The Little Caddy that could : Bodywork on a CTS-V

[laextreme5]

UPDATE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry i been gone for a bit. Had to finalize that RS up and get it delivered to the owner. Time crunches are a bitch.

Anyway back to the caddy. So we got the new 34k rear springs in. Got them installed. Still not as stiff as we want......but they will work for now. Owner mau go Broadway custom setup in the future as i simply can't make anymore room in the rear for no rubbing without it looking jank.

Ive got a bunch of pictures of the progress, but it all looks the same as its just bondo work on the rear qtrs, so I'm just gunna do a photo dump and you all will get over it.

Also i got a new camera lens, 50mm f1.4 and it is GLORIOUS. i love this lens. so enjoy the better photos and epic background separation aka bokeh
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[driftsucky]

DO EEET!!! The "concerns" you mentioned aren't even concerns of mine. I can't stand most GM interiors. I like a solid amount of their vehicles as a whole, but the interiors urk me to no end for some reason. In the last couple of years, they've definitely addressed that, but I'm too far into the game at this point. But I remember eyeballing my buddy's interior on his "lac" that was 3 years newer than my 300C. I was like WTF DUDE!!! It just looked so dated. However, I loved the OLD interiors from like the 80/90's because my Grandads/Uncles had one and those are the cars I had to borrow it for highschool pimpin.

[laextreme5]

Its either no 3rd car,

Go crazy

Lose interest in the 240

Consider selling it

Realize ill never get anywhere near what i have in it

Cry in my room.

Never work on cars again.


OOOORRRRR

Buy a cts v

have a good ole time driving and modding it

Build 240 at same time

Time frame till finish gets extended on the 240

It still gets finished,

Everyones happy and i still love cars.

[LCG]

Its funny you say that lol. Ive always liked the CTS-V's and driving his abit and working on it... im now surveying the market for one, to fill the "fun car while i build my 240 and not shoot myself driving my silverado everyday" car haha They are fun cars, and stupid easy power. Only set back is the shitty diff and funky bolt pattern, but both can easily be fixed, with a bit of cash if one so desired.

Don't do it! you will fall in love and do a lot of stuff to it while neglecting your real project car.

[laextreme5]

I'm in love with this. Seriously. I would never buy a GM (oddly enough I love the LS though lol), but these things looking like this are 100% pants chubby material

Its funny you say that lol. Ive always liked the CTS-V's and driving his abit and working on it... im now surveying the market for one, to fill the "fun car while i build my 240 and not shoot myself driving my silverado everyday" car haha They are fun cars, and stupid easy power. Only set back is the shitty diff and funky bolt pattern, but both can easily be fixed, with a bit of cash if one so desired.

[driftsucky]

I'm in love with this. Seriously. I would never buy a GM (oddly enough I love the LS though lol), but these things looking like this are 100% pants chubby material

[laextreme5]

Over the last week I've been extremely busy, and just haven't gotten as much done as i had wanted to. Between being busy at work and other projects that are timeline sensitive i need to do work on, which you will see below, have taken up my time.
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So, enough about the other current project. Back to the task at hand. Earlier in the week i was able to pull the car into the shop on our alignment track to do the last (hopefully) skim of bondo on the front fenders. In doing so the new springs have also settled, so i set the final ride height up front. The clearance is tight and turning radius small, but damn does it fit good.

Owner also dropped off the rear wheels from getting the fresh new tires fitted also.
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Earlier today i was able to get a bit of work done on the rears. We came to the conclusion, again, the springs still aren't stiff enough. The problem is the amount of camber and the curvature of the quarter panels, they just arent playing nice together and making it a nightmare to get clearnce enough to drive yet not have to looking like a monster truck. So the owner said he would handle it, and order a set of ridiculous high spring rates for the rear. Without further ado i continued on with the rears. Ive made as much clearance as I'm gonna make given the requirements and hardware, so not its time to knock the few high spots down and lay the bondo.

Before i layed the bondo i had a few spots where i cut the inner flange off was starting to split and crack the edge of the wheel opening. So i broke out the welder and threw a few tacks on it to give it some strength and grinder them smooth.

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[laextreme5]

Found some time over the past week to start on the filler aspect of the front fenders. ended up having to throw a small tack weld at the leading edge of the fenders where i had to make a small cut to allow it to flare out without overly distorting the fender a great amount. End up having to throw some tape over the bondo to cover it from the rain we had coming the other day. Of course the day we chose to send someone out to fix our garage door and i have to leave the caddy in the drivetrain, it forecast for a downpour. Luckily i didn't before lunch where i headed home and snuck it back inside after they were done.
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[nsogiba]

as long as it still does burnouts everything will be ok.

[laextreme5]

Take this how you will, but why didn't your friend just do this to a regular CTS instead of cutting up an otherwise powerful quick car? I guess I don't get why anyone would want to do this to a CTS-V, but that's just me.

Your handiwork is awesome, and I tip my hat to you for getting it dialed in right. But your friend's money is as green as anyone else's, right?

Just because you want wide wheels on a low car doesn't necessarily mean you want to be the void of performance. There's nothing better than having a car "too low to drive" and taking off from the stock version of your car. It's a great time. I recommend everyone do it at least once.I miss my C

Ive honestly never really asked him. Hes the type of guy that will do what he wants, regardless of what people think.Part of me thinks he just wanted the v8 and a manual Weve had plenty of backlash from local people why would you do this to a v blah blah blah. But in the end, does it reeally matter? Why do we do what we do to any car? Its been proven time and time again i fyou throw enough money at a slow boring car you can make it extremely quick, whys it matter if the opposite be applied to an already decently quick car?

I love low cars, but im a fucntion guy myself, yeah it hurts me a little to see a v with this much camber in the rear and not able to put the power down, but lets be honest, how many out there REALLY get through their paces. This is also the ls6 (i think, maybe ls2) non suopercharged, so its not a 50k car by any means.

In the end, its really what you want to do, and fuck everyone else lol do what makes you happy, regardless of platform.

And thank you for the compliment, im in no way mad or talking down to you, just trying to express how i feel on the subject.

[driftsucky]

Take this how you will, but why didn't your friend just do this to a regular CTS instead of cutting up an otherwise powerful quick car? I guess I don't get why anyone would want to do this to a CTS-V, but that's just me.

Your handiwork is awesome, and I tip my hat to you for getting it dialed in right. But your friend's money is as green as anyone else's, right?

Just because you want wide wheels on a low car doesn't necessarily mean you want to be the void of performance. There's nothing better than having a car "too low to drive" and taking off from the stock version of your car. It's a great time. I recommend everyone do it at least once.I miss my C

[MommysLittleMonster]

Take this how you will, but why didn't your friend just do this to a regular CTS instead of cutting up an otherwise powerful quick car? I guess I don't get why anyone would want to do this to a CTS-V, but that's just me.

Your handiwork is awesome, and I tip my hat to you for getting it dialed in right. But your friend's money is as green as anyone else's, right?

[laextreme5]

so much meat

Umm wrong thread? no meat here, just lots of stretch lol

[nsogiba]

so much meat

[laextreme5]

Got Some more work done tonight.Installed the right side springs, so now all 4 stiffer springs are in and mounted.

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Also jacked up the right rear to compress the left front to check fender to lip clearance under a load. Happy to say under 1'' of compression there is still plenty of clearance to the lip
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And lastly for the night i fit the rt front wheel and massaged the fender. To get the front portion where the fender meets the bumper i had to make a cut to allow it to flare out. this resulted in creating a hard shaped corner where the bumper meets up to it. I was planning on starting the bond work on it tonight but i want to throw a small tack weld in there to strength it up and all me to grind on it a bit and create the same small curvature the bumper has. Its all in the details.

If all goes as planned tomorrow ill get each corner on the front fenders welded up and get the bondo work done as well, so that the front fenders will be ready for prime and paint!

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