[Katsunaka]

Fixed a minor leak I had with the exhaust and a rattle caused by the 02 extender. Also ordered a bullet style resonator to put on my exhaust now that I have this cat and getting some rattles and drone at certain rpm.

Since I have the 16645 magnaflow exhaust, I'm gonna have them remove the flex pipe portion in the attached pic to put the resonator there. I do really like the sound of the exhaust now with the HFC and Magnaflow, just getting rid of some downsides of the new mod with another new mod. Shouldn't be too much to do, mostly since its just a cut and weld job. Once I yank the first pipe off I'll hold the resonator in the flex pipes place and see, hopefully it'll work there cuz IDK where else to put it without replacing the cat to muffler section of the exhaust. It's not really straight enough in any place except at the flex pipe

 

[HHGadget]

Not too much today. Killmat in the passenger door. Tough to reach some of the places behind the plastic sheet so it’s not 100%, but it really doesn’t have to be. Probably do driver tomorrow and cabin next weekend.

I loved the difference the kilmat made. Helped reduce the “tin can” resonances nicely.

 

[phdirty]

Aside from finishing the Killmat, I’ve got a couple more small projects (fuel pump relay switch and painted boomerang) before I can get it out. Can’t wait though!

 

[marksbug]

my 09 coupe has a long resonator on it around where your system is split.( on your pic ,in the 2nd half of the system). My 06 did not have one. I think my gxp has a short one there. I would not remove the flex joint, nor would I put one that close to the cat, put it where gm did. as quiet as my gxp is I wondered why gm even put it on there.

 

[marksbug]

well I thought about putting speakers in the gxp, weather is great... then the mail arived and some metal clips for the flaps were hear ,so I didnt do the speakers,instead I opened up a can of worms... my worms and I ate them all. I lowered the top, took off the mangles clip on driver side, the cable end is bent witch is part of the issue with it eating up/breaking the plastic clips, well I have the metal ones now, butt first. some moron decided to try to bend the ends 90 degrees like they shoud be... **** a magnet would of been nice to of used to find out that there not steel cable ends there crap pot metal and snaped right off. so i spent 2 hours making a billet aluminum end to fix the cable. works great, but not what I wanted to do today., I then removed the passenger side clip and took a plastic wall molly that's almost perfect fit to go into the flap hole and the cable end fits it perfectly too, so I sliced about .080" off it and used it to go in the flap hole so the cable end donut flop around and loose a lot of travel. I also noticed the steel bracket that the cable attaches to on the flap, has a stop tab, and the bracket has about 1/8" lost motion.so i sed a 1/8" piece of felt stickey thingys and shimed it so no more lost play. GM sure droped the ball with those cables & flap actuators. all it needed was 1 cable 1 bar going from side to side with linkage to open each door at the right opening rate and opening far enough and soon enough so the doors don't get caught on the top liner witch Im pretty sure why the plastic clips/retainers break. Because there is no real tension on them unless they get stuck on the top fabric like they do every time with the ones that have the acoustic liner. the springs could be about half as strong too, and still get the job done well. and now that I have done my slight mods the doors go up a little sooner and didn't get caught on the inner liner, but Im sure they will at some point, I make it a habit to do it slow and make sure there not getting caught. Ive thought about a 1" long slit in the liner where it catches the door/ flap corner, I still may do that.

 

[Katsunaka]

This solstice took its buck teeth(grilles) out so it could eat, lol

 

[edkop]

I gave her a nice coat of wax....

 

[Soulvivor]

Replaced fog lights with LED ambers, cleaned engine bay up a little.

 

[phdirty]

Driver door Killmat complete and stripped the paint from the boomerang. Still not warm enough for primer/paint/clear, but getting my ducks in a row. Going to try stripping the chrome from the AC vents, shifter ring, and speedo/tach rings this afternoon. If that goes well, I'll see about pulling the interior door handles and parking brake button to do the same.

 

[jon72vega]

Driver door Killmat complete and stripped the paint from the boomerang. Still not warm enough for primer/paint/clear, but getting my ducks in a row. Going to try stripping the chrome from the AC vents, shifter ring, and speedo/tach rings this afternoon. If that goes well, I'll see about pulling the interior door handles and parking brake button to do the same.

How and what did you use for stripping the paint off your boomerang?
I am trying to do that currently, and not having much success with Easy Off oven cleaner.

 

[TomatoSoup]

How and what did you use for stripping the paint off your boomerang?
I am trying to do that currently, and not having much success with Easy Off oven cleaner.

Really? Came right off for me and I even used the Walmart brand cheapy stuff.
(6) Ppssstt... wanna see an EasyOff'd boomerang? | Pontiac Solstice Forum

 

[HHGadget]

Really? Came right off for me and I even used the Walmart brand cheapy stuff.
(6) Ppssstt... wanna see an EasyOff'd boomerang? | Pontiac Solstice Forum

I had the same experience as John. I easy off’d it three times.
Eventually i just started sanding it

 

[jon72vega]

Really? Came right off for me and I even used the Walmart brand cheapy stuff.
(6) Ppssstt... wanna see an EasyOff'd boomerang? | Pontiac Solstice Forum

I read that thread, good information!
I think they must have changed the formula for Easy Off since then, to be more environmentally friendly???

 

[phdirty]

I read TS's thread as well before starting. Wondering if the intervening decade between now and then has had an effect on the paint and/or boomerang that affects the adhesion.

Easy Off worked for me. Took a couple of rounds though. The first round I let it sit for the better part of an hour and used a toothbrush on it. There was still paint residue on it afterwards that wouldn't come off particularly on the top, textured part. So, I Easy Off'd again and put it in a bin overnight until yesterday afternoon. Used a soft sponge and a spray bottle of water. Got the remaining bits off. Then I put it in the tub and washed it with soap and hot water to get off any remaining Easy Off residue.

Note to anyone else looking to do this:
Do this OUTSIDE. Use a face covering of some sort to cover your nose, mouth, and eyes. Wear gloves.

 

[HHGadget]

Easy off that did work on dechroming the headlights did not work on the boomerang for me.
I had found a “black” boomerang (really it was a dark grey and not the silver one my car came with) so maybe that had something to do with it?

 

[jon72vega]

The one I’m working on is greyish.
I left the Easy Off on for about 15 minutes, and scrubbed with a stiff bristle brush before rinsing off.
It was about 40 degrees that day. (Michigan spring heat wave).

 

[4501 Safari]

well I thought about putting speakers in the gxp, weather is great... then the mail arived and some metal clips for the flaps were hear ,so I didnt do the speakers,instead I opened up a can of worms... my worms and I ate them all. I lowered the top, took off the mangles clip on driver side, the cable end is bent witch is part of the issue with it eating up/breaking the plastic clips, well I have the metal ones now, butt first. some moron decided to try to bend the ends 90 degrees like they shoud be... **** a magnet would of been nice to of used to find out that there not steel cable ends there crap pot metal and snaped right off. so i spent 2 hours making a billet aluminum end to fix the cable. works great, but not what I wanted to do today., I then removed the passenger side clip and took a plastic wall molly that's almost perfect fit to go into the flap hole and the cable end fits it perfectly too, so I sliced about .080" off it and used it to go in the flap hole so the cable end donut flop around and loose a lot of travel. I also noticed the steel bracket that the cable attaches to on the flap, has a stop tab, and the bracket has about 1/8" lost motion.so i sed a 1/8" piece of felt stickey thingys and shimed it so no more lost play. GM sure droped the ball with those cables & flap actuators. all it needed was 1 cable 1 bar going from side to side with linkage to open each door at the right opening rate and opening far enough and soon enough so the doors don't get caught on the top liner witch Im pretty sure why the plastic clips/retainers break. Because there is no real tension on them unless they get stuck on the top fabric like they do every time with the ones that have the acoustic liner. the springs could be about half as strong too, and still get the job done well. and now that I have done my slight mods the doors go up a little sooner and didn't get caught on the inner liner, but Im sure they will at some point, I make it a habit to do it slow and make sure there not getting caught. Ive thought about a 1" long slit in the liner where it catches the door/ flap corner, I still may do that.

Mark,

Some photos would be nice and if you do decide to make that slit, please let us know how it works and where you make it. It's an amazing bit of motion when it works correctly. My guess is early on owners did not expect the car to be quite so fragile and demanding of caution and care. I bought a NOS Sky tulip panel once just to get the tulip flaps and bits. No Solstice available and it was cheaper than just the two flaps alone w/o bits. Now the fellow who makes them in Mexico and sells here has a beautiful reproduction. One of the things I would advise any owner to just buy and hold. You're gonna want them sometime.

Thanks for you writeup and time to share.

Richard

 

[HHGadget]

The one I’m working on is greyish.
I left the Easy Off on for about 15 minutes, and scrubbed with a stiff bristle brush before rinsing off.
It was about 40 degrees that day. (Michigan spring heat wave).

If it helps at all i detailed the dash and dechroming of the trim rings here:

Paint and trim boomerang

I know there are already a ton of these “paint the dash” posts however many have had their photos fall off which takes half the fun out of it. Let me start out and say I am basically a novice on painting plastic, or any type of painting of car stuff inside or out. I did a lot of forum searching...

www.solsticeforum.com

 

[jon72vega]

If it helps at all i detailed the dash and dechroming of the trim rings here:

Paint and trim boomerang

I know there are already a ton of these “paint the dash” posts however many have had their photos fall off which takes half the fun out of it. Let me start out and say I am basically a novice on painting plastic, or any type of painting of car stuff inside or out. I did a lot of forum searching...

www.solsticeforum.com

That was another good thread that I read before attempting mine.

 

[marksbug]

ive seen the center cup holders on flebay for $85 to $250 used for the black ones. I get a gray one for around $45 a year ago or so. since I have the GXP blackinterrior car now and it was broken when I got the car,I was going to paint th gray one. I saw that the center cup holders were afordable for gm last month, so I ordered one from that "gm scam site" I dont remember the name, it used to go by another name, some people get the stuff some dont. after 3 weeks I emailed them again...there waiting for it from gm, I saw another dealer also listed it at a good price, so I contacted them, they had to order it and they did keep in contact witch the other one dosent. so I ordered another from them, 2 weeks lator and it's hear, about $40 total for the rear cup holder in black with shipping. yup new, from gm the date code I could read looked to say 2019, but the label on the bag said 2006,I think the 2006 may be when it was added to the gm system,not sure. but uppon inspection I see why they are hard to close and probably why they break. under the center support arm there are 2 nubs that kick the assy upward to close. witch is how it should work , but!! they do not have a ramp on them and after the first kick up they contact the main body at 90 degrees when it is about 1" from closed and thats where it stops and you have to push harder to get those nubs( plastic round pegs about .080" tall&.060" diameter) well you have to push harder to get them to go over the 90 degree corner. there should of been a ramp there, either on the main body or the nubs should of been wedge shaped or just a wedge molded in the assy instead of the nubs. I mixed up some epoxie and filled the slot in the center portion till it was set , then mixed a little more and added a drop at the nubs to make a ramp. it now has a 3/8" long .060" high lead in ramp so it should slide in smoothley. I had though about just cutting off the nubs, but nt knowing the way the inside was made just encase it had to go up that extra .060 I opted for making a ramp. also with no nubs the arm would be the wear point and it's week any way,also the epoxie will stiffen& strenghten the assy. a very easy mod, and the last time I looked at the cup holder it was expensive from gm around $120 if my memory is worken. so a $40 new cupholder sure beats the hell out of $80-250 used one.. crate engine depot also listed them I saw the other day. at about the same price. I sure wish they would make a run of the single cup holder, lotsa people need those.