Hi all!
My name is Brian. I'm (one of) your newest members, I normally do a ton of methodical research before I purchase a vehicle but not this time. My previous car, my baby, my Chevy SS (that's the whole model, just SS. It's a rebadged Holden Commodore from AUS) was taken in a freak rain storm. I was driving on the highway in the Berkshires (Massachusetts) going up a gentle sweeping right curve when I was suddenly in an instant torrential downpour. That happens infrequently here, but it happened when I was driving. Well, as soon as it hit, I took my foot off the gas to coast and slow down. Problem is, on I90 in that part of the state, it has issues with standing water. And I guess you can tell what happened next. My driver side wheels hit a standing pool of water, and because my wheel was slightly turned to follow the curve of the road immediately kicked my ass end out, across all 3 lanes and nose first into the guard rail, spun around hit the back end, and then ended up facing oncoming traffic in the middle of the road. I was totally uninjured, she was a very safe car and took care of me right up until her last cam rotation. To spare you the length, I was able to actually turn it over and smoke the rear tires to get her out of the middle lane before she finally died, basically pushing a destroyed front end on pure willpower of the venerable LS3 V8. I will surely miss her. I'm a car guy, I love everything about them, so yeah, I'm a little broken up about it. I would've bought it back wrecked and fixed it over the years, but Nationwide didn't give me that option.
Some wreckage porn if anyone is interested. First pic is about 2 minutes after it happened after I hopped the guard rail to keep myself safe, and the rain was already letting up. If only I had waited another 5 minutes at work!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/f8SPdMeXmk52cZir7
Anyway, now that that is over, I'm excited to be a part of the community! My Wife was subtly hinting that we needed a larger vehicle for family trips long before this, but she knew how much I loved the SS and the plan was to actually get her the bigger vehicle. I'm a torque junkie, so I was all about going electric. But since I'm the one that put miles on (about 25-35k a year), it wasn't feasible for me because I REFUSE to pay over sticker for anything, "Market Adjustment" my ass, f*** that noise. Anything worth buying had multiple thousand dollar ADM's. So, I just googled "Fastest SUV". Aaaaannnnd, I couldn't afford any of those. So I started accepting my fate, that my next car was going to be boring, docile. Maybe I would buy the big car, then when the time was right, give that to my Wife and I would buy something fun again. But then I found the ST trim of the Explorer, and after some quick research into market price, I was sold.
So I have a Titanium Green 2022 ST sitting at the dealer, while I'm working an entire country away on the West Coast. Paying exactly sticker, with $175 in dealer doc fees. I'll pick her up Monday, and while she isn't a row-your-own V8 sedan like the SS, I think she'll do just fine as a replacement. And bonus, my wife thinks I'm getting a boring old Explorer like her dad's lol!
I'm a modder (In fact, I have a BTR stage 2 cam for an LS3 that I was going to install over the winter if anyone is interested!), so from what I've gathered, this is what I'm planning on (this is my first turbo):
1. Wait 10,000 miles. I know that modding things voids warranties, so lets just ensure I don't have a lemon. That'll be 6 months at the most, and it'll give me time to research. I don't mind spending money, I do mind spending stupid money when there are lessons to be learned from others already.
2. Intercooler, thinking the Mishimoto
3. Monster tune, I like the stock mapping when driving casual. Don't forget, my Wife will want to take this thing around lol.
4. IDK? Sound maybe, I'll miss the sweet LS3 growl (so will my toddler, he asks nearly every day when my "Orange Car" is coming home no matter how many times I tell him that it's too broken) but I know I'll never get that again with the ecoboost. I'm open to suggestions!
I'm not looking to squeeze every ounce of torque of every HP out of her, I need her to be reliable and comfortable too. But I figure the above, that'll put 480?HP at the wheels, and that is more than fine to start. I figure if the Lincoln ecoboost can put down 490 at the crank, it should be reliable for 480 at the wheels.
Anyway, this is long enough, but I'm an electrical guy, I'm an enginerd and I work for myself. I saw another post about wanting the double-blink like the interceptors do, and I thought how easily that can be done. I'll reply to that post in a bit. But, I hope to learn a lot from you all, I and I'll do my best to contribute to this group!
Cheers,
-Brian
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