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Thread: M6 G8 GXP

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    Default M6 G8 GXP

    I've noticed a lack of content on here lately, so wanted to share a little bit about a car I picked up last year. I got rid of the money pit CTS-V (built LSA, Frankenstein LS3 heads, big cam, ported blower, built trans, etc) and shopped around a bit, not really knowing what I wanted, exactly. I sort of wanted another 5th gen, since I once owned a clean low mile FBO Camaro 2SS/RS and traded it in on my first CTS-V. I looked at one, it had a turbo kit and potential, but was ultimately someone else's hacked project. Next!

    I then thought having a manual n/a sedan would be cool. So I started looking at the Chevy SS - decent tech, nice interiors, they're all essentially loaded (full options - with the only real option being sunroof, trans, and a few other small items). The post COVID prices were still steep on these, and finding one in the right color would be a fly & drive adventure that I don't have time for.

    My buddy sent me a Magnetic Gray Metallic G8 GXP on Marketplace and the rest was history. ~43k miles when purchased, only mod was an axleback and ATI balancer, but it came with stock mufflers and a bunch of paperwork. The unfortunate thing is the car was in Long Island, which means you need to drive through NYC with a car trailer lol.

    There is a guy who runs the GXP registry, that tracks all of the cars. For those who do not know, there were 1829 GXPs made, in 2009 only. Less than half of those were manual. This car is #1 of 8 based on color and trans. Pretty cool, but rest assured, I could care less. It's just another $25-35k used LS3 manual car to me lol.

    Anyway, it was a decent price, I did a quick walkaround, and it checked out. It had some weird issues that eventually ALL G8s deal with, but this car is plagued with them. I'm slowly working through them all (replaced a parking brake sensor, rear speed sensor, ATI was done by PO since these cars are known for having a "wobbling" balancer, and a few other gems along the way).

    Brought it home, put it on the lift, and found a bunch of mud caked to the exhaust and underside of the car on the passenger side. WTF lol. Also found the fog light housings were melted from some genius who put HIDs in them. I did undercoat sections of the chassis that had some surface rust, which cleaned it up tremendously.

    I've recently installed headers, x pipe, and put the stock mufflers back on. Also did a CAI and catch can. The stock stereo had to go, so I've installed a double DIN and hvac setup (Aerpro), along with a backup camera. I tuned the car last weekend with DDTech, a prominent remote LS tuner (anything with HPT, really). It pulls much harder than stock, and is an absolute joy to drive. I am guessing it is around 420+ whp, given it has similar mods to my old 5th gen, that made 430ish at an LTX dyno day. Now it just needs heads and a cam and/or blower so I can completely ruin this cherry.

    20230813_224439~2.jpg20231002_173702.jpg20231002_173345.jpg

    Another interesting tid bit is there are (4) manual GXPs within 10 miles of me. One is black and is owned by my buddy about a mile away. Another black one a few towns over, and a silver one that started life as an auto, but is now a supercharged beast with an M6 swap. There are more GXPs than G8 GTs and even v6s in the area

    1994 Trans Am Under the knife - but it's alive!!! (5.3 LM7/CPT 60e/QP 9") BUILD THREAD
    2009 G8 GXP M6, axleback, catch can, cai, stereo
    1975 Olds 98 455 burnout machine/panty dropper

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    Just out of curiosity, what was your reason for getting rid of your CTS-V's? Lately I have been growing more and more fond of the gen 2's. And I have a strong feeling I may be doing something stupid in the not to distant future.

    Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
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    I got rid of the first one (FBO) as a trade in when I bought a new ZL1. The second one was someone else's project and riddled with issues. Finally got it all sorted and had a friend of a friend that wanted it bad.

    Emotionally, the last one has me scarred. It was such a puss case. The freshly built motor had a bad lifter tap on arrival, and it needed a cam. The seller bought everything and paid to have a shop fix it. But it just needed so much more. Had a lot of great parts but was a basket case. I will say, I replaced the diff and it cleared up a few issues. Afterwards, it could haze the tires at half throttle from a slow roll and felt extremely planted.

    Find one that's not beat, has lower mileage, and just enjoy it. It is a fantastic platform, but not the easiest engine bay to work in. Not fbody bad, but it sucks.

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    I often go back and forth on my willingness to buy a modded vehicle. My 93 Z28 had some stuff done to it when I bought it but it, like your CTS, was a basket case of issues, terrible wiring jobs and unstated accidents I found the damage underneath later on. My Z06, only had a CAI on it so I THOUGHT it was okay. Then when we had it torn apart for the heads/cam setup, we know the crank pulley was off at some point as well as some other items led us to believe it may have had a supercharger on it previously. When my tech pulled the tune that was on it, it had a bunch of the DTCs turned off. Makes me think my bottom end is on borrowed time.

    Plus, it's reasonable to assume the car was beat on. I mean I have my cars built in order to beat on them but it doesn't necessarily mean I want to buy one that has already had that life haha.

    I see Z06s for sale all the time with the mods I would want for cheaper than I can purchase the car and do those mods but I like to be acutely aware of what all is done to the car, and that it was done right/by whom. I've never had a brand new vehicle so I don't know that life lol.
    -Ryan
    93 Z28 M28

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    Quote Originally Posted by Z28pr0jekt View Post
    I often go back and forth on my willingness to buy a modded vehicle. My 93 Z28 had some stuff done to it when I bought it but it, like your CTS, was a basket case of issues, terrible wiring jobs and unstated accidents I found the damage underneath later on. My Z06, only had a CAI on it so I THOUGHT it was okay. Then when we had it torn apart for the heads/cam setup, we know the crank pulley was off at some point as well as some other items led us to believe it may have had a supercharger on it previously. When my tech pulled the tune that was on it, it had a bunch of the DTCs turned off. Makes me think my bottom end is on borrowed time.

    Plus, it's reasonable to assume the car was beat on. I mean I have my cars built in order to beat on them but it doesn't necessarily mean I want to buy one that has already had that life haha.

    I see Z06s for sale all the time with the mods I would want for cheaper than I can purchase the car and do those mods but I like to be acutely aware of what all is done to the car, and that it was done right/by whom. I've never had a brand new vehicle so I don't know that life lol.
    Honestly, I am the same. I will probably buy more modded cars down the road, just because I'm very aware of the cost of parts. But, I now I know where to draw the line. A lot of cars with "built engines", especially with lower miles and other notable weak links - you can expect to see some issues. My 94 was in an undocumented accident as well, that I only realized a few years after ownership. I feel your pain!

    Sorry to hear about the Z06, although turning off some DTCs is pretty normal for an average tune. My C6Z was modded when I bought it, and it was by far the best modded car I have ever purchased. I wasn't in love with the coilovers, but overall it was basically "done" and just ready to drive. If the market wasn't nuts, I would have kept it. The new owner daily drives it about 8-9 months a year (until it snows).

    1994 Trans Am Under the knife - but it's alive!!! (5.3 LM7/CPT 60e/QP 9") BUILD THREAD
    2009 G8 GXP M6, axleback, catch can, cai, stereo
    1975 Olds 98 455 burnout machine/panty dropper

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    Quote Originally Posted by harner View Post
    Honestly, I am the same. I will probably buy more modded cars down the road, just because I'm very aware of the cost of parts. But, I now I know where to draw the line. A lot of cars with "built engines", especially with lower miles and other notable weak links - you can expect to see some issues. My 94 was in an undocumented accident as well, that I only realized a few years after ownership. I feel your pain!

    Sorry to hear about the Z06, although turning off some DTCs is pretty normal for an average tune. My C6Z was modded when I bought it, and it was by far the best modded car I have ever purchased. I wasn't in love with the coilovers, but overall it was basically "done" and just ready to drive. If the market wasn't nuts, I would have kept it. The new owner daily drives it about 8-9 months a year (until it snows).
    Completely understood, about 2 months after I bought my C6Z, I could've sold it for 10-15K more than I bought it for but it's been my dream car since it came out. My dummy self money shifted so I'm still waiting to get it back with the RPM built trans and built ZR1 diff.
    -Ryan
    93 Z28 M28

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    Quote Originally Posted by Z28pr0jekt View Post
    Completely understood, about 2 months after I bought my C6Z, I could've sold it for 10-15K more than I bought it for but it's been my dream car since it came out. My dummy self money shifted so I'm still waiting to get it back with the RPM built trans and built ZR1 diff.
    I got 10k in profit from mine, which is wild. Then I invested it into an overpriced, broken project car haha. I probably broke even in the end, but it was fun. The Z06 is a great looking car. I'm not a Corvette guy at all, but watched RPM for a few years pumping out their cookie cutter h/c cars with 600+ rwhp and wanted to experience that world. At the time, I also needed something to fill the void after I sold the ZL1 (tried to maximize the downpayment on a house).

    Sounds like your car will be quite bullet proof! The G8, in general, is a very similar chassis to the 5th gen. They have weak diffs, with the Camaro being a good upgrade (for gear ratio especially, since GTs came with garbage gears). The GXP has 3.70s stock, which is quite nice for a street car.

    1994 Trans Am Under the knife - but it's alive!!! (5.3 LM7/CPT 60e/QP 9") BUILD THREAD
    2009 G8 GXP M6, axleback, catch can, cai, stereo
    1975 Olds 98 455 burnout machine/panty dropper

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    Quote Originally Posted by harner View Post
    I got 10k in profit from mine, which is wild. Then I invested it into an overpriced, broken project car haha. I probably broke even in the end, but it was fun. The Z06 is a great looking car. I'm not a Corvette guy at all, but watched RPM for a few years pumping out their cookie cutter h/c cars with 600+ rwhp and wanted to experience that world. At the time, I also needed something to fill the void after I sold the ZL1 (tried to maximize the downpayment on a house).

    Sounds like your car will be quite bullet proof! The G8, in general, is a very similar chassis to the 5th gen. They have weak diffs, with the Camaro being a good upgrade (for gear ratio especially, since GTs came with garbage gears). The GXP has 3.70s stock, which is quite nice for a street car.
    I like things like the G8 and the SS but always preferred smaller cars for some reason. Yea, I planned on built trans/diff down the road but forced my own hand when I broke it. After I get the car back, my bike needs to go under the knife for a bit then I'll probably be figuring out what bottom end I want to go with for the Z probably a year or two after that I'll throw a procharger on it.
    -Ryan
    93 Z28 M28

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    Quote Originally Posted by harner View Post
    I've noticed a lack of content on here lately, so wanted to share a little bit about a car I picked up last year. I got rid of the money pit CTS-V (built LSA, Frankenstein LS3 heads, big cam, ported blower, built trans, etc) and shopped around a bit, not really knowing what I wanted, exactly. I sort of wanted another 5th gen, since I once owned a clean low mile FBO Camaro 2SS/RS and traded it in on my first CTS-V. I looked at one, it had a turbo kit and potential, but was ultimately someone else's hacked project. Next!

    I then thought having a manual n/a sedan would be cool. So I started looking at the Chevy SS - decent tech, nice interiors, they're all essentially loaded (full options - with the only real option being sunroof, trans, and a few other small items). The post COVID prices were still steep on these, and finding one in the right color would be a fly & drive adventure that I don't have time for.

    My buddy sent me a Magnetic Gray Metallic G8 GXP on Marketplace and the rest was history. ~43k miles when purchased, only mod was an axleback and ATI balancer, but it came with stock mufflers and a bunch of paperwork. The unfortunate thing is the car was in Long Island, which means you need to drive through NYC with a car trailer lol.

    There is a guy who runs the GXP registry, that tracks all of the cars. For those who do not know, there were 1829 GXPs made, in 2009 only. Less than half of those were manual. This car is #1 of 8 based on color and trans. Pretty cool, but rest assured, I could care less. It's just another $25-35k used LS3 manual car to me lol.

    Anyway, it was a decent price, I did a quick walkaround, and it checked out. It had some weird issues that eventually ALL G8s deal with, but this car is plagued with them. I'm slowly working through them all (replaced a parking brake sensor, rear speed sensor, ATI was done by PO since these cars are known for having a "wobbling" balancer, and a few other gems along the way).

    Brought it home, put it on the lift, and found a bunch of mud caked to the exhaust and underside of the car on the passenger side. WTF lol. Also found the fog light housings were melted from some genius who put HIDs in them. I did undercoat sections of the chassis that had some surface rust, which cleaned it up tremendously.

    I've recently installed headers, x pipe, and put the stock mufflers back on. Also did a CAI and catch can. The stock stereo had to go, so I've installed a double DIN and hvac setup (Aerpro), along with a backup camera. I tuned the car last weekend with DDTech, a prominent remote LS tuner (anything with HPT, really). It pulls much harder than stock, and is an absolute joy to drive. I am guessing it is around 420+ whp, given it has similar mods to my old 5th gen, that made 430ish at an LTX dyno day. Now it just needs heads and a cam and/or blower so I can completely ruin this cherry.

    20230813_224439~2.jpg20231002_173702.jpg20231002_173345.jpg

    Another interesting tid bit is there are (4) manual GXPs within 10 miles of me. One is black and is owned by my buddy about a mile away. Another black one a few towns over, and a silver one that started life as an auto, but is now a supercharged beast with an M6 swap. There are more GXPs than G8 GTs and even v6s in the area
    maaaan i miss my GXP BAD. love this thing. love the color too. I too had to do the ATI balancer at 43k miles because of the wobble. luckily it ended up getting purchased by a friend with a nasty blue svt lightning for his wife to cruise.

    Looking forward to more posts about it

    Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk
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    1994 Firebird Formula 381 stroker - Carrying the torch! - 9.90 @ 134.3mph on a 200 shot

    The wrench/driver for LTConvert's 94 Z28- Ellwein 383/LE Trickflows/ D1SC / CPT Ultra Pro Race 4L60E
    10.78 @ 125mph. Shooting for 9.99 for Frank Cahall!

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