Tell me about your LT1's journey...

[Tyler Wheat]

I picked up on this from a new guy posting in the appearance and detailing section. I thought it'd be a great idea for the lounge :hmm:.

So what's your car's story? From the day you bought it to as it sits today. Throw in some dates and pics if you can!

I know I may be violating a golden rule by not telling mine now :shame: . I'll get back and post when I have a little more time.

So let's hear those stories! (or novels in a lot of cases I'm sure )

[AdamG]

Ill play.

I bought my car In 2004 Because my G/F who was also one of my best friend Insisted that I need to buy the car. At the time I was driving a 95 Dodge neon and 1992 gmc 2500. I bought it with 92k on it for 3150 from a older gentleman who had bought it brand new from Adams Chevrolet which I was actually friends with the daughter of the owner of the dealership. It had a 3.4 engine and was super clean.


this is the car maybe 6 months after I bought it
9773 9774

A year later my friend who picked the car out insisted that I buy it and went on a ton of road trips with me in the car passed away and I lost all interest in the car and parked it in a family members garage and left it there where is sat for approximately 3 1/2 years.

When I pulled it out I drove it a little here and there but it mostly sat till around June 2010. I decided to do an engine swap.
9775977697779778

in the winter of 2010/2011 I rebuilt the motor and installed a cam because the motor I put in had no oil psi. 5 days and 75 mile on the rebuild my camaro killed a dear and walked away with a cracked door panel and broken fender. I got pissed and parked the car for a few months then pulled it out and had it repainted
9779

2 months ago I installed a 3600 stall tq converter and last month I took it on a 1500 mile road trip which was a ton of fun.

I love my car it has a lot of good and sad memories attacked to it. It is my baby and I will never sell it.

[zooguy]

i guess i will start;
bought the car just a little more than 2 years ago now. the add said the motor made a knocking sound. we there listen to it run i thought it was a down lifter and the sell said that was the issue. got the car home and had my little brother help me change the lifters on the car. he had done a cam swap on his 350 in a chevy truck and i knew he could help some. so we changed them and started the car and it fired right up and we were so happy that we put is back together right. after a few seconds we noticed the knock was still there. so i bought a used LT1 out of a camaro that had a wreck in the rear. had the shop i got the motor so the swap ... then a few months later the 3-4 clutched in the tranny go out. so i had the tranny rebuilt by a "good rebuilder" or so i was told from many local racers. well after 6months-6days that tranny broke in the same way. so i go back and have him rebuild it agian. and that one brakes after 3.5 months. i told him he better do a good job or i am getting a full refund and going to the better business bureau. so the tranny is good and i get gears done and go with 3.73 in the same rear end. after 248 miles the rear start to howl. real bad. so i go back the the shop that did the rear gears. and they didnt set right and are trash. so i go buy a complete 10 bolt with 3.42 out of a six speed car.

so in short the only stock part of the drive train is the drive shaft.

[Badbird_96]

Well I got my formula in June of 08.

Paid $2500 and it had a built crate motor in it and a racing clutch. Not sure of exact date but roughly a couple weeks later got a short throw shifter and a Hurst 6spd ball. The following week put in an hid kit and fixed the headliner.

It stayed like that until 2/16/09 when the car burnt. Found out much later fram had a recall on oil filters and I had just changed my oil with one. The seal blew out and oil got on the manifold and it started a fire. When I tried to stop the brake resevior popped and the fire got huge.

Don't know how to insert pics on the app this is part 1 of 3

[Badbird_96]

I got my ws6 10/5/09. It already had Torque Thrust IIs on it and was lowered. Traded a 03 envoy for it and a 98 explorer.
http://img.tapatalk.com/a6f8621f-7548-5cfa.jpg
The ws6 had dry rotted tires so the formula wheels went on it for awhile. February 2010 I finally put the ttIIs back on it.
http://img.tapatalk.com/a6f8621f-7389-5777.jpg
Not sure on exact date but shortly after I did the red gs stripes, charcoal ceta, and smoked the lenses.
http://img.tapatalk.com/a6f8621f-73bb-5f6a.jpg
September 2010 I traded my ttIIs for 02 speedlines and got boot.
http://img.tapatalk.com/a6f8621f-73e8-cddf.jpg
Roughly November 2011 I painted the speedlines.
http://img.tapatalk.com/a6f8621f-73ff-54d5.jpg
February 2011 I removed my gs stripes and added my red overlays. Also did my stainless longtubes and ory.
http://img.tapatalk.com/a6f8621f-7427-9d64.jpg
March 2011 I added my red blackbirds and red interior. Also finished my exhaust with a corsa catback.
http://img.tapatalk.com/a6f8621f-7450-b8b6.jpg
April 2011 I traded the speedlines for 97-01 ws6 wheels.
http://img.tapatalk.com/a6f8621f-747d-d9b4.jpg
Sometime over the summer I added the first set of blackbird pinstripe wingtips from fourth circle designs.
http://img.tapatalk.com/a6f8621f-74ec-7d38.jpg
September 2011 I added honeycomb tails and shortly thereafter sold the car.

Edit - part 2 of 3. Pics problem solved. Downloaded tapatalk much better

[Badbird_96]

Part 3 of 3

Just got my 94 Z28 in May 2012. I have removed the big spoiler and put on later camaro wheels and put gs stripes on it. As it sits now counting purchase price I have $1700 in it.

[GreenZ96]

I bought my car in Feb '04 for $2k. The car had some bolt ons but nothing significant.
March '04 I exploded the clutch disc and the mods started there. I've changed the car so many times I can't really give dates or pics.
I've had 7 different sets of wheels
Smoked the tails, went back stock. Clear corners, then went to a clear face with black background on the corner lights.
3 different cams, 2 different cai's
Swapped to the ls1 dash, changed from the tan interior to the charcoal
Added a ls fuel tank, and now I'm on my 3rd set of headers. First I had shorties, then lt's now I'm running some mids.
Countless exhausts on the car, came with a flowmaster, them a lm1, aerochamber, lm2, 3" true duals with spiral flows, dynamax, single chamber flows, then I went with 2.5 duals for more clearance with single chambers, then spiral flows.

So now the car sits with self ported heads, 503 cam, pro kit/kyb, all the bolt ons, full bmr suspension less k member, and tube a arms( they're sitting on my shelf), ls interior, lizard skin sound deadener, Ruff racing 278's in 19", ready for a 150 shot, narrowed 8.8 in the works and a ton of other stuff I'm sure I failed to mention.

I bought a kit from dipyourcar.com to give it a different look for a while

[97firehawk]

Well I wana say I purchased the car in 2005 it had 18000 miles on it when I pulled it out of the bone yard poor car was in need of some love the body was hurt and the suspension was was completely bent so I trailered it to work thru it up on the frame rack and pulled the chassy straight then cut it all apart and started welding it back together I got it back to straight and trailered it back to work and slapped the paint on it after I had the body and chassy back to straight I focused on the suspension well that was all bent so I replaced the bent k member with a tubular one and a and the rear stuff was wasted so it got the full treatment the stock one inch drop springs just weren't enuff so I went another 3/4 of an inch that's better it had bent Axel and rotor so I replaced those there's more details to that part of the story not guna get to detailed .

Well the only mods it had other than the suspension I did and what slp did the car had a borla exhaust so I rocked it that way for a year then I thru in a set if 4.10 gears and pacesetter long tubes car was a blast to drive but not enuff so I decided to throw in a hot cam kit and a tune car was really fun but that was short lived I spun all of the rods and Mains I was pissed so I dropped the pan and threw in new bearings and finished the summer car ran great till the end if the summer when it finally got the death rattle so I found a used block from a taxi cab company here in town dropped it off at the machine shop had it forged up and splayed Mains guy did an amazing job well anyway the engine was a wee bit to much for the stock ten bolt and so I rebuilt it and then I said scrue it let's just get a s60 so I did awesome Hahaha and then my Trans failed stupid 6 speed so I had that built finally its pretty good to go I have some plans for next year haha can't wait. I'll post a few pics in a little bit my service sucks here.

[97firehawk]

Pics

[Badbird_96]

Man what a sad state to see a firehawk. Wish I could find one to fix.

[97firehawk]

Pics

[97firehawk]

Man what a sad state to see a firehawk. Wish I could find one to fix.

Yeah it was way worse than the pics show but it was a great time bringing it back to life .

[Fastbird]

Not enough space for my stories on each of my LTx cars.

[Badbird_96]

Come on Sean let's hear it just part it up like I did

[bsgreenz]

Sorry no pics but here it goes.
1994 Z28 picked up in 2003 (my first car) as a bone stock car with 99k on it, that lasted about a year or two then did some bolt ons, well broke a bolt in the head doing long tubes which lead to head work and a cam. That worked for a while until i put it on the dyno and they left the r-brake on which ended up to needing rear brakes and a blown head gasket. So when i went to WyoTech in 2007 i built a new engine, installed that, had fun then wanted more, so came the LE custom cam ,3400 stall and nitrous... After some bottles i got sick of filling the bottle and decided i wanted boost, get a hell of a deal on a forged 383 low compression in trade for my current set up in 2010ish, been working on this set up ever since 2011 which went from just a turbo 383 lt1 to 24x, complete re-paint, redo the interiot, rims and tires, SS hood and suspension and getting closer
1996 Formula was purchased in 2011 which was the car i was doing the trade with for the 383 but the owner decided to sell it and i bought it, put my 350 lt1 with LE cam and full bolt ons in this car with a Ram clutch and some 3.90's in the rear, well after a rev limiter nitrous pass i kept feeling a vibration and kept changing little parts till i found the crank twisted and decided it was time to go LSx. Currently a running 348 Forged LSx swap car with a LS7 clutch kit, WS6 hood, OEwheels, t/a hatch and honey comb lights, but with a purchase in sight this car may be on the way out either parted out or a stock LT1 put back into it.
The future car (hope it happens) 1997 WS6 with 99k!! Working on this deal right now, if purchased the formula will be needing a new home if any one is interested let me know!

[Tyler Wheat]

@ Sean
I said that novels were expected... :jest:

I'll get mine on here tomorrow hopefully. Just got back from the drags. I don't know if anyone here has ever been to MO-KAN Dragway (seems to be alot of MO people here), but they had their 50th anniversary race tonight and it was pretty darn cool. Best thing I've been to there with the exception of their Memorial Day weekend event.

[waggl1]

Car was originally a new York city car bought in December of 94 actually...she was shipped to California in 2004 with 23xxx in the clock...became supercharged in 2007 I believe by owner #3 and in 2010 I picked her up for 5k with 74xxx and the amount of boost the prior owner ran eventually killed the motor (while I owned it) so the new engine had about 374 miles that's when I found the site and tore it all down for this build :-)

[Fastbird]

Ok, I'll make the first post later today. Going to start with my black car if anyone remembers it.

[Tyler Wheat]

I'll start with my first LT1. Unfortunately, I can not find ANY pictures of the truck. I'm thinking everything is on an old computer maybe.

1996 Sierra shortwide that was my first car (that was something I didn't just drive around on the farm anyway). I had it all through high school (Graduated in 2004) and after that. In 2003, I blew the 4.3 and bought an LT1 for it. Had a guy wire it up for me and away I went with it. I ended up selling it in 2008. Over the course of those 4 years, I drove it daily from 2004-2006 and then started on body work. I haven't seen the truck in many years and to my knowledge, it is still running around with the primer. The motor ended up with 1.6 RRs, long tubes, dual 40 series (sounded awesome), underdrives, OTVC wires, shift kit in the tranny. That's all I can remember anyway. It ran a best time of 14.7 on a peg leg rear end. I was pretty happy with it all and all, but I really lost interest in it after I got my car.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/Truck2_edited.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/Truck3_edited.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0017.jpg

Edit- I found a couple of pics from not long before I sold it.

[Fastbird]

So, my first LT1 car, my black car that a lot of folks may remember. Here's how it looked when I first got her back in March of 2000 for $8K, cheapest I'd seen for a 4th gen at that point. I had just lemon lawed my 10 month old 9K mile Arctic White 99 T/A that I had bought brand new (3 T-56's, 1 axle seal, A/C compressor my first week, but stone stock went 13.51@106). Wanted to move into a LT1 Vette but didn't want to spend $20K at the time. So I give you, my black car.

As I bought it, BONE stock, 84K miles.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old%20Cars/93%20Trans%20Am%20--%20The%20Black%20One/Original93.jpg

First mods I'd EVER done to a car myself, that being the chrome WS6 wheels, and what you can't see, a K&N CAI and B&M Shifter. These were back in late spring of 2000.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old%20Cars/93%20Trans%20Am%20--%20The%20Black%20One/93Side.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old%20Cars/93%20Trans%20Am%20--%20The%20Black%20One/93LOWERNOSE.jpg


Those mods above got me a 13.99@99 MPH at Sacrament Speedway in summer heat. In 2001 I departed for NJ and took her along. No mods, but in March 2002 with the ONLY other change being the rear brick of the cat having been uncerimoniously removed, the car went 13.63@102 at Atco Raceway (and I also met a fellow board member that day, you know who you are *cough* Ramair95ta *cough*). Then the mods began..........

Spring of 2002 was the bolt on's. Arizona Speed and Marine headers, Random Tech Cat, Random Tech Catalytic Converter, OEM WS6 Hood/Airbox, Hypertech 160* Thermostat, PCMForLess tune. It was a 3 month project due to having to reorder the ASM headers and them being backstocked. Not much to see on the exterior, but it was go time, and I got an immediate .5 and 4 MPH out of it, and eventually got down to a 13.09@106.82 on my 24th of 32 passes one cold march night in 2003. Immediately afterwards the stereo was completely overhauled for a combination of Alpine, Infinity, and MTX (99% of which resides in the purple car now).

As she sat during this time:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old%20Cars/93%20Trans%20Am%20--%20The%20Black%20One/Black93nose.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old%20Cars/93%20Trans%20Am%20--%20The%20Black%20One/Black93.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old%20Cars/93%20Trans%20Am%20--%20The%20Black%20One/IM000105.jpg

The car was a GREAT runner at the track. Street tires constantly netted me low 1.9's, and it was very very consistent even for an M6.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old%20Cars/93%20Trans%20Am%20--%20The%20Black%20One/th_StangvsMe.jpg (http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old%20Cars/93%20Trans%20Am%20--%20The%20Black%20One/?action=view&current=StangvsMe.mp4)

And this is probably my favorite race ever, and one of my favorite wins:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old%20Cars/93%20Trans%20Am%20--%20The%20Black%20One/th_C5vsME.jpg (http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old%20Cars/93%20Trans%20Am%20--%20The%20Black%20One/?action=view&current=C5vsME.mp4)

This however, is where the saga begins............the hopes and dreams were being realized, but could never quite come to fruition.

[Fastbird]

So, spring of 2003. I paid the car off (pics above in previous post were taken spring of 2003), and finally had the money to do some real work to the car. If anyone remembers the name, I gave Joe Prince a call. He was local to me and renowned for his head porting ability. I had a set of early castings just itching to lose some weight. So we discussed, and came to the conclusion that for emissions reasons a 224/230 cut on a 112* LSA would be about right for me. Also going on the car were a BBK 58mm TB (guess where that is now), SVO 30# injectors, Vented Opti conversion kit from Nu-Tek Motorsports (anyone remember them, they brought the 396 kind of into the mainstream), electric water pump, Accel 300+ (another guess where those last two parts are now) to round things out.

Sadly, the car made ONE clean dyno pull. On the second, it detonated up top, but was down power anyway.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/DynoChart1.jpg

So began the end of this car. I spent weeks chasing the issue, a what we perceived to be extremely rich stumble and loss of about 10 hp across the board. The vacuum signal was a constant waver between about 2 and 12 in/hg, and the car just ran weird. Finally took the car to F-Body Central in Baltimore, and they checked it over and had bad news.......lots of leakdown on number 7. A disassembly showed us this:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/Kaboom.jpg

So, a call to AP Engineering (yeah, THAT one) for a new 355 shortblock was made. It came back, and I had some powdercoating done along the way with some polishing here and there. Nice and purdy. Also scrapped the C503 and had a Joe O custom cam made up for me. Also had the headers sent to Jet Hot (need to do that now to my turbo kit).

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/DSCN0752.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/DSCN0188.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/DSCN0526.jpg

And did it ever sound mean:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/th_Idle.jpg (http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/?action=view&current=Idle.mp4)

But, the rich stumble persisted, and as it turns out, it wasn't rich but a LEAN stumble. Computer was pulling as much fuel as it could, but it was due to oil seepage. Yeah, I had a problem.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/4.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/1.jpg

I chased this problem for almost 3 years. From mid 2003 until early 2006. This was the life of my car, and yes, that's a Strange 12 Bolt (guess where THAT is).......

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/DSCN1437.jpg

Chad at Golen Engines was an awesome help because I sent the manifold/heads to him several times for checking for alignment. Alvin @ PCMForLess was just amazing with all the help he gave me. The car ran right ONE time, and very shortly at that, but it ran right enough that I stabbed it in second gear and was given a HUGE shock when I looked skyward and felt acceleration like never before. But as I pulled into my driveway, the idle crept up, the surging started, and it was back to problems. A fragged Comp R lifter was the end, and I yanked the motor.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/Old Cars/93 Trans Am -- The Black One/DSCN1023.jpg

Sadly, the car never saw the road under me again. The motor that was being built for it went into the purple car instead, as the black car was parted out in order to pave the way for my Corvette to get it's twin turbo kit done up. How ironic that one of my favorite victories in the black car was against a Nassau Blue C5, and a Nassau Blue C5 ended up being the nail in this cars coffin under my hand. The car was picked up in December 2006 on a flat bed and taken to MD, where the owner swapped in a 97 Motor and got it back on the road in about 3 months. That's the last I heard of it. The 355 that came out of the car was JUNK. There was main cap walk and all the mains, there were 6.125 LS1 length rods in the motor, and the bearings were just horrible. AP Engineering was already out of business, so I had no recourse at all. Not that I expected any, but who puts LS1 rods in an LT1?

During the course of the motor build for my purple car, we stumbled across the problem. The head porting broke through into the rocker stud bosses, not an uncommon thing. But, during reassembly of the heads, there was never any sealant applied to the rocker studs, so I was getting vacuum leaks and oil seepage, the root cause of all my issues. Something so simple...........

[Tyler Wheat]

I bought my Camaro in early 2005. I was shopping around for a builder as I was taking an auto body class. My friend owns a salvage yard and bought the car at auction to fix for his wife to drive. It was EXACTLY what I wanted. I talked him into selling it to me. The car had hit a pole in the passenger front and they also took the quarter panel along with it. I only painted the bumper back silver when I put it back together. The car went on the frame puller for being slightly tweaked and I also had to put in a core support. It was also bone stock, with the exception a a K&N replacement filter. Here is the day I bought the car and how it looked when I got it put back together in April that year.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/quarterpanel_edited.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0045.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0033.jpg

To my surprise, I found out the car did not have 3rd. I drove it without 3rd (including 14.2 pass shifting 1-2-4 haha) until that fall when I had saved up enough money to get a stage II kit from thegearbox.org and a RAM HD clutch. A friend and I took the trans out and rebuilt it in his dad's diesel shop. Shortly after that, a guy I knew was selling his car and we worked a trade so I could get his 4.10 rear end. From then until the beginning of 2007 I put in an aftermarket stereo, 2 12" subs, 1200 watt and a B&M shifter. Flowmaster muffler, too. I hit a deer in the car doing approx 70 mph on my way back to Stillwater after Christmas break. I was in school now and the car needed a core support. I drove an extra truck of my dad's the rest of the semester and then didn't start working on the car until summer.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/663945056_l.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0012.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0040.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0041.jpg

I had made up my mind that semester that I wasn't going to just put the car back to how it looked from the factory and paint it, but that I wanted to do more than that and make something unique to my tastes. I'm really glad that I did.

[Tyler Wheat]

So I had made the decision to paint the car something that I hadn't witnessed a lot of. I was in love with the hugger orange LT4 SS cars that they made very few of, but didn't want an SS clone as there were already a few LS1 SS clones running around. I bought a Glasstek hood and a billet grille. I decided I wanted orange with Artic white stripes that went all then way down on the car.

Funny story about getting my paint. There was a guy around town that had an older 70s model Ford 4x4 truck that he drove from time to time. I loved the color and stopped by his house one day to as if I could have it because I had a Camaro I wanted to paint. He refused. I offered to give him money. He said no way and was a jerk about the whole thing. I kinda gave up, but was at a friend's house one day telling the story. A mutual friend was there and said, "I mixed his paint. If you go in to Carter's Automotive and look in there Dupont book, I bet there's a post-it not with his name and the paint code because it wasn't in the book. I called Dupont." Sure enough when I went in and looked at the book, there it was "John Doe- Allis Chalmers Orange- RS673K". I bought the paint right then and there and made sure that he heard me drive by on my way to work every day after the car was done :devil:

Here's what I have of that paint job:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0038.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0043.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0055.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0054.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/TylerandRobin.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/TylersCar1.jpg

Not long after that, I bought Pro-Kit springs, painted the wheels and tinted the windows.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/Tyler_Wheat.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/HooterGirlsCar.jpg

I think it was 2008 that I put on my founding member stickers that added 50 horsepower :finger:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/001.jpg

From 2007-2009 I hydro-locked and motor and blew a rear end. I got another rearend built with a stud girdle and stuck with 4.10s. I found another motor out of a wrecked car to replace mine. Also put on a set of Pro Magnum rockers, coated super comps, B&B catback, SFC, K&N FIPK and OTVC wires. In 2009, I also put an NX EFI kit on the car, FPSS and window switch. Changed to TR6 plugs and kept the 75 jets in, but have the jets to 150.

Then this happened. An older guy driving a one ton Dodge was parked next to me, cut the corner tight and basically ran over my fender with his passenger rear tire. This was RIGHT before the shootout in 2009. I was pretty bummed I had to drive the CTS there instead of the LT1.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/IMG_0026.jpg

I decided to re-paint the whole thing because there were so many problems with the paint. I grew up on a farm and stayed there alot. There was a time where the cattle had came up to lick the frost off of my car and scratched the back of it really bad that past winter. I figured if I was going to paint it, I would do the whole thing and fix those gouges in the paint. I started on it at a friends and then took a position for work that re-located me. I didn't really start messing with it again until 2011 due to doing nothing but working.

[Tyler Wheat]

So I didn't really do much to the car for a couple of years. I got back into the car scene since I left that job and took a cut in pay for less hours and something that is more fun. I work for the people who used to do the trick my truck shows on CMT. Its as cool as it can be considering I'm working on semi trucks. Anyway, so I painted the car again in May. I painted it back to the way it was, but smoothed the front emblem and berger panel. I also bought a Freedom Designs spoiler. I also got a set of ZR1s I painted and put on orange bowties and went with clear corner lenses. I was pretty glad to get it in a booth this time.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/012.jpg
"Somebody" wasn't keeping track of his hose and got a dirt smudge in the fender. Got in the color trying to sand it out. Just pulled a garage job for that one.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/282344_10100697270940412_617138399_n.jpg
Not even really a decent picture, but it was running...
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/252324_3338086173707_940503464_n.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/250715_3474367582700_23885772_n.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b398/lt1sierra/CARS/252661_10100699196277022_346402271_n.jpg

The opti went out about 40 miles into my trip home with it. I diagnosed the car as an opti, bought a new one that wouldn't work, got a replacement that was damaged by UPS (broken connector). I hooked it up and it worked. I'm waiting on the claim with UPS to go through to yet another one sent and then maybe I'll have some good pictures, not the cell phone ones. I swear my car doesn't want to see the road.

Hopefully I'll have the cam done shortly after I get married. This will be the first time I've had the car where it is not a daily driver and I depend on it, which is already very nice. It's so nice to not HAVE to have the car done by morning. I'm looking at buying a 383 from a friend. It'll be expensive, but will be an incredible motor to have on hand. I will definitely let everyone know if that deal ends up working out.

I think that's it for my car. Sorry for the novel, but my car likes to hit things and just break down in general, hahaha. Hopefully in another 7 years, that list will be twice as long, but consisting of go-fast parts. :devil:

[Badbird_96]

I really like this thread. More people need to contribute lol. Its almost like the history of ltxtech and its diverse members. Its comforting to know I'm not the only one to have bad luck.

[Fastbird]

Oh, I got more. Got a good history to follow with the purple car too. Saving that for another day. Great thread though.........

[Tyler Wheat]

Man Sean, that sucks to hear about that motor you had in that 93. That is the one that you were working on back in the LT1tech days? Did you even have the purple one then?

There are quite a few cars on here that I would love to hear the story of from beginning to end... Hopefully they post, but it is pretty time-consuming.

[Neil350]

Nice when I got it, now it's kind of a beat up car with a lot of nice parts. It has potential to be clean again, would probably have to find a new owner for that to happen though. Up until about a year ago it was a clean car, this last year, long story, has left it pretty much trashed.

[Badbird_96]

Nice when I got it, now it's kind of a beat up car with a lot of nice parts. It has potential to be clean again, would probably have to find a new owner for that to happen though. Up until about a year ago it was a clean car, this last year, long story, has left it pretty much trashed.

Well we have time enlighten us lol

[popo8]

Ok.....THIS IS GONNA BE LONG!!!

And remember... I LOVE MY LT1s
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/4-9.jpg

I know Im gonna miss SOOOOO much, but here goes.

I was hired as a Police Officer in 2001 with the same department I am with.


(YES... THATS ME....)
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/b.jpg

Every day I worked, if there were no calls, I Patrolled the township.... Well I always made it a point to drive by this one house that had a white Z28 with CHROME salad shooters... CHROME?!?!?!?!?!

As a colored man, I must tell you, anything tacky and shinny, especially chrome draws me in that a tick to a fat dog.....(sorry Lizard Lick commercial on....)

Anyways, I was never a fan of the 4th gen camaros... when I was 16, I bought (yes my parents) my first car in 1992... we rushed because I thought the new camaros looked like a giant stepped on a geo storm, and I thought the TA's lost that hole Knight Rider feel......

So I bought one of the last 1992 birds off the showroom floor (12 miles on it). I know this is not an LTX car, but it goes to tell the story of how I hated... to how I came to owning my car....

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1-2.jpg

I LOVED THAT^ CAR... drove it till 198,000 miles, and only ever needed one transmission....... I sold it when I graduated from the academy, because 2 many cops knew that car and I didnt need that stigma following me as I tried to get a job. I also had the Montero and a 1997 YZF 600r......


http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/5-2.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/7.jpg

Fast forward to 3 years on the job, I now wanted another muscle car... but now I wanted a WS6 RAM AIR TA.... the camaros didnt do it for me... and the LS cars, were not as attractive TO ME. Auto Locator, AFTER Auto Locator, I could not find something that "spoke to me." Then one shift,while driving around my Township "WORKING." I noticed the camaro with the shinny wheels sitting in the lawn with that black and white sign that grabs your attention....

FOR SALE it whispered to me... I parked the cruiser and looked inside it... This thing was GORGEOUS.... All white, with a black pinstripe, black leather interior and a 6spd with that ladies softball size knob....
I grabbed the number and got back in my cruiser.

I called the people while I cruised around and said I was interested. They said they needed to sell it, because they think the local cops are going to ticket it, because of how it was parked. I laughed and asked them why they thought that. They explained to me that a cop had just walked over to it, and "he must have been measuring how far from the corner it was." I laughed out loud and said,

"Well.... Im Officer Hanna with your local Police Department and I am very interested in the car." After a good laugh we set it up and I met them the following morning after shift... We took it to the garage of the guy who does the towing for our township, and he looked over the car... outside of one blemish (thats still there, kinda) he told me the car looked great...

I contacted my credit union... they gave me a personal loan and 4g later, I was the fresh oner of a white camaro with shinny chrome salad shooters....


FIRST STOP..... drop it off for plugs, lower it with my eibachs, and tint those windows BLACK...
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/100_0304.jpg

I drove it like that for a year or so, then I made friends with the guys at KNOPPS SERVICE and PERFORMANCE... Where all my cars work gets done. I became really good friends with a guy whom I no longer talk to... the other guy there, Chris Mill (BLUEBOTTLEZ) and I didnt really talk to much, although he did install the electric water pump (same one Im still running) an opti, and other odds and ends over a year or so....


(My friend at the time CASEY on the left and my new Best friend on the right, CRIS (Blue Bottle Z)
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/chrisandcasey.jpg
LOL.... sorry chris....

BLUEBOTTLEZ then, bought a 1994 DARK GREEN A4 Z28 for his wife at the time, and he wanted my chrome wheels.... I told him if he had the salad shooters from her car done in gloss black.... I would trade with him, even up.... HE DID IT, and as cop... I LOVED THE LOOK!!!!!

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/100_2141.jpg

Not to long after that, I found the cowl hood for sale on racing junk.... it was red. I bought it cheap and had it shipped to the garage that is now DENNYs CORVETTES (LEADFOOTLT1 and 77SHAKERTA). It got shot satin black on the underside, and primered on the top side, since I was going to have it painted eventually....

Staring at the black hood on the car that had black head light buckets with the extended side black pieces made me start thinking... I gotta do something. I went and bought some flat black spray paint.... some tape and some white gloss paint....

That is how my UNIQUE front end color came up. People always say, the car with the black hood... but if you know what it looked like, you know I changed alot...I drew the black down on to the nose to connect the buckets into it all... but then the side of the buckets that wrapped over and down.... I painted white, to give it a straight side edge....

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/2-4.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/camaro.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/IMGA0445.jpg

While I was at it... I did the berger panel also... I know its over done, but damn it made a big difference....

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/3152.jpg

The car was now creaping up on 130,000 miles and I was noticing that oil pressure was low at idle.... I stepped into a deal $250 for corvette zo6s (staggered) with run flats all the way around. I went from 16's to 17's and 18's..... I FELT LIKE A BALLER!!!! lol

Killed the 295s on the back and did the 315s.... BIGGER BALLER!!!!!

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/3153.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/pirellis.jpg



One day my g'f at the time and I went to my parents, I tried showing off when I left and banged 2nd, and lost clutch peddle.... A tow to KNOPPS revealed that I split it into two pieces...... Time for my dual friction centerforce.... (still in the car....)
THen I had to break it in... hahaha
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/pom.jpg

I cruised the car around and felt like I had the fastest car on the road... magnaflow muffler and SLP CAI.... you know!!! lol

My girl at the time wanted a 65 mustang, soooooooo I bought her a 1995 Camaro Z28. It was for sale for 3g in NC and just had the motor rebuilt 10k earlier. A friend of mine that lived in NC, went and checked it out... He drove it and called me , he said for 3g... BUY IT. I wired him the money, and he bought it. ABout a week later my friend from the garage and I round tripped a road trip to NC to pick it up..... we also watched a NASCAR race, because the friend that picked up worked for Team M&M at the time.... :) Thats was when I realized I dont like NASCAR in person either....

I layed eyes on the car and knew I had some work ahead of me..... the front bumper paint had worn off.... the interior was garbage, but a newer set of seats were thrown in by the seller. We got home and I stripped it and threw all the crap out... I ordered a new black carpet for it, and installed that (the car stayed at the shop while I worked on it , it was in the back lot and the g/f had no idea it was hers). I dropped the headliner off at a local shop and had that done in black as well (the interior was all grey). I installed the new seats and had the windows tinted....

Then I gave it to the g/f.... it was in my name, so I consider it one of my LTXs , so here it is.....
(the wheels did not come till the following X-mas, got them for a great deal,).

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/My other toys/1.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/My other toys/2.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/08230716301.jpg

I then gave it to her, and she loved it... told me it as the greatest gift anyone had ever given her.....

So now, she and I had our camaros, and I quickly learned... hers was faster than mine..... So the guys and I started pricing what it would cost to build a 383 for the car.... And it was EXPENSIVE..... It was around that time, that Casey (my friend at the time, started having trouble with his boosted 1993 Z28.... it wasnt running right, and he wanted out from under the loan. He had repo'd the car and purchased it from the bank.... well I went and paid off his loan and THAT car was now mine.....

The plans were to take all of the boost stuff for my car and part it out...... We parked it behind the shop and forgot about it for awhile....

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/6.jpg

I then did some research on line and I found a guy named ERIC PARISH (many of you should know this story). He built and sold motors on ebay...LTX...LSX stuff. I contacted him on Ebay, got his number and told him what I wanted. He was going to build me my boost spec 383, for 5g....top to bottom without the blower, I ordered up (outside of ebay, because it was custom)

Credit Card info given, a parts car with a blower waiting, I was stoked.. I started collecting parts for my new build. I was gonna have a fast car!!!!

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/09190711151.jpg

Fast Forward to May 2007, Im already broken up with the g/f I bought the 95 for and moved on to Miss Popo... HOW COULD I SAY NO!?
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/Angboobs.jpg

The white camaro is in the shop with no motor.... the car I bought from Casey has been stripped of all of the things I need, and.... the new motor from Parrish shows up...... We quickly got to getting accesories and misc on it...

This motor was supposed to be the shyt... 383... 9:1 cr... forged internals, and some secret squirrel blower grind cam...... RIGHTTTTTT>...

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/2-2.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/9-1.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/8.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/7-1.jpg

I paint the blower black... buy the MSD pack... Billet opti, 6al, blaster coil, etc.....

We put the car together almost identical to how we saw the 93 was..... I didnt know that I no longer needed the FMU because I went with 60# injectors... I didnt know I didnt need the in line helper fuel pump.... I shouldve upgraded to a 255 in tank...if not 2 of them...It was the beginning of a big learning experience...

WIth the blower and intercooler cleaned and painted flat black (to hide), the car went back together with my awesome (looking) motor.



http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/side2.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/100_0648.jpg


We got it done, a friend came down and loaded a tune so that I could start it... and WOW... it sounded STRONG..... We finished up some odds and ends over the next few weeks then it was off to the dyno to tune it.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/13.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/12-1.jpg


Now came the beginning of the tunning nightmares... first it was the temp sensor that lets the car know how cold or warm it is outside being broken...causing the car to keep adding fuel, no matter how much we leaned it out.... then it was the stupid dryer hose inlet set up sucking itself shut...... needless to say, a few dyno sessions at the cost of about 1000 bucks down the drain with a best pull of 235rwhp on 4 lbs of boost... ugh.....



Finally after session after session after session, the car made 450 at 8 lbs of boost.... I drove it all over... Daily Driver....long trips, even OCMD week with no trailer. It wasnt as powerful as I hoped but it was fun....

After about a year of driving it like that, and hardly any beating, I left work at 3 am one shift and I was cruising home. 6th gear in a 55mph zone, and lugging, I went over some rail road tracks and the car started a vibration. I thought , damn it.. my trans is going. Drove it home another 5 miles and parked it. Blue Bottle Z brought up the truck and trailer the following weekend and listened to it. Said, its better that we dont drive it, and he took it back to the shop. Pulled the trans and dropped the oilpan on the motor, and we found.....

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/1-1.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/2.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/3-2.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/4.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/5-1.jpg


Thats right... the crank broke in 2. It just broke in a manner that allowed it to push itself and keep running..... But enough movement to f up bearings, and send oil through the motor.

Motor came back out.... stripped it down and sent it to the machine shop... he said the motor was a mess... the holes were all out of round.... we learned the crank was cast, the heads (which also got sent) had different springs all over the place....

(If you want to know more about that motor or eric parish and what happened, look for a thread by his name...)

ANyways, this time we did the motor in house. another .10 over, it was now a 385. It got the same cam back in it (I liked how it sounded) the same heads, only this time with work done to the bowles (they were supposed to be fully ported and polished) and the same heads with 1800 bucks worth of work.

This one went much smoother.... we got it back in the car, tuned a little better, (500ish) and I was able to drive it again.. to the shootout, etc......THis motor got some miles on it....

I even picked up a Strange or Moser 9" with a locker, 35 spline axels... THE WORKS....

Miss Popo even enters my pride and joy in a contest to be in a callender... Not only does my car get enough votes to get in the callender... she gets the COVER!!!


http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/calender1-1.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/calender2-1.jpg



A new set of Deep Dish C5s are also purchased for her, for a more aggressive look

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/3-7.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/1-3.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/9-6.jpg



http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/9-6.jpg



Fast Forward to August 2011... the car goes for more tuning after reducing the pulley size. A loud pop has the car running weird. We check several different things, and low and behold discover a busted valve spring..... The car cant make it to the 2011 LTX shootout, but Miss Popo and I are still there.......

Now the motor is comming back out AGAIN for a new TOP END. I invest almost 6g into this top end. AFR 227 eliminator heads, TD shaft mounted rockers, LE sets me up with a real boost cam, Edelbrock AIr Gap intake.... custom interior pieces...AS&M monoblade


http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/b-3.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/3-12.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/c.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/1-5.jpg




http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/popo08/1996 Procharged 385 Lt1 Camaro/f.jpg

And now, she is at JD MotorSPorts being worked on and tuned... hoping to get into the 600s with my baby P1..... and upgrading to a dual in tank 255 set up.....




This took me almost 2 hours to do, and Was a great stroll down memory lane.....


Enjoy.

[Fastbird]

Tyler, yes I had the purple car and black car together from 2003-2006 when the black car got sold. That black car is from my LT1Tech days.

Neil, I feel your pain. Mine is the same way.

Larry, nice synopsis man!!!! Although I do have to say that it's a shame you stripped Chris's DGGM car. That was such a neat color. But I seriously had NO Idea you'd owned 3 LTx cars.

[popo8]

Thanks man. Yeah looking back at it i really shoulda kept that car. But i never did get to part the car out. I sold the heads and intake to Whitey (i know u know him) and the rest of the car was sold in tact for 1200 to a guy who later tried to sue me.....

(Yes... I purchased my 1st app TapaTalk)

[Badbird_96]

Woah tried to sue you what's that about?

[popo8]

The motor was junk in that car so all it had in it was a shortblock
I advertised it as complete roller with bad motor for 1500. when dude came and looked at it he asked me what was wrong w motor. I said idk... But it had issues so im considering it junk. he started tellin me bout his race lt1 that was goin in there etc etc. He asked me if i would pull the shitty motor out.... I said sure for 250 more....we negotiated for 1200 and he take the junk motor.....

Weeks later he has an attorney contact me demamding 50% refund... Because the motor was full of water . (sat outside w no heads and intake.....)

(Yes... I purchased my 1st app TapaTalk)

[Badbird_96]

Wow that's really messed up. Knowing that it was junk. Some people... I could add to this but I'm leading it back to topic lol

[ZGOBYBY]

God, what an epic thread. Maybe I will go home tonight and post up. I needed this thread, it's giving me the enthusiasm to get back to work on the Z!

[popo8]

START TYPIN JEN...And while ur at it.... Please tell ur bf what an LTX is....lol. We were textin yesterday and he had no idea what an "LTX CAR" was.

(Yes... I purchased my 1st app TapaTalk)

[Badbird_96]

God, what an epic thread. Maybe I will go home tonight and post up. I needed this thread, it's giving me the enthusiasm to get back to work on the Z!
Agreed with popo we need moar stories lol

START TYPIN JEN...And while ur at it.... Please tell ur bf what an LTX is....lol. We were textin yesterday and he had no idea what an "LTX CAR" was.

(Yes... I purchased my 1st app TapaTalk)
Say what? More blasphemy lol everyone should know and fear us for we are the devils motor. Too hard to tame for most but for the few that stick it out are rewarded with the ultimate power to change peoples attitudes. Do I make him cry to his mommy or do I let the lsx vette slither away on its stomach? Question for the ages.

Edit - of course I'm talking about y'all cars. A stock 2.73 geared z28 isn't gonna beat anything lsx unless its not running lol. But if I can ever get my bills straight and get my turbo stuff then bam she will be much faster lol

[ZGOBYBY]

START TYPIN JEN...And while ur at it.... Please tell ur bf what an LTX is....lol. We were textin yesterday and he had no idea what an "LTX CAR" was.

(Yes... I purchased my 1st app TapaTalk)

You have to be kidding me, right? Oh boy... when I get home...

[Badbird_96]

You have to be kidding me, right? Oh boy... when I get home...

He he he someone is in trouble.

[popo8]

You have to be kidding me, right? Oh boy... when I get home...

If he tries to BS you... I still have the conversation saved... lol

[Fixxer99TA]

Oh, now where that popcorn smiley...

[popo8]

Oh, now where that popcorn smiley...

LOL!!!!!

(Yes... I purchased my 1st app TapaTalk)

[Fastbird]

Hahah

[meissen]

I'm at work and don't have the pictures on my work laptop but I figured I'd try to contribute -- I hate to cop out and post to another site but since it's pretty long - here it is:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231821

[popo8]

Wow... Thats one hell of a write up...

(Yes... I purchased my 1st app TapaTalk)

[Badbird_96]

Isn't it though. Too bad my phone was acting up and the videos wouldn't play right. Signal is sketchy here

[meissen]

Thank you sir! I really need to transfer that write-up to somewhere "impartial" so I can post it everywhere :laugh:

[Fixxer99TA]

I'm at work and don't have the pictures on my work laptop but I figured I'd try to contribute -- I hate to cop out and post to another site but since it's pretty long - here it is:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231821

Dude I loved that writeup/video. Great job with the video

[Tyler Wheat]

Sweet write up! Your car is awesome! Lots of work in that thing!

[meissen]

Thanks guys! She's been a real finicky bitch, unfortunately. :laugh: April 2011 the weld on the oil pickup tube let go and the tube fell into the oil pan. Turns out the weld was too cold - I had the local muffler shop do it, so learned my lesson not to use them again. For some reason my oil pan's gasket had a few chunks that had become brittle and fell off and the oil pump sucked it right up. The chunks jammed the impeller of the pump which then jammed the drive gear against the cam. Thankfully the cam just obliterated the gear without any damage to the cam.

As they always say - every time it breaks it's time for improvement. Ended up dropping just the kframe to get to the oil pan and figured while it's out I might as well go tubular. I also bought one of the Herron Performance billet oil drive pieces and replaced the distributor/oil pump gear and shaft. I also bought a keeper from Jegs that bolts to the oil pump and holds the tube in place so it can't fall off the oil pump now. Once that was all done, I swapped in a PA Racing tubular K frame. :laugh:

Been fighting an electrical gremlin that drains the battery within two days of the car sitting in the garage. Traced it out to being two fusible links that are drawing more than they should but I can't find where it's coming from. My dad and mine's cheap fix was to install a switch by the battery so I can just turn it off when I park it in the garage.

In addition to the battery drain, I kept having a problem where I'd try to start the car (of course it'd always be when I drive far away from the house) and I'd get a single click from the starter and it wouldn't turn the engine over. Turns out the flexplate has a 1/8th inch wobble to it so if the flexplate stopped too close to the starter, the gear couldn't mesh properly and the "click" I was hearing was the starter gear hitting the side of the flexplate. Bought a mini high torque starter and used some washers to space it far enough away from the flexplate - that solved that issue.

This year the only issue has been a power steering pump that died a couple weeks ago. Other than that, *knocks on wood* she's actually been somewhat reliable this year!

[Tyler Wheat]

We need MOAR!!!! Its cool to look at now vs day 1 on these builds.

[Fixxer99TA]

Its encouraged me to try to put something togeather. My car isnt really a build.. yet... But its got a little bit to it to tell about :D

[Tyler Wheat]

Do tell...

[Badbird_96]

Do tell...

Agreed we are waiting.... do it.... DO IT NOW!! lol

[popo8]

Yes... Do It....

[bsgreenz]

Fixxer needs to buy my turbo kit so he has a build!!!

[CamaroZGuy]

Ill try to get some thing written up this weekend

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[Fastbird]

Fixxer needs to buy my turbo kit so he has a build!!!

This. :D

[Fixxer99TA]

This. :D

Oh, well now... If we are going to play this game.... Mr. Sean needs to come over here and help me put it togeather!

[Badbird_96]

Agreed Sean and take pics while you do it

[Fixxer99TA]

Do tell...


Agreed we are waiting.... do it.... DO IT NOW!! lol


Yes... Do It....

I will, give me time... I work too much...

[Tyler Wheat]

I will, give me time... I work too much...

You should call in to work tomorrow and give all of us what we have waited so patiently for...

There are some others out there that I'm still waiting on as well. I won't mention any names..... not yet anyway

[Badbird_96]

You should call in to work tomorrow and give all of us what we have waited so patiently for...

There are some others out there that I'm still waiting on as well. I won't mention any names..... not yet anyway

Agreed

[93M6Formula]

I suppose i'll bite, I don't have a real extravagant build yet but it's still fun.

Well let's see....My LT1 days started in March of 2008. I was 18 and a senior in highschool and this would be my 3rd F-body. I had two 3rd gens prior to this and i'll show some pics of them which just led me to my 4th gen.

This was my first "car" ( I've always had a truck also) that I got when I was 15, I fixed it up myself (had been hit in the front pretty hard), did the body work (minus paint) and drove it from August 2006 to February 2007 when I totalled it....
1987 Trans Am 305 4bbl 700R4
Mostly finished product
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/TA1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/TA2.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/TA3.jpg
Results of the wreck....
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/TA4.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/TA5.jpg

So after being pretty bummed about that, I knew I still needed an F-body so about a month and a half later, my uncle found an '87 Base firebird with a 305 4bbl 700R4. I got that in March 2007. Sold in March 2008
I added GTA T/A to it, exhaust, and Formula Decals.
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/B1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/B2.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/B4.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/B5.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/B3.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/B6.jpg

While I loved that car, I still kind of wanted more and a 4th Gen was what I needed. I didn't really plan on selling this car so soon but my uncle found a good deal on a 1993 Formula that a buddy of his owned. So I said hell yeah lets do it! So I sold the Firebird to my buddy up the street and used that cash to pay for the '93.

So the story goes:
We drove 50 miles to where the car was, and the second I saw it, I fell in love. The car hadn't moved in almost 2 years and the tires were flat, battery was dead and the car was filthy. They originally wanted $3,500 for the car but I talked them down to $3,000 and we made a deal. We filled the tires jumped the battery and the car fired right up and sounded perfect. We grabbed some gas and went and drove it around a little with my uncle driving and jumped on it and it boiled the tires off and I had the biggest smile on my face. He pulled over half way home and let me drive the rest of the way home. Mind you this wasn't the first manual car I drove (My truck was a 4-speed diesel) but it was the fastest and holy shit I scared myself when I nailed the gas and it took off! Sure it was only a 275 H.P. LT1 but I just came from a 180 H.P. 305 3rd gen....I got it home that night and couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I washed it up and bought a new battery for it that night also. I wish I had more pics of it when I first got it but I didn't take a single one......

A little more about the car when I got it.
Car: 1993 Firebird Formula 89,800 miles LT1 M29 6-Speed 3.23s. Stone stock minus gutted cat, muffler cut off with tips plumbed out, and a K and N drop in filter.
Interior: The console lid was warn out and separating, the radio bezel was non existent as well as no floor mats and the shift knob and steering wheel leather was torn. I went to the local GM dealership and ordered a new console lid and radio bezel right away and fixed that. I ordered a black billet aluminum shift knob with the bird engraved in it. The I ordered custom 4th gen floor mats with the bird stitched in them. Everything else was in decent shape with no tears in the seats or cracked dash. Now in 2012, the dash is in like 5 pieces, headliner is getting a little saggy, and I still haven't gotten the steering wheel redone.

Exterior: The paint wasn't very good and still isn't. It has multiple deep scratches and peeling clearcoat in some spots. The silver pinstripe on it never really bothered me so I left it on. I happened to check the carfax on it and it showed that it had been rearended sometime around 2003 or so. Not horrible but they did a shit job at fixing it. I see the rear frame horn was pulled out and it seems the car was resprayed but not the greatest work was done. There is still a kink underneath the sailpanel on the quarter. The passenger mirror was broken off so I ordered a new one right away. The clearcoat was peeling on the hood, roof panel, and headlight doors. I repainted the headlight doors and then ordered a Suncoast Creations Predator Ram-Air hood with the airbox and had that painted up. I never touched the rest except for the mirrors I painted black in 2011. When I first got the car, it had those godawfull tri-spoke 93-94 wheels so I ripped those off as soon as I could haha. I used the Black GTA T/A wheels off of both cars above^^ for the time being. They looked "okay" but the offset just wasn't right. So I searched ebay and found my favorite WS6 wheels (01-02 WS6) and bought them and got new tires for them right away. Fast forward to 2012 and it's pretty much the same on the out and in as it was in 2008. I did however blackout the taillights in 2011.

Drivetrain:
The car ran flawlessly, except it overheated which I finally figured out was a stuck thermostat. Otherwise I drove the shit out of it. First Mod I really did was the Ram-Air Box that came with the hood. Then I did a tune-up on it. New Delco Opti (Didn't even need one, don't know why I did it....) Delco wires and plugs. Drove it for a year without a single issue then one day in February 2010, me and my buddy decided to take it out since there was no snow on the ground. Well I went to take off from a stop light and "CLUNK". I thought oh no.....well I ended up breaking the pinion gear in half, I have no idea how but anyway that lead to the car sitting till July 2010 cuz I was a broke college kid and couldn't afford a lot of stuff. But that's when I rebuilt the rear myself and put in 3.73s. That helped the car out and was a nice major mod. I then got some Drag radials and hit the track for the first time and ran a best of a 13.71! I was pretty satisfied for such little mods done to it. Drove and raced the shit out of it all summer and then I parked her for the winter. The car needed a little TLC this time. I had oil and coolant leaks that were popping up and making a horrible mess so I dedicated that winter to some repairs.

I went further than I thought that winter and did the following. Dynatech Ceramic Coated LTs (very nice headers btw), SLP LM1 (regretting that now), EGR delete, AIR delete, custom y-pipe, new waterpump, timing chain and gears, GM Heated 02 sensors and my own custom made harness ( I followed Fastbirds diagram!) new GM heater hose assembly (had a pinhole leak) and all intake and timing cover gaskets. Detailed the engine bay and pulled her out of the garage in March 2011. Went to the track later that year with those mods and bested a 13.40@104 with a slipping clutch and bald DRs.

Now in 2012 I just recently (May) did a Competition Stage 2.5 Clutch (love it btw), Nitto NTO5Rs, PCMforless tune, detailed the underside of the car, and sprayed the floorpan with undercoating. I went to the track after that stuff but was not getting decent times. It was so damn hot and humid I couldn't best anything more than a 13.8...... So now I'm just waiting for Labor Day weekend when it will be hopefully cooler out and see if I can reach my goal of a 12.99 with boltons!

Now in July 2012
I just bought some Comp Pro Mag Ultra 1.6rr, 7/16 studs, and guideplates and my uncle gave me a set of hardened stock size pushrods, New LT4 springs, and GM valve seals so that should be my final amount of bolt-ons and should be able to reach my 12.99 goal! Should be on in a few weeks.

All in all, this car has been 99% trouble free and a great car all around. I don't ever plan to sell it, It has 112,000 miles on it now and i'm gonna be honest, while I take care of it cosmetically and maintenance wise, I run this car hard and show no mercy at the track and not once has it left me sit or had anything major go wrong other than general maintenence and a few performance parts. The motor still holds great oil pressure, doesn't use oil or smoke and still gets about 22 MPG or better. I just love the roaring sound of an LT1 and love how it feels when you nail the gas. And trust me, whenever this motor decides to let go it will get built and I will run an LT1 until I can't.

Here's a little timeline of photos starting in 2009 when I finally took pics of it... (I'm an idiot)
August 4th 2009
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/6092_505937556566_164500212_30199848_426371_n.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/6092_505937561556_164500212_30199849_4399037_n.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/6092_505937566546_164500212_30199850_227975_n.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/6092_505937571536_164500212_30199851_898393_n.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/6092_505937576526_164500212_30199852_2565714_n.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/6092_505937581516_164500212_30199853_2324245_n.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/6092_505937586506_164500212_30199854_7564453_n.jpg

December 2010
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/14-1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/15.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/13-1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/18.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/1-1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/2-1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/16.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/3-2.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/7-2.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/2-3.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/5-3.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/16-1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/10-2.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/14-2.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/5-4.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/7-3.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/6-4.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/hOSE.jpg

March 2011 all done
All nice and clean!!
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/6-5.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/1-5.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/2-5.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/3-5.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/4-5.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/5-5.jpg
April 2011
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/0411111927a1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/downsized_04111119271.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/downsized_04111119281.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/downsized_0411111928a1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/downsized_0411111928b1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/downsized_04111119291.jpg
June 2011
Painted mirrors black
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/Car1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/Car2.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/Car3.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/Car4.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/Car7.jpg

August 2011
Shitty cell phone pics:
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/Car2-1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/Car3-1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/Car4-1.jpg

September 2011 Marion, SD Thundervalley Dragway
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/car8-1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/LT1.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/LT1-2.jpg
http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a408/93M6Formula/LT1-3.jpg


I have more but not on my computer, i'll add them later.
But that's my Formulas story, hope it wasn't too long. It's got a long road ahead of it too I hope!

[Madman337]

I got my car from my neighbor who inherited it from her mother the original owner who passed away. They drove it for years before reaching 250,000 miles on it and knew it was on its last legs.
They did not want to see it go to the wrecking yard but wanted it to be fixed up and cared for, I agreed to do exactly that and then it was mine.
I have wanted one of these cars since looking at the then brand new 1993 Z-28 at the Chevrolet dealer, I was driving a 1991 Z-28 1LE car at the time.
I am still out of work after over a year and a half so building a car is tough. I do have a parts car (97 T\A) that has a good running LT1 and a T56 in it that are going in mine soon.
I have so far put the chrome rims from the T\A on it and will be adding the panhard bar and lower rear control arms from it as well since they are Hotchkiss parts and paid for from my parts car already.100111001210013

[Badbird_96]

Dude that trans am is too nice to be a parts car

[Madman337]

Yeah it is kinda nice and if I didnt already have my Z then I would just go with it but believe it or not the Z is in better shape.
I am going to part the TA out after I take the engine and trans out of it.

[popo8]

I am really loving this thread...

[Fastbird]

Yeah it is kinda nice and if I didnt already have my Z then I would just go with it but believe it or not the Z is in better shape.
I am going to part the TA out after I take the engine and trans out of it.

I wouldn't. Look at that thing. IT's a 97 HARDTOP. Those are not common.

[bsgreenz]

I wouldn't. Look at that thing. IT's a 97 HARDTOP. Those are not common.

i got a 96 formy hardyop, wanna buy it?

[Fixxer99TA]

I think it was only the 97 hardtops that were rare, but Ive been wrong before...

And thats a guess, I just got out of a 12 hour shift at work, and Im too tired to look it up :D

[Tyler Wheat]

Nice cars, guys! I really like seeing an F-body being saved from the junkyard.

Who's next?

[Badbird_96]

I agree come guys and girls. I've posted up 3 cars. We need more submissions lol

[Neil350]

I started high school in the fall of 1998, a friend who was older than me had an '89 Firebird Formula 350. One ride and I was hooked, I wanted one, bad. I turned 16 in 2000, my dad gave in and we started looking for one. It was impossible to find a Formula even then. So the search turned to LT1 cars, my dad wanted me to get the V8 because he knew if I got a V6 I would want a V8. So it was a matter of get what you want now and drive it through college. We found this car a local Honda dealer and it was mint. Dead stock, 41K miles and as clean as could be, looking back it was a really nice car. The sales guy told us it was traded in for a new Honda Odyssey, I ran a carfax and found out it originally was purchased in Hawaii and then brought to Texas some time in 1998.
I ran all the RPO codes and it turns out that the car was one of only twenty GM had sent for sale in the state of Hawaii. The RPO code is VH2, in the GM RPO code master (http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/RPO_%28Regular_Production_Option%29_GM_master_list ) list it states VH2 as, “VH2 27497 P LIC R LABEL INFORMATION BUMPER IMPACT, 2.5 MPH, HAWAII 940301 P 3 E A.”


http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674366479.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=366479)

This Picture was taken in July of 2000, it was the day we got it home.

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674343229.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=343229)

Stock Tan Interior

The car served as my daily for about 4 years, I got an S10 Blazer when I turned 20 to replace the Trans Am. The car stayed mostly bolt ons for several years, I worked while in College so I really didn’t have a ton of money to throw at the car. I did an graphite interior swap as I never was fan of the tan interior, I also put a OEM Firehawk hood on it. When I graduated I decided to build the car the way I would have wanted to when I was 16, I had always wanted a CC306 to sing through the Borla. It was my first build so a lot of the part choices were over kill. I ended up doing ported Dart Pro 1s, CC306 and a full array of Bolt Ons along with a Strange 12 Bolt. I also put some Fikse Mags on it.

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674196944.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=196944)

This was taken the day the Fkses went on the car.

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674242845.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=242845)

Heads & Cam LT1

The set up made power but the auto was dying, the headers were hacked up by a performance shop and the 93 ECM left a lot to be desired. However work got in the way so the car sat for a good while. I came to the point where I was tired of doing things twice. I knew down the line I wanted a stroker, so I decided to buy parts aimed at that. Out went the Hookers, in came a set of stepped Kooks 1 3/4 to 1 7/8 Headers. The junky old Y was ditched for a full custom stainless with a real merge. The old 93 ECM was ditched for an EFI 24X. The auto was trashed for a Built T56 and McLeod Street twin. Now it just came time to get the car tuned. In April 2010 the Deep Water Horizon located in Mississippi Canyon, block 252 blew out and a new moratorium killed all work in the gulf. My manager got me a spot with our company which required me to move, the economy was in the shitter so it was take a lay off or move. The car didn’t come with me, so until I was transferred back, it ended up sitting again.

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674344907.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=344907)

Pretty Kooks

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674346574.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=346574)

New Y Pipe

After a year or so, the 93 was back in focus, we did some tuning and the car was laying down 415RWHP through the 12 Bolt. The 12 Bolt had 3.42s and a locker and I decided 3.90s and a Posi would make the car more fun. I had also done an interior swap while in college and it was pretty crappy so I decided to reswap everything to the ebony like the 00+ cars. My swap went great till I tried to install the dash and broke it on the steering column. I found another ebony dash and figured I could swap it out after the 12 Bolt. The car also had some crappy alarm wiring that needed to be cleaned up. The car had some 98+ tail lamps and I really missed my stock LT1 tail tamps. So I searched and searched and pieced together a clean set. Well the car had to get the gears and posi done so I dropped it off at local shop. I also got some custom plates so every one would know it was an Lt1 car.

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674342079.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=342079)

Right after putting on my new tail lamps

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674350625.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=350625)

Old LT1 on the dyno

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674351616.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=351616)

New Interior going in

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674351618.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=351618)

The moment I realized the dash was broken, when the "under column trim panel and trim cluster bezel wouldn't go in right

Well the car went to get gears and a battery relocatiopn while we were at it and 9 months and a lot of money I’ll never see again, I picked up my 93 on a flat bed wrecker. It wouldn’t start any more without a jumper and the rearend was so broken the car could only be pushed. I called in a favor and took the car to shop that normally would never touch an LT1. The goal was to pull the 12 Bolt and retune the drivability issues. We pulled the 12 Bolt out, it was trashed but we were able to save my posi and axles. It all came back together and they retuned a lot of the drivibaility stuff, the car runs great but it still won't start with out a jump and alternators just wasn't charging. The starter was also acting up.

The battery relocation that the previous shop had done was plagued with all sorts of issues, one look at it and there was no fixing it, it was a mess. I decided to redo everything. Put in a Power Bastards 220 AMP alternator, a new GM LT4 starter and Gary Clark over at Innovative wiring built me a set of his H.O battery cable set. We installed it and the car fires to life like a champ now. It's been reliable enough to where my friend who helped me build the car has actually been daily driving it for the last couple weeks.

We’re starting to get back on track with the car, I plan to swap in the other non broken dash and also have all of the old alarm wiring removed. I have a 398 stroker I bought from Tony Nichols (Speed Density) I decided to have that 398 refreshed with new bearings and rings, it actually came back together last week. A custom solid roller was ordered for it also, 25X/26X/110+4 LSA. I have a single plane set up that will gp o that combo. The plan for now is to drive it and enjoy it with the heads and cam. Fix some minor things. When we do the 398 we’ll repaint the entire car and engine bay. I have a tubular K member as well as all new A/C, all GM parts that will go in. So that's the future, one day it'll be a nice car again.

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674356545.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=356545)

Single Plane before N2O Dave worked it over :)

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicles/full/2674350201.jpg (http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=350201)

398 when Dave Diluca put it together

[Badbird_96]

Nice write up always loved those wheels on your car

[popo8]

Another great story...... This is something the site should hold on to forever.....

[Badbird_96]

Another great story...... This is something the site should hold on to forever.....

Agreed popo

[Tyler Wheat]

Keep us updated, Neil. Looks like an awesome build.

[MeanTA]

This the bird right after i got it july 2011. The owner jad had it for 8 years. He put formula bumpers and hatch on it in 04. And filled side effects holes in (and not very good). He had a new 383 built for it. Then parked it in a barn for 2 years. Due to money and being tired of fixing it. The rats had made a home im the imterior. I found it on CL and called him. He was 1 week from scraping it.

So i bought it for almost nothing. And started work to bring it back. Put TA ground effects and hatch back on. Upgrated the suspension. Put a 9 inch under it. And a new stage 2 T56. Swaped my old 95's interior in. New hood and wilwood brakes. And some much needed engine upgrades. And this is how she sits today. More work left but a far cry from how it came to me.

[Tyler Wheat]

It puts a smile on my face to see an LT1 saved from the junkyard.