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'01
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I had a pit crew change this year. Laurence still helped when he could, but it was mostly me until June. Then Joe came along and changed the course of my modifications.

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Exterior:
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Camaro Ground Effects :
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I have 1991/92 Z28 Camaro side ground effects.

I got them from Thirdgenparts.com. Great group of people over there. They got me the parts in perfect condition in the right color, in record time. I totally recommend them.

The night before the March 30th NOPI car show, I installed them. This time it was just me doing the install. I had help from a flower pot that held up the other end as I made measurements and drilled holes. I did not install the upper molding that goes on the door because I would have to remove the door panel. God I hate removing door panels. It turned out OK though. W/O the top piece it matched the upside down fins, so I left it off. I actually get many compliments because of it. I also put red 3M pin striping over the painted gray stripe that was on them.

I also put another upside down fin on the front of the car, under the ground effects. The fin had to be split in half to follow the lines of the angled front bumper.

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Time for the April NOPI Show�
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Damian & I modified the looks of the front ground effects where the KITT light showed through. I took out the Plexiglas and replaced it with a black mesh. I cut out the Plexiglas in front of the fog lights. There was not enough light penetrating the other way. We modified and filled the gap that was present in the front fin, due to it being cut on an angle. Still need to work on that. I want to build a custom fang to cover it. It will go with my dragon theme. I installed lights under the side mirrors, (extra turn signals).

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INTERIOR
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Naugasoft Cargo panels
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For a final touch, I got black Naugasoft and trimmed my rear cargo panels. Man I would never do it again with the panels in the car. I have a scar on my hand from the knife when it attacked me.

I added some red piping to it and the instrument cluster. The red was mostly to cover the seams and make the edges clean.

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Stereo Upgrade
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Laurence had talked me into wiring his new radio and amp. He also roped me into installing his door speakers and his 6X9s. Then he showed up w/ his 10-year-old Pioneer subs. I hooked up all the components. Turns out he got too big of an amp for those speakers. He swore they could take more, but he over amped them and one blew. The other one sounded pretty ragged as well. He showed up at my house with a new set in a new sub box and left his at my house. He said he would take them to the dump the next day.

I was curious. I checked the one that was not blown. It seemed OK. I asked Laurence if I could keep it and his box for parts. He agreed.

I tore up the box and then I saw why the 2nd sub sounded bad. The stupid box was made horrible. There was no caulk on the joints and it was nailed together. The vibration of the bass and the air pressure changes inside had caused the box to come apart. The carpet was the only thing holding it together.

So I measured my rear cargo area and made a box. I sealed it & used screws at the joints. I made a grill and covered it with the red grill cloth. Damian helped me push and pull to get that thing in the hole.

It just fit... ***NOTE***(Pic taken after new carpet was installed)

I got a 50X4 (160X2) US Acoustics amp to run it and my dash and door speakers. 2 channels bridged to the sub on low pass. The remaining 2 channels were split and sent to the door and dash speakers on high pass. This meant each front speaker would receive 50 watts, so I had to turn down their signal slightly. Their continuous watts were rated at around 25-30. Since they were only receiving highs they would be in no danger of blowing.

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First ACFA Meeting
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In May, I went to the ACFA (Atlanta Camaro / Firebird Association) meeting. Met quite a few fellow F-body folk & I met my best friend Joe.

He told me about the GAFBA (GA F-Body Association). I joined up with them. They are a very performance oriented crowd. From there the performance aspect of my car started to get tweaked thanks to Joe.

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Fixing up the bird
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Our first project was a bit of maintenance, but soon we were on to the fun stuff. We installed new KYB rear shocks and Granatelli Lower Control arms. Both painted red. My old shocks were stock and due for changing. The lower control arms would be great for handling. They weren't too bad to get in and out. I let Joe do the work since I had no clue about suspension. It was not hard, just very tight bolts.

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Exhaust Upgrade
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Then it was time for a better rumble. I went to a Flowmaster Exhaust system. I already had the higher capacity Catco Cat. I had All Pro Muffler route the exhaust tips so they would come out under the license plate. I had the tips split and 4 square chrome tips installed.

Something about the set up really gives the car a deep sound for a 2.8. People swear it is a V-8. I think it is due to the combination of the cat and the routing of the tips.

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Picture Time at my old Elementary School
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After all this I decided to go to my old Elementary school and take some shots of the car. The scenery was pretty nice out there.

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Then the big project...
Carpet:
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We decided to change the old light gray carpet to black. I had been fighting stains since I got the car. The lady who had it before me let her kids run wild. There were orange soda stains all over the floor. Thank god for floor mats. we pulled all the panels out, the seats, and the seatbelts. The only hard part was removing the 12in sub box. I made it too darn tight.

Once we got the old carpet out, I had to drive it one day. I had a seat and bare metal floors.

Man the floors got hot. And the sound, it was horrible.

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Soundproofing
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So I got home and I soundproofed the entire interior. Duplicolor Sound Eliminator, here I come. I was smart and wore the filtering mask this time.
I sprayed everywhere I could think of.

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Stereo Upgrade
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Then while everything was out...I rerouted my stereo wires for a cleaner set up.

Crutchfield is a god sent. Their web page had an answer for my every question. Now, all my friends were coming to me for stereo advice.

Finally, we laid down the carpet. It took so long that I missed the June NOPI show. I just did not have the energy to get all the panels in one night. I decided to take my time and clean them really well. They were degreased and then Black Magic was applied. They looked awesome. I attacked any panel that had not been previously sound proofed.

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Floormats
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Then I had to redo my floor mats with black carpet. I picked my old set with the worn out carpet & pulled off the gray & cut out black for the spare roll I got.

I then replaced the carpet on the weathered kick panels.

We dyed the sub boxes black and recovered rear speaker panels in black. I painted the rear armrests black to accent the Naugasoft panels and I replaced the gray dash map pocket with a black one from the junkyard.

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In early July,
I was going to Pigeon Forge, TN. for the NOPI Mini Truckin� and Sport compact finals.
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Nitrous
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We tackled a NOS Sneaky Pete set up. The bottle was placed in the back locking glove box area. By now I had removed the physical "box". The Solenoid was already attached to the bottle.

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Strut Tower Brace
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Then I got an Edelbrock Strut Tower brace. It was a pain. We had to drill holes in the strut tower and grind and cut out notches in it to get it to fit w/o damaging the hood. It still managed to put and upward dent in the hood. Edelbrock would not help at all.

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Neon
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I installed neon tubes under the seats.

I purchased a APC Chrome fire extinguisher. It got mounted to the passenger side kick panel.

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SunCoast Ram Air Hood
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Shortly after, I ordered a SunCoast ram air hood & we drove to Bradenton, FL. to pick it up. Because of work I had to leave late. I had to leave my stock hood behind, so I had cardboard over my engine compartment.

I heard it was raining and did not want to have an issue. I drove all night. Got there at 7AM, slept, visited with a friend. Next day we went to Suncoast. That�s when it rained. The make shift hood barely made it there before it disintegrated.

Then back to GA with my new hood. On the way we stopped at the beach for some cool pics. There was not sign saying you could not go on the beach, so I creeped out there and got some shots.

I drove through a puddle in the parking lot to be sure no salty sand got on the underside.

Now with clean wheels we went to leave and the cops came. I explained I was taking pics and there were no �stay off �signs, so they left. Now came the big storm. We stopped and ate at this cool little Italian restaurant. Then we were back on the road. I drove all night. We got to GA at 7AM again, just in time for me to go to work.

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2001 Continued on next page...

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HOME PAGE

Follow this link to additional information on the car not found on this site!
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DIRECTORY FOR RAIF'S HISTORY SITE
01 Site Overview
02 (1987) Options and window sticker...
03 (1989) Stock pics...
04 (1990) Bottom Accent color changed to Black, Enkei rims, & Tint
05 (1992) Wreck & Added 2 amps
06 (1994) Changer, Alarm, Taillights painted red, Emblems Modified
07 (1998) Engine�s top end rebuilt
08 (1999) Major mods began...Misc. trim, exterior lights, & Alpine head unit
09 (2000) Journal of events
10 (pre July 2001) Journal of events <<<
11 (post July 2001) Journal of events
12 (pre March 2002) Journal of events
13 (March 2002) Pensacola Fiasco
14 (post March 2002) Journal of events
15 Grey and Black Interior
16 Old Sub box
17 Cop Stories
18 Old 2.25 Inch Exhaust
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