Hey all,
Long-time forum lurker here. Hoping for some sound advice, given the ridiculous amount of experience that you guys have collectively accrued.
The situation: I have a 2006 CTS-V with 14,000 miles. It's my daily driver, and I'd like to make upgrading this thing my spring project. I have no experience modifying cars (I've rotated tires, installed an iPod kit, etc), but I'm an unusually intelligent electrical engineer with a knack for taking things apart and putting them back together. Point is, I've budgeted $2k to upgrade this car, with provisions to raise that to $5k if I see a point to doing so. I've done about 10 hours of research this past weekend, and would welcome your suggestions. Couple of things:
That said, here are the problems with the CTS-V that I've identified so far:
And some of my potential upgrades, in order of importance:
Couple of final questions:
Thanks very much for your time. I'll be happy to post pictures / videos of my progress later this spring. I have a couple of other, interesting electrical modifications that I'll be making to this car with my own dedicated microcontroller that ties into several systems--but that'll come after the hard stuff is done. If you see it and like it, I may be willing to build additional copies at a small profit.
Long-time forum lurker here. Hoping for some sound advice, given the ridiculous amount of experience that you guys have collectively accrued.
The situation: I have a 2006 CTS-V with 14,000 miles. It's my daily driver, and I'd like to make upgrading this thing my spring project. I have no experience modifying cars (I've rotated tires, installed an iPod kit, etc), but I'm an unusually intelligent electrical engineer with a knack for taking things apart and putting them back together. Point is, I've budgeted $2k to upgrade this car, with provisions to raise that to $5k if I see a point to doing so. I've done about 10 hours of research this past weekend, and would welcome your suggestions. Couple of things:
- Performance is key. I'm focused on the best price/performance (or price per unit driveability) upgrades. If the car looks or sounds better, bonus--but that's not what I'm here for.
- I'll buy whatever tools I need, and I'm patient. But I have to be able to complete each modification in a weekend (20-24 hours working time)--I rely on this car to get me to work on Monday morning.
- A completely legitimate answer to this post is, "don't waste your money." If I have to drop $5k+ in order to really see results, then I'll just put that money toward a 2012 CTS-V coupe.
That said, here are the problems with the CTS-V that I've identified so far:
- The shifter / clutch / flywheel on this car are terrible. The clutchplate / flywheel are at least 20 pounds overweight.
- The intake / exhaust system is too restrictive. Sounds like you can get an additional 40 WHP between new CAI and headers alone.
- The car is too high off the ground, the wheels are small, and they used that unusual 6-bolt hub design.
And some of my potential upgrades, in order of importance:
- Short-throw shifter--UUC or Katech. Roughly $300. No power gains, but big drivability bonus.
- K&N Cold Air Intake. Roughly $225. 17 WHP gain with an easy 90-minute installation.
- LS7 or aftermarket (Spec Level 4?) clutch / flywheel kit. Never played with a transmission before, so I don't know what exactly I'll need. Could use a lot of help here. Sounds like I could trim up to 28 pounds off the transmission's rotating mass. Inertia = 1/2 m r^2, so this should make the car feel quite a bit more responsive.
- Different springs to knock height down by about 1.2 inches. Not sure if I need to get new shocks too.
- Bigger / lighter wheels. I really like the Breyton GTS-R or GTSR-M ($420 each), which are incompatible with the CTS-V's stock hubs. Are there adapter plates and how much do they cost? Is the speedometer reprogrammable, or am I looking at maintaining outside wheel diameter by purchasing low-profile tires?
Couple of final questions:
- Does anyone know the stock (unmodified) WHP output of a 2004-2007 CTS-V versus the output in various states of modification?
- How hard is it to replace a clutch / flywheel? What kind of tools am I looking at buying?
- Are new headers really that valuable? For $1000 (Kooks with X-Pipe), it sounds like you might get an extra 15 WHP. It really only seems useful if you supercharge the engine, because then your flow-rates are going to explode.
- If I buy new wheels, do I need to purchase additional pressure sensors?
- Assuming that I knocked an inch off the CTS-V's ride height, what's the largest diameter tires that you think I could fit without rubbing?
Thanks very much for your time. I'll be happy to post pictures / videos of my progress later this spring. I have a couple of other, interesting electrical modifications that I'll be making to this car with my own dedicated microcontroller that ties into several systems--but that'll come after the hard stuff is done. If you see it and like it, I may be willing to build additional copies at a small profit.