CTS aka Britney Spears

SuperBuickGuy

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
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Location
Seattle, WA
She's white, kind of dirty, might end up a bit nuts but would you say no?

I didn't. okay, she's 2006 Cadillac CTS 6 speed with 100k miles and a rod-like knock. I have another motor - the one in the Fiat. For a myriad of reasons, I'm going with a different motor in the Fiat... and this came along.... all in, I'll have less then $1,000 in it (including registration and a new battery).

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and a sunroof
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she cleans up well
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tonight I drove it into the shop... when I bought it, I never heard it run - back story is the guy I bought it from hadn't either when he bought it, got surprised after owning it for 4 years and finally fixing its issue, with the rod knock.... (which might simply be valves hitting the pistons)...
first, they didn't install the radiator correctly (thankfully it didn't break)
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but that's indicative of the car.
So the radio doesn't work
windows don't go down
why did GM put the fuses in front of the rear seat?
codes are for injectors (not a surprise with 4 year old gas) and cam timing
needs a rack (leaking)

but overall, the interior smells smokish (not heavy, and even I, who am almost allergic to it, can handle it). no rips, kind of dirty (needs a shampooing)
outside no major damage, I have another bumper cover (came with) for the rear. Paint is in good shape.
desperately needs tires (and it's an odd 5 bolt - 115 mm, but you can use 114.3 (small Ford) with the right hub adapter)....
which leads me to.. you can swap hubs and get the Camaro bolt pattern along with better (larger) brakes.
That last bit is cool because I have the C5 Corvette front hubs that are a straight bolt on, and I have 4 piston Brembos from a SS Camaro for the rear - all I need is another hub and brake assembly.

which leads me to

This might become my taxi. I have a good friend that I'd loan this to for track days... also use it for autox practice.... and in the end shift it to someone else....

I won't V the car - GM changed almost everything under the car to put the V8 in it (new K member, different rear suspension, stronger diff).... and I already have a beast for days when I need the last, shouted word....

So it's a project but it's likely you'll see it as supporting cast in the future....

thoughts?
 
Looks like a bargain for someone with the know-how and patience. I always liked those, there were a lot coming off lease in Fl and prices were good.

Britney cleans up pretty good, if you've seen any of her glamour photos lately. :)
 
Looks like a bargain for someone with the know-how and patience. I always liked those, there were a lot coming off lease in Fl and prices were good.

Britney cleans up pretty good, if you've seen any of her glamour photos lately. :)

oh yeah

I couldn't pass it up, I've driven these before and thought they were BMWish in the way they drove and handled... 300 hp, 6 speed.
 
I had a 2010 CTS and really liked it. Your right, for a sedan it's a good mix of sport and cruiser.

What engine are you going to put in it?
 
I had a 2010 CTS and really liked it. Your right, for a sedan it's a good mix of sport and cruiser.

What engine are you going to put in it?

I have a Fiat Spider project that's been stalled for awhile (10 years). The motor I was going to use is a 2006 CTS V6 that has 60k miles on it.

The Spider is on the list to finish - but given my love of all things Buick, it's going to get a 3.8 1) because I love Buicks, but 2) because the aftermarket support of the Buick motor is substantial or it might get a NA LS motor... I have a GNX motor...
 
So the Fiat makes an appearance
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it seems to have good compression still don't know what I'm going to put in the Fiat but I really should make it run somehow....
 
well, now Britney has shown all her fails...edited
come on Opel, how is this serviceable?
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keeping the a/c system charged was a pain, trick is pull the PS pulleyedited
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it's out - these pictures are for posterity because the motor didn't need to come out - so probably not swapping stuff (which is why the pictures)
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the first sign I should have listened to.... this motor mount is garbage - if they replaced the clutch, a reputable shop wouldn't put the broken part back in
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hmm not clean but the clutch looks new
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second sign, not all the bolts are the same (these are pressure plate bolts) also no thread lock
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see the wear marks on the flywheel bolts?
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okay to be fair to myself, the rack needs to be replaced - so most of the work I did was necessary (the cross member needs to be removed to get it).

HOWEVER, when the guy said 400 miles ago that the clutch was replaced, it triggered the thought that the noise could be related to that. Clearly it was, whether the bolts backed out or the dual mass clutch failed... I don't know, the outer ring (what the clutch rides on) moves independently with the flywheel - not supposed to do that - but the rattle clearly was that and since there were no shiny metal bits in the oil.... again, flywheel problem not bearing problem...edited

so I'll continue on - I'll pull the pan to be sure and probably use the injectors from my other motor on it then put it back together...
 
Interesting driveshaft coupling. Looks like a mass damper or something.

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when I put the rear in my C3, I bought an eliminator for the rubber biscuit. I find it interesting that manufacturers put a rubber isolators in place rather then simply balancing the drivetrain properly.....
 
back to my original plan, apparently the movement is normal (have a guru I can ask)
so the new motor - plugs are original and look good
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I put a bit of machine oil down each cylinder to try to minimize damage since this motor hasn't run in at least 10 years.
cleaned the cross member then removed the old rack
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installed new rackedited
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I ordered the 'wrong' steering rack, the old one had some kind of sensor in it - since this car came with or without, I'll either program the light to stay off or remove whatever it's sensingedited

​​​​​​​tomorrow new parts and see if I can get this ready to go in....
 
new parts
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even new oil filteredited
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with fancy plug installation tool
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some assembly done
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but a ways to go
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Putting it in has proven about as much a pain as removing it.edited For those considering this... the harness that runs to the speedo... put that on before the motor goes in...

anyway
big hole
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clutch installed
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now would be the time to drape that wire
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yeah, it's not
another view
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nice and sketchy way of centering the motor (was within an inch)
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getting there
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C5s use a similar torsional coupling on the drive shaft as opposed to the traditional U-joint. I've used a few similar ones in industrial applications to allow for misalignment. After going through NVH school several years ago for Ford, I can see the trend of using something like this can solve the issue of misalignment while simultaneously dampening out some of the inherent vibration. At the end of the day you probably hit the nail on the head in that they were avoiding the time/cost involved to balance the assembly right. I can say the cost of these things is a good bit higher than a u-joint though.

Looks like it's going back together well though, sucks about the speedo harness. I've been there and done that more than I'd like to admit.
 
C5s use a similar torsional coupling on the drive shaft as opposed to the traditional U-joint. I've used a few similar ones in industrial applications to allow for misalignment. After going through NVH school several years ago for Ford, I can see the trend of using something like this can solve the issue of misalignment while simultaneously dampening out some of the inherent vibration. At the end of the day you probably hit the nail on the head in that they were avoiding the time/cost involved to balance the assembly right. I can say the cost of these things is a good bit higher than a u-joint though.

Looks like it's going back together well though, sucks about the speedo harness. I've been there and done that more than I'd like to admit.

the elimination kit I got for my C3 actually made fitting it all together a bit easier.... I'm sitting at my desk delaying the inevitable. I know I need to just bite the bullet and drop the motor but my dontwanna is acting up again....
 
getting closer
now with brakes
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and oil - also spun it up to build oil pressure.editededited
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Paul worked on the rear bumper cover....
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​​​​​​​I made the old one fit in the garbage can
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Runs great.editededited
but let's back up.... two of three fuse boxes are in front of the rear seat, under the carpet.edited Which is where you find the fuel pump relay
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did some research today to figure out how to bypass so that I could get the fuel out
yeah, these relays
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hmmm... blurry...oops
but it runs
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and it has a leak in the worst spot for a coolant leak.... however, I'll fix that but other then that, it sounds good and is almost ready to go to the shop to fix the other stuff (radio doesn't work, windows don't go down)
​​​​​​​in that vein, I leave the sun roof open when I only have one key.... good thing.edited smh, that could have been bad
 
$18 coolant seal... yeah 18...with that said, all the auto part stores have that middle seal - and claim its for the 3.6, it's not, it's for the 2.8... so the only option was GM
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installed back there
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that's the end of the motor replacement
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Need to align it then start figuring out its issues.... like the windows not going down.... it needs wheels/tires.edited One of the wheels is different then the rest and not one tire is the same manufacturer.
That said, a/c works and it should clean up nicely.... then drive the wheels off it.editededited
 
time to strip the junk motor
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I'm not sure why I'm doing this as new ones are 77 dollars...but gluing back tabs on (probably because I think it'd stay without fixing the tabs
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the hard part was getting the bathroom sealant off... why Mr. Lopez, why?editededited
glued
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if they'd just bought $5 worth of new clips it would have been fine... ah well, why do that when you can use bathroom adhesive and drywall screws?

I then spent some time trying to figure the window and radio issues..no joy, need a scanner
 
Update:
Took it to my friend with the $10,000 scan tooleditededited
1) radio is fine
2) (didn't know this) but if one module on the circuit is bad, then they're all bad.editededited
3) we couldn't 'force' the driver's side window down - problem is that window has a module, and the other 3 have another control module.edited I suppose I can test the motor by puling the panel off but to be honest, we're not sure where the problem lay

Yes, I'm tempted to buy a knock-off scanner/programmer but it'll cost more to buy it, one module ($250), and pay him to diagnose.editededited

In today's other issue - battery was dead - which explains the free jump cables in the back.... I agree with Derek (VG Garage), the trunk will tell you everything you need to know.edited That said, I like the car and how it drives so it'll probably hang around for a bit (presuming the window issue and the battery drain issue can be resolved)....for now, I'll charge it and leave the battery disconnected until I need the car.edited Rumor is it's a 3 day to dead discharge....edited

in other news, they super-darkened the windows - that is so annoying - between it and the driver's side mirror being loose, honestly you cannot see behind you except whatever is on the passenger side.... gotta fix that.
 
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