my '04 Impala. Think it was around 2013 I started spending quite a bit of time drooling over builds and rebuilds on the Chevy site and wondering if I could afford a 1 or 2SS. Ya' know, because V8. Saw the IBM and the BRM colors were pretty close to the color I was looking for and almost pulled the trigger in 2014 after a trip to the Bahamas when I rented a red V6 while in Miami. Got pre-approved for the then price of a 1SS but didn't really want to take on the payment. Didn't have much but my Impala to trade in for a down payment so squashed the desire at the time. Cut to summer of 2015 and I spent more than a few minutes trolling Chevy's site and other car sites, still drooling over Camaro builds and keeping an eye on prices and things. I spotted a BVM at the local Chevy dealer here and called them up to make sure they still had it, sent a message to my wife asking if we ought to go look at it. She told me later after she got that message she immediately remarked to her co-workers that we're about to buy a new car. I hadn't actually got that far in my thinking yet. At any rate, I dropped by the dealer, found the one they'd advertised was an 1 or 2LS and had that base radio. I never even test drove that one. Spent 20 minutes trying to pair my phone and get some music playing and when neither I nor the young salesman could figure it out, even after reading the manual, turns out that radio only paired with Androids for phone calls, I got out and said I didn't want that car. I'm sure most of you can guess what happened next. A senior salesman got involved and asked would I buy one if they could get the mylink in a car the color I wanted. I told him yup and here we are.

At any rate, that's my intro for this journal thread. Don't think I can rightly call it a build thread.

First "mod" - Homelink Universal Garage Door remote
 

The functionality I missed most from my Impala was the garage door opener. The 1LT doesn't come with one from the factory and when the dealership I bought it from was asked, they stated it wasn't available for the car. Well, thanks to Camaro5, which I joined shortly after buying the car and doing a few google searches for things Camaro related, was guided to Gen5DIY and discovered, much to my delight, it is.

Here's a little vid. Hopefully the link works right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JOC...ature=youtu.be

This GITT "mod" gotta be worth at least 1000HP
 

Grandson in the trunk mod.

Second "mod" - Prep for AX in early 2016
 

Got some magnetic numbers for AX, cuz I didn't want to put anything adhesive to any part of my car. I took the dealer sticker off the first night I had the car and I had to remove it again, twice, after the first two free oil changes. Reckon they got the message after 3 tries to get that sticker on the car.

https://i.imgflip.com/ypvvi.gifvia Imgflip GIF Maker

Yeah, I got my own numbers too hammdo. :happy0180:

Actual Second "mod" - Oracle SMDs
 

Just prior to CF7 I ordered a set of SMDs from Oracle. Set up for install at the Fest. Disappointingly, they brought the wrong set, and I didn't notice until late that night after they installed them.

Took the car back to their stand the next day and had them remove and install stock SMs and put the right ones on order. Installed them early August. Sadly, the right rear already has a couple LEDs out.

Third (First real, sorta) Mod - AeroForce Interceptor Dual Gauges
 

This one took less time than the HUGR mod. I know hammdo asked for a video of my work and I took a couple but they came out for crap so I'll just toss in all the stills I took here. I managed the cabling a little different than he did. Had a bit of a fright after dry fitting them several times and squishin' the cables around in the pod, and the right gauge wouldn't fire up. Swapped out both gauges to the left and loosened the bezel, tried it back in the right and it wouldn't light up. Checked OBD2 connection, unplugged and re-plugged making sure it was in all the way and they both lit up.

I was under the impression from reading 3 different instruction sets over the course of a year the gauges would only display 8 different parameters after they were selected for scanning in setup. Turns out that was all wrong. That 8 different parameter thing is only for Cyclic mode. Both gauges are set now to display every parameter I thought my car would support. Left out those that required wideband sensors and a few others I don't have sensors for. Can "tab" through every selected parameter on both gauges in Normal Scan mode. My plan is to run the left gauge in normal scan mode and the right in cyclic. At the moment I'm not sure which 8 to set up so I would like to ask ya'll who might read this for some advice and guidance on what you think would be the most important/informative parameters to cycle through on the right gauge.

Photo explosion of unboxing below.

Third (First real, sorta) Mod - AeroForce Interceptor Dual Gauges - Part 2
 

Sorry the pictures in previous post are so poorly focused. Old S4 was used for almost all of the pictures and videos in this thread. The below pics should be in order of the paragraphs as numbered. I reckon the only way to insert the pics between them is to get them hosted somewhere and use url links.

1&2. Everything out on the bench and ready for install after I brought the car back from it's spa day getting polished and ceramic coated.

3. Pre-removal of necessary panels

4. Post panel removal and after feeding cables behind AC duct.

5&6. Pod in place and cable ran. Had one helluva time getting the cable run through that 13/32 hole. Had to "ream" it a couple times and the external sheathing just did not want to slide. It isn't shown but I used about half the putty supplied with the pod to seal off the wire hole in the pod. As tight as the cable is in the hole in the defrost plenum I decided there just isn't enough room to bother sealing that off. If I notice problems with the window defrosting or defrogging I'll revisit that decision.

7. This is where I went a bit different than Don. Didn't seem to be near enough room there for the coil so I took it all down under the dash and laid it up beside a big loom there. That white wire is no longer just hanging there now either. It runs power and ground for the UGR in the second post.

8. Final product in place.

Nice! About time ;o)

-Don

Autocross - March 2016
 

Here's where I put those magnetic numbers to use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpm1Du_ytcA

87 Octane 6 month study
 

Here's a vid of the 6 month fuel study I did last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEfHtnT5sPs

I did another one with 93 octane starting right after that one ended that ran until December 31 2017 that proved no real difference in mileage. I did another video of the DIC settings then but haven't bothered to upload it.

Since my daily driving rarely includes anything close to "spirited" driving I went back to 87.

Just for Don (hammdo).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlmWDSplCXw

Yeah! That's what I'm talk'n about!

-Don

Journal Entry catchup #1
 

Since this is a journal thingamajig I figured I'd catch it up with things. All the things.


This post may have been my first request for help here.


15OCT2015


03DEC2015


29JAN2016


I don't know why I didn't get the work order information posted. It may be in another thread somewhere I haven't found yet. The seal they replaced seems to have fixed it. I haven't noticed it since then.


Couple few more catch up posts to come and if I find something to add to them as I go along, there will be edits.

Last night I treated OBE to a full wash treatment on the outside. Carpro Reset wash, followed by spot wash with Carpro ECH20 and a full wipe down with a 50-50 mix of Carpro Reload. And of course, it just got done raining on it for the last 20 minutes or so. With the ceramic coating and after a good rub down the smudges show up really good. Probably have to give it another ECH20 wipe down tonight or this weekend after the rain today.



I also removed the malfunctioning side marker and packaged it up for shipment back to AAC in LA. We'll see what they say about it. Hopefully, they can fix or get another one back to me soon. Looks funny with the old OEM marker back in that hole.