as of febuary i was given the chance to buy my friends 2010 ss after it gave him issues and he didnt wanna get it fixed. i jumped on the chance right away as its been almost 4 years since i had my last ss and i missed it so much.


the car sitting in his driveway the day we pushed it too my house.
we got it to the house and i instantly got too work dropping the subframe and trans with the help of a local ss enthusiast joe. pulled the trans out and instantly saw the southbend stage 4 clutch had failed after 15k miles.

blown up southbend clutch


covered up so it wouldnt get snow on it from a storm we had


while the subframe was out and i waited for parts i cleaned up the subframe and painted it and reinstalled the control arm that was still good. we broke the balljoint on the passenger side. later in the day the parts came for it.


subframe painted and reinstalled



the box of parts from crate engine depot.
while we had the frame out i installed the zzp lower charge pipe while everything was out of the way. buddy already had the upper one on so i only had to do the lower one.


the couplers and clamos from zzp and i got the block off plate from anouther member on the ss.net facebook page.



stock and zzp lower intercooler pipe
that weekend joe gave me a lead on a 2005 ss/sc in the harrys upull it so we went to grab the trans as a spare. it was a non g85 car so we were gonna just keep it around or sell it. we got the fuse box out and too my suprise it was a g85 4.05 lsd trans. went home with it for 140 bucks. heres some pics


2005 ss/sc




g85 4.05 lsd transmission
i decided to put the car back together using the junkyard 4.05 transmission. To anyone who is looking to do the swap it is a direct swap since they are both f35s. with the help of joe we worked a friday night into saturday morning and got it all reinstalled and we took it on its first drive to break in the gmpp clutch.


first stop was the car wash to clean it up some. the fellow in the trailblazer was not with us but was an ss trailblazer enthusiast. not sure if you can see it but his blazer is caged.



more driving around
this weekend i went and picked up a zzp intercooler and installed it so now i dont have to worry about blowing out the stock intercooler endcaps.


zzp intercooler



zzp intercooler installed
next mod will be the powell oil air seperator and the zzp silicone intake tube for the stock airbox.

 

Nice man welcome back!

 

Nice! You got a lot done in a short period. I bet you will love the increased power from the lsj. Car looks pretty clean.

 

I do love it alot. I made it my goal to get it done before a local ecotec meet later this month. The increased power is great but I do miss my lsj. Lady ran a red light a year into ownership and totalled it. I had bought an 05 lsj shortly after and it just wasn't the same so I sold it. Spent the last year's fiddling with my 07 si and the opportunity came for me to buy this and I couldn't be happier. Honda game wasn't for me.

 

thanks. It's good to be back

 

Good stuff man! Nice work.

 

since doing the intercooler and charge pipes i got the chance to get the ss too the track to get some test and tune runs in and learn the car. my first too runs were back too back 14.3s at 107 and 109 the 2nd one. i was hitting the rev limiter before gear changes since im not used to having to shift so early(shifted my si at 8600). 3rd run i got a pretty decent launch for being on street tires and hit my shifts spot on and topped it off with a flawless no lift shift 3 to 4. here was the outcome.


i was car 322. 13.64 at 108 for the trap speed. i think with the ottp mounts and spherical control arm bushings with some nice radials i can get her into the 12s.



i was pretty happy with how it went being the 1st time i ever raced this ss. aiming to get back by the end of june and go after those 12s. once i hit 12s i will then go big turbo.

last weekend wich was the weekend of april 29th we had the ecotec nation meet at the steel stacks in bethlehem pa. great turnout and meet many local ecotec guys.

 

Decent runs man. Thanks for posting some updates.

 

thanks a bunch. trying to keep track of everything i do to this one.

 

went to a local carshow/dyno day today and got the ss on the dyno for the first time.



with all the mods i have documented so far and tuned it made 291hp and 368 ft lbs of tq.

 

I've never taken my car to the track sure looks fun

 

it really is. its a whole different ball game racing an lnf then it was with my lsj's.

 

Do you have a big boost spike at lower rpms? Are you ramping the boost in?
Don't know where you are shifting but 6,000 is a good number. The little k04 can't keep up as well after that.

 

he has the boost ramped. at the track i had been hitting the rev limiter as im so used to my si that revs to 9k so im trying not too do that haha. the run i did the 13.64 i shifted at 6300 and no lift shifted 3-4.

 

Good stuff. You should see how fast you get to 6200 in 1st gear running a 4.45 trans. It's crazy fast. I hate 1st gear in these cars. The factory 3.82 isn't horrible but in a 4.45 it's just a pain. 3rd gear is awesome though.

 

yea i was in my buddies 4.45 lsj turbo car and that revved out quick. buried the speedo in no time at all. i may try to find the parts to have my stock 3.82 trans rebuilt and get the 4.45s put in. would like to have it all done for when this one goes.

 

found this carbon texture dash trim at the local u pull it in a base model. the peice next too the steering column didnt have the traction control button so i can use it so i will paint that so its a bit closer of a match. does anyone know if this came factory in some cars or is it aftermarket?

 

Yeah those usually come in the g5

 

ok i figured it came in something becuase it was stamped gm on the back but i have never seen them in a cobalt. i think they look nice in the ss. wish it would have had the traction control button though. may have to try modifying that piece.

 

Honestly if you drive the car a whole lot I would not throw 4.45's in especially if it sees interstate. In town driving is a pita. Great road corse or auto x gears. 4.05's are a good midway point and will help it live longer than 3.82's.

 

yea im enjoying the 4.05 trans right now so no hurry to change anything and i still have my spare 3.82 trans that i may send out to get refreshed. need to get the rest of my motor and trans mounts so i can get her back to the track and chase the 12 second quarter mile i been wanting.

 

that is G5 trim, if you find a manual G5 GT it will have the traction piece you need

 

thanks. ill have to keep an eye open for that.

 

got my final bolt ons from zzp. k&n intake and zzp catless downpipe. now i can get retuned for all the bolt ons.



installed the k&n intake right away.



gonna install the downpipe once the rest of my mounts come and i can do everything at once.

 

Looking good!