Pontiac Solstice Forum banner

Mallet #024 Has a New Home in MI

5K views 51 replies 17 participants last post by  cammerjeff 
#1 ·
Just got it home and in the garage tonight, 3 hour drive from Fort Wayne Indiana. What a great day! it was almost 60F and almost Sunny! The car drives fantastic. Scary fast but Fantastic. The only thing that doesn't work is the Cruise Control, and as of now I don't even care!




 
See less See more
5
  • Like
Reactions: Steelmesh
#4 ·
Great news!

The cruise control on the early cars did not work because Ken Kelly had not yet figured out how to make it work. That has been addressed and if you contact him at carputing.com he can help you out making it work.
 
#7 ·
Another thought, my friend who has a Mallet found that when his came home it was not fitted with the factory backbone. As a result, the car was a little squirrelly. It had a lot of flex in the center. After wrecking the car on a bridge he got Dave to make him a backbone that fit his modified car. Car drives a lot better. When you get a chance verify that there is a backbone on the car and if not, look into getting one installed. Either modify the factory one or better yet get Dave at DDM to make you one.
 
#9 ·
All good points, When I am under changing the oil for winter storage I will definitely check what it any chassis brace is installed. Even if it does have a brace I may replace it with a DDM Brace. It never hurts to have a stiffer Chassis in a High HP car. And I am glad to hear that the Cruise Control issue can be addressed I will have to take care of that this winter.
I was not sure how I would like the sound of the single outlet exhaust, but I actually like it. And the old street racer in me wants to keep it for the "sleeper" look, and also want's to take the external Mallet V8 badges off of it. But I think I will resist that and keep them on the car as they do not really stand out on the Sly color.
Also as the car was sold by a dealership they did have both the ignition switch and the rear pinion seal recalls

I have also joined the MI Kappa Club.

I am still smiling, drove it to work today as it is supposed to be 55F & dry.
 
#12 ·
I don't think so, the only thing I don't like about the Catalina Safari if the Buick 350 engine it has, even after changing the camshaft and Intake, adding duel exhaust it doesn't have the low end torque of even a mid 70's Pontiac 350 V8. Other than that it is a great low mileage car full of options. Perfect for hauling our 2 Greyhounds to the Bark Park. Better than a Van or SUV in my opinion. I am Old School though.

As for the Mallet I did push the weather envelope some yesterday and drove it to work as it was supposed to be dry and almost 50F and almost sunny here in SE MI. The trip also burned out the last of the old gas in the tank, the engine is much happier with fresh gas, the spark knock it had under full throttle is now gone. I drove it home Topless on surface streets to get an idea on how it behaves in traffic. I think only 1 driver knew what it was, I had a RX8 driver pull alongside to pass me when a 2 lane road opened up to 4 lanes for a few blocks. The younger driver hit the brakes hard alongside, pulled back behind me got out his phone and either took pic's or video for awhile then passed me with a big grin and thumbs up before turning right.
As for the car it seems to have a lot in common with our Greyhounds, it seems to like two speeds, idle and full throttle! When I short shifted into 2nd or 3rd the engine would surge some until I opened up the throttle. The car had no trouble pulling at the low throttle position but seemed to be upset I was reining it in. I am still smiling light a little boy at Christmas though. I hope to get it out one more time this Saturday if the weather permits, I would like to take it to the Coffee and B/S cruise in at the Autozone Book Store on Woodward. I usually bring something odd and this car is more like what usually shows up. But that depends on not only the weather on the day, but also if they decide to salt the roads for the Flurries that are expected today and tonight. Fingers crossed.
 
#13 ·
You probably have the carputing tune done by Ken Kelly. And its likely an early version of that tune.

You have several ways you could go with the tune.

Take your car to Performance Autowerks - forum sponsor - who does conversions and has a manufacturers license of the LS1 Edit tune on our cars. He can load an updated tune on your car and may even do a "live" tune for you.

You could work with DDM Works where Dave - forum sponsor - does conversions and also has a manufacturers license of LS1 Edit and considerable experience tuning LS converted cars.

You can go to carputing.com and buy a license for the software, which comes with the media and a unique hardware cable key for your copy of the software tool. You can then work directly with Ken Kelly by pulling logs from your car and emailing them to him. He will tweak your tune and email them back to you where upon you can upload them to the car. Or if you are adventurous you can tweak your own tune. I went this way and working with Ken went through ten updates to my car's tune until we got it where I wanted it to be. The advantage of this method is you can maintain your car in the future because you can take it to any tuner and using your licensed tool they can tune the car for you.

alternatively, there is at least one well known tuner who is / has built a tune for our cars. Sbidley has gone this route and reports good success.
 
#14 ·
Dave at DDM most likely will not mess with it. He is using HPTuners now and since the latest update has had some glitches getting things to work properly on my car. He is tuning mine currently. I am taking mine to Robotech this evening for him to copy the tune with the new system and forward to Dave. Also Dave told me, he is no longer doing the V8 conversions. I had asked him about doing a LS7 auto set up.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Also Dave told me, he is no longer doing the V8 conversions. I had asked him about doing a LS7 auto set up.
Wow, that''s a loss to the Kappa community. Because I still think that as the platform ages and becomes cheaper to buy that the interest in V8 engine conversion will increase.

I know not much is said about Wade's Garage anymore, but the homepage still has a graphic and pic of a Solbra and mentions V8 conversions beside it.
 
#16 ·
Congrats!

It's nice to see someone as enthusiastic as I was when I bought mine! I picked up car #016 this summer in Pennsylvania. My car was made a sleeper by the previous owner, he had removed all of the badges... after several conversations with Mallett I was finally able to replace them. Just wanted to say don't remove them because they are pretty hard to replace. Again, Congratulations! I know you're as thrilled as I was. The car will definitely draw a crowd every where you go.
 
#18 ·
It's nice to see someone as enthusiastic as I was when I bought mine! I picked up car #016 this summer in Pennsylvania. My car was made a sleeper by the previous owner, he had removed all of the badges... after several conversations with Mallett I was finally able to replace them. Just wanted to say don't remove them because they are pretty hard to replace. Again, Congratulations! I know you're as thrilled as I was. The car will definitely draw a crowd every where you go.
Thanks, and yes I still am Geeked up about the car, probably as I have only been able to drive it a total of 3 days, including the drive home. On 12-3 I did take it to our Local Cars Coffee & B/S meet at the Bookstore on Woodward Ave. Once Someone asked me to open the hood the car did attract a lot of attention. And I found out I will have to replace the hood struts as both times a Ford Guy stuck his head under there it came down on its own!!!! Or maybe it has something against Fords?
The Weather was only around 40F but Clear so the cars there were alittle thin. A 37 Chevy Street Rod, some Corvettes, Subaru's, a Porsche 944, and a nice older Volvo. I only took 1 picture as I had told my wife I would be home by noon to do a few errands and I tend to Talk some at car gatherings so it was later than I expected it to be when I finally looked at a clock.


But now after the 1st snow fall of the season it is put away. Time to do the PM it needs and look into the Cruise Control fix.
 
#21 ·
I have heard you can get them from Mallett, but I never had any luck.

I would leave them on if it was mine.

AVI Graphics in Beaumont, California made me a set. I have had a little problem with one of them, but they say they can make me more and have mastered the project. PM me if you want some and I get the phone number for you.

I am taking mine out of the storage facility tomorrow, I had a huge aluminum Pontiac emblem made to set in front of the car. Have to take the car over to have the base welded. It will be for display and hopefully draw some attention to my total sleeper car at car shows. Hopefully it is complete tomorrow and I can get some pictures before it goes to 3d Graphics shop.
 
#22 ·
After doing some thinking, and speaking with the shop that does my Body and paint on newer cars I have decided to keep them on the car, as the owner of the body shop had told me that there was almost no chance of any of the 3 emblems being usable after removing them. That is one of the reason the Sly color is growing on me. The Mallet emblems do blend in well.
I should run a car fax on the car, in the last picture you can see haw the paint on the passenger side does not match, the door and the front fascia are darker then the rest of the paint on that side. The drivers side is much more even. Makes me wonder if one of the 2 P/O's had a small accident? No signs of anything major on the chassis or under the hood.

Thanks for the advise, I am really itching to drive the car more. but with 3 to 5 inches of snow expected this weekend it will have to wait. Funny I found out just like me this car is a refugee from around Corpus Christi Texas. I found a receipt for the window tinting done in 6-2016 in Ingles Side TX on the north side of the Bay, we lived in Flour Buff on the south side of the bay until 1974 when my Parents moved us to Saginaw MI.

Anouther funny thing, my Buddy Vic a big Vette guy didn't notice the Badges on the car Saturday, and made the comment "that he never pictured me in a chicks car" Well I plan on suprizing him this spring, but he does have a 750+ HP Z06 so it should be interesting. And the name on the window tinting receipt was a womans name, so he might be correct.
 
#23 ·
Great find Jeff and congrats purchase! I have been a Mallet owner for a little less than a year now and I can say my passion for the car hasn't faded one bit. They are so much fun! The sound and the power is just so intoxicating. It's also quite amusing to see peoples reactions when they look under the hood at a car show or cruise inn. lol

I see there are several Mallet owners posting reply's ... I have a question for all of you. Do you guys have a clunking noise in the rear end under deceleration? I have read some clunking is normal, but "some" is a very vague term...
 
#24 ·
If you have an 06 it's pretty common. They changed the design on later cars

I don't need to open the hood to get noticed.
 
#25 ·
And yours is not Sly gray! Even though you are!!!! lol

And your does not fit in the stock category, at least I would say it is "at least slightly modified". Mine to me looks like Grandma just got back from the grocery store.

I got up early drove down to the guys shop, and guess what, no one there. He had to go to Bakersfield or something, so no new toy for me until Monday.
 
#27 · (Edited)
The change was Pontiac adding a torque arm to the differential when the GXP was introduced in 07, this upgrade was also carried over to the 2.4s. Unfortunately, it cannot be added to the 06s.

Edit; Torque arm was installed on manual transmission Kappa's (2.0 & 2.4).

I'm going to assume this wasn't an issue w/Mallett cars since all of them used the CTS differential?
 
#28 ·
I'm going to assume this wasn't an issue w/Mallett cars since all of them used the CTS differential?
My understanding is that all Solstices had the CTS differential. Either way my Mallet defiantly has the clunking issue. Do any of you other Mallet owners have it or is it just me? Jeff I'm really curious about yours as it's just a few cars away from mine in the build sequence...
 
#30 ·
This is a pic of the torque arm (part 9) that was added to the GXP/Redline in 07 (and 07 and later 2.4 cars w/manual transmission). I was under the impression that it was added to handle the increased TQ/HP of the 07 turbo, AND to help address the complaints for rear end clunk? However, it cannot be retrofitted to 06s.

Your comment regarding clunking under deceleration made me remember the infamous 06 clunking posts, and since you have an 06 I'm going to assume it doesn't have the torque arm. Though I can't remember any Mallett owners posting about driveline noises. Then again I forget more than I remember.

For some reason I was thinking Malletts had a different differential (or an optional differential upgrade?).

 
#31 ·
The Torque Arm was a running change for 2.4's during MY 2007. The only way to tell if you have it is to crawl under your car and take a peek.

Love the V8 conversion, congrats! If that Solstice garage mate of yours is a Pontiac Safari Wagon, double congrats!!
 
#35 ·
Love the V8 conversion, congrats! If that Solstice garage mate of yours is a Pontiac Safari Wagon, double congrats!!
njtex, thanks for the kind words, yes the wagon to the right of out Solstice is a 78 Catalina Safari, and the yellow shelf to the left is my Long stalled 77 Astre Formula Project that I hope to get back to this winter.
 
#32 ·
Interesting that the Mallet numbers were not made consecutively, or at least in the sequence the orders were received. But I guess it was a way to give the original owners more control. and personalization.

Thanks for posting the diagram of the GXP rear suspension. It is very like the one on my 77 Pontiac Astre.

As for a clunking noise, I have not heard one on my car, but I have not driven it much between delivery and the start of winter. As for any upgrade done by Mallet when converting the cars, if any was done it would be extra. From what I understand the Chassis upgrades were Shocks and Springs, and suspension bushings, trans and motor mounts, and sway bars were part of the standard package. The stock 2.4 trans and rear axle were retained unless otherwise specified for additional $$$$.

My car is just the base LS2 conversion and the only additional option on the Mallet invoice is the A/C hookup.
 
#33 ·
Thanks for posting that great diagram of the Torque arm ChopTop! I'm guessing my car doesn't have it, but now I know what to look for. It seems like it could be added if I were to get a transmission and rear differential from a 07 and up Solstice, but I don't think it's worth the hassle or the expense.

I also find the non consecutive build numbers to be quite interesting. I guess you need to go by the build date rather than the number to determine the order. Also with that in mind it seems like it would be hard to track how many cars were made. Does anyone know if Mallet actually made 100 cars?

Jeff, thanks for your input! My car is also the base Mallet LS2 conversion with the A/C hook up. It will be interesting to see if you end up hearing the clunking when you pull yours back out in the spring. If you haven't heard it yet my guess is you won't hear it ever. Maybe Mallet came up with a solution between when our cars were built or maybe your driving style keeps the car from clunking. I found that when I adjusted my driving style (clutch pedal pressed down on deceleration) the car became nearly clunk free.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Many of us are of the opinion the the clunk in caused by excess lash in either the transmission or the differential, or both. So if you have a car in which the lash in either or both is on the outside end of the tolerance, you may have the clunk, regardless of the engine in your Solstice/Sky/Opel/Daewoo. The trans/diff torque bar does seem to alleviate the clunk to a degree.

If your Mallett is a 2006, you will not have the torque bar. If your Mallet is a 2007 or later, AND used the stock manual transmission AND the stock differential, you may have the torque bar. If your Mallet is a 2007 or later and has a non-stock transmission and/or a non-stock differential, you will not have the torque bar.

YMMV

:dunno:

.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top