'11 2LT RS M6 Summit White

[clashley1976]

For some reason, the garage app on the forum is cranky about letting me upload photos, so I guess I will keep them here instead.

This is my 2011 2LT RS M6, Summit White with silver rally and gill stripes, that I purchased on June 19, 2015. While I didn't intend for it to be a daily driver, I've found it nearly impossible to walk past it in the driveway each morning.

I'm working on a list of some underhood mods, but ultimately intend to turn this into a display car for cruise-ins.

When I purchased, the vehicle already had window tinting, gill stripes, and some generic glasspacks installed.

Stuff I've completed so far:

• PERFORMANCE
  • Vitesse Throttle Controller (installed 7/26/2015)
  • Cold Air Inductions intake (installed 8/6/2015)
  • VMax ported throttle body (installed 12/19/2015)
  • VMax intake isolator (installed 12/30/2015)
  • Apex intake scoop (installed 1/1/2016)
  • Rotofab washer bottle relocate (installed 1/1/2016)
  • Elite Engineering oil catch-can (installed 1/16/2016)
  • GM strut tower brace (installed 2/3/2016)
• COSMETIC
  • GM nickel-satin fuel door (installed 8/14/2015; birthday gift from my wife)
  • MGP caliper covers (installed 12/29/2015; Christmas gift from my wife)
  • Sylvania ZEVO red 3157 LED bulbs for brake lights/rear turn signals (installed 1/31/2016)
  • Samsung P13W DRL LED bulbs (installed 2/3/2016)
  • Always-on DRL harness adapter (installed 3/22/2016)
• INTERIOR
  • Pro-clip phone mount (installed 7/1/2015)
  • Rockford Fosgate P300-10 10" powered subwoofer (installed 4/1/2016)
    • The RF sub wound up being a P.O.S. and failed after about 45 days. I ended up reusing the box and amp, be swapping the woofer for a Kicker 40CWS102 sub and am much more pleased with it.
  • SpeedDawg Rally Stripe (white w/ pearl) shift knob (installed 4/26/2016)
  • ZL1 accelerator and brake/clutch pedal covers (installed 7/2/2016)
  • Custom dual-stage footwell lights (dome/ambient): pure-white LED lighting connected to dome-light circuit; ice-blue dimmed LEDs connected to ambient lighting circuit (installed 12/11/2016)
  • Ultimate Pedals ZL1-style dead-pedal cover (installed 12/11/2016)

Still on the list:

• Long-tube headers w/ high-flow cats
• 3.55 rear-end
• Short-throw shifter
• Upgrade suspension
• Custom engine bay dress-up (custom paint for engine/fuse covers, polished billet accessories)
• Custom headrest embroidery
• Other things I have not thought of yet

[aquablueL99]

Cameron,
Love the look of the white with the silver stripes....There is something to be said for making it "your own"....

Congrats and welcome to the forum...

Kurt ABL99...

[clashley1976]

Originally Posted by aquablueL99

Cameron,
Love the look of the white with the silver stripes....There is something to be said for making it "your own"....

Congrats and welcome to the forum...

Kurt ABL99...

Thanks! I'm having a ton of fun with it... although maybe not as much as my three-year-old son. He is fascinated by the "white car," and begs for joyrides whenever he suspects Dad will accommodate. It's not a hard task to convince me, lol. We went out for a ride Friday night, and I stopped to chat with some neighbors on the way home. He was very animated and excited to tell everybody about "his white car" and how much he loves the sunroof, and the vroom-vroom noise it makes. That's a little surprising for a kid who's a little on the autistic scale and usually not particularly social. It might sound simple, but it's really neat for me to be able to share my love of something with one of my kids.

Your 2SS is a beautiful machine! Really love that color. I see quite a few gen 5s in the neck of the wood, but usually in black, white, or red jewel. Have never seen an aqua blue in the wild. That is beyond sharp!

[aquablueL99]

Originally Posted by clashley1976

Thanks! I'm having a ton of fun with it... although maybe not as much as my three-year-old son. He is fascinated by the "white car," and begs for joyrides whenever he suspects Dad will accommodate. It's not a hard task to convince me, lol. We went out for a ride Friday night, and I stopped to chat with some neighbors on the way home. He was very animated and excited to tell everybody about "his white car" and how much he loves the sunroof, and the vroom-vroom noise it makes. That's a little surprising for a kid who's a little on the autistic scale and usually not particularly social. It might sound simple, but it's really neat for me to be able to share my love of something with one of my kids.

Your 2SS is a beautiful machine! Really love that color. I see quite a few gen 5s in the neck of the wood, but usually in black, white, or red jewel. Have never seen an aqua blue in the wild. That is beyond sharp!

Cameron,
What you are doing with your son is beyond cool! It warms the heart for sure. You and your son have the same relationship that my Grandson Jackson and I have. He claimed the 2010 at two years old...and it still stands today at 7!....If you happen to look through our thread, I am sure it will remind you of the memories you are creating for him....Bless you and your family!...

Thanks so much for the kind words for "Rare Blu"...

Kurt ABL99...

[clashley1976]

This is Danny-man on his way to daycare this morning, cheerfully riding along in the backseat with his hair blowing around in the wind and making engine-rev noises. We've gotta work on his down-shift, though. It sounds suspiciously like gears grinding, lol. Dad might miss a shift once in awhile, but he doesn't grind the gearbox!

[gorysaye]

well,Your 2SS is a beautiful machine! Really love that color. I see quite a few gen 5s in the neck of the wood, but usually in black, white, or red jewel. Have never seen an aqua blue in the wild.

[RubyCamaro]

Looking great so far. Love what you have done, the plans & the fun you & your son are having with it. It is great to get your son involved in the hobby. I am a mental health therapist specializing in work with preschoolers & have a lot of clients who are "a little on the autism spectrum" as well as some that are very solidly on it. They are challenging and a joy at the same time.

I had one boy a few years back who I had worked with for a few months & he absolutely would not speak to me. I found out he loved the movie Transformers & especially Bumblebee. I told him one day I wanted to show him something outside. Once we got close to my car I pointed it out to him & asked if he knew what it is & he nodded his head. I told him it is a red Bumblebee named Ruby & he can wake it up but he has to say "wake up Ruby" & showed him how to do the remote start. He took the remote in his hand grinning ear-to-ear said "wake up Ruby" & started it. He squealed with glee. I let him sit in it, ask me questions about it & turn it off. After that he started talking to me very well & made good progress. Sometimes you just need that one special connection.


I'll be watching.

[clashley1976]

So, I took the White Car to her first car show on Saturday, sponsored by the local car club. Since we were the host club, member cars were display-only. Had a good time and enjoyed meeting lots of folks with some very nice rides.

The car was a big hit with a lot of kids who dragged their parents over to check it out. Also got a good amount of attention from folks who wanted to reminisce about old 1st-gens they had owned back in the day.

Interesting items on the day:

• A man and his wife came over to the check out the car and introduced themselves. It turns out that they were the previous owners! They mentioned that they traded the car when two carseats for the grandkids became a little too much to handle. They returned a few minutes later with the kids (probably about 5 and 2) who were both very excited to see "Grandma's Race Car!" They seemed very happy to see that the car was now owned by someone who takes a lot of pride in it, so that was definitely a highlight of the day for me.
• Got to meet a fellow camaro5 member, who deservedly won a trophy for his Transformers Camaro (http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=262). It was definitely fun to talk with a fellow V6/M6 owner, since we seem to be a relatively rare breed.

Sadly, Camaros and Firebirds were severely under-represented at the show. There were two 5th-gen Camaros, a 3rd-gen IROC-Z, one 2nd-gen Trans Am, and one 2nd-gen Firebird. Would have liked to see more Camaros (especially 1st-gen) at the show.

It was definitely a great time! Looking forward to getting out to a few more events like this in the future.

[clashley1976]

Ordered some parts this morning for the White Car... this should complete my intake setup once everything arrives and I get a chance to bolt it all on:

• Apex intake scoop
• Rotofab washer bottle relo kit
• VMax Intake manifold isolator
• VMax Ported thottle body

That should keep me entertained over the winter and into the spring. I'll get into the exhaust setup sometime next year, and then work on suspension upgrades, and finish up with drivetrain upgrades. Then we'll get into cosmetics

[JDP Sales]

Car looks great, keep up the good work!

Best regards,

Kayla Labrum
888.308.6007

[clashley1976]

Finally found something to mount in that pesky front license plate holder. Would still prefer for the holder to be gone, but this was a less expensive solution that does actually have some purpose.

Go Bucks!

[Lil' Nasty]

Woah Nice Build Definitely rare seeing V6/M6 builds nowadays. I really enjoy reading through threads like these. Keep it up my friend.

[clashley1976]

Nothing too fancy, but today's add was to replace the missing RS grill badge.

[clashley1976]

Just an update to the build thread...

Back in October 2015, I ordered parts to finish my intake setup. They finally arrived in the middle in December, but with the holidays, the only thing I've had time to install was the ported throttle body. That made a hell of a difference right away, but I still need to install the manifold isolator, the intake scoop and the washer bottle relocate kit.

Today, I finally decided to tackle the manifold isolator. I thought I would be able to get by without a flexhead ratchet wrench to start undoing the manifold, but I just couldn't get enough (read "any") leverage on either of the rear-facing bolts to make any progress, plus I busted my knuckles pretty good. None of the hardware/autoparts stores near me stock a flexhead ratchet, so I'm going to have to check out Lowes in the morning. That was pretty frustrating, and then it started raining.

Fortunately, that was about the time the FedEx guy showed up, with a package containing my Christmas gift... red MGP caliper covers my wife ordered. Rain or not, those puppies went on right away. The box didn't even make into the house, lol. I was able to put them on without removing the wheels, and now I can enjoy a beer and know that I accomplished something on the Camaro today!

Tomorrow, I'll go in search of a flexhead ratchet. I just need enough leverage to get the bolts broken loose, then it should be smooth sailing from there.