2006 Cadillac CTS V

It's been a long road, and it's almost over. 

I started with all creative steel mounts, then all bushings, ball joints and end links, sway bar bushings etc. 

The factory suspension had been cut 2 coils and lower profile than sane tires installed. Stock shocks were blown, so I went with KW Var 3 coils and Swift 16 k springs in the rear. 

New depo brand headlights, and a killed a ton of electrical gremlins. 

Next did a LS7 clutch......and I hate it. .. waiting on my tilton 6000 adjustable throw out bearing to ship and throwing in an ACT twin.  I am also running a wilwood master.

I changed my drive shaft Center bearing, on my own and it was great until I broke the shaft. Got a used shaft and broke it. Got a dorman brand new shaft and it's wonderful. 

Adding in a advanced keys system to go totally keyless. 

DNA Motorports headders into 400 cell thunderbolt cats into H pipe to the stock mufflers and 3.5" resonated. 

Other mods are creative steel 8.8 kit with DSS axles and stock shaft. Also all bushings are now creative steel. 3.73 gears. 

Next a cold air intake tube, catch can and tune by Patrick Gurerra remotely. 

Latest round of mods is an act twin disc setup, tilton 6000 throw out bearing, Accel ceramic plug wires, Fast 92 intake that has been ported and the Install/adapter kit to use my stock rails. 

After all that, it will be onto final mods of ls3 heads and nice cam and onto paint. Flawless battleship grey is amazing to behold. 

This is the paint color I will end up with.  I don't know who's car this is, but whomever you are, you are a straight badass.  I love this color with the lines of a CTS V.

And my ported and painted FAST 92 intake.

-Byron

All that, and only one picture?  You can't punish us like that!!

Byron , this ride is what got me hooked on V's , but when the 2nd gen came out I pulled the trigger. Enjoy!

still like these when done right.  

Oh wow guys, I didn't realize the other pictures for some reason didn't post.

I am also doing xforce mufflers very soon, but right now just waiting on my Tilton throw out bearing to arrive so I can install the ACT twin.

As for the xforce, they are an aussie brand, but have local dealers here, slightly expensive, but having an exhaust note that suits my mood is worth it some days.

I used Depo brand replacement headlights, they are absolutely wonderful.

(Katech CF I horse traded my old diff for, still waiting to go on, been lazy)

Front is a little high in the pic as it hasn't settled yet after adjusting up for the long tubes.  Speed bumps here are like mountains, so with a large number of them between my home and work I had to sacrifice my lowered stance a bit.

Met up with some fellow caddy club uae members about 2 weeks back.

Here is the heart of Dubai reflected on my drivers side rear quarter panel.

Db reading after long tubes and 400 cell cats, stock mufflers soon to change to the Varix.

And the full shot of my franken exhaust.

Shot just prior to the rear springs going on and the cats installation.

The cerakote C7600 coating applied, before covering up with wrap because I am paranoid.  Also public service announcement cribbed from the facebook group.  Wrap and relocate your alternator wire on these cars if installing headers.

The creative steel 5 lug swap and 2010 camaro ss rotors.

(No these adaptors are not infact safe)  I have 20mm H and R trakspek now.

I didn't have a radiator/engine under tray, so I built one.  The split you see is what happens when you tell the guy at the water jet 5 times cut to shape(traced on a box flap) and he removes the tape to get a better idea, and doesn't replace it.  Yes, he cut out the split in the box flaps lol.  Don't care, still does exactly what I need it to do.

A close up of the rear of the center bearing and CV joint on the dorman shaft from rock auto.  

Al Hayel Castle in Fujiera emirate.  Just a neat pic.

Thats all I got for now,

-Byron

You have to go big or go home in Dubai.  There are some hellaciously fast cars over there.  

Loved Dubai when I was there.  Great ride, keep working on it. 

This V is bada$$ ......your local color shots are awesome....love the mosqueindahood blend. What kinda  hp/tq  numbers are we looking at?

Not sure as to HP/TQ numbers.  Not finished enough to run on the dyno yet.

But soon  :)

Here are a few more.  My lady in black brought her A game to the caddy club uae meet today.

Just a filter over my Cannon G12 and some really awesome lighting with the sand in the sky diffusing the light in neat ways.

Slightly different angle, no filter. 

Heck of a way to meet and get coffee.

They really have cut down the number of insanely modded cars here with different laws on the books to ensure that if modded, its modded correctly.  Having an A&P helps me argue its being done right :)

-Byron

In reply to 759NRNG :

Thank you!  The pics were just after the paint correction earlier this year.  I used a coat of 3m synthetic wax and XXX hardcore carnuba from chemical guys via a buddy of mine.

I got pretty lucky with the lighting that day when I took the pic.  Thats actually what she looks like all cleaned up.  I just enjoy reflection photography a lot as you can see from my other pics.  I tend to focus as much of the picture reflected off the car as is possible, kind of a picture in picture if you will which is how I was able to get the photo of the grand mosque in Abu Dhabi just right.

-Byron

It figures the government would get involved.  I've seen accidents in Saudi (Dammam) that looked more like fighter jet crashes.  There are some bad assed cars in Saudi combined with E36 M3ty drivers.  I don't think their government has curtailed them.

This just arrived yesterday from Jaysen Baker.

My Tilton 6000 kit plus my ACT twin is goin in next week.  And its about damn time, my knee is killing me with the GM hydraulics that have almost died and a rapidly failing LS7 swap.

-Byron

Beautiful pictures; beautiful caddy.  I'm curious...what is the used enthusiast type car market like in UAE?  SAY, 5, 10 or 15 year old models?  Not super exotics but things like performance oriented BMW, lexus/infiniti,corvettes, etc?

Suprizingly cheap sometimes.

Other times its shockingly expensive.  Lexus demands top dollar as do most japaneese cars in general, BMW is literally like a toyota corolla depending on the model can be had quite cheap.

However its not uncomon to find a total jalopy they are trying to demand top dollar either.  At the end its what the car is worth to you the buyer.  I got my car for 7500 usd ish with a clear us title so it can come back with me when I am done here.

-Byron

Just a few quick updates. 

Tilton bearing is dead, went back to totally stock and life is good. 

Lost reverse so I installed a close ratio tranzilla (much nicer gearing) and picked up a Volant Cai box. 

Making a few exhaust mods in the near future to line it up better as usual s tapping on the driver's side frame rail. 

Got a few small things done, and refined the tune a bit more for steller drivability. 

The act twin broke in beautiful, and is smoother than the dmf setup for me, and light years ahead of the ls7. 

Just to update, I'm doing a 222/226 .600/.600 117lsa +4 can motion going in soon.-Byron

Loving this - have a n 06 V that is getting a fresh l76 this weekend.

BFB tell me about those headers...brand.....runner id.... bla bla bla....gonna keep my 'trash cans' out back thou. Hey i'm looking at a clutch in the very near future too, more along the 'Centerforce path'...what say ye?

In reply to 759NRNG :

I stayed with the ACT T1SG02 setup for the clutch.  The rebuild is in progress, and should finish up tomorrow. 

Went with TMS 243 CNC ported heads, CHE trunions, cam motion custom grind and all supporting mods. 

Oil cooler installed and aluminum radiator from Alradco.

Did a borla catback and some N'FERA SU1 tires also. Those tires are proving to be absolutely fantastic, and budget friendly. 

-Byron

This is rapidly moving up the list as one of my next cars. i missed a 1st gen for 4500 last year and it has angered me ever since. I LOVE these cars. this thing is sick. I cant wait to see it with the color you're going with. im not sure if that is destroyer gray or something similar but excellent choice. 

Switched to MalCal for my tuning needs. Brent is fantastic to work with. 

I scored some used kooks for$225 so I cleaned them up and did full prep for Cerakote C7600 coating. Added in kooks cats and the borla x to the system and I am now very happy with the results. It's as quiet as stock at cruise and has WAY better ground clearance than the Chinese pacesetter clones I had. 

Building a 4" with ls7maf set up, soon as it's in hand after shipping and I'll be hitting the Dyno and getting some me numbers at long last. 

Went from a K&N to a Volant box and my IAT is quite a bit lower now. Overall much happier with the car and new tuner. 

While the clutch was being rebuilt, I swapped all the rubber hydraulic lines for -4 AN braided lines and the results are incredible. If you own a GM that uses these type of hydraulics you owe it to yourself to give it a go. It's low buck and high impact. 

The N'fera SU1 tires have been spectacular when run at 35psi square. Can't wait to hit Yas Marina circuit this month. 

-Byron

In reply to billfrombyron :

759NRNG said:

BFB tell me about those headers...brand.....runner id.... bla bla bla....gonna keep my 'trash cans' out back thou. Hey i'm looking at a clutch in the very near future too, more along the 'Centerforce path'...what say ye?

The original headers I used were DNA motoring brand 1 3/4" 304 stainless pacesetter clones. Good stuff, but you loose ground clearance. 

I am now running kooks 1 7/8" and gained ground clearance. I am finally content with my exhaust, both for clearance and sound. 

You can see how even with the cats the kooks stays just above the frame rails vs my other photo where the old ones hang below this point and hit every speed bump in Abu Dhabi. 

-Byron

I had to upgrade the injectors also, so I went with STS V injectors. They are EV6 plugs, and LS6 injector height. 

They are perfect for my Fast 92 intake adapted to an LS2 and do not require a length adapter, just a rail spacer. 

50# at 58psi. Way more than enough to support my heads/cam/intake/long tube LS2. Leaves plenty of room for further modifications in the future, and does not require any changes to be made to the stock fuel system. 

Here is a pic comparing them to the stock LS2 injectors with adapters. 

-Byron

The spacers go on the other end between the rail and the injector. The position you have them in now alters the fuel spray pattern and could make it run worse.

Sean