Planet LSX Cadillac CTS-V Gets More Boost
Posted at 8:46 AM / March 5, 2011
We have owned our project 2009 Cadillac CTS-V sedan for over a year now, and it has racked up 16,000 miles of pleasure-filled driving while in our possession. So far, we've only done a few appearance and suspension modifications, as the factory 556 hp kept us quite content for a long while. When we last dyno tested the Caddy, while 100% stock, it showed us 448 rwhp and 455 ft-lbs torque. That is a pretty good baseline to start with, compared to most cars!
Nevertheless, It was time to dig under the hood and do a few simple modifications to the car. Using our crankshaft pulley install how-to article, we changed out the factory 8.0" cast iron pulley for a much larger 9.55" pulley from Metco/Innovators West. This larger diameter pulley spins the supercharger faster, which increases the boost psi from a factory 9 psi up to our current 12.5 psi level. The unique thing about the LSA engine (and LS9) is that they use their own 8-rib belt just for the supercharger. The accessories run on two other smaller belts. This Metco/Innovators West pulley keeps the factory driven ratio for the accessories, and only increases the diameter for the blower belt section.
Next up, we installed a cold air intake system by AIRAID. We liked this one because it matches the factory appearance under the hood. Quality on this piece was excellent, easily one of the best intake products we've ever worked on. Fit, finish, and material quality were well above expectations. There have been records of this intake alone producing 30-40 rwhp on stock CTS-V vehicles.
Our final modification wasn't necessarily a HP gain type mod, but one that would help us maintain the supercharger cooling system temperatures more efficiently. We picked up a larger auxiliary heat exchanger core from Jesse at Wait4Me Performance. This is a front-mounted heat exchanger, which you simply install in-line with the factory unit. It helps by increasing the total volume of coolant, as well as increasing the surface area for the coolant to be air-cooled. Plus, it just looks killer up front, peeking out of the lower grille!
With our new modifications installed, we headed over to Late Model Racecraft in Houston, TX to do a custom dyno tune. Our first pull, pre-tuning was already impressive, the Caddy laid down 541 rwhp with the new mods. Joe at LMR helped smooth out that curve, adjusted some valleys caused by timing, raised the rpm limiter a touch, and a few other tricks. The end result was 551 rwhp and 551 ft-lbs torque, SAE corrected.
Stock: 448 rwhp and 455 ft-lbs (rated 556 hp)
After: 551 rwhp and 551 ft-lbs (approx 650 hp)
Net gains: +103 rwhp and +96 ft-lbs
Watch the video! Dyno Pull Video via YouTube
These gains are even more impressive once you begin to look beyond that peak value comparison and observe the dyno graph. Those gains are witnessed across the entire rpm range, not just at the peak. It is almost like having a 100 rwhp nitrous shot which is always on, but never runs out. Seat of the pants change is felt in a BIG way with this type of gain. The Caddy can now roast the tires while rolling at 40 mph. This cool sedan just became much meaner, with only a couple modifications and a few hours spent.
