tlorenzen

Hey All,

I saw a couple other threads like this and figured it'd be cool to keep a log on here for not only myself, but for everyone else to see and to get feedback on.

So here goes.....

Bought the 07 V with 109k miles from a member on here on Friday, October 2, 2015.

The car was wrecked and had a power steering fluid leak but came with a new steering rack ready to be installed. I drove it an hour home with no power steering, but I loved every second of it haha. She came with a Corsa exhaust and also a K&N intake.

When I first got her home.



Damage Pic...


I drove the red caddy for the next month while trying to sell it and let the V hide inside...However, quite a few things needed done...

Like new tires, install the power steering rack (Didn't fix problem), Buy/Install power steering pump (fixed problem) then three days later the water pump went out...Ordered one from partsgeek. I ofcourse flushed both the power steering system and coolant system when fixing.

Tires: 245/45/zr18 Hankook Ventus V12 Evo 2 k120 (Awesome tire for the price tirerack had them at ($104/tire closeout sale)



And can't break tradition...I flushed clutch fluid after doing this as the clutch stuck to floor...which was weird cause I didn't engage the clutch until after the smokey doughnuts...been working fine since though.



Then I decided I couldn't stand the old yellow bulb look and ordered all interior and exterior cool white LEDs from superbrightleds....I had them on the red caddy for over 3 years and they were awesome. Didn't disappoint this time either.

The car also came with a set of H&R Lowering springs that weren't installed, so that was next on the list...I only have an after shot but here is...I ordered the kit from MightyMouse to make sure the rear lowered properly. However, I think I'm going to have to get the fenders rolled...I occasionally scrape while cornering and hitting bumps up front and eventually want to get a wider tire in the rear.




Next was bushings/mounts...I ordered new MM's (Blue), Trans Block (blue), shifter linkage bushings (blue), all 3 differential bushings (green), and rear cradle bushings (green) from Revshift.

The MM's were SHOT. The driver side had completely leaked out all of the fluid, and the passenger side unexpectedly peed all over me when I turned it over to get it out of the car...As soon as I first started the car I could feel the difference. No more metal knocking sound and the vibrations definitely cut down. If you have stock MM's I'd strongly advise replacing them.

The transmission was definitely sagging and the block raised it up probably 3/4" from where it was. The shifter bushings and tightening the bottom of the shift column definitely helped with the sloppy shifter and getting in to gears, but it's still not perfect...I'll eventually be looking into a short throw. I also installed a CAGS delete resistor cable I bought of eBay for like $10...works flawlessly.

Lastly, the rear cradle bushings and differential bushings. I got the race bushings (95A) and wow did they tighten up the rear....Only drawback if my differential got much louder. I expected it to be some, but this was a little more than my expectations. The bushings were also a PITA to get out. I removed the whole cradle from the car to make it easier and I'm glad I did...I initially only had a regular size hammer, but quickly found out that wasn't going to do the trick..I went to Northern Tools and grabbed a 4 pound sledge and 2 large sockets (forgot size). I heated the outside of the bushings with a torch and then hit the hell out of the socket on top of the bushings and they came out like butter. The two rear dif bushings I had to burn then cut the sleeve because I could not get enough room to bang on them...the front bushing I just pulled out and then cut the sleeve and it slid right out.

I also changed the dif fluid out with the Amsoil severe gear 75W-90..I'm thinking about changing it out to the 140 to tone the dif back down.

Lastly, Pete over at VMAX in Tampa hooked me up with a CNC Ported/Polished throttle body. This thing is awesome and works great. Not a huge power increase but the throttle responsiveness increase is definitely great. Pete's a genuine guy that makes a quality product if you're interested in getting TB work done.

I'll post up some more pics when I get on my personal laptop sometime. So far loving the car and will be getting the body work fixed in the middle of January sometime.

Other ToDOs:

Figure out why I'm getting an outside temp reading 60 degrees colder than it actually is.
Figure out why the check coolant level notification keeps popping up (Fluid level is fine)
Transmission Fluid Change
Change out wiring harness on passenger seat...Current one is from an 04 so I'm getting an airbag notification.
Fix front bumper crack and missing paint...add an ez lip to it.
Find some interior trim pieces. (Headrest internals, seat rail covers, oh-**** handle missing on passenger side)

Performance Mods!!!

DOHCsky

iTrader: (3)

I know those cars, I was the guy who bought your factory suspension parts for mock up. Glad to see you making progress on the V.

Naf

iTrader: (1)

Under the coolant tank there is a sensor for coolant. Yours might just be loose connection. Its on the bottom rear side of the tank.

Good luck

tlorenzen

That's awesome. How are they working out for you? Would like to see what you make out of them. I still have the LCAs if you wind up needing them.

Naf, I'll check. I have another tank with the sensor in it I was thinking about stealing to see if that would work...However I'm pretty sure the readings are linked to some sort of grounding issue. I'll be posting my updates here.


Also, I forgot to mention when I installed VMAX's TB, I also installed my catch Rx catch can that I used to have on my 3.6...Hopefully this one doesn't fill up as fast

Naf

iTrader: (1)

The rx catch cans are great. I have a regular one on my truck and the monster on my caddy.

AAIIIC

iTrader: (19)

So what's the story on the rear quarter damage? (Specifically, the teardrop shape that seems to have been cut out of the panel.)

ls1247

iTrader: (2)

Glad to see you bring it back to life.

The best way to fix the headrest is to find a used one and swap covers.

tlorenzen

Naf - The can was awesome on the red caddy, minus having to empty it every 1,000 miles for doing its job right...Man the 3.6 DRANK oil..Well see what she holds when I change the oil next.

AAIIC - The owner before (also a member here but I don't know his username) got tagged in the rear turning into a driveway. Decided he'd take the inIsurance money and just sell it. The hole cut was a body shop/friend of his trying to identify the damage underneath the skin. I'm planning on getting the quarter fixed in a couple weeks, just need to stop by the bodyshop when I get enough free time away from work to get it setup.

ls1247 - Me too. I love tinkering so getting one a bit cheaper that needed some love made sense. I think I'm just going to order a new insert off of gmpartsdirect as i'd rather get new plastic internals than one that's also 10 years old and has unknown life left.

Update -- I got the passenger seat harness changed out tonight after work...No more airbag light woot. Another item down...I'm thinking about ordering the 95A trailing and control arm bushings from Revshift as well...I know it won't eliminate the wheelhop all together but I'm hoping to at least tone it down a little so I'm not scared of blowing up the diff every time I want to slam second or third...

I also added an item to the list. I noticed that both of the welds on the bottom of the back side of the Corsa resonators are broken. Has this happened to anyone else? Guess I'm going to need to stop by a shop and get that re-welded since I don't have one. I'll get a pic and upload it when I get a chance.

DOHCsky

iTrader: (3)

Im working with BC suspension on releasing some ER spec dual adjustable external reservoir true coilovers for our cars. Prototype should be finished for mock up and testing near the end of the month at which point i will post a complete install thread etc.

Becker

iTrader: (4)

^^ sparkle in eyes for many V owners... Hope it isn't like the aftermarket hood teasers

Iceman_jd

Congratulations buddy! Before you run out of money do the KW suspension mod.

Don't get any tickets.
John

Bio248

making the rear a true coilover leads to lessened inner wheel/tire clearance. leave the rear spring in the spring perch. it's fine there.

the rest of the external, double adjustable reservoir stuff i'm totally on board with, though. i'm currently on D2s, which are going to be basically the same thing as the BC BR sets offered minus that i swapped in 12/16k swift springs since the 10/10k they come with are totally wrong.

NIKDSC5

iTrader: (10)

You lose maybe a half an inch. And if you're looking for more then your option is outwards.

Or make a lower bracket like naf to bring the lower part of the spring inward to gain your clearance back.

Either way the system is better run as a true coil over. Less we forget you need to modify the lower control arm for wheel clearance as well when going in that far. Also, I lost 16lbs 8 per side by running a true cool over and losing the huge bulky stock lower control arm for the CS parts.

AAIIIC

iTrader: (19)

How squishy are the stock bushings at the rear of the diff? My cradle will be coming out shortly for the 8.8" to be rebuilt, just wondering if its worth swapping out those bushings or not. I never see much discussion of doing those bushings.

tlorenzen

They seemed to be the stiffer of the bushings back there. Much better than the front bushing, however not near as hard as the 95A's. I can guarantee the diff moves more with the stockers than the 95A.

If you're running the 8.8 and the diff is already coming out I'd imagine it'd be worth getting it done. That is if you don't mind the added diff noise. If you do change the rear two on their own, let us know if you could feel any difference, its hard for me to say as I did them at the same time.

FuzzyLog1c

iTrader: (4)

If you put a threaded rod into the rubber bushing core, you can leverage the bushing with your hands. That's pretty $#!%ing soft. Now imagine several thousand pounds of force trying to slide that subframe laterally when you corner. That's why there have been a handful of subframe bushing threads over the years, featuring various CTS-V owners gushing about how they can no longer feel the ***-end of the car "walking out" sideways on them.

I've replaced every control arm, subframe, and differential bushing with Revshift's 75D (they're an option--you have to request them) bushings. No perceptible change in NVH. As I recall, my OEM differential whined before and it whined afterwards--over time, the problem just became steadily worse. The parade "clunk" eventually became a modern manifestation of the "one-lunger" single cylinder engine. The Geforce 9" basically saved my car.

When it comes to bushings, most people don't understand that the additional noise they may experience is almost entirely due to the misalignment angle on the drivetrain changing. The OEM stuff all sags together because it was installed at the same time and saw the same abuse. Installing a few new bushings with some old ones can dramatically worsen the angles on your prop flange, center bearing, and rear driveshaft CV. It also exacerbates driveline shock and accelerates the death of your Getrag differential.

tlorenzen

Fuzzy, I agree. But when you can push out the core of the front bushing with your hands, I'd say the rear ones are a far improvement over that. (Not that that means they're an excellent bushing)

Your statement about the other bushings is exactly why I did all the motor mounts, trans block, dif bushings, and subframe bushings at the same time. I was unaware that you could get 75Ds from Revshift...I think I will plan on that for my control and trailing arm bushings. But on the contrary, my vibrations have decreased while my differential noise has increased.

The only piece I didn't replace is the driveshaft carrier, which is indeed sagging a bit. It looks like its not an easy piece to change unlike the base CTS carrier. Correct me if I'm wrong but it looks like you have to send this one in to get re-built? On my old base I was able to take the shaft apart in my garage.

Brackets

ls1tech.com/forums/cadillac-cts-v/1712407-replace-driveshaft-bearing.html

tlorenzen

That's what I thought...I replaced the one on my base CTS for $60...not $420 plus a $400 security deposit....Gotta pay to play I guess.

I'll plan on doing it after I graduate this spring as I don't exactly have over $400 to blow on a carrier bearing that's still working.

AAIIIC

iTrader: (19)

I know there have been plenty of threads about the cradle bushings, but I wasn't asking about those. I was asking about the rear differential bushings (where the rear of the differential mounts to the cradle), which I have not seen much discussion of. The differential mounting bushings don't have anything to do with the subframe shifting laterally under cornering loads.

On the one hand the "while we're in there" urge is strong to go ahead and do them, but on the other hand I am worried about additional NVH. It doesn't help that my current setup sounds like a goddamn gravel truck (which also means that I can't really give any useful before/after comparison, because the driveline right now sounds like absolute crap).