2011 CTS-V Modding

[harner]

In May 2016, I traded in my manual 5th gen SS daily for an auto CTS-V (V2) sedan, non-Recaro car. 2 tone interior, painted silver wheels, sunroof, nav, and all the standard options like big brembo brakes, mag ride, etc.

These are rated at 556HP at the crank at around 6000-6100rpm I believe. I bought the car with an Airaid CAI and otherwise stock. I'm the third owner. An old lady bought it new and racked up the miles, then a middle age couple bought it as the wife's sunday driver. I grabbed it with 25k on the nose and it sits at 33k, nestled in a garage for the winter.

For anyone wondering - yes, the T/A project is in full swing and exciting things going on there, but I like to live dangerously and have a few projects going at once.


So here we go - a thread dedicated to my LS daily.

2016 mods:
- CAI
- Street Tune (HP Tuners, done with a wideband obv) by DiabloFormula Racing. We leaned it out a bit, but it's still pretty fat.
- "Valve mod" - free mod that's common in the LSA world.
- Dipped front grills in black plus clear
- PowerStop carbon ceramic pads (GREATLY reduced brake dust and noise)

When I'm a little more awake, I'll link the dyno video. A local shop just set up a Land & Sea dyno, which is a serious heartbreaker for those only familiar with Dynojet numbers (like me). The car made like 451rwhp at 5800rpm and they didn't run it past that.

2017 mods that have been PURCHASED:
- 2.5 supercharger pulley, hub & solid isolator
- Catch can (Vadder)
- Chinese stainless longer tubes and offroad X
- plugs, wires, sleeves, gaskets, o2 ext, stainless hardware, may get some band clamps yet
- Differential fluid change
- Motor oil change
- Green air filter
- Dipped wheels
- Interior/exterior LED swap
- M105/M205...the detailers will know what's up. This car is ROUGH! I'm very unhappy with the quality of the paint/clear. It's a giant eye sore and pisses me off that the previous owners couldn't take care of the car properly. /rant

Some things I'm on the fence with right now:
- Fuel injectors likely will go to FIC
- I want a nicer HID headlight bulb and matching fog setup
- This is basically the "stage 1.5 mod list", but "stage 2" may be later this year, after the T/A is back in action. That will consist of heat exchangers, lower pulley, idlers, and some other odds and ends. I want to do a cam and ported blower/snout in a year or two.

37349

[harner]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41HLom6hChs

[harner]

The V2 is and has been nothing short of amazing. There are issues/quirks that the platform in general has that I can attest to, that you will not find in any YouTube review.

Excessive brake dust and noise

Suspension/camber setup likes to eat front tires and feels like a truck locked in 4wd occasionally when doing sharp turns in tight spaces

Limited slip diff causes driver side axle to feel like it's binding up when the fluid is cold and thick

No Bluetooth audio streaming in the 09-11 cars? The hell!

Black Raven is probably the weakest paint and nearly impossible to mask blemishes

No HID fog lights and many exterior/interior lights are not LED

Cadillac tax (see:corvette tax)


There is more, but now I can talk about the positives. The car is smooth like a Caddy, but with the mag ride, a push of a button transforms it into a race ready beast that will outperform MANY cars out there in stock trim. My 5th gen had a bunch of suspension mods, but doesn't turn nearly as good as the V.

The auto trans (6L90E) is a beast. Once it's in sport mode, the magic happens. It suddenly has firmer shifts and every gear is wound out longer in the RPM range. Also, 1st gear is activated but honestly, it's pretty useless even in stock form. You can shift manually or let it shift itself. When I was at the ocmd cruise, I found myself shifting manually only from a roll but letting it auto shift afterwards, which is complicated to explain. Guys making more power will overfill the trans to prevent parts from drying up under heavy load, which extends the life substantially.

Best of all, the platform is solid. Guys are easily running 700-800rwhp with a stock converter, trans, and rear. No need to throw money at gears and shift kits, driveshafts, etc. The bottom end holds up very well even with miles. The tech and powertrain in this car is light years from anything I've driven for fun, previously. Most do not install headers as one of their first mods, because more power can be had for the money by investing in a pulley setup or even a cam. All American headers are well over $1000 on this platform.

The only way I'll let this go would be for a V3.

Anyway, more pics and vids coming as I have quite the project this winter

[popo8]

451 is a great starting point though. How much boost was that at?

Also, maybe I missed it but any plans to do gesrs with the 6 spd?

Finally... dyno day should be a great day for u on the Dyno Jet this Easter!!!

LTXtech.com IS my drug...
OWNER/ADMIN

[popo8]

Royal Customs does ceramic coating... have u thought about that? Not cheap but the cars Ive seen look jaw dropping.

LTXtech.com IS my drug...
OWNER/ADMIN

[harner]

451 is a great starting point though. How much boost was that at?

Also, maybe I missed it but any plans to do gesrs with the 6 spd?

Finally... dyno day should be a great day for u on the Dyno Jet this Easter!!!

LTXtech.com IS my drug...
OWNER/ADMIN
About 8-9psi. I didn't have them hook up the sensors, so I'm not 100% sure.

The factory gearing is optimal for this platform.

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[popo8]

About 8-9psi. I didn't have them hook up the sensors, so I'm not 100% sure.

The factory gearing is optimal for this platform.

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Gotcha...

LTXtech.com IS my drug...
OWNER/ADMIN

[harner]

Royal Customs does ceramic coating... have u thought about that? Not cheap but the cars Ive seen look jaw dropping.

LTXtech.com IS my drug...
OWNER/ADMIN
We discussed this a little before. I need to seriously fix the top coat before a ceramic coating is applied. I'm not sure if I can get it 100%. I've been watching CQuartz applications for a while and can do it myself, but I think I'll eventually have the car wrapped. Black Raven just sucks to maintain. Maybe the Meguiers treatment will whip it into shape and make me want to do a ceramic coating. Doubtful lol!



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[popo8]

We discussed this a little before. I need to seriously fix the top coat before a ceramic coating is applied. I'm not sure if I can get it 100%. I've been watching CQuartz applications for a while and can do it myself, but I think I'll eventually have the car wrapped. Black Raven just sucks to maintain. Maybe the Meguiers treatment will whip it into shape and make me want to do a ceramic coating. Doubtful lol!



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Thats right... we did talk about it.

LTXtech.com IS my drug...
OWNER/ADMIN

[harner]

I'm excited about the dyno day regardless of which vehicle makes it....or even if both make it. I'd like to see what the V does with the pulley and headers and then compare numbers with the Land & Sea dyno.

BTW- I need to talk to you to see if "LTXTech" is interested in sponsoring a dyno day at that shop in Hamburg. Maybe a season ender dyno day or mid summer. Otherwise I might work with the owner and throw something together that's a little more low key.

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[popo8]

I'm excited about the dyno day regardless of which vehicle makes it....or even if both make it. I'd like to see what the V does with the pulley and headers and then compare numbers with the Land & Sea dyno.

BTW- I need to talk to you to see if "LTXTech" is interested in sponsoring a dyno day at that shop in Hamburg. Maybe a season ender dyno day or mid summer. Otherwise I might work with the owner and throw something together that's a little more low key.

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Shoot me a message on FB so I can run it by the other 2 admins.

LTXtech.com IS my drug...
OWNER/ADMIN

[SSlowBoat]

I'm excited about the dyno day regardless of which vehicle makes it....or even if both make it. I'd like to see what the V does with the pulley and headers and then compare numbers with the Land & Sea dyno.

BTW- I need to talk to you to see if "LTXTech" is interested in sponsoring a dyno day at that shop in Hamburg. Maybe a season ender dyno day or mid summer. Otherwise I might work with the owner and throw something together that's a little more low key.

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If it happens count me in, car should be running if I get a certain motor mount by then ;)

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[blackbirdws6]

Sounds like are having a lot of fun and you chose a great platform. If I had one, I'd surely go over the deep end with mods. Regarding the paint correction, if you are interested in taking a ride, I'd be happy to give a hand to see if the paint can be corrected. I have a few tools to get the job done.

Good luck with the car and keep us posted on the mod progress. Any plans to take it to the track?

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[harner]

Sounds like are having a lot of fun and you chose a great platform. If I had one, I'd surely go over the deep end with mods. Regarding the paint correction, if you are interested in taking a ride, I'd be happy to give a hand to see if the paint can be corrected. I have a few tools to get the job done.

Good luck with the car and keep us posted on the mod progress. Any plans to take it to the track?

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Thanks for the offer! It's in storage for the next few months and I plan on giving it a shot. If it's a bigg fail, I may just take you up on that.

As for the track, yes I would love to take it out and see what it does. I'm sure I'll get there at some point this year.

[harner]

Like a drug addict needing a fix (you see where this is going lol)...

Well plans changed. Instead of a 2.55 upper pulley, I went with a 2.31. The idler was swapped with a 100mm. Stock lower. The car makes 14psi consistently on the dyno but I figure it'll peak around 15-16 max on the street in the right conditions.

Other mods are 1000cc injectors, Vadder Engineering dual core heat exchangers, Vadder catch can, Chinese LTs and catless X, stock mufflers, Varimax HX pump, Airaid CAI with a "Green" filter, solid isolator, and thermal reduction plates.

Completely stock and unported blower/snout/TB/heads/etc. I did buy an e85 kit but that was not installed yet.

582rwhp / 627rwtq on the last pull. It did make 587 a few pills earlier but we were battling heat issues. It was consistently in the 57x/58x at each pull and 600+ tq. It hits 600tq at 3k rpm!

The car overall is way quieter than I was expecting. The stock mufflers really dampen the sound. Almost too much IMO.

Very happy with the results. thechrisharnerpics and video below. I'll post up another video later with video from the front of the car. Its very....whiney. Or look me up on IG @thechrisharner




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS-6LSmIGoMhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170517/8900f122bba3728a63c78d8845ee7ce4.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170517/4dc339c77b895ff37be7c081756cd3d5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170517/e292ba015d949bbab072046403683302.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170517/46379b8f5921a08726736c0831419327.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170517/52f20be929e213f4fc9f011a3217b0c1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170517/3c6e684f0f2d45a0faaab3e59779e0fa.jpg

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[popo8]

Love it man. Mark was getting his SS tuned yesterday as well. So we were txtin about both of our cars.

Im not only an LTXtech member... Im also the Owner.

[hokeplaya05]

saw your car in streetspeed717's latest video, sounds good man!

[Slow 30th]

Just a point on the m105 if it's not really bad I would try the m205 first it will do a lot more than you think. Then a good wax and that black will look amazing


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[Fastbird]

Nice. I need one of those in my life, in wagon form.

[harner]

Vagons are holding their value like crazy!

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[blackbirdws6]

Car sounded really good in the streetspeed video. What is next?

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[harner]

Thanks! Larger CAI and likely a trunk mounted ice box. Need to work on the trans tune a bit but otherwise it is a blast on the street. I've been thinking about a cam install, but really just want to enjoy the car as it is for now.

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[harner]

No real updates on the car. I've been battling trans tune issues. The issue was it started flashing (only in sport mode) between 2-3 and 3-4 shifts at part throttle. After some research, the trans tune is receiving an invalid torque signal which is causing the issues. Had it reflashed to stock and while it's better, it is not perfect. I would like to try to do a fast relearn after resetting adaptives in HPT. The problem is timing and adulting haha. I think it'll be easier to invest in HPT Pro and working with remote resources to iron out the trans tune side of things.

Anyway, no new mods, just driving the car when I can (put 300 miles on it this past weekend). Trolled a GT500 a little last night, thought I'd share.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCEHgrGLJ-Y

[harner]

I lied about the lack of mods, I forgot I updated some of the lighting on Saturday. If you think it's a PITA on an Fbody, guess again. You need to remove the bumper cover to take the headlights out in the V.

Replaced the headlights with Morimoto D1S 6500k bulbs. Replaced the DRL's with white LEDs and the fogs were replaced with a 5000k DDM Tuning HID kit.

DDM has a really nice kit. Easy and plug and play. Overall, the colors match perfectly. I love the look and really happy with it.

I also swapped in LEDs in the license plate bulbs and some interior. Ran out of time to do the rest.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/8695ddf2bedc94d7e8fb3cdb9c250df5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/4651830ba05629581fb1b1a7966c8681.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/8e1aa1f0881853d05ec102522a762844.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/224a532565d59638fc503b3886b0dab3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/a2211fdd134706c7f3af120ee5b7af66.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/72afeae73e7f93a70fe258b3a77815ab.jpg

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[popo8]

I lied about the lack of mods, I forgot I updated some of the lighting on Saturday. If you think it's a PITA on an Fbody, guess again. You need to remove the bumper cover to take the headlights out in the V.

Replaced the headlights with Morimoto D1S 6500k bulbs. Replaced the DRL's with white LEDs and the fogs were replaced with a 5000k DDM Tuning HID kit.

DDM has a really nice kit. Easy and plug and play. Overall, the colors match perfectly. I love the look and really happy with it.

I also swapped in LEDs in the license plate bulbs and some interior. Ran out of time to do the rest.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/8695ddf2bedc94d7e8fb3cdb9c250df5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/4651830ba05629581fb1b1a7966c8681.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/8e1aa1f0881853d05ec102522a762844.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/224a532565d59638fc503b3886b0dab3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/a2211fdd134706c7f3af120ee5b7af66.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170807/72afeae73e7f93a70fe258b3a77815ab.jpg

Sent from my SM-G955U using TapatalkHow is the new light output at night?



Im not only an LTXtech member... Im also the Owner.

[harner]

Nice and white, to my surprised. I was expecting more of a blue hue, and there is barely. It's primarily white. Loud output is great with the stick projector housings. I didn't think the stock fogs were all that useful, either. Not they are for sure.

I'm very happy with them. Also, the highs are really bright and there's no "warm up time between high and low.

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[popo8]

Nice and white, to my surprised. I was expecting more of a blue hue, and there is barely. It's primarily white. Loud output is great with the stick projector housings. I didn't think the stock fogs were all that useful, either. Not they are for sure.

I'm very happy with them. Also, the highs are really bright and there's no "warm up time between high and low.

Sent from my SM-G955U using TapatalkThats great. Was lookin to do a similar upgrade to the wife's genesis... just didnt want her to have bright blue lights.

Im not only an LTXtech member... Im also the Owner.