Maven

iTrader: (1)

Well the car started life as a plain jane no option 2008 LS coupe on 1/26/08

As of today I have:

Replaced steering wheel with leather covered N34 steering wheel and installed functional cruise and audio controls. This is not avail on the LS

Tinted rear 3 windows 5%
Tinted door windows 35%

Installed GMPP Air induction

Installed GMPP Touring exhaust.

Removed and sold GMPP Touring exhaust.

Installed SS/SC A-pillar and Autometer Carbon Fiber Ultralite oil pressure gauge(mechanical)

Installed FE5(SS/SC) springs frt and rr.

Installed FE5(SS/SC) struts

Purchased complete FE5(SS/SC) rear axle with disc brakes(should be here wednesday)

Purchased FE3/FE5(Sport:SS/SC) aluminum front lower control arms.

Aquired full set of near zero mile 2LT 16" steel 5 spoke wheels

Spent many hours researching schematics, fabricating harnesses and test fitting various head units

painted Black mirror caps(car has plain black plasic stock)

installed Sport shift knob and center console trim

Ordered new trans shift control to perform short throw shifter mod. no evidence of mod from inside of car.(lever will remain exactly as stock, but throw will be reduced)



I was totally set on going with the new SS/TC Brembo front brakes, but they still arent available(grrrrr) and definitely wont fit in 16's and most likely wont fit in stock 17's. Since I am completely abhorrent against running 18's and I'd really prefer 16's(the ones I have, I think they rock) I may be changing plans and only running the 11.65" SS/SC brakes up front.

;

I am going to SLP on Monday to try and pickup a LoudMouth II exhaust, this will be the ONLY aftermarket part on my car(except for instrumentation) If I cant make that happen I'll most likely be putting a complete stock SS/SC on, or eventually fabbing my own.



Black seats from a Sport or G5 GT are the next order of business, followed by body panels. Then i'll be done......Unless I drop an LE5 shortblock or complete SS/SC drivetrain in.


Since its apparently such an issue I thought I'd include the fact that with the exception of the seats, body panels, engine swap or SLP exhaust(all of which havent been done) I have a grand total of $1,590.82 invested in all of the mods listed. Key among them, in case you couldnt ascertain it from the listing being a complete suspension upgrade, 5 lug swap with wheels, and 4 wheel disc conversion

cincybalt

all that and no pix??

mkulrey13

iTrader: (39)

Sounds like a waste of money since aftermarket parts seem to yield more power and cost less. but its your car..

Maven

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for your opinion, and youre right it is my car.

I dont know how its a waste of money as I get GM parts at cost, or what aftermarket parts your talking about that make more power since the only power mod I even have is the air induction.

Ive got some pics of the steering/controls install, a a few of the GMPP AI in my gallery, but thats about it. You can be sure I'll take pictures once the brakes are on. Right now it just looks like a plain Cobalt with tint and a small drop. Thats kinda the point though....

07SSCharged248

GMPP is a waste if your going to mod your car as heavily as it sounds... Im mean for the money you probably could have got a 06 SS/SC and called it a day...

Maven

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for all the input. The GMPP intake was part of the purchase price of my car(added a whopping $200.....) And I made money when I sold the exhaust.

Is it just me or is everyone missing the point that 95% my mods arent power related? I know that may be heard to understand but not everyone has tire shredding power as their first priority.

Black07LS

How hard was it to get the cruise and audio controls to work? How much $$$ ?

Maven

iTrader: (1)

Cruise and audio controls are part of the N34 steering wheel. You also need 4 other wires and their terminals, you need special tools and full schematics to do it. Took me (an GM Tech) about 3 hours.

madmark

iTrader: (1)

my plan is to replace the ls sir coil with one of the higher options cobalt and add the steering wheel with all the controls. then go into the bcm and enable the cruise control... should take about 45 mins tops

JapEatr

iTrader: (9)

good plans, like how all the techs on this website(myself included) are total ballers when it comes to mods and dont think name brand is every thing

also look into the door panels and seats, and the 07 HU

any one know if its possible to put auto windows on the pass side

Maven

iTrader: (1)

The SIR coils are the same for all the cars, the audio and cruise wires are not part of the coil. The coil is just a pass thru, there are no leads on it, everything plugs into it. The airbag and steering wheel plug into one side of it, and the IP harness plugs into the backside of it. Unless your car came with K34 and UK3 from the factory you dont have the wiring for the audio controls(10 volt reference and signal) or cruise control(EPS voltage and signal) in your dash harness. And your IP side SIR coil connector is only gonna have 4 wires, not the 8 required. So youll need to fabricate these leads with the terminals and tools from the J-38125 kit as well as either purchase preterminated leads or salvage ones from your stock steering wheel to use in the IP side of the SIR coil(these terminals arent serviceable otherwise)
So figure .5hr to r&r the steering wheel, .5hr to r&r the radio and hvac controls, .5hr to fabricate the 4 circuits you need, 1.0hr to run the 4 circuits(from the backside of the SIR coil youve got 1 to radio X1, 1 to radio X2, 1 to BCM X2, and 1 to BCM X4{this one is the most fun} Then dont forget youve got to select the option for cruise in the BCM(.1hr) and reset your oil life, and clock.



Not doing door panels because I am staying with manual windows. I am switching to Sport seats, I have an 08 so the 07 HU is of no use. I am actually going to be installing a factory touch screen nav unit.

You can put auto windows on the pass side, but I dont know how to make the auto work from the master switch. My way auto works from RH switch but not drivers switch, has to do with the way the passthrough works in the RH switch. You cant upgrade to another platforms auto windows because ours are the only ones that arent module controlled.

Ive been working on the auto thing for a friend, if I get an answer I'll post up

07SSCharged248

Im not talking about shredding power, since none of your mods would help you in that categorize, i think most of us are saying that the $$$ to quality ratio is higher in the competing after market compared to GMPP.... Now i love GMPP, thats the exhaust i have, but im not modding my car at all.. For what your doing you would find lower prices, best quality, and best tech support in other companies...

mike25

seems to me that he wants to keep stock appearance and probably retain his brand new warranty....which you all seem to be missing

07SSCharged248

Except that right there would void his warranty..

mkulrey13

iTrader: (39)

does everything think aftermarket parts = void warenty...? man you guys need to read up on teh laws no wonder dealers take everyone for a ride.

mike25

actually it wouldnt...because the majority of dealers are dumbasses and wouldnt even realize the semi "stock" equipment shouldnt be on the car

07SSCharged248

yeah but something as extensive as were talking about doesn't fall under magnum-moss warranty act.

Too many people are trying to pull this warranty act crap, when no one realizes that GM has a legal department that can loop hole that act.. They can void based on what they deem excessive modifications, nothing has to break or go wrong, they just need to have evidence of what you did, and thats about it...



and theres a difference between ignorance, and fact... its a fact the warranty would be gone, wither the techs notice or not is up for grabs..

madmark

iTrader: (1)

maven

the sir coil is a passthrew but the ls doesnt have the terminals on the steering wheel side, i get what your saying but it should be easy

Maven

iTrader: (1)

Madmark, trust me, you dont need a new coil. Pop off your airbag real quick, and disconnect the DIC/Horn connector from the coil, look into the coil side of the connection, youll see that even though your LS steering wheel harness has only 4 wires in the connector that all 8 of the needed terminals are most definitely in the SIR coil.

The only parts you need to do the swap are the N34 steering wheel(dont buy just the switch and thr trim panel unless you only want cruise, its actually cheaper to buy the entire wheel than it is to just buy the two switches and the trim plates.) 4 Micro .64 terminals for the radio and BCM connections, about 8 total feet of 22ga wire, and the 4 dic/horn wires from your old steering wheel. You need to pull those out of your original wheel so you can use them to make the dash harness without having to buy $40 worth of preterminated leads.

Even if you pay retail the swap cost less than $300
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I am not concerned about the quality of the tech support that aftermarket suppliers have because I dont need any. All of the work is done by me.

I am not worried about voiding my warranty, because, well you guessed it all my work is done by me. Not to mention I am not voiding anything. I havent installed any parts that arent designed to interact with the other parts in the car, and all the new parts I install have the GM 12/12 parts/labor warranty.

And as far as the quality per dollar thing goes. WTF?

Lets see, a set of Eibach Pro-kit's runs on avaerage $230 plus shipping, I got my FE5 springs(4) for $168-shipped overnight. So who is willing to say that the Pro-Kits are a higher quality than stock SS/SC or have some other attribute making them worth about $100 more?

Uprgrading to the Brembos(or SS/SC havent decided yet) in the front is gonna run me $200 for hubs, $360 for calipers, $160 for rotors, and another lets say $125 for pads, hoses and bolts. Where am I gonna get a direct bolt in, no adapters needed, 12+" brake kit for $845???


The rear axle/brakes was $415 shipped, it gonna cost me another $250 for new rotors, pads and hoses. Where would I get an adapter free rear disc brake kit, 22mm, sway bar, and FE5 rear bushings for under $665???

Front lower control arms: $200, who else even offers a LCA?

Front 24mm sway bar: $50. lets just leave that one alone

The A-pillar was free, and looks way better than any aftermarket pillar.

Pretty much every thing isnt even really up for debate, its just personal touches I wanted to make

NJHK

To add

I don't think maven is worried about his warranty...

He's a GM Master Technician for a GM dealership...if something breaks:

1. He knows what broke
2. He can fix it

Case closed.

WhiteSSBalt

Thats alot of SS/SC parts you've put on.......

Why didn't you just buy a used SS/SC? Probally just as cheap as spankin new '08 2.2.

Maven

iTrader: (1)

Well, A: then I'd have a used car, with a used car interest rate, and used car insurance rate, and B: its kinda tough to find a clean SS/SC for $12,200.

WhiteSSBalt

Damn, $12,200? I retract my previous statement. I wasn't aware you could get a base Cobalt for so cheap.

NJHK

I'm sure his GM Employee discount helped a lot lol