# Chevy Cruze Racekor - Project Full Potato



## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

I'm back from the bowels of the internet to post and share the next part of my Cruze Build, or as some people would say, V4 [Going off of color, since it was stock Silver, Black Rose, then Khaki Green]. Anyhow, time to move away from the car show focus, and ruin the car even more than I already have, because I'm bored and want to have a Race Car. I think the last time I left off here it was around SEMA time back in 2015 when I had my red wheels. Either way, lets start with a re-fresher of where it was at before I started ruining it some more:





































So much slow potato in those pictures... time to make it into a moderately... sort of quick potato.

Anyways, here is the starting [v3] mod list:

Exterior:
- NEFD Designs Front Lip & Side Skirts
- Z-Spec Grille
- MFR Engineering Splitter, Canards, Skirt Extensions, and Diffuser [Chassis Mounted]
- Avery Dennison Matte Khaki Green & 3D Carbon Fiber
- Winjet Headlights

"Performance"
- ISC N1 Coilovers
- Ultra Racing Front/Rear Upper Tower Bars
- Upgraded Pads & Rotors
- Klutch Wheels SL14s 18x9.5"
- Nitto Invo 235/40/18
- Injen Intake
- Custom Cat-back Exhaust

Interior
- Corbeau CR1 seats [Black Suede] w/ 3" 5pt Harnesses
- NRG Harness Bar
- NRG quick release & Carbon Fiber Steering Wheel
- BNR Hub Adapter
- Red Suede [Headliner and Door/Dash trim]
- Painted pillars & trim

Audio:
- Dayton Audio Ultimax 18s
- Dayton Audio RS180-4s 
- SEAS Prestige Tweeters
- Boston Acoustics GT-2300 & GT-475
- Custom Door Baffles, and Infinite Baffle
- Andrei's magical touch

Current plans for this go around are:
- Acoustic Mod
- Weight Watchers 20 day free trial
- Dat Weave
- Fake Dead Animals
- Corn Fed
- I'm Blue Dab ah dee dab ah die
- Tubular Duuudddeeee
- Dat Purp Drank

I will be adding more to the plans list as time goes on. And as you might have been able to tell [congratulations, you earned a high five] they all have joke names that still pertain to what I'm doing, because this is after all, Project Full Potato. Stay tuned, I'm already like 2-3 posts deep into this build and will be posting them shortly.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

You have a lovely family!


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

So as promised, here are some of the current progress pictures. At this point of the build, my potato is currently in the middle of the Weight Watchers 20 day free trial with the Acoustic Mod DLC. The results are pretty amazing so far, she's cut a good amount of water weight on the first 4 days. I would estimate the total loss to be in the 200-300lbs range, not including the custom audio.

Completely gutted the HVAC system, Airbags, Seats, Pillar Trim, Headliner, and started pulling un-necessary wiring out of the harness.

Harness snipping includes removal of:
- Air Bag
- HVAC
- Dome Light
- Onstar
- Antenna
- Stock Headunit/Speakers


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

Now if you were spending time and money on a mustang which would probably cost you less and you had a real plan to convert a 4 door into something more than eye candy there would be more interest Smurf ..

With out further ado I will be dropping by to see yer progress with yer patata .......


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

brian v said:


> Now if you were spending time and money on a mustang which would probably cost you less and you had a real plan to convert a 4 door into something more than eye candy there would be more interest Smurf ..
> 
> With out further ado I will be dropping by to see yer progress with yer patata .......


You have had the Mustang 2 years now, how long before you move on to your next car? I still have my CTD and just had a new battery put in, 4 years and 8 months and it gave signs of it's age. The rest of the car is still great. How have you been, I have been spending most of my internet time on the Facebook Cruze pages.


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## money_man (Feb 25, 2014)

Seems odd to not see engine mods on your list of to-do's.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

Remove the door mechanisms and whatnot and weld them!


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

Aussie said:


> You have had the Mustang 2 years now, how long before you move on to your next car? I still have my CTD and just had a new battery put in, 4 years and 8 months and it gave signs of it's age. The rest of the car is still great. How have you been, I have been spending most of my internet time on the Facebook Cruze pages.


I read up on yer stuff there on FaceBook all the time that I am able to Rini .

I will be riding this mustang until I have to shoot IT ..
IT'S what cowboys do .


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

brian v said:


> I read up on yer stuff there on FaceBook all the time that I am able to Rini .
> 
> I will be riding this mustang until I have to shoot IT ..
> IT'S what cowboys do .


In Australia we mount our cars from the right hand side, so if you ever come here you will be confused. I suspect they will need to shoot me before they have to shoot the Cruze.


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

Smurfenstein said:


>


What did you do to the bowtie here? Paint, plastidip, vinyl ??? Looks good. I just ruined mine and am looking for another and would like to dechrome and ban the orange from mine.


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

brian v said:


> Now if you were spending time and money on a mustang which would probably cost you less and you had a real plan to convert a 4 door into something more than eye candy there would be more interest Smurf ..
> 
> With out further ado I will be dropping by to see yer progress with yer patata .......


Because as fun as crowd surfing is... its been done before. And thats what this build is for, to convert the 4 door into something more than eye candy. Mods to come will be for Time Attack and Hill Climb which I will be entering into next year.



money_man said:


> Seems odd to not see engine mods on your list of to-do's.


Thats because the 1.8L isn't worth modding without going big turbo. And instead of wasting money on a Big Turbo I can, and will swap.



EricSmit said:


> Remove the door mechanisms and whatnot and weld them!


This might actually turn reality very... very soon



Blasirl said:


> What did you do to the bowtie here? Paint, plastidip, vinyl ??? Looks good. I just ruined mine and am looking for another and would like to dechrome and ban the orange from mine.


Vinyl. Center is Avery Dennison Matte Khaki Green, and outline is Avery Carbon Fiber.


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

Tubed chassis and air cooled engine for hill climbing for time ..
You have a lot of weight to lose .


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Smurfenstein said:


> *Snip Snip Snip
> 
> *That's because the 1.8L isn't worth modding without going big turbo. And instead of wasting money on a Big Turbo I can, and will swap.
> 
> *Snip Snip Snip*


We shooting for the 1.4 or the 2.0 In a Verano?


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## sparkman (Oct 15, 2015)

Please say 2.0 Turbo...


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

brian v said:


> Tubed chassis and air cooled engine for hill climbing for time ..
> You have a lot of weight to lose .


When I'm done with it, the chassis will practically be tubed. And hill climb will need boost, or a freely breathing big displacement powerplant... or both.



Merc6 said:


> We shooting for the 1.4 or the 2.0 In a Verano?





sparkman said:


> Please say 2.0 Turbo...


Both engines are a complete waste of resources. The 1.4T would be the easiest swap, but then I'm already $1.5-3k in the hole, and still need to do the same work to add a big turbo setup as I would on the 1.8L, and the starting cost to get a decent 1.4T off the bat could buy the CP Pistons Piston and Rod kit for the 1.8L needed for ~400whp on e85.

As for the 2.0T its an even bigger money dump off the bat, and at that point I would need to swap the transmission as well, and tube out the front end to accept the new mounting points. It would be cheaper to go with a 1.4T swap, and as stated, it would be again cheaper to simply turbo the 1.8L and I would make good power.

The end result of all 3 engine setups is the same thing, Wrong wheel drive. current plan is to solve stand alone ECU & management, along with custom fueling this year after the Cage is finished this month. From there its sourcing a clean rolling chassis from a C5 Corvette to swap, as at that point the only work needed is a tubed out front & rear end, and a transmission tunnel. Maybe a custom driveshaft. External fueling would be plug n play with the LS1, and I would just need a tune. From there I can build the LS1, or swap for a built LS3 down the road after I've had some seat time to get used to the new driving feel.


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## whitecruzersturbo (Feb 26, 2015)

What offset are you running on your 9.5" wide wheels??


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## whitecruzersturbo (Feb 26, 2015)

Found my answer,how much room do you have between the wheel and front shock?? I'm looking at 35 offset up front as well as in back. My calculations say I may need a 3mm spacer to clear


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