I don't much like how it looks. I've always liked a clean but not plain look, your's just steers a little too much toward the plain side to me, but it is very clean. Then again, I'm a GFX lover. The only no-GFX cars I really like are quite lowered with nice 17's, but that would obviously hurt your 1/4 mile oriented goals.

I do (will when painted) like the hood better than the cowl on that car, but I don't think it will do anything over the other one for the "sitting still sleeper look", especially with the bolt-on latches all over.

...but that's all just my opinion, and only that about the appearance.

well then, you better step up your game there old man!

your gonna wish you never took that auto outta the car! lol!

as far as the bolt on latches...the car is getting painted white, then i'm having one of seans friends powder coat the dzus fasteners. then they will be rivitted on and the rivits will be hit with a white paint pen. up close, obviously they will be noticable...but in a parking lot, it'll look like a very well kept stock car....i hope.

u said that just right, and matt is a very stand up guy!!!!! would do anything for a buddy that he could. and that makes what he does even better
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as long as i can keep up and not get to blown away i'm cool with that. and whats ith the old man bit bud. lol, well **** i am getting old

ROFL! you know im just ribbin' ya abit...though you do have like 11 years on me!

I love your car, your buddys car, and your car with the other hood. Very nice job and its plenty fast.

I wouldn't call it a sleeper though...way too damn clean!

Dude-That cowl hood looked so good on there. Looked like a Pro Stock dragster....

I think you should make your car LQQK as fast as it is. I bet you have fun racing people on the street. Better be careful and not kill yourself, someone else or go to jail lol.

You need to take that car on PINKS on SPEED, and go when yourself a few more cars. Will that thing pull some wheelies yet? Talk at ya later...Shawn

i honestly don't know if I'd call it sleeper. as it looks I think race car anyway.

sleeper would be crappy 14" steelies and no indication of power.

honestly if for example I'm in the GTO, I see a thirdgen I automatically assume they can't hang. every once in a great while I find a quick one, that can hang. I haven't found one yet in the GTO, but I had a good race in the GTP once.

but if I'm in the TA, I'm everyones bish nowadays in 2006. with only 190 hp, and 15 second 1/4 mile capability, I can win a race till 30. which is like what 3-4 seconds? up top on the freeway? no chance. today a guy in a monte carlo supercharged SS laughed at me on the freeway. had I been in the GTO, it would have been different.

so basically, IMO, no matter what, any thirdgen that is a clean survivor, and is actually fast is a sleeper here in Wisconsin.

man I miss driving my GTO, but she probably won't hit the streets again till late 2007, at the soonest. motors are expensive, and the money ain't there. esp. when the motor on your 7 month old car fails, and they won't warranty it...

hence why after 5 years, I'm back here on thirdgen.org

so...what, that mighty ls2 didn't last? what happened? i'm no stranger to engine failure...but i've built 4 gen 1's in the last few years, and i'd venture to say that all 4 of mine cost less than just the 1 of yours....

and i think you may still be skimming, as i've posted 3 times now in this thread alone that the car will be wearing either 14", 15", or 16" wheels when i'm just cruising around, acting sleeperish...all 3 sets of wheels sport factory sized tires...or they will.

so you put aftermarket headers on the car, have been beating the living rat **** **** outta the car, it blew and now chevy wont give ya another one because its been messed with right?

here is what i say you do, sell the gto to someone who can actually afford to play with high dollar new technology (you obviously can't hence the reason you'll be out of a fast car for another year and a half) and spend just half the money on making the trans am fast. you then have something that is fast, obviously a sleeper in your area (imagine the look on the guys face in the monte ss with the blower on it when you show him some thirdgen taillights), and something that is your own, that YOU built with YOUR hands.

well I'm not rich, but I ain't poor. together my g/f and I should clean 75k together this year, she earns more than me, and has alot more overtime opportunity.

basically the only reason it'll take a while is because, I went thru divorce, and the effect from the "marital debt settlement" will be felt for a while, last year I went thru a rough out of work period, and due to that my C.C's are nearly to the limits. plus I found the right girl, and I actually wanna marry her.

i agree that i could build the ta to the max for a ton cheaper. but the GTO isn't just about speed. it's such a complete car. it's BMW/Mercedes quality at a pontiac price.

I can throw a stock LS2 shortblock in it for like 1k and have a totally stock car. or I can spend 3500 on a 400+ cube aluminium LS2 based long block, throw a cam on it and have a total beast, and still have my LS2 core to be machined and put into the TA.

a fast thirgen in my area is definately a rare car, a clean one even more rare.

i put down 10k when I bought my goat, so for awhile it'll be a "bad time" to try to sell it, stock motor or none. and it's my dream car and love it.

if I won the lottery tomorrow In my garage there'd be my goat, a C6 Z06, my '88 TA, restored w/ LSx powering, among other cars, maybe I can be lucky and have 2 of those three.

Stevo - all my mods are:
35% Tint
GM Performance Parts GTO Sport Appearance Package "Auto-X" front grilles, custom painted body color/GTO Quicksilver Metallic
Hood Grilles Painted Quicksilver
Lower front grille insert painted Quicksilver too.
Fascia Grilles painted Quicksilver.
Rear partically debadged, save for the Pontiac badge
Taillights custom tinted like Monaro CV8-R
Sylvania Silverstars in the fogs
McCulloch 5000k HID Retrofit
Silverstar Front Sidemarker Bulbs
Blue Reflective "GTO" Rear Fascia Inlay
Orange Reflective Inner/Silver outer "6.0 Litre" Badges on hood scoops.
Orange Reflective GTO side badge inlays.
Stainless Works Un-Catted Long Tube Headers
Flowmaster Catback
K&N Intake
SLP 160* T-Stat
MSD 8.5mm Plug Wires
Removed MAF Screen

not much. the car was daily driven, wasn't beat to **** and hammered on all daily. hell I made it 16k on the original rear tires, and the rubber was hard as a rock. I think thats damn good self control for a 400+ HP car.

well I'm tired and I don't know if I'm making sense anymore, but I mean no disrespect.

and up there when I said "no indication of power" I bet when you start up your car I can "hear" the indication of power, cleanly it's got one hell of a cam/heads to pull a 12.50 on hardly anything for cubes. your car no matter what will hard to go sleeper.

well i'm off to bed, later gators.

yes, cam and heads are pretty beastly...with 10.4:1 c/r, 238*/248* @.050 .480"/.500" lift on a 114lsa with some worked over 113 heads...it's hard to keep the beast quiet once awakend.

just FYI, i built this car on a 12K/year budget...actually, i only made 10,600 last year.

I think the IROC wheels in the first pic looked good. It always looks most sleeperish with stock rims. A p255 50 16" drag radial will fit that wheel combo.
I like GFX, but yours looks good without.
for a good stance put 225 50 16's on the front. It makes the car look wider in the back.

I love the way your car looks, Liked the cowl hood better then the flat hood, but the flat hood doesn't look bad. To keep it quiet why not just get cutouts for right after the headers, then bend a ypipe and run it to a stock replacement exhaust. Put a set of those electric valves on the cutouts, then when you go to race leave them closed, as you launch the car hit the button to open them as you scream through first. Talk about a surprise to the other guy.

-Jim

Hey, if you post asking for opinions you gotta be prepared for negative ones. Thats just how this forum is, people say whats on their mind (sometimes without being PC). My opinion, I personally don't like the look because I'm a GFX man, but hey the look is just a personal preferance. As long as you like it then thats all that matters. As far as the sleeper look, I think the tires give it away. If you do put on wheels with smaller stock looking tires then you'll have more of a sleeper look, but then I imagine your traction would suffer. To me it dosnt matter if the wheels match, but unfortunately those huge meats that give you the good traction off the line kinda give it away. Side note, my IROC-Z has the same style hood with the cutouts in the same place.

come on guys...please read the posts before saying anything else about wheels/tires.

I like the open-cutout-as-you-go idea, that's about the only way you might get sleeper reactions on the street. Even if it just looks sleeperish in the parking lot, you won't be able to hold the person to the same race you just set up once you fire it up.

As for tires, I don't know if it's your DD or not, but a set of 2 groove cheater slicks goes a long way in looking like bald stock tires to those who aren't really paying attention. You can do that on stock wheels, with nearly stock sizes. That way you don't have to lose traction to lose the fast appearance.

B4Ctom1, or whoever it was that owned his gray Camaro at the time, fooled several people out in CO with his totally stock looking SC with cheater slicks on it. Of course me being the thirdgen freak I am, I just had to look it over and immediately spotted the slicks. I tapped my friend on the shoulder and just pointed. He said "What?", then took a few more moments to say "Oh! Holy sh**!" or something like that. We were the only two out of several people to notice, until he fired it up, heh. It probably sounded a lot like your car does.

i was thinking maybe of running a 255/50/16 nitto or bfg drag radial on the 16" z28 wheels, though it's got 275/60/15 M/T ET Street Radials on the 15x10 rodlites...and they work VERY well.

as far as the exhaust goes...i think it's gonna have to be the one thing that gives the car away...i like dual exhaust and the sound WAY too much...i'm not gonna be racing for money here, i just want to fool some folks, cause it's fun...

hey matt, around here there isnt to many people that know what a thirdgen is. lol, all they how around here is "RUSTANGS" so we have the advantage as far as that goes. and i would have to admit it does give it away when you can hear yea when you are close to my house for awhile before you actually pull in the driveway. lol But i agree i love the sound

man i just found this thread, i was gone on the power tour i guess when you posted it. i cant believe some of the comments. this car is absolutely rediculous. i mean for real a 305 that matt threw together in a day is now running 12.5's that is crazy. matt is very very smart with cars he has helped me out with my iroc several times. you guys have to see the car in person it is very nice looking i dont see where the white trash comment came from but my car was called white trash b4 and i guess these cars are never going to amount to anything if someone who owns a thirdgen calls another thirdgen whitetrash... but for real the hood is awesome i was at his house when he made it, the thing literally did weigh nothing. and it will look great when it gets painted ya it doesnt look great now b/c of the black and yellow but it is a 1 of a kind being a lift off. all in all matt has done an excellent job on this car and if he is turning mid 12's in a 305 and says he's going to a 383 i cant even imagine how fast that car will be. btw hook me up with that 305 when you upgrade.

i just can't stand to see it get bashed by people who haven't seen it in person.[/quote]

Wow man I totally feel ya, my RS gets bashed on all the time cuz its about three different colors until I save up enough for my paint, definitely takes the whole "white trash" deal. I've put countless hours into my baby as well, cuz the guy I bought it from didnt know the difference between a carb and a TPI. I definitely respect the work people put into their cars, thats why I would never just full on bash on their creations before knowing whats been put into it. And I'm goin the 305 route for now too lol only TPI not carb... my goal is to stomp on the horde of Stangs around STL!!! Hopefully kick it with a few third gens too...

Sport coupes are badass. My friend larry runs a 406 that we built. We win so much money at the strip because it looks like this.



except it has 15inch sport coupe wheels and nose. Oh and its faded red/black primer, not faded white.

well, mine is going to be clean...stockish, but clean...

here is all you get for now

I'm not a fan of non-GFX cars, but your car is freaking badass man. In the next 1-2 years id like to get a very inexpensive camaro/firebird and build it into a a sleeper drag racer/auto-x car..and your car is along the lines of something i would do (except i would probably have GFX if the car came with them).

Either way man, BADASS!! get some more shots of that thing w/ the hood painted!

i think the car looks great, better with the cowl, but stilll great. If my iroc looked like that i would be a happy man.

I love your car

thank god you went with the black in the hood i think that will look badass. you are still doing black headlight pockets and the little vent things on the front black too right? they definitely need to be black.. that car is going to be so nice when its out. congrats matt. i know your really really homesick now huh?

I only WISH my 305 had half the power of yours mw66. Dont hate the haters, your car is sick and while I do prefer the cowl over your new look, it still looks pretty damn good.

weight and functionality are the name of the game here, and if i can make it look good too, then i'm doing great! thanks for the compliments guys, it's come a long way. and yes, all that was black on the front of the car will stay black.

homesick is an understatement...though after the night i had on the phone with my ex and my best friend...i might just stay on the road! (nothing involving the two of them, but rather something that's going on with the whole group of people we all hang with...drama!)

What's up Matt?

I'd like to hear/see it run someday. Might have to drive down there sometimes. I'm not a fan of no GFX either but you know how opinion's are.

You have to compare a non GFX car to an LX crustang. They were lighter thus faster than an evenly equiped vechicle with all the purdy stuff hanging on.

NOBODY should question the fact of the work that's been put into the car nor to say the least the timeslips that back it up.

DM

Looks awesome man, I've always liked your car, they way it looks, and pretty much everything.

hahaha....that is why i love second shift so much....no BS drama

I am not the biggest non gfx fan, but I have always liked your car. You car has the whole "quiet guy sitting in the corner that wins bar fights" thing going on. Once you get matching front wheels, it will look sick. As for the street hunting wheel choice, go with the 14 inch SC wheels! You should get a new vid up when everything is done.

yeah, i think that's going to be the plan. i'll refurbish the 14's when i get home and wrap them in fresh rubber and hope to get some pics up, though that probably won't happen till i get back home in September. matching front wheels are on their way to the house from jegs.

Back home in sept? Where do you work?

well, i'm coming home in August but only for a week and i got other things to take care of so the 14's will have to wait. i work for a company called Your Way Network and we do live streaming webcasting of drag racing. last weekend we were in Cayuga, Ontario for an OSCA race, this weekend we're in Noralk Ohio for a Fun Ford Weekend event and next week it's back to Canada for the Candain Fastest Street Car Shootout. we focus on the fast street car scene. i love my job and i live in a motorhome on the road. but i'm only home about 1 week a month is what it averages out to, but this trip was a bit longer. left first week of june and won't be back till the second week of august, so nothing is really getting done on the car, other than getting re-painted. but i'm earning money so i'm buying parts for when i get back to the house i'll have things ready to rock-n-roll cause i'm planning to race my car and a few clients cars as well, so everything has be up to par.

oh and check out YWN, Your Way Network we have some really awesome coverage on there.

I agree

care to explain why? (this is not a hostile post, i honestly would like to know an explanation behind your statement.)

nice ride.
POZ

Is that the dynomax true dual system summit sells??

I want to do that with high flow cats.


I like the sleeper look. Your car has inspired me. I dont have ground effects because of your car. it looks sick, and I think I can say my car looks sick too. What rims are in the back? and enlightenten me of your motor. im 14 and Im really strapped on cash. my motor Is sorta trash and doesnt run. So maybe id rebuild it providing I dont just get a new wiring harness fix the car and just sell it for a 68 firebird and 73 camaro lt

go to my cardomain site in my sig for engine specs. the back wheels in the first pics are Weld Rodlites and they are 15x10. thanks for the compliments guys!

Sounds like a sweet job - for a while. I can see where you'd get burned out though. People like SLOWCAMARO & PREDATOR are just wannabes that don't like backing up anything they say. But hey, if it's ugly to them then so be it. Personally I don't like the looks of it either with only the nice wheels in back. I would have waited til I had the whole set before mounting them on the car.
Can't wait to see it painted with a whole set of matching rims! Keep up the good work at home & away. Nice job.

they have my drag radials on them...those first pics i posted were from the pits of the drag strip. i went ahead and mounted them cause they are 10" wide instead of the 7" wide stockers...they spread the footprint of the tire out and that is very important...again, functionality over form. front wheels are on their way.

here is one more from another angle still in the paint booth. i'm hoping to have more pics in the next day or so of it outside the booth and in the sun light.

I thinks its ugly because of the set up if it was all black or white it would look good or had stripes, but the scheme/paint choices dont look good imo. You have a nice car but its just not me. If I saw it i would look and say have theres a camaro and look on...I might add that sound badd@ss, but i would have to hear it. Now if i saw you with a different exterior I might say wow thats the first good looking camaro around here that ive seen (excluding myself). But just my opinion

In light of the GTO guy who posted earlier in the thread;
I feel there is a lot more respect due when knowledge and skill are applied to build something from nothing versus simply purchasing a car that has had a team of engineers work everything out for you.

mw66, the car looks very purposeful and I dig it. Keep up the good work.

well, i suppose that not everyone likes a very clean stock appearing ride that runs 12's(soon to be 10's)...i understand i suppose. now if the car had 91-92 gfx and an ss hood with 18" billet wheels, then it'd be "badass" like every other "badass" car on TGO...but no, it's a non-gfx car with a super awesomely clean paint job with a functional stock hood and fatties/skinnies and has been built for a sole purpose...to get down the 1/4 before you do and take you by suprise cause it didn't have gfx and a cowl hood/ss hood, or some other goofy hood.

Im sure everyone would love your car if you called Pimp my Ride and had those **** from West Coast Customs queer it out

But on a side note, i have a cowl hood, and i dont think it is goofy, but the others you mention are defenitly that

Gotta say...the more and more i look at your car the more im starting to become a fan of the non-gfx look. On my way home from work today there was like a nice, very clean, white berlinetta for sale...reminded me of your car. Also saw a nice sport coupe drive past me on the way to the gym today. I mean all of my cars have/had ground effects, and i like that...but the non-gfx, sleeper, race look is definately growing on me!!!