Ed's Daily Fun 2SS

[Eddymel1998]

Guess I better start with the story of the car, I graduated out of college in the middle of the COVID lockdowns, spent almost half a year looking for a job but could not find anything due to hiring freezes, ended up settling on a parts delivery job for a local GM dealer just because I got tired sitting around. This job was great but pay was almost non existent, I was living with my parents and with my wage could not even afford a rent for a single bedroom/studio apartment, so I figured I would make the best of it and save up for a down payment on a dream car and work on my at the time non existent credit score. After a year of saving and cutting every corner I possibly could I had $15k saved up and started looking.

I was in a market for an automatic SS in either white, grey, or yellow, unfortunately there were at most maybe 2 cars in the entire state on sale matching that and they were all on carvana where I wouldn't even get the chance to look at it. Eventually I found a dealer about 2.5 hours away in Oregon with one in stock, reached out to check it out and headed down to see it.

When I got there the dealer was specialized in trucks and SUVs, turns out they didn't even know they had the car on the lot, it sat in a corner behind 2 other cars, the camaro was moist on the inside, passenger seat was covered in mold, tires were bald and one had trouble holding in air, and car ran rough due to sitting so long. With all the issues I knew she just needed a little love, she was still spry and young at just under 60k miles and no obvious damage. We talked the price down a bit and I drove off home in her. Now I am a man but I am not ashamed to admit that when I drove the car home I got misty eyed because the moment and the car were absolutely perfect.

That was about a year and a half ago, I have driven the car throughout the state, in snow, in rain, periodically through local logging roads, and have non stop been tinkering on it while daily-ing it. Should probably space it out a bit so will detail all the mods in next post

[Eddymel1998]

For the mods I caught the bug watching the Money Pit show on the Donut Media youtube channel, it really made me feel these are things I could do with my own two hands, plus I like picking up and learning new skills so I decided that I will not bring my car into a shop unless completely necessary, and to date every mod has been done by hand with my dad helping out inside our modest garage, with exception of the tune and one time I had to bring the car to a family friend's house to use his welder. The theme for me is that I fell in love with the 5th gen and so I had no reason to change what I already liked, only enhance each feature, so specifically with exterior I try and reel it in a bunch, making as little impact as possible, here is the list of mods so far:
Drivetrain/exhaust:
-CAI cold air intake
-BBK shorty headers with high flow cats (yea I know already got roasted about this one by the dyno guy, I would like to get some LTs later but they are not cheap)
-Secondary intake scoop from phastek and rotofab windshield fluid relocation kit (I did not get the CAI adapter so the box and the fluid reservoir are colliding with enough force to create diamonds, or at least warp the box)
-GPI Rod Mod intake manifold, with underside heatshield
-Taylor Spark Plug wires (clips inside old ones wore out)
-NPP exhaust from a 1LE with working switch (the electronics to make the NPP work took months of fiddling to get perfect and there is an absolute electrical nightmare in the panels of the car with chains of relays)

Interior:
-Aftermarket Alpine radio (Came with the car, I hate it but it works and no reason to replace it)
-Retrofited color hud from a 2014-5 ZL1 (Gen5DIY did not send a stencil with their harness like they mentioned and did not respond when I asked for one, I tried to do my own but because of the odd shape ended up eyeballing it and there is a decent gap where I cut just a smidge too much)
-White Madness shifter kit with a 70s Amco shifter and a Z28 suede boot
-Front and rear dash cams (the rear doesn't work and manufacturer tried every move to not ship me new one, currently wired into a hardwired USB adapter inside the panels to not have wires running in the cabin)
-Custom Pleather gray/black seat covers
-3D mat floor mats (this was a pain, I wanted those rubber GM ones that had white highlights but could not find a set at the time and sunny washinston means rain and mud constantly so they had to be some rubber material, and 3D mats were only ones that didn't have enough ribs that you could use them as recovery mats offroad)

Exterior:
-1LE rear diffuser to fit the new mufflers
-z/28 style rear wing with a carbon fiber wicker bill (color matched via spray paint in the backyard, if the lighting is right you can't even tell... or so I keep telling myself)
-APR carbon fiber front splitter (not many pics, just installed last weekend)
-ZL1 addon jack point pads
-Rock guards (mini mud flaps) on both front and rear
-Backup cam in the read
-black metal "SS" license plate frames
-Fancy front license plate mount because WA state requires front plates

Misc:
-BMR Front Strut brace
-Various 3d printed caps and adapters
-A dyno tune (honestly if I had to do it again I would get a tuner and either learn to do it myself or do an online order one)
-Spare tire kit
-Pirelli all season tires

[Eddymel1998]

Some of the car quirks:
-The spoiler holes are not sealed properly so water sits in the trunk door and drains out each time I open it (extra fun when it becomes ice and rattles around)
-when I bought the car rear diff was leaking and had to change axle seals, also had to do change for the transmission oil because of rough shifting
-on second set of header gaskets, theory is that metal is slightly too thin on header and gasket was not squished properly, created a clicking sound that I thought was lifters for months, fixed with new gasket and some washers
-one or more of the bolts on passender bank head may or may not be cross threaded and wedged it with bunch of washers, I swear I used the smallest 3/8th wrench we had and still cross threaded it somehow
-gauge cluster glass came cracked when I bought car, tried to buy replacement but I guess no one sells just the glass
-powder coating on the rims is degrading
-one of the torx bolts holding the driver seat is stripped
-the NPP vacuum pump is not quiet
-the entire bass instrument is missing unless radio is at least 16 level volume (radio's fault I bet)
-center gauge cluster is in metric because car is canadian
scratch on rear driver quarter panel from a dropped kayak
-and a LOOOOOOOT of broken locking mechanisms on the connectors, some of which were done on purpose in a fit of rage

[Eddymel1998]

Will continue to update as I go, but that's pretty much it so far, I have a list of stuff Is till want to do and I am working through it

[bottletalk]

awesome to see that your doing your own work! keep it going, ur doing great!

[Eddymel1998]

Originally Posted by bottletalk

awesome to see that your doing your own work! keep it going, ur doing great!

Thanks, I appreciate it, doing some of this stuff myself is defiantly not the smartest idea but I get stories out of it, like those mufflers, I originally thought I could get them on with just an exhaust butt joint clamp, decided to do it day before heading out to the local formula drift event in Monroe, since it felt in the spirit, turned out I could not use clamps and had to go to the event in a borrowed car, then it was a scramble to get the mufflers on there by the end of weekend, including about a 20 minute drive with no mufflers and a few very pissed off people, followed by about a month of pissed off neighbors because I decided to build my own npp switch system instead of using the wild to mild one. Went through 3 solenoids, learning all about how normally they operate using positive pressure not negative.

[Eddymel1998]

Next mod just came in, now begins the weeks long process of working up courage to actually install it, this was one I know I need and I know I want but I know might turn out horribly and only way it's gonna happen is if I buy it and leave it sitting around that way I have one less excuse

[0stones0]

Originally Posted by Eddymel1998

Next mod just came in, now begins the weeks long process of working up courage to actually install it, this was one I know I need and I know I want but I know might turn out horribly and only way it's gonna happen is if I buy it and leave it sitting around that way I have one less excuse

Really not that bad to do the vent. Take your time. It’ll come out fine.

[Eddymel1998]

Originally Posted by 0stones0

Really not that bad to do the vent. Take your time. It’ll come out fine.

Thanks, will probably pick up some new cutting wheels within next week or so, at least this time I have the proper cutting template which was the bit I messed up when doing the HUD

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

Originally Posted by Eddymel1998

Next mod just came in, now begins the weeks long process of working up courage to actually install it, this was one I know I need and I know I want but I know might turn out horribly and only way it's gonna happen is if I buy it and leave it sitting around that way I have one less excuse

This wasn't the worst thing I ever installed. I used a dremel with a cutting disk. Whole job only used one disk. I figured with a dremel if I made a mistake it would be alot easier to manage with such a small tool. Lay the template out, tape it down really good. Measure two or three times to make sure you have it centered. The template isn't perfect. Cutting the hood bracing to actually fit the drip tray is the worst part. You have to cut alot more bracing then the actual hood.

[Eddymel1998]

Originally Posted by The_bald_eagle_machine

This wasn't the worst thing I ever installed. I used a dremel with a cutting disk. Whole job only used one disk. I figured with a dremel if I made a mistake it would be alot easier to manage with such a small tool. Lay the template out, tape it down really good. Measure two or three times to make sure you have it centered. The template isn't perfect. Cutting the hood bracing to actually fit the drip tray is the worst part. You have to cut alot more bracing then the actual hood.

Do you have the acs drop tray or did you end up doing some kind of different support? Mainly asking because the drip tray seems like it would let as much air through as a plastic bag.

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

Originally Posted by Eddymel1998

Do you have the acs drop tray or did you end up doing some kind of different support? Mainly asking because the drip tray seems like it would let as much air through as a plastic bag.

I have the ACS tray installed in mine. Its more for letting the heat out. And it is noticeable. If you place your hand on the hood versus on top of the vent it is measureably warmer. it gives the heat a place to escape. I did this mod because I am going supercharger and they generate alot of heat so this was part of my solution.

[Eddymel1998]

Originally Posted by The_bald_eagle_machine

I have the ACS tray installed in mine. Its more for letting the heat out. And it is noticeable. If you place your hand on the hood versus on top of the vent it is measureably warmer. it gives the heat a place to escape. I did this mod because I am going supercharger and they generate alot of heat so this was part of my solution.

Cool, that's good to hear, I was gonna try and farricate just a bracket for the summer and swap in the tray for wet seasons, but sounds like it does do something, I mainly need it because on longer drives, especially in the summer, the engine bay gets hot enough to start fighting the AC, not sure if it's the ceramic coated headers or something else but it's annoying.

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

Here is some pictures from my install. This is using the ACS drip tray and included template. I gave my other scoop to Leadsled if you wanna check out how he mounted his. He just used some aluminum bar stock, and used it as an open vent. That won't work if your driving in the rain and snow as seen in your pictures though. Don't mean to hijack your thread with pictures, these are just so that you have a visual reference.

*** side note *** There is not alot of room for error, even with the template. The foam on the backside of the extractor just barely covers the hole. So make sure you are very steady handed with whatever tool you use and don't over cut with a grinder cut off wheel. You will see it if you make a small mistake. Just take your time. Its aluminum so it cuts really easy.