[95TA - The Beast]

Well, I finally have gotten to the point where I have decided to do a whole host of upgrades to the 2014 CTS.

As it stands I ended up deciding on the following:

- Forged pistons and rods
- Upgraded intercooler
- Upgraded charge pipes
- Catch cans

For the past few months I have acquired parts and in some cases TOO many parts, which means I will be doing a side-by-side comparison of certain items. Those being:

- Mishimoto Intercooler vs Rev9 Intercooler
- Rev9 Charge Pipes (Injen knock-offs) vs Mishimoto Charge Pipe knock-offs

I also have run an ordeal with getting a dual catch can setup "upgraded", and as such I can speak to the upgrade, why you *need* a full kit, and if you are not going to do a full kit, what else needs to be done to make it reliable.

In regards to the forged engine upgrades, I have finally ordered the following:

- Diamond LTG Street/Strip Forged Pistons
- Molnar H-Beam Forged Rods

And I will be ordering the following parts for the rebuild:

- Head gasket
- Head bolts (might go with studs, but for my power levels and this car it isn't needed)
- Cam timing set
- Balance shaft timing set
- Rod Bearings
- Main bearings
- New front and rear seals
- New VVT actuator solenoids (they have been revised since 2014)
- New valvestem seals
- New intake valves

Then there is the new brake system I am switching to, as my car came with the J55 option which is 12.6" front rotors with 4-piston Brembo calipers and 12.4" rear rotors with single piston steel calipers, I am switching to:

- Front 13.6" 4-piston Brembo calipers
- Front GM rotors 13.6"
- Rear 13.4" 4-piston Brembo calipers
- Rear GM rotors 13.4"
- Akebono Performance pads front/rear

I already have the ZZP Big Wheel turbo. I also have Mishimoto dual catch cans.

My goals are 400hp/400tq at the engine. To get there I may have to upgrade the turbo again beyond the ZZP Big Wheel, but we will see.

Personally I feel the piston failures are caused by too little top ring gap causing the majority of the problems. That doesn't mean that I will pull it all apart to just gap the rings more, that would be foolish. I will do the forged pistons and rods, put in new clean valves and get it all back together adn then lean on it to accomplish the power goals.

For me, an AWD CTS with turbocharged 400hp and the accompanying wide-torque band it will give should be a blast to drive. The front and rear diffs and transfercase are all spec'd for 400 ft/lbs and the transmission is spec'd for 450ft/lbs torque so everything should survive quite well at those power levels. I will also be switching everything to synthetic Mobil 1 fluids as part of this upgrade as well. The only thing that will be "stock" fluids is the transfercase as there is not any sort of synthetic lube available as of yet for that application.

Oh, I also have to replace the mag-ride front struts with new ones as part of this as well. For some reason they ride extremely harsh after the car sits for a while (like a month or longer) and I have a brand new set of the latest part number on hand to see if the 2 revisions they made with those parts seems to "fix" it. If not, then I will be "forced" to drive the vehicle more often I guess.

So, would videos be better or just pictures of the various part comparisons?