My Cessation Thread, Getting Out of the Car Game
10-18-2010, 07:55 PM
#41
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OP sounds like a glutton for punishment. I would never go back to stock unless I was selling the car. But I didn't buy it to sell it. We are in this for the long haul.
10-20-2010, 11:16 PM
#45
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went back to stock coilsprings love it. when the spec3 plus clutch goes I'm getting a ls7 clutch. I hate the spec clutch its too stiff and i engages too late.
10-22-2010, 03:01 PM
#46
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Good comments and info in this thread. I have my beater to drive 70 miles to work everyday, and i have my 99 SS vert for the weekend car. I have found out that not driving my SS for 5 days makes me appreciate the power and the car. I am planning to stick to bolt ons for the SS and some suspension work to make it ride, handle and brake better.
I shall wait until i have enough money to buy a C6Z and make that my road track car. Messing with the internals (cam, heads, etc) was never my thing. So I guess I am lucky in that regard.
I shall wait until i have enough money to buy a C6Z and make that my road track car. Messing with the internals (cam, heads, etc) was never my thing. So I guess I am lucky in that regard.
10-23-2010, 02:40 AM
#47
Amen, that's what I'm about to do!
Ferocity02, spee, I didn't realize there was much of an f-body scene in SLO. I've been up the 101 from you guys in King City (couldn't be more misnamed, it's shithole central) for a few months and all I've seen around here are barely polished turds people call transport.
Ferocity02, spee, I didn't realize there was much of an f-body scene in SLO. I've been up the 101 from you guys in King City (couldn't be more misnamed, it's shithole central) for a few months and all I've seen around here are barely polished turds people call transport.
10-23-2010, 12:51 PM
#48
My mod experience has been fairly unsatisfactory myself, being that this site is for the avid enthusiast/modder, I will underline that the modding I am talking about is on my GTP!
I got the car stock at around 55k mi and first started with a panel filter(K+N) and felt a bit of pep, so i figured alright lets keep it DDable, and able to cope with good amounts of snow(which it did even when modded). Anyways within a years span, I spent over 2500 in exhaust, intake, plugs, tuning, Pulleys, puller and a new set of kybs with stock springs(peanuts really to what you guys spend, but its a V6!
, modding might be a total diff ballgame with the LS1). Anyways i drove the car for a while, without too much issue. Then last Mar. my tranny blew the 4th gear, the car became very hard to diagnose any problem, and little issues came up here and there. The biggest issue I had, wasn't the small problems coming up here and there(its a decent car, and still dependable) but small things like the exhaust booming at 1500-2000 rpm, the tranny shifting as if it was gonna give you whip-lash and the feeling that something was wrong with the car all the time. i did research all the mods and the proper order to do them in etc. but its like getting a tattoo, the first leads to more and more!
Well, i have demodded the entire thing(lol the pulley puller totally f'ed up the end of the snout, but thats this weeks problem
!) and now i appreciate the car a lot more, nice and smooth, quiet at any speed and overall a better driving experience. For the last few weeks, people kept on askin me "if there was something wrong with my car?", which peeves me off like nothing else. What i did like was that the mods were fairly easy to sell and maybe lost 40% which isnt bad, and it was fun while i did it. But This has kind of put a bad taste in my mouth for doing anything to the TA(aside from the K+N panel filter!), for me, the TA from stock is acceptable in EVERY way from the factory. i would like a lil more power(who doesn't?!!) but from here on out, I personally am going to keep cars, boats, bikes etc stock like a rock.
I got the car stock at around 55k mi and first started with a panel filter(K+N) and felt a bit of pep, so i figured alright lets keep it DDable, and able to cope with good amounts of snow(which it did even when modded). Anyways within a years span, I spent over 2500 in exhaust, intake, plugs, tuning, Pulleys, puller and a new set of kybs with stock springs(peanuts really to what you guys spend, but its a V6!
, modding might be a total diff ballgame with the LS1). Anyways i drove the car for a while, without too much issue. Then last Mar. my tranny blew the 4th gear, the car became very hard to diagnose any problem, and little issues came up here and there. The biggest issue I had, wasn't the small problems coming up here and there(its a decent car, and still dependable) but small things like the exhaust booming at 1500-2000 rpm, the tranny shifting as if it was gonna give you whip-lash and the feeling that something was wrong with the car all the time. i did research all the mods and the proper order to do them in etc. but its like getting a tattoo, the first leads to more and more!Well, i have demodded the entire thing(lol the pulley puller totally f'ed up the end of the snout, but thats this weeks problem
!) and now i appreciate the car a lot more, nice and smooth, quiet at any speed and overall a better driving experience. For the last few weeks, people kept on askin me "if there was something wrong with my car?", which peeves me off like nothing else. What i did like was that the mods were fairly easy to sell and maybe lost 40% which isnt bad, and it was fun while i did it. But This has kind of put a bad taste in my mouth for doing anything to the TA(aside from the K+N panel filter!), for me, the TA from stock is acceptable in EVERY way from the factory. i would like a lil more power(who doesn't?!!) but from here on out, I personally am going to keep cars, boats, bikes etc stock like a rock.I dont think I could put my SS back to stock either. I dont regret modding the SS, I did dump some cash into her but I did all the work which wasnt hard at all. Much more fun than a stock car IMO. I think the key with having a modded car is dont let it be your daily driver. Thats why I appreciate mine more. My least favorite mods: UMI tunnel mount torque arm. Great torque arm but the crossmember hangs low & scrapes a lot. I went back to stock for now(getting a MWC 9' with their TA) Lowering springs. The car handles & looks much better lowered but it doesnt ride quite as good & it scrapes sometimes. I didnt buy mine to sell it either. Took me a few months to find a clean SS, if someone made me a ridiculous offer I wouldnt sell it.
10-25-2010, 10:13 PM
#49
I'm thinking about it myself right now. I just got my car running too, H/C/E last weekend and I hate it. I hate every miserable second in this car on my way to work. Its loud, shakes, stalls, the clutch sucks, I only have one working speaker, the exhaust rattles, the car rides like crap with the most expensive suspension setup on it, etc. I liked it a lot better stock. Somehow I don't remember my last modded f-body being this much of a pain in the *** to enjoy, and it made a lot more power.
I seriously can't believe I just spent thousands of dollars on this car and can't get out of it fast enough when I arrive where I'm going. Maybe once it gets tuned it will be better, and maybe some cats to quiet it down. I'm thinking about just selling it outright and letting someone else f with it at this point.
I seriously can't believe I just spent thousands of dollars on this car and can't get out of it fast enough when I arrive where I'm going. Maybe once it gets tuned it will be better, and maybe some cats to quiet it down. I'm thinking about just selling it outright and letting someone else f with it at this point.
10-25-2010, 10:37 PM
#50
Modding a car almost always comes with trade offs. You give up comfort, or reliability, or gas mileage or all three in order to go faster.
Aftermarket parts usually don't have the R&D in them that OEM parts do. It's a favorite past time for me to bash certain stock parts from GM, but those engineers actually had a real budget and the tools and time to figure out a good compromise between performance, reliability, comfort, and cost. Most aftermarket vendors are in a very competitive, almost cut throat business. Why buy their part when the other vendor seems to be selling the same thing for 20% less? Sometimes the guy with the highest quality, most reliable product has to struggle to show how his is better designed or more reliable. That can translate into more marketing costs as they try to educate the consumer, driving up their retail prices even higher. All of these operations are much smaller than GM, so they just don't have the resources to match the factory reliability. Installer error is also a factor in too many cases. It's not like the mods are done on GM's computerized assembly line with calibrated and preset electic torque wrenches or even robots doing part of the work.
Don't get me wrong. My cars are heavily modded.
I'm just trying to give some perspective.
Aftermarket parts usually don't have the R&D in them that OEM parts do. It's a favorite past time for me to bash certain stock parts from GM, but those engineers actually had a real budget and the tools and time to figure out a good compromise between performance, reliability, comfort, and cost. Most aftermarket vendors are in a very competitive, almost cut throat business. Why buy their part when the other vendor seems to be selling the same thing for 20% less? Sometimes the guy with the highest quality, most reliable product has to struggle to show how his is better designed or more reliable. That can translate into more marketing costs as they try to educate the consumer, driving up their retail prices even higher. All of these operations are much smaller than GM, so they just don't have the resources to match the factory reliability. Installer error is also a factor in too many cases. It's not like the mods are done on GM's computerized assembly line with calibrated and preset electic torque wrenches or even robots doing part of the work.
Don't get me wrong. My cars are heavily modded.
I'm just trying to give some perspective.
11-01-2010, 06:24 PM
#51
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Good post, I hope alot of people learn from it.
For all the reasons why you took it back to stock is why I'm never planning on modding mine much. I've had it over three years, and have done minimal modding. It's fast enough for me, and the mileage is acceptable right now.
Only thing I really want to change are the 2.73's....maybe someday I'll find a M6 rear locally to swap in.
I kind of learned these lessons with past vehicles. My first vehicle was a 73K10, I spent a bunch of money on that on a lift kit and having the motor and tranny redone etc, then sold it for about what I originally paid for it. After that I said never again.
With my Jeep I didn't go crazy on mods, but did change the suspension a few times with different lift heights. Now the thing is a rattle trap and drives horrible. It'd have been better off if I had left it stock. Besides the suspension, I went with 31" tires wich killed the gas mileage, then put in a rear locker which really huirt street driveability.
I think that unless you have money to burn, cars are always are horrible investment and hobby. Don't get me wrong, they're fun and I love 'em, but when I think back over the years at all the money I've spent on car related stuff, I'd be so much better off financially right now if I wasn't a motorhead. And of course even though I'm saying that, about 10 min ago I was looking at CTS-V's on Autotrader, haha.
For all the reasons why you took it back to stock is why I'm never planning on modding mine much. I've had it over three years, and have done minimal modding. It's fast enough for me, and the mileage is acceptable right now.
Only thing I really want to change are the 2.73's....maybe someday I'll find a M6 rear locally to swap in.
I kind of learned these lessons with past vehicles. My first vehicle was a 73K10, I spent a bunch of money on that on a lift kit and having the motor and tranny redone etc, then sold it for about what I originally paid for it. After that I said never again.
With my Jeep I didn't go crazy on mods, but did change the suspension a few times with different lift heights. Now the thing is a rattle trap and drives horrible. It'd have been better off if I had left it stock. Besides the suspension, I went with 31" tires wich killed the gas mileage, then put in a rear locker which really huirt street driveability.
I think that unless you have money to burn, cars are always are horrible investment and hobby. Don't get me wrong, they're fun and I love 'em, but when I think back over the years at all the money I've spent on car related stuff, I'd be so much better off financially right now if I wasn't a motorhead. And of course even though I'm saying that, about 10 min ago I was looking at CTS-V's on Autotrader, haha.
11-02-2010, 10:52 AM
#52
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Great thread, and probably only appreciated by guys that are slightly older than the typical LS1 crowd.
Don't get me wrong, I love cars, modding them, racing them, etc. But on the other hand I do realize what an enormous waste of money it all is. Besides that, the trade offs can be harder to live with than one would anticipate at first, as far as modding a DD is concerned. I think it's best to keep your DD close to stock and have a separate weekend only car that can be loud and obnoxious.
My car is not very heavily modded, but more than bolt ons, and it's been my DD for 6.5 years. It's been dead reliable and I love the way it sounds, just not EVERY day. If I had to mod a LS1 to DD this would be my combo. 243 heads, LS6 cam/intake, stock manifolds and cats, quiet catback, lid, pulley, shocks. Basically a LS6 motor w/ light boltons. No headers, ORY, gears, loping cam, poly bushings or aftermarket suspension.
Don't get me wrong, I love cars, modding them, racing them, etc. But on the other hand I do realize what an enormous waste of money it all is. Besides that, the trade offs can be harder to live with than one would anticipate at first, as far as modding a DD is concerned. I think it's best to keep your DD close to stock and have a separate weekend only car that can be loud and obnoxious.
My car is not very heavily modded, but more than bolt ons, and it's been my DD for 6.5 years. It's been dead reliable and I love the way it sounds, just not EVERY day. If I had to mod a LS1 to DD this would be my combo. 243 heads, LS6 cam/intake, stock manifolds and cats, quiet catback, lid, pulley, shocks. Basically a LS6 motor w/ light boltons. No headers, ORY, gears, loping cam, poly bushings or aftermarket suspension.
