Supercharged CTS-V Project Loaded with Broken Bits
As two guys get this CTS-V ready to race, they make a gnarly discovery!
As most of you already painfully know, driving any car hard is going to break stuff. No matter how well-engineered or designed, breakage is as inevitable as death, taxes, and Fast and Furious sequels. So it should come as no surprise that this well-worn first-gen Cadillac CTS-V might just have some hidden, broken parts inside.
The CTS-V teardown actually began because the owner, Cooper, wanted to fortify it with an LSA supercharger. But as he says, the first-gen CTS-V diff is “garbage,” so that needed to come out as well. So with pal and hilarious YouTuber Cleetus McFarland documenting the whole process, work began in earnest. After all, pulling these diffs is a pretty easy and straightforward process. What could possibly go wrong?
Once out, the diff looks pretty darn good from the exterior. But as the gang remove more and more parts, they make a horrifying (yet humorous) discovery after cutting into the axle. And it solves the mystery of what’s been ailing this CTS-V!
With that all sorted out, it was time to get cracking on this cool project. Cooper has already accumulated an entire “glory rack” full of awesome parts. From tuners to clutch and cams, pretty much everything you want to build a killer CTS-V is there.
The transmission comes out next, and it’s obviously seen better days. But there’s a full rebuild on the way, along with a (much) lighter flywheel than the factory lump. The duo is just getting started on the build, but hope to have it ready for Backlash at Bradenton Motorsports Park in a couple of weeks. You can bet we’ll be tuning in to see how it does. And to see if Cleetus and Cooper discover any more hidden carnage!
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