Hot Rod Cadillac Adventure

I have found that the GM products are much more sensitve to OEM parts than even my euro cars.  Very odd but GMpartsdirect.com and Rockauto.com are your friend for OEM parts on the cheap.  My V is picky as was the prior ENVOY before.

I finding out this car is picky, or just an alternator eater. I'm sure the cramped engine bay doesn't help with cooling. I want to put a hood vent on it, just need to find one I like that will work with the stock hood.

There are a bunch of aftermarket hoods out there.  Unclear if they are pretty or actually functional but I see lots of them.

There are a few out there, most are functional. Problem is they all pretty much have the center section raised for more supercharger clearance, I don't want that. Just a tasteful and functional hood vent.

Well, so far the Delco alternator is working better than the last one. Interesting to watch the charging strategy GM did. Goes as high as 15.2, settles around 14.4, then will go into economy mode which is around 13.1 - 13.2. Then it will go back up for a while to high 14s.

Now on to replacing the shocks on the car, they are done.

Did you do the fronts yourself?

I haven't done them yet, I meant that the shocks are worn out, done for, past their prime. Car is quite a bit bouncy over bumps and uneven pavement.

Suspension time. The stance of the car was a bit off, considering it has the original springs on it. Front sat quite low which made the rear look high. Went with replacement Magneride shocks and Eibach Pro springs. Now the car sits closer to level. Note, I just finished the install (rear Sat, front Sun), so it hasn't been driven yet. Installation wasn't terrible, watched some videos on how to do it, so it went fairly well.

Here is one of the dead rear shocks. Under all the grease and dirt are Delphi labels, not sure if they are original or not. 

Right rear, showing Eibach spring and new shock.

Here are a few shots of the right rear, left rear and left front. Fender gaps are better now. Don't mind the dirty car, been raining a lot lately.

Good news, the CTS-V made it to the first autocross and back home without any issues. Ride height has settled down a little more and looks good. 

Below is pict at event, courtesy of Lucidworks, LLC from the free gallery. I did order new numbers as these on the car have seen better days, plus class changed to CAM-C from FS. Handling is better, smoother and more predictable, guess new shocks help out in that respect. CAM-C is a tough class, I had the smallest tires in class compared to the Mustangs and Camaros. Future upgrades should help out.

In reply to 81cpcamaro :

When I spent time at Pep Boys (yes in some ways it did resemble a prison sentence)  the reman starters were better than the new ones. The reman parts had been built with parts that were properly machined & quality checked albeit many miles ago. the new were just chinese junk. that was Pep Boys. YMMV

In reply to purplepeopleeater :

Note: Our new parts were not from DELCO.

Short cold start video after sitting for a week. Enjoy the good sounds coming from the LSA through Borla exhaust. No smoke on startup, nice to see considering it has 166K miles on it. Also, good to not have to work on it recently, just able to enjoy driving it. Front tires are due for changing, edges are worn but center tread is good.

Not so good update time. 

On the way to work, right when I was almost there, the Service Charging System warning came on. The Delco reman alternator looks to be on its way out. Installed it back in January. It is under warranty, but sucks to have to change it again. This will be the third alternator I have purchased, 4th one in the car since I got it.

Been looking at alternator upgrades, but they aren't cheap, running between $450 to $700+. Not sure if it is worth the extra cost. 

Keeping information in my build thread turns out to be a good idea, at least I know when I changed it last.

I did luck out a bit. My 2013 Ram 1500 had been at the dealer for 3 weeks for an ignition switch and key fob replacement (ridiculous costs on this). Only had the truck back just over a week. I had to drive the CTS-V and motorcycle during that time. Now the truck is the only vehicle I will be able to drive, as the V needs an alternator and the Vstrom isn't running right and I have to fix both of them.

Is there some other issue in the car causing the alternators to nuke themselves? That's crazy to go through that many and not have other problems.

Man, do I love that car.

The alternator is PWM controlled by the PCM. It is known that the car can draw more power at idle than the alternator can provide. Usually this isn't an issue unless sitting for a while. The upgraded alternators provide more power at idle and everywhere else, just cost more and I don't know if they actually last longer. They should but that doesn't guarantee anything.  Edit: the engine compartment gets very warm and the alternator sits down low. I wouldn't doubt that the heat eventually gets to the alternator, but no good way to prove it.

Replacement alternator is on the way from RockAuto. Since it is a warrantied part, I get a replacement. Hopefully this one lasts longer. If it fails again down the road, then I will go with a better upgraded alternator.