Fweasel

iTrader: (6)

I bought my V in late September 2013. I found it on craigslist, 2007 with 49K. I nearly bought the same car from member V for Victory, but his wife and I were at odds over price Anyway, I started in first on the immediate problems, bushings and 07CTS-V modified shifter. I bought a full kit of 80A blue bushings from RevShift and installed the motor mounts and trans inserts myself. Even on a low mileage car, the OEM's motor mounts were both shot.



I installed Brian's shifter along with his derlin lower bushings, bronze linkage bushing, home depot bushings, and a bronze isolator cup in the trans. Nearly all of the shifter slop was gone, but the shifter was extremely difficult to move left and right. Initially, it wouldn't even return to neutral on its own. The manufacturer of the isolator cup ensured me that a tight fitting cup wouldn't cause that problem, nor had he ever heard of it happening before. I began to think it was the tack weld I had made on the last linkage pivot. After disconnecting the shift lever from the linkage, the left/right binding was still there so I new it was the weld and had to be something else. More on that later.




I had the rear diff, rear cradle, and rear trailing arm bushings installed at a local shop as my free time and lower back are not what they used to be. A sensor wire snapped on the rear hub when the cradle was dropped, so I had to replace that as well.



After the car came back with new bushings, it was time to chase the next loudest noise... turned out to be the front sway bar bushings. They didn't appear worn while installed, but a quick comparison with new bushings showed the obvious play.



Now that the car was riding a little firmer and the shifter was actually usable, it was time to address the biggest deficiency with this car from the factory. Its a four letter word in my profession... BOSE. I've had IASCA SQ systems in past cars, but these days I'm more concerned about clean sound and an intuitive navigation interface. The factory system had neither, so it was all sent to the trash.

I started with searching for a good condition base model CTS radio with DIC. After purchasing 3 on ebay, all with various issues, I was finally able to cobble one good unit together and gutted it on the dining room table.





I dropped the DIC and car off with my installer and they finished the cutout and installed my Kenwood double din head unit.





I had an older pair of MB Quart 6.5" components installed in the front doors with a set of competition crossovers, a set of 6.5" MB Quart mid bass drivers in the rear doors. I really liked these speakers in the last car they were installed in. They're over 15 years old, but were used for only a year and were from the time period when MB Quart was making quality speakers before the later buy out. I had the OEM sub ripped out from the rear deck to act as a natural port. We installed two JL 10" subs in what is now my second enclosure. the first was ported and took up too much trunk real estate. This version is sealed, lower profile, but still takes up too much room. The third version i'm working on will be a more efficient design to make more room in the trunk for strollers, pack-n-play, and luggage. The other dads here will know where I'm coming from

We mounted the JL amps to the rear deck and I replaced the stock trunk light with a strip of warm LED's across the top lip.




I hate rattles on the outside of the car so I had the trunk lid covered in dynamat. They also did the trunk floor, spare tire well, rear wheel wells, under the rear seat, and all four door skins.




Finished product, very OEM looking, which is how I've done every install. I am not a fan of the Metra kit available for the V. I think all of the blank space makes it look like a 16yr old bondo'd a TV screen into a dash. I don't mind a few vestigial buttons and ***** and love having the DIC screen still fully functional.



I had two 12V power ports installed below the CTS arm rest for our cell phone chargers and ran the iPod cable here as well.


I photo shopped CTS-V logos as the start-up screen and wall paper on the Kenwood. It was a huge pain to get the size and file format right, but it turned out really cool.


Since I had the trunk stripped, I installed some LED license plate and reverse bulbs. I decided to use the lower power 25W bulbs. My windows are only tinted to 35% and I live in the city. The higher powered versions were just a bit obnoxious for my tastes.


Now that the audio system was installed and tuned, I had a few other noises to attend to. My original driveshaft carrier bearing would squeal from time to time on the highway. I did the 3M Window Weld bandaid and that helped, but didn't cure it 100%. I bought another driveshaft from a forum member with a good carrier bearing. I decided to fill in the wimpy rubber surround with the 3M product again. No carrier bearing nosie, but I do have a vibration at highway speeds so out it will come again. Not sure if I'm going to opt for a rebuild or aftermarket.

Fweasel

iTrader: (6)

The car never shifted into reverse properly. At first, I assumed it was the worn bushings and mounts. After all of the bolt-on parts were addressed, clutch bled, and magic fluid cocktails tried, it was time for a professional. I took the car in to Speed Inc for an LS7 clutch install and sent the trans to Finish Line Transmissions. Chuck at Finish Line tore into the trans and called me the same night. He said the reverse syncro and blocker were worn and the needle bearings were showing wear as well. Those were all replaced along with a reverse gear. The 3rd gear syncro had some wear as well so that was replaced along with a new blocker and gear. All friction surfaces were replaced, all fork pads replaced with brass pads, billet keys, and a new shifter fork for 2nd gear I believe.


Old parts



New parts


The isolator cup was the problem all along. It was just too damn tight and Chuck replaced it with plastic OEM. Not sure why I had never heard of anyone else with this problem or why it happened to me. Now the shifter moves left/right like hot butter! At least it was only a $25 lesson.


I was able to see Finish Line's trans dyno in action. I didn't know such a rig existed. It was a really cool piece of engineering.


The new clutch is still being broken in. The pedal pressure is as light as stock and as expected, currently picks up right at the floor. The flywheel is noticeably lighter, quicker revving, but still very daily driver and rush hour traffic friendly. I don't think I would have had a problem with something lighter, but I already have a weekend race car and don't need another.

While the car was in the shop, I had them install a set of hi-flow cats, new 02 sensors, and a basic tune to adjust the fan temps, turn off the rear 02's, and eliminate skipshift. I was surprised the difference in noise the hi-flow cats made. Not as noticeable from the tail pipe outside the car, but a more aggressive engine noise while inside. I call that a win as I'm not the type looking to turn heads and attract unwanted attention from law enforcement.

When I got the car back from Speed Inc, I installed a set of black C6 fuel rail covers. I really disliked the stock Cadillac garbage can and spent about 45 minutes modifying the corvette covers to fit snugly. Very happy with the end result, but certainly nothing that hasn't been done before.




And then I fell into a good deal on some new wheels. I was dragging my feet all winter in getting my stock wheels powder coated while the winter wheels were installed. I had seen this set in pictures on the forum and was anticipating matching that color. When the opportunity arose to just buy them vs. trying to match them, it was a no brainer. I'm still getting use to the color combo. I had british black Prodrive wheels on my silver Subaru Legacy before the V, so I've always liked the darker wheels on silver.





And now its time to just drive the car and let the war chest recover. Some people choose big motor builds with blowers and exhaust work, I spent about the same and am just as happy.

jerrad

iTrader: (5)

Wow, you made some changes for sure. Great job man.

ls1247

iTrader: (2)

The trunk light sucks...you beat me to the LEDs...nice work

raven154

iTrader: (14)

My isolator cup was like that as well. I had a shop install it when they did some other work. It was so tight I had to pry cover off the trans. I had the same symptoms too. Would not return to center and just very stiff movements. I bought one from Tick and it fit perfect.

Goosecaddy05

which optima battery is that? i'm probably getting close to needing one but i cant find out the dimensions of the different ones so i dont know what to get... plus what is the difference from the red top vs the yellow?

Becker

iTrader: (4)

Sick thread and car. These threads are getting fewer but thank you for creating it. Motivation! !

MN_V

iTrader: (5)

Car looks great.

Here's an idea... more surface area than your two tens and more room for kids stuff. Build a box for a single quality 15.

Fweasel

iTrader: (6)

Thanks. I think the stock springs are my next project. It makes many cringe, but cutting about a half coil seems like the best fit for me.

Not bad for $6, huh? I think the warmer color looks better, IMO. I have the whiter 4300K bulbs everywhere else in the car, but like the older incandescent look in the trunk.

I bought mine from The Gearbox in MI. Aside from the improved movement now that the bronze cup is gone, there's no additional slop with a new OEM plastic cup back in place, and my original 50K cup wasn't worn either.

Its a SC34DU yellow top. The top mounted positive post needs to be shaved down to clear the hood. They likely make a model that has no top posts and still fits, but this is what was on hand at the moment. Red tops are just basic AGM sealed batteries. Yellow tops are deep cycle which take the abuse of higher draw electronic systems (i.e. car audio) better. Optima batteries, in my experience, don't take too kindly to being deeply discharged. For that reason, I don't use them in my Nissan that gets stored more than its driven, but they've been fine in my daily driver cars.

took some serious motivation on my part just to get the post put together. Thankfully my youngest took a serious 3hr power nap yesterday afternoon

Are you compensating for something? j/k You're right, a single 15 has about 10% more surface area and a smaller enclosure, but its hard to beat two smaller drivers for tighter, more accurate output. Well that, and I already had two JL 10's left over from my Legacy Funny, what started as a budget install quickly spiraled out of control.

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

I really like what you did with the Nav unit. I would LOVE something other than FM radio. Even MP3 CD's would be an upgrade!

steves ls6

Looks nice.

raven154

iTrader: (14)

My original was also from the Gearbox. Must have had a bad run of them.

Fweasel

iTrader: (6)

Okay, there you have it. For the record two ill-fitting cups from the Gearbox. Go with Tick.

Fweasel

iTrader: (6)

Guess I'll turn this into my build thread and make my updates here. Last fall I powder coated the front two grills satin black and left the chrome surrounds. I had the headlights polished and recoated. I installed a GMPP exhaust with the muffles painted black. New DSS axles, but you can't see those .















Today I picked up my shifter bezel and steering wheel controls from a local shop that wrapped them with 3M carbon vinyl. I was originally going to have them dipped, but the stand-up guy I bought the steering wheel from failed to mention the deep scratches in his scratch free classified add, so I had to cover them up instead. My guy did a great job, no seams, and the weave pattern turned out really nice. The rubber coating on the shifter bezel had a few light scratches on it, still looked pretty good, but I knew it was only going to get worse and I wanted to do something about it. Took me about an hour to figure out how to undo the first of three airbag spring clips on the back of the steering wheel, and then about 7 seconds each for the other two. Steep learning curve there.

jcollege

iTrader: (2)

Wow nice work, I really like the carbon wrap...I have been contemplating doing mine, thanks for convincing me!

LAYGO

iTrader: (10)

Wow, I like that CF wrap on the interior!

I'm sure you took the base CTS DIC in to get it mapped to your V's VIN?

PLA TME

iTrader: (1)

+1 on the CF wrap. It looks fantastic on the wheel/bezel. I think I would miss the bright work on wheel, but this is making me consider my options.

ls1247

iTrader: (2)

Car Looks good Fweasel! How many miles have you put on it since 2013?

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

You, sir, have one clean V. I like the tasteful use of the Cf wrap. I usually am not a fan, but you managed to pull it off nicely.

Do you drive this thing in the winter? I recall you mentioning winter wheels.

Fweasel

iTrader: (6)

Thanks for the comments. I'm a fan of OEM looking interiors, but never liked the silver steering wheel center section. I was hesitant about using fake carbon fiber, but the carbon dash in my dad's C7 dash looked pretty good. It turned out so well that your first reaction was to find more pieces to wrap, but I've resisted the urge and decided less is more.

Yes, my installer did it with a TechII. You won't get far without it.

About 12K in 18 months. Short commute, city living.

This is my DD and is driven year round. It does pretty well on snow tires at stock ride height, but I do miss the indestructibleness I felt in my previous LegacyGT in the same conditions. I've got some pretty nasty scars on the front bumper from a snow dam in my alley this winter. I'll probably have it repainted soon, which sucks because it was just repainted last fall after someone scuffed it up while failing at parallel parking.