Got My Car!

[John VS]

Got the call yesterday morning and picked it up yesterday afternoon. I've only driven about 15 miles so far, but I'm loving it. Front visibility is fine. I'll confess I was worried, but after 3-5 minutes I was fine. That said, I will be flipping the rear view mirror and the rear visibility is pretty poor backing up so I'll be buying a back up camera very soon.

And that's it. The pickup is great. The car looks fantastic inside and out. I had people craning necks to get a look as I drove home. And I have no problem with the interior at all. In fact I think it's great. I love my IOM seats! I like the sound system too (2LT so it's the upgrade). Basically, the car is everything I hoped it would be, i.e. a great car.

I've only had time for one pic so far:



I got some more great news today. Looks like mine will be the first V6 with Doug Thorley shorty headers. I'm dropping the car off early tomorrow and when I get it back next week it should have new headers and a cat-back. Needless to say, this is awesome , though it will be hard to give the car up so soon.

I'm sure Doug's crew will have all sorts of dyno info to post soon. I know that there are a lot of us interested in what sort of gains we can see with these type of mods. I'll be getting copies of the results if possible. I'll post them ASAP if Doug's crew doesn't beat me to it. BTW, his V8 results were amazing (19HP and ~35 torque gain with just headers!), so I'm hopeful for some good HP and torque gains as well (though I'm thinking percentages not actual numbers - the V8 had a lot more HP to start).

Once I get a CAI (and that backup camera), I'll be good for a while. As some of you know, this is my first American car in about 17 years. I'm one of those conquest buyers (is that the term?). Anyway, so far I can say it has been a great experience. Thanks, Chevy.

[Update: Six months later and DTH has not come through with my headers. They were happy to have my brand new car for a week and did use it for R&D. The website shows the finished part and video of my car. But I've called them 3-4 times and all I get is the run around. So consider this a warning about dealing with Doug Thorley Headers. They are plenty good to you before they get what they want out of you. After that, don't count on them being good to their word or even bothering to call you back.]

Update 4/11: After posting this I got a call apologizing. Looks like DTH had some production issues and no one wanted to be the bearer of bad news. However, they plan to deliver as promised even if it means making a one-off part for my car. I appreciate that and hope this is resolved in the next week or so.

[Mark A Collier Sr]

Super nice bud! >>>>> Waiting..... for mine!

[tcamp]

Grats man. You sure aren't wasting any time voiding that powertrain warranty

[scrming]

Very cool!!!

Looking forward to seeing what kind of gains you get with the headers...

[ZeeTwentyFour]

Congratulations and good luck with it!

[John VS]

Thanks guys. As soon as I know, you'll know. I'll try and put together a little video when I get it back.

tcamp, would you believe that I got a referral for the headers from my dealer? So I think they're cool with it.

[scrming]

Originally Posted by John VS

Thanks guys. As soon as I know, you'll know. I'll try and put together a little video when I get it back.

tcamp, would you believe that I got a referral for the headers from my dealer? So I think they're cool with it.

Yes, there are some very cool dealers... I had my throttle position sensor replaced on my mustang, under warranty, even thought my N2O kit was installed in plain sight and was in fact spliced into the wiring for the TPS... also had a CAI, exhuast, tune, etc. Not to mention I still had the numbers from the track on my windshield and helmet in the back seat! LOL!

[Rygain]

Hi john VS

Nice car !!

more pics, more pics

[Mojave]

That is awesome ! Congrats on the car and welcome to the family. Pretty fast on the mods

[tcamp]

Originally Posted by John VS

Thanks guys. As soon as I know, you'll know. I'll try and put together a little video when I get it back.

tcamp, would you believe that I got a referral for the headers from my dealer? So I think they're cool with it.

Wow, thats sweet! I'm totally jealous

[John VS]

I dropped the car of this AM. Got to meet Nick who was my point of contact and Jamie, the guy who will be designing the headers and generally ripping my new car to pieces for a few days.

Doug Thorley headers has quite an impressive operation. Two big warehouses full of stuff. I got a brief tour and met the guy who does their CAD work and saw their rapid prototyper, which was pretty neat. They can actually make parts on the prototyper, coat them in something and bolt them onto vehicles for tests. Amazing.

After talking about it, we decided they'd keep the car for one week. That gives them time to measure and fab a master part/parts. I'll pick the car up restored to oem. After I've driven it another 1000 miles or so, I'll return and they'll dyno and install production parts on the car all in one afternoon, so we get a good before and after with production parts vs. oem.

I know I was hoping to get some numbers up by next week, but at the moment it's looking like next month before those are in. But the good news is that the parts are coming for V6 drivers. Not much longer now in the scheme of things.

I miss my car. Seriously. Had to drive my Hyundai (which I haven't sold yet) to the store today. Wow, what a difference.

[Update: Six months later and DTH has not come through with my headers. They were happy to have my brand new car for a week and did use it for R&D. The website shows the finished part and video of my car. But I've called them 3-4 times and all I get is the run around. Just a warning about dealing with Doug Thorley Headers. They are plenty good to you before they get what they want out of you, after that don't count on them being good to their word.]

[tcamp]

btw, there is a lot of discussion about proper break in technique and a lot of folks here believe that beating the engine up pretty hard right off the bat works better on new engines than taking it easy for 500 miles.

I believe SCRMING made a post about it. It may not be the end of the world if they want to throw it on a dyno for a couple pulls.

[John VS]

Yeah, actually I was okay with dynos this week. It was their R&D person who said we should wait until the first oil change. I was actually a bit disappointed as I think that will be at least a month, maybe two. We'll see how things develop.

[dreammy]

Originally Posted by John VS

Got the call yesterday morning and picked it up yesterday afternoon. I've only driven about 15 miles so far, but I'm loving it. Front visibility is fine. I'll confess I was worried, but after 3-5 minutes I was fine. That said, I will be flipping the rear view mirror and the rear visibility is pretty poor backing up so I'll be buying a back up camera very soon.

And that's it. The pickup is great. The car looks fantastic inside and out. I had people craning necks to get a look as I drove home. And I have no problem with the interior at all. In fact I think it's great. I love my IOM seats! I like the sound system too (2LT so it's the upgrade). Basically, the car is everything I hoped it would be, i.e. a great car.

I've only had time for one pic so far:



I got some more great news today. Looks like mine will be the first V6 with Doug Thorley shorty headers. I'm dropping the car off early tomorrow and when I get it back next week it should have new headers and a cat-back. Needless to say, this is awesome , though it will be hard to give the car up so soon.

I'm sure Doug's crew will have all sorts of dyno info to post soon. I know that there are a lot of us interested in what sort of gains we can see with these type of mods. I'll be getting copies of the results if possible. I'll post them ASAP if Doug's crew doesn't beat me to it. BTW, his V8 results were amazing (19HP and ~35 torque gain with just headers!), so I'm hopeful for some good HP and torque gains as well (though I'm thinking percentages not actual numbers - the V8 had a lot more HP to start).

Once I get a CAI (and that backup camera), I'll be good for a while. As some of you know, this is my first American car in about 17 years. I'm one of those conquest buyers (is that the term?). Anyway, so far I can say it has been a great experience. Thanks, Chevy.

you look good in the car!