[Archie]

Happy New Year to everyone, hopefully you will come to think of this thread as my New Year's gift to you.

This thread is about taking a Solstice apart, but let me tell you a little about myself.....


I joined this Forum a year ago, ordered my Solstice on the 1st day they were taking orders. Took delivery of my Sol last week after a wait of 8 months & 8 days.

Everysince I 1st heard about the Solstice, I have been planning to put a LS1 V-8 in it. I actually bought the Crate LS1 engine for it last June when we were thinking we might get them during the Summer. I know that a V-8 in a Solstice has already been done but all we've seen is pictures of the engine in the car. No pictures of the building process or even pics from underneath. They didn't even show us pics of the old driveline coming out. Hopefully you'll see the parts we are dealing with in this thread.

For the last 18 years I've made a living by installing SBC engines into Pontiac Fieros & selling kits so the home builder could do it himself.

I am hoping to get 250 miles or so on my Sol so I can determine if it needs any Warrantee work before I begin to take it apart. I figure that we'll start taking it apart in a week or so & it occured to me that a lot of Forum members have been using GM supplied chassis pictures as Avators..... maybe some of you would like to see what the Sol chassis & other parts actually look like. Maybe we might actually make some discoveries along the way.

I'm very excited about taking this car apart & I hope you are pleased & become excited too.

I'll be posting a lot of pictures but they will be hosted on my own web site so I won't take up much space here.

Anyway, I decided to take the front wheels off just to look around.

I found something interesting. Take a look.........

I've got an outboard C/V joint for a G6 6-speed car & it fits that Spline perfectly.

Could Pontiac be thinking about an AWD Solstice?

Happy New Year.

Archie

 

[PURE_Fun]

Oh This is gonna be BIG!:willy: :willy: :willy: :willy:

 

[LBJay]

Could Pontiac be thinking about an AWD Solstice?

When you pull the rear wheels you'll find that GM used the same hub and carrier for the front as they did on the rear. Just swapped Right to Left so the brakes were positioned correctly.

Saving money...

 

[Archie]

When you pull the rear wheels you'll find that GM used the same hub and carrier for the front as they did on the rear. Just swapped Right to Left so the brakes were positioned correctly.

Saving money...

I had considered that. The AWD Solstice was just a teaser, although I'll be looking at that when we take it apart.

We had the car on the lift Friday, that's when I noticed the splines in the front hubs. At that time we also looked at the carriers & they looked to be different but I'll double check on that when I put it back on the lift.

Archie

 

[stang]

Ooh la la! I like this thread already. :yesnod:

 

[Fformula88]

This is going to be fun! Thanks for keeping us up to date with your progress! I cannot wait to see the pics of your tear-down!

 

[LBJay]

According to an old discussion, GMlinedog stated that the hub and spindle are the same.

http://www.solsticeforum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=68480&postcount=16

http://www.solsticeforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4121

 

[SolLate]

I am sure this will quickly become the most watched thread on the forum. Since we are loosing 2KWK4U to Germany, it will be nice to see someone still digging deeper into the car. I think everyone has enjoyed his pictures and we will all be sad to see him go.

We all look forward to watching you through your journey!

 

[KLECKO]

O BOY This sounds like fun

 

[Critterman]

Excuse me while I go change to more comfortable attire, have a feeling I will be spending sometime on this thread and might as well be comfortable.

 

[Wolfiepup]

Keep it up! A start to finish tale would be interesting.

 

[Little Red #531]

I'm panting and slobbering already!

 

[Archie]

Wow, have you guys seen the news on the GXP?

This is great news for the aftermarket V-8 conversion kit business especially those that are in the business for the long term.

I hope they sell a lot of them as it will blow the used car prices on the 2006 models making them a great inexpensive used car for a big engine swap. Just like the '84 Fiero used car prices dropped when the 85 GT came out with more power.

GM is way too predictable.

Archie

 

[Chewievette]

I hope they sell a lot of them as it will blow the used car prices on the 2006 models making them a great inexpensive used car for a big engine swap.

Glad I'm not the only one thinking that!

I havn't had the opprotunity to read many of your posts yet but I take it that you are going to be making a kit to drop an LS1 in a Solstice? If so we might have quite a bit to talk about! I am planning a Twin Turbo Vortec swap and if you are going to make a kit available, which could save me a Lot of time and effort, I am interested already!

I'm really glad to hear about the front splines, that might be the solution to my pending traction problem! Although from your pictures I see one major problem already, the need to relocate the shocks, but I'm sure that's only the first of many. Now that you've got me thinking I have to go do some research!

 

[Archie]

Glad I'm not the only one thinking that!

I'm really glad to hear about the front splines, that might be the solution to my pending traction problem! Although from your pictures I see one major problem already, the need to relocate the shocks, but I'm sure that's only the first of many. Now that you've got me thinking I have to go do some research!

AS you look thru the spline in the front spindle you see the shock (which would need to be relocated). If you look behind the shock you see the frame extension that goes down to mount the front crossmember. So that area would have to be redesigned too.

Archie

 

[Chewievette]

From these two pictures it seems that the entire front cross member would have to be redesigned, or at least the front half of it. Since it also looks to be welded onto the frame rails it might be a bit difficult to do. So far its looking like a more than major project to accomplish, with some thoughtful engineering work I'm sure it can be done but seeing how much work is involved I know for sure that Pontiac is not planning an AWD version. I'm still going to tinker and see what I can come up with, I'm going to need all the traction I can get!

 

[82-T/A]

Happy New Year to everyone, hopefully you will come to think of this thread as my New Year's gift to you.

This thread is about taking a Solstice apart, but let me tell you a little about myself.....
Archie

Hey! Archie! I sold you a Fiero about 8 years ago to one of your friends named Wolfgang or something!

I think it's so funny how there are SOOO many Fiero owners migrating to the Solstice forum!

 

[bradyb]

Thanks Archie! Good luck on everything! Remember, the more pictures the better!

 

[IRON MAN]

New Ride for Iron Man

I figure it will take me about two years to pay off the car...about that time I think you all have worked out the kinks in upgrading this fine piece of machinery... Might have to switch the license plates to "LS ONE" with a license plate holder that says, "I vette I can beat you"

 

[Chewievette]

...with a license plate holder that says, "I vette I can beat you"

:glol: Now THAT's Friggin Hilarious!! I'd buy one.