All of this sure makes me want to buy and install the Kit...........LOL......
This sucks!!

 

Mine is also done and after 20 miles so far all I can say is HOLY Shizznit!

 

Comes down to one thing.....choose your dealer wisely. I drove 1hr to a dealer with experience. Dealer I bought mine from was 15 minutes away, wanted to charge double and had limited experience.


Over 300 miles on 2009 with stg kit. Would do it again in a heartbeat. :)

 

Get a price upfront. Your not a GM training class by the hour.

Take a copy of the instrustions and let them see what it is before you go any farther. Make your deal upfront and hold them to it.

My dealer did and even thought it took longer I still got the agree 1.2 hour deal.

 

Ok look at me I have a big ugly grin on my face!!!!!

I am in the middle of a good rain storm right now but my auto SS now runs more like the 5 speed I first drove and then some.

I could not get the full effect as with wet roads and traffic. But I did see up to 22 PSI so far and the traction control light a lot.

I have driven and owned faster cars in the past but this one is one of the most fun and enjoyable yet practical ones I have ever owned. THe stage kit fixes the Automatic bottom end to where it should have been in the first place and has given the auto SS the bottom end it sorely lacked.

At this point anyone who buys one of these and passes on the stage kit will really miss out on what a good engine package this really is. If your driving a stock auto you have not even touched on what this little engine can do.

The dealer is great as they charged me the 1.2 hours and stayed with the agreed price ewven though it took longer. They picked up on the tab for the loaner. So I will give high marks to the dealer!! He did say they will charge a little more on the next one.......

Even with the short delay I gave a positive vote above. Other than the short delay the install went fine.

 

Got my SS back from the repair today... All good... Again. Hopefully it wil last now. During the install the tech broke the little hose connection going to the Intercooler cross tubing... Caused erratic turbo and tossed a Check Engine. Interesting that during the install the tech had trouble putting the new cross tube on and so he lubricated it with silicon... Went out for a test run and it blew-off. He had to pull it off, clean it up and replace... So far so good.

 

We are doing an install on a 2007 Solstice tomorrow. This should be interesting.

3 kits installed, No problems from any of them!

 

Solstice should be a breeze compared to the HHR. My tech (first HHR SS) had difficulty removing the pipe, so we cut off the "nub" in place with a heated razor knife. I love those crimps with the built in shrink. I understand that's the first crimp the General has ever approved. I'd love to know who the vendor is and stock up on a few of those.

 

any tips to share with the dealer when installing so they do not scew it up?

 

The revised install instructions seem to have alleviated a lot of the installers' errors but I'll copy/paste what turbotech gave me to pass on to my installer (back when I thought I was getting it done before the revised instructions went out)...note again that the install instructions have been corrected so parts of what he says below may no longer be applicable.

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The map sensor (the one on the intake manifold) has one wire that is different in color than the instructions. Splice in the other matching and then the third one is self explanitory.

The bottom sensor on the air intake charge pipe is alittle harder. I recommend removing the pipe and notching the pipe instead of the sensor. If neither is notched the sensor will be ****ed in the hole and not work. The bad thing is you (the tech) may not see that it is wrong.
Not alot of space between the compressor and the radiator. The pipe removal is best I think. Not hard just remove the radiator supports on top and remove the splash shield right below the supports. Then unscrew the clamp to the throttle body. Remove the little hose on the pipe next to the sensor. Be careful, My pipe now has a steel nipple in the pipe because I broke the plastic nipple. One more reason to remove the pipe.Also the right lower radiator support needs to be removed for the pipe removal.
This needs to be on a lift. Loosen the inner fender well and work it out. Then you can see and install the sensor with it in front of your face. It also makes it easier to splice in the wiring.

Remove the wiring connectors to the compressor, I think there's 2 of them. Loosen the harness to get it back behind the compressor, then it will hang down for resplicing.

The tech needs to look up document #'s 1910765 for the HHR. Notice that circuit 407 is a 5vref and circuit 597 is a ground.
Now look up doc # 1913913 for the Solstice. This is what the instructions want you to do. Notice that circuit 407 is a ground and circuit 597 is the 5vref. Cross these wires and the car will not start. Install it all back together and you'll have fun resplicing it. You (tech) will probably have to get into your stash of little pink butt connectors to resplice. Anyway enough about my issues the first time.

Splice these 2 wires Tan and gray as per HHR SS wiring diagram. The rest of the 4 wires are as the instructions say. After the install programming needs to be done with the MDI. It is different from other vehicles because you actually program the ecm and ebcm (brake) at the same time. Just make sure that the "engine operating" system calibration number is what you have in your instruction manual whether you have an auto or a stick. After programming, you're ready to buy a set of tires. Good luck.

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For the record, I just let the dealership do it on the information they presently had available as of 4/3/09 and everything was done correctly so far as I've been able to tell (+700 miles since install, zero issues).

Also for the record, turbotech was correct above - I'm ready to buy a new set of tires. A couple more months of driving like this and that'll read I'm required to buy a new set of tires heh. Good luck and have fun with it.