Topic: What did you do to your Kappa today - Part 2

[elff]

hate you all
 






 

[elff]

Finally getting around to some pictures I took of my clutch swap. 

Here are some pics of a recent clutch swap to give you an idea of what gets removed to do it on a 2008+ model. 

First of all, here is the pressure plate and flywheel.  I wish I had taken a picture of how thick the Aluminum Spec flywheel is. 



Parts that were removed. 
Both rear wheels,
the entire cat back,
the Torque arm,
the rear diff[Was cleaned up and had a full fluid change]
DDM Extreme backbone
2 shields from under the transmission
All of the above was to get out the driveshaft.


Finally ready to take out the transmission


Removal of the transmission that also shows the old clutch.
[Dave was removing the line that connects to the master cylinder]


Picture of Spec Clutch installed and getting ready to raise up the transmission again
Great shot of the shifter components


Raising the Transmission.   [The hanging item is the O2 Sensor and extender]


To those who have done this on jack stands in your own garage, I am amazed.

[Yogi]

Holy cow!  You have to remove the diff. to take out the DS?  I didn't know that.  What a job!

Thanks for the pics, Elff!

[Brazen17]

Has anyone painted their spoiler a different color (most likely black) than the body? If yes, do you have pics you could post? I'm thinking about doing this myself and just wanted a heads up on how it looked...

[Arabas]

Has anyone painted their spoiler a different color (most likely black) than the body? If yes, do you have pics you could post? I'm thinking about doing this myself and just wanted a heads up on how it looked...

I have orange matte vinyl on my rear spoiler (black gt). You can check pictures on the topic ast package opel gt. for my taste it looks real good

[Arabas]

Wow!! Thx for the write up and fotos elff. I think your post about this clutch swap deserves it s own thread

[elff]

Has anyone painted their spoiler a different color (most likely black) than the body? If yes, do you have pics you could post? I'm thinking about doing this myself and just wanted a heads up on how it looked...

Not yet, but I have been thinking of getting the RK spoiler and wrapping the Top in Black Vinyl to see if I like that look.  I will say that Arabas's looks really cool.   So if you could wrap yours first to test, I'd say go for it as you can easily and cheaply remove that if you don't like the look.

Wow!! Thx for the write up and fotos elff. I think your post about this clutch swap deserves it s own thread

Good Point.  I created a new thread here
http://www.kappaperformance.com/forum/index.php/topic,9315.new.html#new

[Brazen17]

I have orange matte vinyl on my rear spoiler (black gt). You can check pictures on the topic ast package opel gt. for my taste it looks real good

Looks good! I don't see how I missed that entire thread...

[Brazen17]

Not yet, but I have been thinking of getting the RK spoiler and wrapping the Top in Black Vinyl to see if I like that look.  I will say that Arabas's looks really cool.   So if you could wrap yours first to test, I'd say go for it as you can easily and cheaply remove that if you don't like the look.

I was thinking about spraying it with plasti-dip first and if I don't like just peel it off.

[elff]

Good choice.  That would be easier than Vinyl and just as reversible. 

Thanks for making me spend money and time.  Now I want to do that with the stock spoiler just to see how it turns out

[Arabas]

Imho, on a brazen and/or white kappa like the ones u guys have, black spoiler will look awesome.
Elff also black out the mirrors and windshield frame. I m pretty sure u wont  regret it

[Brazen17]

Imho, on a brazen and/or white kappa like the ones u guys have, black spoiler will look awesome.
Elff also black out the mirrors and windshield frame. I m pretty sure u wont  regret it

I think you may be right! I'll give it a try Monday when it warms up a little bit more. Now you got me thinking about the mirrors! I already did the windshield frame and it does look good.

[Brazen17]

Good choice.  That would be easier than Vinyl and just as reversible. 

Thanks for making me spend money and time.  Now I want to do that with the stock spoiler just to see how it turns out

Just doing my part to spur the economy on... 

[cdflint]

Drove to a local Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac car show yesterday. I was too late to enter but I drove through the lot just to show off.

[Sly Bob]

Yeah I often do that, end up too late to register but still have a blast. It's always fun!   

[blackbirdracing]

Heading to the drag strip today. 60 degrees outside.

I have a performance Autowerks tune running 22 pounds of boost. What kind of time should I expect.

[Carbon Sky]

Heading to the drag strip today. 60 degrees outside.

I have a performance Autowerks tune running 22 pounds of boost. What kind of time should I expect.

With a decent launch, I'd be surprised if you weren't in the 12's.

[Brazen17]

Our cars (with aftermarket tunes) should be able to run very good times but it seems traction is a huge issue. Maybe with drag radials you could break into the 12's but without them I seriously doubt it. Now that I have a Trifecta tune breaking loose in third gear is easy. First is almost useless and 2nd isn't much better. In theory I should be able to get a ~12.75 et (assuming perfect launch and shifting) but there is no way that would happen...without better traction.

[Carbon Sky]

Our cars (with aftermarket tunes) should be able to run very good times but it seems traction is a huge issue. Maybe with drag radials you could break into the 12's but without them I seriously doubt it. Now that I have a Trifecta tune breaking loose in third gear is easy. First is almost useless and 2nd isn't much better. In theory I should be able to get a ~12.75 et (assuming perfect launch and shifting) but there is no way that would happen...without better traction.

I've had someone with an auto Solstice GXP, bone stock (including 3-4 year old Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-2) except for a catback (which does nothing), run a 12.9 in Canada, on a not very well prepped 1/4 mile track on one of his first runs with one of my tunes.  Ended up getting a 12.8 on the same day.

[Gentleman Jack]

I've had someone with an auto Solstice GXP, bone stock (including 3-4 year old Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-2) except for a catback (which does nothing), run a 12.9 in Canada, on a not very well prepped 1/4 mile track on one of his first runs with one of my tunes.  Ended up getting a 12.8 on the same day.

CS-
You do tuning?

Also- the automatics are noticeably quicker quarter mike than the manual, so those tines will not translate to the manual transmission cars.

[Brazen17]

I've had someone with an auto Solstice GXP, bone stock (including 3-4 year old Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-2) except for a catback (which does nothing), run a 12.9 in Canada, on a not very well prepped 1/4 mile track on one of his first runs with one of my tunes.  Ended up getting a 12.8 on the same day.

If you tuned it, it was not bone stock. Show me the time slips or it didn't happen.

[Carbon Sky]

There are 12 second kappas right here without a tonne of mods.

http://www.kappaperformance.com/forum/index.php?topic=932.50

Guess it did happen.  They've been posted for more than a year.

[elff]

Speedracer got into the mid 12s with a Westers tune on top of the GMPP tune.  He does have an automatic and runs drag radials on lighter rims and does his 1/4 runs at what is considered one of the best east coast tracks.   As such, the combination of his tires and track prep equates into excellent traction.

Kelu, Myself and a bunch of others did see his time slips. 

So I would think a good shifter, if his redline was increased and he can break 100mph in 3rd gear, could possibly break into the high 12s, but that will be determined by a lot of driver skill

[Brazen17]

Speedracer got into the mid 12s with a Westers tune on top of the GMPP tune.  He does have an automatic and runs drag radials on lighter rims and does his 1/4 runs at what is considered one of the best east coast tracks.   As such, the combination of his tires and track prep equates into excellent traction.

Kelu, Myself and a bunch of others did see his time slips. 

So I would think a good shifter, if his redline was increased and he can break 100mph in 3rd gear, could possibly break into the high 12s, but that will be determined by a lot of driver skill

No doubt. Not disagreeing that it can't be done. Certainly can't be done bone stock though... 13.1 would be about the best you could get and that is with a very good driver, track and other conditions.

[Carbon Sky]

CS-
You do tuning?

Also- the automatics are noticeably quicker quarter mike than the manual, so those tines will not translate to the manual transmission cars.

Yah, bought HPTuners within the first 6-12 months of ownership, been playing with it for 3-4 years.  Did countless days of reading over at HPTuner's forums, which gives you a GREAT start to tuning the LNF.  I spend as much time there as I can (more than I do on any kappa specific forums).  Lots to learn from over there.

Now that I've got consistent 23psi boost spikes, and 21psi after that, and much better fuel mileage (my DIC avgs 7.7L/100km these days, or about 30mpg on every tank) by running catless, and removing cat over temp protection, and running lean on low load conditions, I'm now working on smoothing out the power output.

As gmtech posted in another thread about "important tables", I've been playing around with things to get the best throttle response, without a difficult/touchy throttle.  Otherwise, I keep breaking traction when trying to accelerate quickly from a dead stop into a turn for example.

I've tuned 4 local kappas, and have been tuning mitsus (older talons) and subies (mostly Legends, and a few WRXs) for boost before I started with Kappas.