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"Chief Sideswipe" Progression


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On May 17th, 2008 I participated in a Dealer carshow in Slidell, LA. The Brian Harris Custom Car show held at the Pontiac Buick GMC Dealership. During the show I was walking around the building and I spied where they put all the lot cars. A long line of about 8 Solstices sat lined up in various colors and appointments. There was a salesman talking to another attendee and letting him "try one on for size". After they talked he asked me if I would like to take one out, I said an emphatic, "YES" and he went to get the keys to a 08 Brazen GXP with manual. I took it out and fell in love. I had to have one. But, I wanted to have it the way I wanted one. So I had to order one.

I spent the next few weeks doing research and found that waiting for the 2009 model year would be ideal since so much optional equipment would be standard, like Limited Slip and Stabilitrak. As well as a new Wheel design for the 2009 model year.

So on June 28, 2008 I went back to Brian Harris Autoplex and placed the order for my 2009. The only choices that had to be made were color and A/C. I didn't want any other options because I wanted as close to a "Bare Bones" roadster as I could get without sacrificing comfort for those Hot Louisiana Summers. I chose Aggressive for the color since I felt that my first Roadster should be Red.

I then waited for the Build and Delivery. Chief was Built on July 23rd, 2008 and Delivered to me on September 12th, 2008.

"Chief Sideswipe"

Pick Up Day

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I had requested from the Dealer that all the plastic and shipping protection be left on the car for delivery to me. I wanted to be the one to pull it all off and give the car its first detail.

Modifications

Appearance

My first mod and probably cheapest was a "stubby" antenna. Just a black screw cap over the antenna post. I didn't install the antenna since I was gonna use XM only and my mp3 player.

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My next mod was to take care of what some call "annoying". The Airbag warning light on the top section of the dash. I found ASAP designs made a cover plate for it and ordered one.

Before and After

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My next two modifications deal with cleaing up the appearance of the Wheel area. Specifically the Rotors and the Calipers. Didn't want to change out anything yet so just decided to paint. I wanted to keep the look of the modification simple and something that you might see come from the factory. So I stuck with Silver and Black.

Front and Back

Rotors

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Before and After

Calipers

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with Caliper Decal

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Custom Floor Mats from Lloyds

Sticking with my theme of keeping things looking like they came from the factory and my color theme of Red, Silver and Black.

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Mechanical

My first mechanical mod was just a mod of convenience. The trunk on the Solstice can only be opened by either the button in the Glove Box or on the Key fob remote. Since I don't have power locks I didn't get a remote fob so the only way I open it is in the glove box. The main thing was that when you "pop the trunk" the lid didn't come up as far as I wanted it to. I figured that it should open all the way and I discovered that someone else had thought the same and came up with a simple solution of adding a certain spring to the hinges. So I added the spring and now instead of the lid popping up 4 inches, it raises all the way to the open position by itself

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Video of Trunk Assist Spring

Performance

Not a lot has been done performance wise since this is my Daily Driver, I am trying to keep it stock for now. Only upgrade has been a Drop-In K&N filter

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Bonus Pics

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Yes, it snows in Southern Louisiana! ahah

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great looking little car! :cheers:

ps

I sell Saturns and know first hand how much fun the car is. (sky)

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nice job on the calipers! is that just a sticker on the calipers?

Thanks!

Yup, just a vinyl decal. I thought heat might be a problem but it isn't.

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awesome. :cheers::slap: so what was the feeling like when you "unwrapped" your Solstice? :slap:

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Delicious.

I HIGHLY recommend either a short ram or CAI for the LE5. Certainly does a great job waking up the throttle response, and makes it more fun to drive.

If you ever do exhaust, Dynomax mufflers sound tits with the LE5.

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You should get a set of Coupe headlights so you have the blacked out housing instead of chrome. Looks good so far though, driven a couple of the base 5spd solstices, they are fun to drive.

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You should get a set of Coupe headlights so you have the blacked out housing instead of chrome. Looks good so far though, driven a couple of the base 5spd solstices, they are fun to drive.

<_< back headlights FTW! :dancingpontiac:

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I was thinking about the Black 09 GXP headlights for quite some time now. I figured I would keep the chrome for the spring/summer months and put the Black ones on for Fall/Winter. hahah...like a seasonal mod change.

I know they did a GP on Solsticeforum for them at a real good price but, I had to pass. They are on my "want" list. :dancingpontiac:

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I just saw your other vid... putting the top down on a Solstice and I LOLd cause you're right... it took you longer to start it than to take the top down... :rofl: jk

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  • 2 weeks later...

haha..yeah. Someone told me that it only takes me 17 seconds to put the top down. That's not too bad! ahha

New Performance Modification

Added a Fujita Dual Filter Cold Air Intake

to replace the stock intake and K&N filter.

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Video of the intake sound - "ROAR!"

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yah..its still sitting there. I have to get the supplies to polish it and then purchase the GXP rear valance. The money I used for the intake was originally going to be for the valance which is around $300.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Last day of my vacation, decided to start polishing the GXP exhaust I have.

Went earlier today and bought wet/dry sandpaper ranging from 180 to 2000 grit.

Here is the side I just cleaned but didn't polish at all

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this is the other side after 180, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit paper along with some Mother's Power Metal polish

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that is unbelieveable. take a pic out in the sun to see it shine.

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Thanks guys!

I'm gonna finish polishing it up and then I will definitely take it out in the sun and take some "shine" pics

The muffler section only really needed the metal polish to come out to a shine, but I could get it looking chrome if I used some paper on it....which I might do.

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great, and do it. make it all match. ill be waiting for the pics. :lol2:

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