I decided to take a little break from rewiring job. This was a good opportunity with all the interior removed and the carpet removed and laid out the garage floor to give it a good shampoo and the same for all interior components. The old girl girl should look brand new when she's back together. Plus my mind and knees both needed a change, I was starting to see wire harnesses in my sleep

 

Rolled 90,000 coming back from Houston. Be 4 years old July 11th.

Will decide at 100K whether to spend some money on it our trade off on a new Cx5 Mazda.

 

The 2008 LT was a great ride while it lasted, but it's being handed down to my daughter today. She's graduating HS and going off to college soon, and I want her to have a safe, reliable vehicle with good mileage. That being said, the 2008 LT is getting washed and re-christened today.

So what's a dad to do? My Chevy dealer had a few HHR's in stock, two beater fleets and an SS. The beater fleets were not an option so...dad test drove the SS, and dad signed for the SS, and dad's got a brand new (well, new to me - 2010) red SS. Booya! It's the dark red, not Victory Red. More of a Burgundy. Nice dark interior. I'm a happy camper.

Now I have to figure out what all the new stuff does and how it works...

 

Congrats on the new ride, and glad that the old one found a good home.

 

Finally replaced the lower control arm bushings. The old ones were so shot that the center sleeve actually fell our once I took the arm off.

The new units were MOOG - solid rubber hockey puck looking - about twice the weight of the old ones. I used an arbor press with a 1 9/16 socket as a ram. The total job only took about 2.5 hours total with 1.25 of that on the press.

I also hit the sway bar bushings with some WD40. I'm thinking that they will need more than that soon. They 'grunt' when cold on the smallest of bumps and light brake applies.

Then, I adjusted the rear brakes, painted the drums with some flat black engine enamel, and road rested. She's tight as a ... well, you know. Ready for another trip down I-75.

 

I washed mine today. Now the HHR is once again nice and clean.

2008LT- Congrats on the new ride and glad to see that the old one will be staying in the family.

 

will be deciding whether or not to do a spring chop today, befor i order my springs.. i want to see how low i can go befor i start getting close to rubbing.. i saw a VW Golf yesterday with a camber kit and nice 18s TUCKED under and it looked amazing! so its settled.. im goin to drop it as much as possible without being bagged... suggestions and comments welcome! havent done this since my s10 lol (2006)


2008LT- Nice purchase! i cant wait for my SS! I bet the daughters happy too!

 

I'm curious as to how you are going to cut the springs. What I mean is, the rears have the tapered end that must fit snug onto the upper and lower mount points. The fronts also have a specific indentation that the springs sit into. You may be able to cut 1 complete coil out of the fronts. Any more or less of a cut on the fronts, I think, won't let them sit in the perch correctly.
Not saying it can't be done. Maybe you know a way and can pass on some info.
FE5 springs
Attachment 14656

 

thats what was bothering me was the closed ends... idk ill have to take a look at some upper strut pics... i asked Lunchbox for advice.. Should have expert advice soon!

 

front coil can be cut..the bottom coil will set flat with weight on it anyways, contour the bottom perch...the rears,,aftermarket, might check with a local spring shop.. they may be able to help...