I no longer own Deus Irae. It's gone to a new owner named Mario. He's a very respectable guy who knows and appreciates GM SBC F & B Body cars. So I'm very comfortable with Deus in his capable hands. Good-bye, old friend.

Meanwhile, I will leave this page up for Mario and whomever is interested to look back on any needed information. -Ron

The Genesis of DEUS IRAE

This is my new love that I've named "Deus Irae" which translates loosely from latin as "God's wrath." Deus internally is almost dead stock at the moment.

At purchase Deus Irae had the following mods:
* Granatelli MAF with long CAI including a hose running into circle cut into the floorpanel of the front bumper.
* K&N filter in stock airbox.
* No muffler. Just a CAT and pipes. Very loud!
* Edelbrock strut tower brace
* 8" Bazooka tube subwoofer in the trunk
* Non-working crappy cd/mp3 head unit. WTF?!
* KYB Gas-A-Just shocks and struts
* Eibach lowering springs. Probably 1.5" drop. Too low for me. I hate speedbumps. Plus it's not too smooth a ride. I'll probably raise it up to stock soon.

Mods or supplements acheived since purchase:
* Bosch Platinum spark plugs
* New water pump
* New Fuel Pump
* New Fuel Filter
* New Optispark Cap & Rotor
* New CAT (Long story but upon closer inspection I found that it's too small and was poorly welded. I'll be picking up a 3" highflow CAT sooner or later. Perhaps also an electric cutout to compliment.)
* (8.2.05) 160 degree Thermostat
* Took out the hose attached to the stock airbox from the hole in the floor. Noticed the airdam was cut off at one end to accomodate this hole for a fake ram air effect. (I'm not liking the last owner much.)
* Cleaned and charged K&N filter. Will probably need to buy a new one. There were lots of dead bugs and metal coil chips from the tube on the inside. (I'm liking the last owner even less.)
* (7.19.05) Added a new CD headunit, a cheaper Alpine MP3 deck. What can I say, I rather listen to the engine and exhaust. I must add that the stocker Moonsoon speakers are quite impressive.
* (7.21.05) Painted Stereo/AC frame with white plasticote. Also changed alarm LED from red to green to co-exist with the green illumination from the Alpine deck. Not that it lights up while the car is on or anything. :p
* (8.10.05) Added Borla muffler (very loud, very low)
* (9.6.05) Installed SLP clutch kit. Clutch died on the highway a couple weeks back. Rather hair raising experience. This is my first manual car, perhaps that would attribute. But after looking at the old stock clutch, it needed a new one anyway.
* Energy polyurethane transmission mount to go along with the clutch kit. (woohoo! :p )
* (9.7.05) Installed Airfoil on the TB. Cut and blocked off the silencer on the intake elbow. Some claim 10hp from doing that. Not buying it - But if anything I got better throttle response. I'm impressed.

* (9.7.05) Got some used red hood scoops (louvers) that I'm painting black to go along with...

* (9.21.05) Black Corvette fender stripes. Not sure I dig the stripes, yet. Feelin' 50/50. I know it's a corvette/camaro/chevy thing predominantly, but I figure since my engine is based off a vette's then why the hell not?! (Notice the front license plate bracket that was added...or not. :p )

* (10.7.05) Took the vette stripes off. :( It looked cool, but it just didn't compliment anything else on the car. I'll get another pair later to compliment the black Z06 wheels that I'll try to pick up by summertime.
* (10.19.05) I received my stock coil springs today. Now I just have to gather enough money to get them installed. I'd love to do it myself but this is a task requiring a real lift and not regular jack stands.
* (10.23.05) Deus and I acheived a speed of 150-152mph around 1:30am. It was awesome!! Hope for more opportunities to do so but considering that it is a felony (if caught) and would result in jail time; I will be most careful.
* (11.02.05) Installed a snazzy little metal LED holder over my green alarm LED. Yeah it's ricey, but it does make the LED stand out. Funny thing was it took me about 45 minutes to tap 1/4" hole big enough to screw the housing in. And with "ol' Blue Eyes" cranked to 11 I used enough power to drain the battery to the point that Deus wouldn't turn over. Haha! Oh, the Things we do for petty fun!
* (11.04.05) Nothing spectacular at all. Painted my rear license plate screw heads black to match the frame. I dipped them in Tamiya model paint that my buddy had. HAHA! Well it beats paying 5 dollars for black screws at Kragen or Autozone. That would be lame.
* (11.07.05) I got some awesome chrome on black vinyl decals of the 93-97 Firebird for my two leather front seat headrests!Just beautiful! I had these specially made, helped with the design. They are available on eBay from the seller: tnrmerchandise or can be ordered from tnrmerchandise.com
(I wouldn't plug them if I didn't back-up their product.)

* (11.14.05) I won this broken tail light assembly on eBay for $16.50!! If you look real hard on right end, you'll see where the break is. Fortunately it was clean and a little plastic welder did the trick. Right now, I'm just trying to figure out how to better disguise the white breakage trail. AND now all I need is the drivers side assembly. LOL
* (11.16.05) Damn Select brand battery that came with my car went kaput today. I was going to get a cool Optima Red Top, but they ran out. So instead I opted for a cheaper Bosch battery. Fortunately it has the same rate (of 910CA@32F) as the Optima. So I guess I'll just hold off a couple years for the snazzy Red Top. Oh well....

* (11.18/19.05) More decal madness!!! Added a brushed chrome over drop shadowed "LT1" badge underneath the passenger side tail light. Also a smaller bird badge similar to the headrests (only brushed aluminum) with the "LT1" between the wingspan which went into the engine bay on the wheel well. Both specially made again by TnR Merchandise
And many thanks to them for putting these pics of my car in their gallery!!

* (11.27.05) Did some small experimentation with engine dress up. Painted my engine bay fuse/relay cover to a bright red along with adding in some wire looms to the fuel lines around the bird decal. Looks quite vivid. Eventually I'll get more different size red tubing looms and dress up the whole engine. (Not to mention get ahold of a better digital camera/not wait for dusk to take pics ;))

* (11.30.05) -wire tubing fun- Added more to the engine dress up. It's looking pretty cool! Upon tearing off old stock black tubing I found that the positive cable connecting the alternator to the battery had a nice chunk missing - Deep into the copper. I was furious!! The last owner must have been a complete moron!! I'll have to find some crimp wide enough to seal it properly.

* (12.16.05) Haven't been able to do much to Deus lately. First of all it's been raining, 2nd... too damn busy. But today I did finally get some time to install a new stereo deck. Well not really new, it's my older deck from my Grand Am that happens to be a lot better than the current one I bought for Deus - It's a Sony CDX-F7700. Has ins and outs for 2 amps (front/rear) and a sub. Also is XM satellite ready as well as MP3 playback and a remote. OLED displays some neat grafx, etc etc. Since both of my cars are GM, I didn't really have to do anything to the wire harness less of crimping the power antenna leads together. No sweat. Sounds good, red/amber lights on the deck match the rest of my car interior lights (less the blue OLED display.) And best of all, it's easier to read or display the ID3 tags for my mp3s. I am giving my now unused Alpine head unit to my little brother for his (sigh) Ford Escort, so at least it's not going to waste.

* (1.19.06) Good god! It's been over a month since I last posted anything on here. And for good reason. I haven't done anything to Deus because A)Too damn busy with the holiday season
B)Funding has been shortened due to holiday season + plus about two weeks ago my wallet was stolen and my cards were used. But today, I finally did something.

Deus got a new drink of oil. I've been meaning to do an oil change since the beginning of the holiday season, but little funding and mother nature was against me as it poored rain heavily throughout. Today was a nice dry (cold) day, so I went ahead and did it.

Got some good 'ol Mobile 1 5W30 Full Synth and a FRAM TG30 filter. Deus is loose again. Feels real good. One thing bothers me tho. I found that Royal Purple oil was the same price as the Mobile 1 per qt. I shoulda realized and tried it out. I hear that stuff does wonders... and it's purple.

Tomorrow is another day off. I got ahold of some high temp engine paint and am going to try it out on at least my throttle cable housing. That ought to be interesting.

* (1.27.06) Put that painted throttle cable housing in. Looks okay. Problem is that the color is Ford Red, which turns out to be lighter than Toyota Super Red. That I used on the Fuse cover. But of the Dupont engine paints available, it was the darkest red. Oh well. Better than paint melting all over the intake manifold. And it gets hot!!

* (1.29.06) Check it!! I got some new wheels today. They are 2000 stock silver C5 wheels. 17x8.5" fronts & 18x9.5" in the rear. Front wheels came with 245/45/R17 Goodyear F1 GS Run Flats!! Tread wear is looking about 40% left. No rear tires. But who cares!! I got this package here, including seperate black center caps and a full set of locking lugs with lock for $200!! I am insanely happy!! I'm going to pick up some used tires for the rear within the next couple weeks and get some pics up.

* (2.02.06) Was able to mount the front C5 wheels. To my friend, Jeff and my surprise the factory oe wheels turned out to be very similar dimensions. But after doing some basic math, it really shouldn't have been a surprise.

After driving around however I did find that either my alignment is slightly off or the low profile tires are pretty damn sensitive to the slightest of details in the road. It's probably a little of both. I'll be driving around slow for the next week or two until I get the rear tires and finally an alignment. And hopefully I won't have any backspacing problems on the larger rears. Otherwise... I'm happy. ;)

* (2.07.06) Got my LT4 Knock Module in today. Not sure if it'll have any radical effect on my car considering it's mostly stock, ergo "normal" sounding -- But we'll soon find out. One thing that weirded me out was the size of this thing. $42 (including shipping) and this thing is barely the size of 2 quarters. Hopefully this small package will create quite a punch.

* (2.08.06) Installed the LT4 Knock Module this morning. After a much needed wash'n'wax (thanks to mother nature for not raining) I took Deus out for a spin. I must say that I'm impressed with the KM, accelleration at WOT is totally smooth!! Well worth the price!

* (2.16.06) Today was both good and bad. I'll start off with the bad.

Last night I finally got the tires mounted onto the rear C5 wheels. This morning I eagerly went to mount them onto Deus. Unfortunately the center hub of the rotor is about 2-3mm wider than the wheels'. If I were to bolt them on, there'd be about a 1cm gap between the rotor and the wheel. Completely unsafe. So no go. Now I'll have to spend and wait for some decent spacers. That sucked!

Later in the day however, my SLP Cold Air Intake was delivered to work. So I ran over and picked it up. Had some lunch with my friend, Roy and ran some errands. Then we installed it. Installation wasn't too difficult on paper, tho it was actually a PITA. It doesn't matter cause it's done and Deus likes!!! Pics later.

* (2.23.06) Tried the cheap route and got some 5/16ths spacers at the local PepBoys. Tho I did manage to get the wheels on, because of the thickness of the spacer the lugs would only torque down 2-3 full turns around the studs - Not what I call safe. So reluctantly I took the wheel off and returned the spacers.

Sometimes you really do get what you pay for. So next week I'll order the heavy duty spacer adapters and hopefully within two weeks I'll finally have the new wheels on. It's all about patience.

* (3.10.06) FINALLY - Got the spacers and put on the C5 wheels on the rears. 1.25" spacer/adapters make it look like Deus has 315s... err.. 295s respectably. Happy!

* (3.17.06) FINALLY - Found the driver side 98+ honeycomb tail locally ($100) at a salvage yard and put them on along with the black center caps on the C5 wheels. Methinks it looks pretty damn sharp!!!

* (3.18.06) After a mishap (due to the previous owners dimwittery) where I found the incorrect bulbs in the sockets - I bought new bulbs all around and now my tail lights are working properly! LET THERE BE LIGHT

* (3.23.06) Today was different. I sold my beater ('92 Grand Am SE 3.3L V6) to a salvage yard for $111. I feel sort of bad taking that cut, but I am more pleased to be rid of that thing. It had problems that I just did not want to bother fixing, along with having to re-register and smog. And I also no longer wanted to pay insurance as I hardly drove it (it was being used by various family members).

So with that money I bought some Royal Purple 5w30 with a Fram TG30 filter and gave Deus a transfusion. (note: 125k, need to change again at 128k). Rest of the cash is probably going to an adjustable panhard.

Now I am on the quest for a new daily. I am thinking _Jeep Wrangler_!

In more Deus Irae news: Looks like I'll have to get a new back-up light switch.

* (3.31.06) Yesterday I managed to get the back-up light switch at the local GM store. Soon as I got home, I jacked up Deus and started to remove the old switch. Unfortunately I did not have the right socket or wrench to pull it out. After a good few minutes of trying to rig a adj. wrench I gave up. Went to the local Kragen and sized up the switches nut (that sounds funny) to find 7/8" to fit exactly. They had a single crescent wrench for sale for $10. No... So I gave up for the day.

Today I went to Roy's house and we did a Radiator flush, dropped in some Water Wetter along with it. Good stuff, Deus stays cooler longer now.

After helping Roy with a few more house chores we went to grab a bite at Round Table. As luck would have it, there was a Target store next door. I walked in determined to find that 7/8" wrench in some ratchet wrench set and so it was - A set of five ratchet wrenches for $10!! Rest is luminant history!

* (4.13.06) I HATE RAIN!! Not only can I not work on the car, but traction sux! I recently made a mistake in buying o2 sensors for the Deus. They were used (25k) and came off of a '97 LT1. The o2 sensor itself looks fine, but the connector is the wrong type (square 4-pin as opposed to flat 4-pin). So now I'm trying to sell it back on eBay. Hope I can at least make most of my money back.

In other news I ordered some LCA relocation brackets from hotpart.com on eBay. Waiting for them to arrive any day now (they're late, almost 2 business weeks). Not that it really matters when they come - Until the rain stops I can't work on Deus much at all. Quite frustrating.

The coolant flush and Water Wetter additive I did recently has started a mild tea kettle like hissing coming from somewhere. Some sort of vapor leak. I can't pinpoint the noise, so when I get a chance I'll do another radiator flush (minus Water Wetter) hoping that will fix it.

* (4.18.06) Not much of an update. Relocation brackets should be in tomorrow (today). In the meantime I managed to actually finish painting my spare scoops from red to black. Goin on soon.
There they are on Deus!
And here are the LCA relocation brackets.
* (4.20.06) After work last night I went hunting for the right sockets and wrenches for the LCA relocation brackets install. This morning I jacked up the car and was ready to go, however I found that I didn't have the right ratchet drive size for the sockets, so I had to go back to the auto store. No fun.

After having some breakfast, I went back to it. Decided to do the driver side first. The LCA was fairly easy to unbolt. However the shockmount bolt was impossible. For about an hour and a half I tried many positions and techniques/lubes to try and get enough leverage to pry that bolt loose. I came to the conclusion that it needed to be impacted and I didn't have an impact wrench. So I gave up.

After another frantic half hour of trying to line up the LCA bolt and finding that I stripped the nut (which I then retapped) I got it all back together again. I was humbled.

I decided to pay my family mechanic a visit. I told him what was up and of course he had a good laugh. So he said to bring Deus on in and they'd put it on the lift. Of course with the right equipment now, we had it done in about 45 minutes. He charged me cheap, because he had a good laugh at me having to buy all those tools and failing.

Soon after I was out on the road, the difference was immediate. I did some light driving as it was now rush hour, but I could already feel a lot more grab at the rear wheels. Deus now has traction and I'm going to have to learn to adjust to it. I'm quite happy.

* (4.21.06) Today after playing around trying to relearn how to launch - I did some burnouts and donuts and discovered my limited slip. I guess it didn't kick in properly because of all the damn wheel hope from the Eibach Pro Kit alone. These LCA reloc brackets grab asphalt!! Deus is a traction monster! I can't wait to get some stronger LCAs!
* (4.22.06) This morning while warming Deus up, I took a drag off my cig, layed my head back and noticed this.
Shocked and in horror and I stepped outside and found a good dime sized crater in the windshield that I didn't notice as I parked last night.
I don't know how it happened. Maybe it happened on the highway, or some neighbor in my apartment complex is messing with me. Not sure. Either way, insurance will probably cover it - But I don't want to pay the deductable at the moment. So I may ride it out for now. The crack(s) is currently 5" heading down the windshield. I am currently not in a good mood.
* (4.28.06)This is probably the most trivial (nonsensical)of anything that I've done. Basically, the original positive housing top was ripped off of the plastic hinge - Common thing in these cars. So I went a salvage yard and found another top that was already ripped off. Then I went to a hardware store in search of the smallest hinge that I could find, which was for a little music box/jewelry chest. Using my handy rotary tool, I grinded down fancy point at the end of each clamp. Then I epoxied it onto the cap, then spray painted the cap and hinge and glued it onto the housing. I know it's lame, but it helps balance out the red in the engine bay quite a bit....
...Like so. Oh, and I also gave the dual SLP air filters a good cleaning and oil treatment via the K&N kit. That I forgot to take pics of. Oh well... perhaps in 10,000 miles (note to self: 135k) I'll try to remember. In other news, I managed to sell those '96-'97 o2 sensors on eBay to someone in Sweden to use on his '96 Trans Am vert. He also owns a '69 Firebird 400. I wasn't aware that the 'bird had a following in Europe, but he says it's rather large. Cool stuff!
* (5.04.06) Decided to paint my strut tower brace, and so far went through about 2.5 cans of Dupli-Color Super Red II. Still got one more layer to finish on the front... cause I messed up.
* (5.22.06) Haven't been on much. Why? Computer died. But I'm back with a new P4. As for Deus - I found out that I have an Edelbrock Strut Tower Brace. Coolness! I also painted my top throttle body plate Ford Red to match the throttle cable housing and also threw on a Firebird decal on top. Yeah.. nothing special, no gains, but it looks nice.
* (6.02.06) I suppose I should make an engine exclusive page.
* (6.09.06) Picked up a new(used) airdam from GM Sports Salvage to replace the old mangled one that the previous ownder chopped up. Decided to try something different. Painted it black, made a stencil, and painted the cars name, "Deus Irae" on it. Something different.

* (7.08.06) Approaching 128,500 miles - So I decided to change oil a couple hundred miles early from 3000. Went with MOBIL 1 Full Synth and a FRAM TG30 this time. Funny how much more responsive Deus feels.

* (7.14.06) Swapped out the fuel filter today with a new Purolator brand. It feels like the old fuel filter must not have been changed for years. You can feel the difference right away from 1st gear. Smooth! I was so anxious to put it on that I didn't foresee the amount of gas that would leak out, so my upper left arm and shoulder got doused in a puddle. And it did not at all feel good. Next time (which will be next year), I will perform a more careful procedure.
* (7.27.06) Caliper paint! Used Dupli-color brush on kits, black and red. Front is red caliper with black bracket, rear is black with red. I first started with the rear in black, but you didn't even notice it.
A week later I did the front caliper in red, which stuck out like a sore thumb. So I did the rear bracket in red to balance it out. Looks pretty good IMO.
Got the appropriate decal for the STB. This is one of my more favorite engine bay shots. ;)
Just keeping it current.
* (8.3.06)Bought this little RS-1 Tuner aluminum ramp thing in the bargain bin at PepBoys. What it's supposed to do is raise your low-profile car up enough to get a regular size jack underneath. I usually use woodblocks. It was 60% off of $20 - so for about $7.50 I went ahead and bought it. It even comes with a storage bag. Kinda bling, aye?
The package it was in featured a Scion resting on it. Deus Irae weighs probably quite a bit more than a dinky little Scion, so I had my doubts and that it'd be street pizza. But what do ya know, it works. Good-bye woodblocks.
* (8.4.06)Lots of things to do today. First off is the Throttle Body Cooolant Bypass. This proved more tedious than expected. I spent a good $5-6 on parts (hose coupler, caps, clamps) yet after actually looking over what was necessary, I didn't need to buy the stuff afterall. However - I just couldn't pull out the hose attached to the steampipe. Any harsh force and I was afraid I'd tear it out. So I used the parts afterall... and yes, a little overkill on the clamps. But it looks interesting. Most importantly, the TB isn't heating up as much.
Second project was to install this Trick Flow-esque aluminum elbow which I had decided to coat with red ceramic paint left over from my caliper project. I didn't get any pictures of the install, but it was a failure. Won't clear -It's too big! I'll have to get it cut an inch or so where it connects via the MAF end. It did look cool in place, but wouldn't seal up properly. Oh well.
Finally, due to the overtime spent on the TB Bypass and the failed elbow install - Okay, I also took in a mid afternoon matinee showing of Talladega Nights. So I didn't get around to installing this fanswitch I got from Speed Specialty. But I did take some time to read the instructions and run through it once pulling out the kick panel, etc. Now that I understand, it's all about figuring where to mount the switch - Next week!
* (8.6.06) Okay, so I couldn't wait until next week - Here it is! As I'm somewhat of a novice it took a bit of time and plotting. Running the wires through the firewall was bit of a hassle.
Also, perhaps a nuance of my car and the choice of the cigarette lighter as the constant power/ground source keeps these LED lights on even while in the off position on the toggle switch. The maker said if I should want to, I could re-rout the power wire to my stereo head unit to switch power on when my keys are at the "RUN" position - it should elimate the constant light. But as they are LEDs, the loss of power is minimal. And as Deus is currently a daily, it's no big deal. I also slightly upgraded, by adding these chrome LED holders from Radio Shack, for dress up purposes. I think it looks good! And of course, we're cooler.
I gave elbow to a shop friend and had him cut off 1" at the MAF end. Then I repainted, dried and re-installed. It was still a bit snug due to the TB end hose adapter being a bit long, but I made it work. Tho I did end up chipping a small piece of paint off. I'll get it soon enough. It wasn't much of a chore compared to fitting that damn stock elbow - a reason why I wanted this. I also had to dump the snap-in airfoil as it no longer fits properly. I'll eventially pick up a bolt-in SLP airfoil or the like. In any case, we
re lookin good and breathing great!
* (8.11.06)In a fit of boredom this morning, I went to the local Autozone just to browse around and I came upon these red anodized lugs. $20+tax and an hour later here they are. Not bad, I'm about 70-30 in favor, but the more look I look at it, the more I like it.
* (8.16.06) Bad news. During my lunch break I decided to go on a gas run. On the way back, a cop pulled me over. He stated that my turn signals on my tails are too dim and he couldn't see them. He could have given me a moving violation which would have been very bad - However he only gave me a "fix-it" ticket. So I have 2 months (10.18.06) to get it fixed and appear in court and pay the fine or contest it, etc.
The problem is that this is a nuance of my cars particular year. Early 4th gens had this problem in common. That night I went to several autostores looking for bright LED bulbs, but none were compatible - 1156 sizes are import common. After confering on the www.f-bodyhideout.com forums, I was pointed to www.superbrightleds.com where I went ahead and ordered two 1157/2057 style 12LED bulbs. Hopefully this will brighten up my life and if so, I'll get LED bulbs all around.

On a positive note, my airfoil kit and TB plate gasket that was ordered from CRT Performance via eBay had arrived at work earlier in the day. Even came with a decal - Always a plus! At least I've something to do tomorrow to help get this damned ticket off my mind.
* (8.17.06) Installed the airfoil which really wasn't much of a challenge. I am pleased to say that having installed that Trick Flow elbow made everything a real snap. The old oe elbow was always a nightmare.
* (8.31.06) Today is my "Bursting Out of the Uteris Day." I treated myself to something... I guess you could call nice. I bought a new daily. This is a 1992 Mazda Protege LX. 1.8L DOHC, 125hp 140ft./lbs. of torque!!! Haha!! My first car was extremely similar. It was a base '93 Protege DX SOHC. Same color, boring beige. Only this one has a different grill and is power everything, plus sunroof! 30miles/gallon - $20 a week on fuel. Compared to $50-$60 a week on Deus, this is not bad. Plus Deus Irae can now finally be considered my project/weekend car. Hell, I even lowered my insurance with the multi-car discount to boot. =)

Also poored some Seafoam into the oil and gas. Have to run it hard the next few times I drive Deus Irae and knock some of that gunk loose for the next oil change which will come shortly.

* (9.7.06) Today I took a leisurely trip of about 80+ miles around the south bay area to Gilroy. To and from and I did some hard pulls up to 130mph. Should help with circulating the Seafoam.

* (9.13.06) Bad news. Deus didn't pass smog and it's not certain exactly what is wrong. It may be misfiring which would lead to new plugs and/or it may need a cat. You can definitely smell some funk goin on tho. I perhaps should have done an oil change first. Fortunately I'll have time to deal with this problem as registration isn't due until mid November. Still irksome, really. If it doesn't pass again, I may put a non-op on Deus at least for the winter.

Good news. My tail light problem has been fixed by cleaning out the groundwire and tapping it directly to the bulb in socket. Had it written off by a policeman and now just have to write the $10 check and mail it in.
Also managed to snag a MSD Ignition Coil (PN 8226) pre-assembled with the ICM and brackets from eBay. With the exception of having to buy a 9/16" deep socket to r&r the whole assembly.
* (9.27.06) Nothing big. Installed a new PCV valve. Hopefully will help with emissions, but probably not... much.

* (10.04.06) Did an oil change and yup, the Seafoam did it's job. Oil was pretty darn black after perhaps only 100 miles of usage. Mobile 1, 5w30 looks to have gone up in price about 5-6 dollars since my last oil change. I was going to go ahead and get some Royal Purple at $7 a quart, but I figured since it's now starting to rain, I won't be using Deus as much so I settled on a cheaper 5qt jug of Quaker State 10w30 instead. Full Synth only, of course and also your basic Fram PG30 filter. And that should be enough to shut Deus down for the winter with just a visit to the mechanic, smog and maybe some 20 minute a week fun on the highway and/or backroads.
* (11.01.06) Today was a good day. I replaced the crappy Bosch Platinum spark plugs with the basic NGK-TR55 which is heat rated best for LT1 engines. And it made a nice difference... Idle is much better.

Also was able to get this Magnaflow highflow catalytic converter installed at a local muffler shop. The old cat was heavily clogged and burnt up which would explain the heavy odor. And again the old cat was welded very badly. It was 2.5" in/outlet whereas it should have been 2.75". The Magnaflow is 3" so an adapter had to be installed as well. Total came to $70 and it was a job nicely done. I'll likely come back and have them replace this rusting old catback.

From there I drove straight to Smog station. A worker there said I should probably get some new oxygen sensors since I had changed the cat. But I figured as no check engine lights are flashing, no codes thrown that they're probably okay. I really didn't want to have spend another $130 for the sensors, so it was a gamble. If I didn't pass it would be $60 for another smog test plus the sensors, and before $88 to also register. Fortunately, Deus Irae passed smog. And I tell ya, it was a load off my shoulders. Phew! Now we just have to register.

* (11.02.06) After the smog test yesterday it began to rain, so I had no choice but to head home. Today the rain let up enough for me to take Deus out for a little spin to check how much better performance was after.. everything. And it's awesome! Switching from the clogged cat, coupled with fresh plugs and newly installed MSD HEI ignition coil made a significant difference. Now flooring it on 6th gear running from 70-80+ mph - It no longer bogs. It's smooth! Deus is like a whole new car!!

After the successful run of a total of 15 miles (short but sweet) I was home, flipped on Deus' fan switch and decided to throw the Edelbrock STB back on (which I had to take off to get the plugs in. As soon as I tighted the last bolt it began to rain. And that's it I thought. I may go on one more longer ride before the rains hit hard but, during the next few months, I'll come out periodically and rev Deus for a few minutes to keep the battery powered.. maybe a small ride around the neighborhood a few times, but that's it. Deus is shut down - Only to be quickened again in the spring.

* (3.27.07) Been quite awhile. Deus has been hybernating over the winter. Now that the weather is more pleasant, it's back to fun! At long last (via eBay) I have acquired a pair of Mecham "Power Oval" exhaust tips - 3"in 7.5" out! I've been wanting these since before I got Deus Irae. And I've got some good plans in mind.

* (3.29.07) Today I went to exhaust shop mainly for a quote. But what the hell, I had the installed anyway. It requited cutting off the crappy old pepboy tips that the previous owner stuck on - And also some new pipes to be welded in and adapted for size. With measuring for the mandrel bends etc... It took probably 45 minutes. And Goldie (of Santa Clara's "Goldie's Muffler & Breaks) did a great job getting them lined up just right. He even went so far as to fix some pinhole leaks he found along the down pipe. He got a nice tip. And I'll probably go to him again once I get the long tubes going.

At the moment it's somewhat unspectacular. The wideness does look great! And they even changed the tone of the exhaust a little - More pronounced - Very Borla. As for the plans....
CETA mod and the tips will be grinded smooth and I'll either go with grey engine paint or go all out and get them powdercoated grey. Lookin at this (crappy) 3 minute photoshop does make me feel all tingly inside. In other news: I sold the Y2K C5 wheels with a bit of regret. They did look nice, but I'm looking forward to getting a set that is black wih a chrome lip. We'll find out soon enough.
* (4.05.07) Gray Engine paint I bought had gone to waste. As I was taking off my tips for paint I got the idea of just polishing the very ends/1/4" inside the tips So I got my grinder and here ya go. Defintely a lot bolder.