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911medic's Minnesota Winter "Ice" Journal

This will be much more of a "journal" than a "build" thread.

I purchased my used 2012 Silver Ice Metallic 2LT in March of 2013. It had about 26,000 miles on it, and was a former rental from the San Francisco/Sacramento California area. It came with only a few options: a sunroof (which I really didn't want, but wasn't a deal-breaker), a spare tire (which I did want), and 19" bright aluminum wheels (instead of painted).

I specifically was looking for a 2012 non-RS 2LT with automatic transmission, for the following reasons.

I chose the auto for daily-driver comfort in traffic situations, and because my wife would be able to drive it (helped increase WAF).

V6 because I wanted:

Decent gas mileage
Lower maintenance costs
FE2 suspension for daily driver comfort

2012 because I wanted:

The LFX engine and it's refinements over the LLT
A non-RS, and 2012 brought fewer compromises for non-RS V6s (see below)
A factory rearview camera option

2LT because I wanted

Leather
HUD
4-gauge cluster
Rearview camera
Boston Acoustics sound system
Higher speed limiter

And finally, I avoided the RS package because:

I did not want summer-only tires
I don't care about the body-colored roof ditch molding/sharkfin antenna
In 2012, Chevy changed the RS package, and the decklid spoiler and darker tinted taillights became standard equipment for all Camaros

The only thing I miss from the RS package is the HID headlights with halo rings, and they're on my list of aftermarket mods.

Non-RS 2LTs are hard to come by around here, so it took a bit to find one, but I got a decent price.

I have been extremely happy so far! Here she is, on her first day home:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-e...322_161257.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1...322_161304.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j...322_161330.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-J...322_161413.jpg

Mods so far (more details on many of these to come):

RX catch can and breather valve
JacFab radio face cover (discussed here)
3M door edge guard
RPI "stealth" front splash guards (discussed here)
ProClip cell phone dash mount
LED conversion of dome/trunk/plate lights
Plasti-Dip rear spoiler and wheels (discussed here)
Plasti-Dip Transformers-style stripes (discussed here)
Center speaker disconnect
Seafoam intake treatment/manual intake valve cleaning (thread with pics)
Weathertech rear floor liners (sticking with the carpeted fronts for now)
Roto-Fab cold air intake (discussed here, separate thread here)
Roto-Fab windshield washer fluid reservoir relocate kit, and ADM racing scoop (discussed here)

Mods wishlist:

VMax ported throttle body
Axle-back exhaust-leaning toward the Dynomax VT
HID/halo ring retrofit
Window tint
Caliper/rotor hat paint
Splitter (like the T5, don't like the price/shipping costs)
Dash ABL
Footwell/cupholder lighting
Gill stripe kit (love the SLP set, but spendy)

I'd love to do some before/after dyno runs of the few performance mods I have planned, but we'll see if time and budget (and finding a good local dyno shop) allow this.

I have also started a project (thread here) where I'm logging data with the Torque OBD app to try to determine if my intake valve carbon build up had any measurable effects. I have gathered quite a bit of data, and have presented some initial results, but have to find time to go through the rest of my data sets. I think this may also prove useful for logging the effects of adding a CAI, ported TB, etc. We'll see.
More to come...

I like that you put so much thought into which trim you wanted and thought about the reasons why. Getting exactly what you want ftw! Looking forward to seeing what you have in store.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goldknight (Post 6766295)

I like that you put so much thought into which trim you wanted and thought about the reasons why. Getting exactly what you want ftw! Looking forward to seeing what you have in store.

Thank you. As you can tell, I'm a very analytical thinker.

Looks good. Definitely did your research on what you wanted, good job.

Updated the OP with some additional info.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaylorCamaro (Post 6766853)

Looks good. Definitely did your research on what you wanted, good job.

Thank you sir!

Plenty of thought! I hope those pics were taken in March and not this month!

Nice 2LT love that Sim !

Will be watching. . . this , i just got a VR 1LT with 18's :chevy:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Thur (Post 6767068)

Plenty of thought! I hope those pics were taken in March and not this month!

LOL, yes, it was when I brought her home. Though we still had snow in May... :barf:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver85IrocZ (Post 6767397)

Nice 2LT love that Sim !

Will be watching. . . this , i just got a VR 1LT with 18's :chevy:

Congrats! And your sig reminds me that I do have the optional spare tire, too, so thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver85IrocZ (Post 6767397)

Nice 2LT love that Sim !

Will be watching. . . this , i just got a VR 1LT with 18's :chevy:

Silver if you are going to c5f we are having a camarovan leaving the Illinois side on the first!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Thur (Post 6768666)

Silver if you are going to c5f we are having a camarovan leaving the Illinois side on the first!

Nope wont be going :sad0147:
dumb 365 night a year job

thanks for the heads up though ~:gossip:

OK, one of the first mods I did was to install the JacFab radio face cover (available here, and discussed here).

Here is a link to the actual GM TSB regarding scratches in the radio face. They actually recommend using Plast-X as well!

I bought a couple of buffing pads and some Meguiar's Plast-X scratch removing polish to treat the existing scratches in the radio face plastic.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5...514_164320.jpg

Then I taped off the radio face, buffed it with the Plast-X, and applied the cover. You can see the scratch marks in my radio face:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-p...514_164237.jpg

Worked great, and was inexpensive.