CTS-V

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

I also picked up a set of billet aluminum radio knobs and door lock pulls. No more chipped radio knobs (just have to find a solution for the other buttons now). The finish matches the other stock pieces really well. I was most surprised at how good the lock pulls look. They should've come this way stock. Also, I'm kind of embarrassed about how messy the car is right now, so ignore that please.

[Nashco]

I passed on a really clean red '05 without a sunroof today. It has 75k miles and is immaculate except for a ton of rock chips on the front end (chronic tailgater, probably). The old guy that had it said $17.5k is his bottom dollar and it was going to cost over a grand to get the hood stripped and repainted. If anybody else is interested, let me know and I'll pass it on. It's seriously immaculate, he has a ton of old cars and he maintains them very well, I thoroughly inspected it and it's like new. I just didn't want a red one that needs cosmetic work for that price, so I'm still on the hunt. If somebody like the red, as I understand it the red is pretty rare, so it'd be a catch to the right buyer.

If you see a good deal on a black non-sunroof 04-05 V in the south or west, pass it on. I'm really Jonesing for a V.

Bryce

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

The stock rubber rear differential bushing sucks on these cars. It inevitably always goes bad. The one on my last car was replaced under warranty and this one went bad as well. Luckily UUC has came out with a poly replacement. I hear the typical price to have a dealer do this job out of warranty is around $400 due to having to drop a lot of things and press out the old bushing.
There's a tool 'rental' going on in the community that helps take care of this problem. So anyway, I get the tool, put the car up on ramps/stands, drop the exhaust, drop the driveshaft, drop down the diff enough to get to the bushing and get to work. First problem was somehow the bolt that holds that bushing was backwards on my car. Instead of pulling out toward the front of the car, it pulled to the rear. The halfshaft was in the way, so I couldn't get it out. I ended up just cutting it off which was a chore as well considering how tight it was up in the there. Anyway, I get that out and get a hell of a workout trying to break the bushing's metal sleeve loose. After picking up a couple steel washers to add to the tool, I was able to get it out. Here's my stocker and the UUC replacement:



As you can see, it was about shot.

I haven't gotten it all back together yet, since I was going to pull the bolt of the other car but decided to just order it from the dealer for about $4.50. I'm waiting on it now to put it all back together.

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

I also went ahead and replaced my stock strut tower brace with the BMR unit.

Before:


The comparison:


After:

[crzyone]

I really like these cars, too bad they are under engineered in some areas. The motor mounts and diff mounts wearing out so fast is bullshit. Good thing the aftermarket has stepped up and is offering parts to correct these problems.

All you need now is a flywheel that doesn't weigh 30#

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

I wish it only weighed 30 lbs. It's actually around 48 lbs stock! I have a UUC 18 lb flywheel still in the box, but I think I'm going to sell it and go with a LS7 based clutch/flywheel set-up instead. Katech had a 20% off sale, so I went ahead and ordered the required spacer.

[Aaron]

Yikes, 18 is still heavy for an aluminum piece! No wonder the LSX cars rev so slowly. I wonder how much our Camaro's weighs.

[crzyone]

It's just the CTS. Heavy for smooth clutch engagement. Only way to make a LS6 suitable for grandpa's cadillac.

[CincinnatiFiero]

I don't know if you want nit-picks but the GM battery colostomy bag looks like crap, take that thing off! The rest of your motor looks bad ass, then there is this peeling bag in the corner.

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

I don't know if you want nit-picks but the GM battery colostomy bag looks like crap, take that thing off! The rest of your motor looks bad ass, then there is this peeling bag in the corner.

No, I totally agree. It has an ugly yellow Wal-Mart (Evermaxx or something) in there now though. It's kind of a lose-lose.

Somebody want to make me a nice fiberglass or CF replacement?

[Fastback86]

There aren't enough "V" logos under your hood.

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

There aren't enough "V" logos under your hood.

LOL. Yeah, I know right? I guess it's so you have one from every angle you look at it just in case reading upside down or sideways isn't your thing.

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

Small update. I finally got the bolt I needed and bolted everything back in (with the exception of the exhaust) and drove it around a bit to see how it felt. The clunk is gone again which is most definitely nice. Also, driving around town with nothing but headers and hi-flow cats was fun! I even stopped by the dealer since I need the updated firmware flash for my nav. That shit is LOUD!
Also, to get ready for the summer and the track (first day is the 19th of April. I'm so excited!), I decided to go ahead and swap out my oil, trans and diff fluids. So on the way from Amsoil I have coming:

Signature Series 0W-30 100% Synthetic Motor Oil : Case of (4) gallon bottles
2 Absolute Efficiency Oil Filters (one is for the Talon)
Torque-Drive Synthetic Transmission Fluid: 1 GALLON
SEVERE GEAR 75W-90 Synthetic EP Lubricant: (1) quart bottle
Slip Lock Differential Additive: (1) 4-OZ. BOTTLE
AMSOIL Hand Pump for Bottles
Synthetic Manual Transmission and Transaxle Gear Lube (75W-90) API GL-4 : 1 QUART (for the Talon)

I also need to pick up some new pads so I'm going to order Hawk HP+ for the front and HPS for the rears on Monday. The 19th of April will be here before I know it. AND I still need to buy a helmet. I need to go figure out my size and hope it's a medium so I can pick up this in flat black:
http://www.saferacer.com/bell-x-15-helm ... ductid=380

Well, I guess I should go put my exhaust back on...

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

Well, I got the exhaust back on, which is a job I HATE by the way. Since the weather is so nice and I haven't really been able to drive the car for about a month, I took it out for drive. Ended up behind the only other V I've seen around here, but he didn't seem interested.

So anyway, since I'm going to be changing pads and I have some stainless steel lines that I bought a long time ago still sitting around, I decided to change that fluid as well. I went ahead and ordered some Motul RBF 660 Racing DOT 4 Brake Fluid. Also ordered some Ti shims as well. Once I'm able to afford some of the new UUC two-piece slotted front rotors and matching one piece rears I should be about set for brakes for awhile.

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

A couple more small updates...

Being that Amsoil has more detergents than Mobil 1, I went ahead and Seafoamed the car again. One full can in the gas tank, 2/3 can in the crankcase and the rest through the vacuum lines via the brake booster line back there:


Wasn't much of a smoke show. A little more than this while driving, but fairly clean:



The UPS guy brought me about 48 lbs of lube today.


(The Motul came separate)

I haven't had a chance to change any fluid yet. I go on alert tomorrow so hopefully Sunday afternoon or Monday.

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

I also went ahead and finally pulled the rear strut tower brace off of the other car and installed it.

First out comes the back seat and trunk pieces:






Bar mounted and trunk pieces reinstalled:



And the seats back in place:


I'll probably eventually pull it back out and have it painted/powdercoated black or possibly a brushed aluminum typed finish to match the other interior and engine compartment pieces. I'll also make some sort of rubber surround for the cut holes to give it more of a 'factory' look.

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

I'm about halfway through my fluids change right now. First I did the rear differential...

First it went up on the ramps (I can get the rear tires on them, but there isn't clearance in the front which sucks):


The V banner in the background :


Off came the fill plug and drain plugs:


Look at all the junk stuck to the drain plug:


This doesn't look good...:



The replacement and the color that the fluid should be:



The drain plug all cleaned up and filling 'er back up:

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

After a quick drive to get temps back up, it was time for the transmission. Other than the pain of putting the car up on jack stands (I want a lift sooo bad. This gets old) it's a pretty easy job. Take off the fill plug, pull off the temp sensor clip, remove the temp sensor and let it drain. That was looking pretty bad as well. Granted there was still maybe a half a quart of gear oil still in the pan, but the other 4 quarts was the trans fluid (the red is new stuff that dripped in):


It came out a lot faster than I was expecting and it hits the exhaust, so things got a bit messy:


And the new fluid that went in (Amsoil Torque Drive):


I took it for a spin afterward. I honestly wasn't expecting to notice any difference and was doing everything more for peace of mind than anything. That said, it seems to shift much smoother now. As in I started to drive not thinking about it and all of the sudden had a WTF moment (in a good way).

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

I got my brake pads in the mail today, but decided I'm going to wait until my Ti shims get here as well so I don't have to take the wheels off an extra time. They should be here next week and I'll be ready to go with this stuff:


The fronts:


And rears:

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

Oh yeah, I also changed the oil and filter. It was fairly black from the Seafoam job.