We had hoped that all the hard work (last minute paint job, detailing under the car in the rain Friday night, etc) would pay off, and it did. It was a tough class, too...we weren't sure we would place at all, considering most of the smaller classes (ours was 8 cars) only had two trophies. I also expected a little bias against the car from a more "purist" type group, but they seemed to like it. We got as much or more positive reaction to the car there than anywhere else its ever been! Great job Shannon, I'm proud of you!!!

 

Cool, lets give her a Hell Yeah for the Thirdgen.

<h2><font color=red>HELL YEAH!!</font></h2>

 

WOOP WOO!

Good job.

 

Thanks you guys!

There were about 550+ cars at the nats this weekend. The show was on Sunday. Thats a good turn out for a specific "Car" Show. As Joe said there were 8 in the heavy modified/custom class. Some really pretty well detailed cars. I had no clue how it would all play out. Crazy thing was we were still reasembling at the cruise in that Saturday night. The 4th gen mirrors were a hit. There are alot of people dying to do the mod.

There were so many beautiful cars out there. We got to meet Bluebird and okfoz (Great car by the way. Love the interior).

Bruce at Hawks 3rdgen parts had his LS1 3rd gen there. He had done the vette mirror conversion. The car looked great and really ran strong. Its giving me that LS1 bug again. If only we could get one to hold up to 400+ HP at the wheels.

 

Any pix¿

 

way to go!!

Glad to here you did good. Do you have any pics of the show yet?

 

Not yet...hopefully we can get some developed tonight, might be able to post some tomorrow. There were several nice third gens there.

 

Suhweet! Good for you!

S.

 

Our goal for the next TA Nats is to have the V8 in (we were leaning more towards LT1, but seeing Bruce's LS1 Formula has Shannon leaning towards that again I think!), and black leather seats (the seats in it now are mine, out of my 97 SS). They have a "Winners Circle" to keep from having the same person win every year...seperate from the other classes...which I think is a pretty good idea. Who knows, maybe we'll have two third gens up there next time! I got lots of good ideas from this trip !

 

Thanks Steve, redbird, fyrelance and Blue! Redbird...Joe may have to lend me some $ for the development, but I will try to get those pics up ASAP.

Though someone hogged all of Bruce's LS1 time and I never got to go for a ride

Now we are planning a shaved targa bird with a notch back, maybe even chopping the top slightly. We have a great idea for its spoiler too. We found the perfect one at the show. Lets just say I have been holding back with RAIF. See so while RAIF sits out the show next year, we may have another bird in progress. Engine for the Targa bird???Hehehehe (sinister laugh, rubbing hands...)

 

It is good to see that somebody could tell that you have modded your car. Good job. With the other car I would go WILD. Do a stock big block or even a true pontiac motor. The car doesn't have to do 9's in the 1/4, just be fun to drive and enjoyable. Good job to the three of you, and good luck in the future. Just a thought but have you thought about a wrap around love seat for the back?? Plywood could make a nice support structure. A friend did it in his car. Along with button tuck and sowed pleats.

 

omg like ... lt1guy you better keep an eye on red. i think this could get dangerous, an ls1 in a heavily modded car - that doesn't mean i can't wait to see it though ! =D

congrats on placing in dayton and can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve

 

Boys, Meet the new and improved Raif. That paint looks like glass!!

 

Two-point-eight extreme!

 

Congrats. I wanted to go to the show, but I went to the Amsboy one.

 

I think thats the nicest engine bay I've ever seen... I can ignore the fact that its a 2.8. Just from a pure appearence standpoint... damn thats a lot of work.

 

Congrats!

 

Congrats Raif!!!!! I wanted to meet you there at the show but i didnt see ya around. The car looked great at the show, i was very impressed. The only down side to the show was when they announced that you placed these people i was standing by had a fit.I guess you cant have a show without some jerks getting through.

 

Sorry we missed you guys...didn't expect someone to beat us to the punch with pictures! You should have introduced yourself, 83 Firebird S/E! Shannon got the pictures last night on photo CD, so we should be seeing the rest of them sometime today, if her boss isn't around at least ! Otherwise it will be after 5.

 

True, very true. Still, whether you like the car or not, the amount of blood, sweat, and tears Shannon has put into it over the years (which is now paying off) is obvious. She just won't quit. She didn't sleep at all Thursday night, after a week of working on it to get the paint finished in time, and then Friday night we sat under it in the rain while she cleaned up overspray and made sure everything was spotless. She redid her door panels in the room after that, staying up VERY late once again, then we put on the new door weatherstrip and panels at the show...thats what was going on in the picture with the mirror off! I'd bet no one else put in that kind of effort. 99% of the reaction we got was positive, so the actions of a few can't overshadow it.

 

NICE PICS!

MORE, MORE, MORE!!

Make sure you make the engine bay look just as nice with the new engine

 

WOW, THANKS you all!!!

Sorry I missed you. We were walking around after I got judged. Not very often you get a chance to see that many Birds all at once. What did those people do, give it the typical "that car is crap, blah,blah,blah? Or was it someone I was competing against? They weren't with the guy that got 2nd were they? I heard he or someone with him pitched a fit last year when he got 2nd. I can't remember who told me that. It was at the cruise in Saturday night. I bet he was mad to get 2nd two times in a row. Guess there is one in every crowd.

Here is after the show...

 

Did John (the painter) do an AWESOME job or what!?

I got a plane in the shot. Cool, eh? Its a bird, its a plane, It RAIF!!! :sillylol:

 

Here is another with a bit better lighting

 

Now that you have seen the engine bay clean...Here is what it looked like on Thursday:

 

That's the goal...whatever engine goes in will have even more polished parts, and the block will be smoothed and painted...if it winds up with an iron block, that is...otherwise it may get polished, too! We'll repaint the engine compartment also, this time with a gloss automotive paint rather than spray cans. The 2.8 is going to wind up on a stand in the basement; I know she'd never part with it!

 

Hey Shannon, I know you're getting to it, but how about some of the under construction shots?

 

Can you say lots of work? Look even on the coolflex...

 

What do you mean like this: Note my car in the back ground...

 

How's this for a week before the show:

Look out its Zebra car....

 

Raaaaahhhhhrrrrrrrr. Wouldn't you have to see that coming up on your bumper. Watch out Mad Max!

Hey where is my front bumper?

 

Oh there it is...

 

Gratuitous butt shot. Raif has just been caught with his pants down!

 

How about you with the trophy????

 

Glad to see the that the judges' seeing eye dogs were impresed

Sorry if I don't agree with the majority here. Congrats on winning a trophy and all the hard work you did to deserve it. But IMO I wouldn't be caught dead even looking at that car in public. It has Uncle Ben's written all over it. If you wanted to mod a Honda you should have bought a Honda and screwed it up. At least you picked a 6 cyl. car to ahem "mod". Yes it does have a unique look, but it also has all of the signs of "rice". I mean what does that inverted rear spoiler under the front ground EFX do for the car? Lift it up at high speeds

I would have been pissed to lose to that car too and it wouldn't have anything to do with jealously, just the judges must have just flown in from an import show.

 

Thanks for ruining an otherwise positive thread. It'll probably get locked now.


BTW nice IROC...it looks just like every other stock IROC I have ever seen. Yawn. :lala:

It shows you have as much creativity as tact.

(toned down by LT1Guy...no need to drop to your level)

 

I'm very glad for you Shannon. I hope by next year you will have the new motor dropped in and running nice. I was thinking about the swap I would do on my wife's car, and after thinking and thinking and thinking, I am deciding on LT-1 or a straight 350 like the H.O. 330 motor for that car.
She's letting me keep it rather than trade it in, and I am glad for that. The old 2.8 is dead in hers. I also had considered the HT 3.4 motor... but for about the same price I could get a V8 engine and transmission.
It's just a matter of time and effort. You've come a long way, just a little more to go.
The thought that runs through my mind is LT-1. It may be the best conversion you can do with the least amount of trouble. You will have a motor that has the power you want, and will be the easiest to work with.
I've pondered about her car like you have. No matter how you look at it, a V6-V8 conversion is not fun. BUT... The price of a new V6 is nearly the same as a V8, so go with your plan. It will be hard, but I hope not as hard as my swap turned out to be with the 708520 HD engine. (And that was 305-350!)
Be sure to have everything you need or you will be hard pressed on the nickel and dime stuff. Everyone is right about that. It will seem like a money pit.
Don't give up and go all the way!

 

Hey, Shannon's car isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I greatly admire the amount of work she's put into it (probably more than most on this board), the fact that she has an idea and sticks with it until it's done, is a female and a car enthusiast (that's always cool in my book), and is willing to try something different no matter how many discouraging remarks she gets.

To each [their] own seems to be something everyone on this board says but few follow.

 

Here is a picture of her car... (It is now just sitting dead)

 

Hey wow, that was my 300th post!

 

Well one judge had a corvette club shirt on, so I can only assume he is in a corvette club. And you all know vette people. Very picky. Well I spoke to the judges to answer some questions and they complimented me multiple times on a well prepared good looking car. They said it was a very nice car as they went around. Blind, I think not!

The sad thing is you say you would not be caught dead looking at it, but you obviously stared pretty hard to comment.

As far as the front spoiler...The car has been past 85 multiple times on the hwy and the drivability has never suffered from the front gfx spoiler In fact, for a car that does not have a 160 thermostat is stays at 170, except in stop and go traffic, where is goes to 190 in summer weather. Based on these findings, it has been proposed that the spoiler actually helps direct air to the radiator, actually keeping the car cooler. And keeping the car cooler is a performance mod. Ergo not rice.

The taller rear spoiler is at a better angle now to create downforce. Its on the correct end of the car unlike a Honda. And the Ram Air hood is fully functional. Looking a bit slim on the rice meter. Oh and about it being a 2.8, not for long, prepare for tailights.

All the signs of rice...hmmm. Oversized pipes, nope. Non funtional hood, nope. Overly tall non-funtional rear wing, nope. Manufacturer stickers plastered all over the car w/o sponcership, nope. Keep backing yourself into a corner dude!

 

I'm a car show judge, and that engine bay freakin' ROCKS, and that should mean a lot coming from me, cause I hate 2.8s.

even though I don't have a firebird, I might have to road trip to next years show.....where is it anyways?

 

Thanks alot!

The show this year was held at the Dayton Airport Hotel, Vandalia, OH here is a link: http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/TransAmNationals/

We were close to over growing the facility, so I don't know if they will have it there next year or not. I believe they will have it at the same place though.

 

That car definetly deserves a double take, Great job, you have a unique car thats for sure. Looks great :-) I'll try to make it down to one of those meetings one day, I'll let ya'll know before hand which one Im going to. Would like to see it in person.

 

Thanks! It will be great to have you there! Honestly the pics never do the car justice.

 

ha ha ha that's some funny ****.ya gotta love a woman that wont back down

i was checking your car out sat. Red and i'll tell ya your attention to detail was awsome.i really like the"hidden"filler neck for the gas tank:rockon:

 

:rockon: Redraif

 

Sorry it took so long to post. The people next to me called it rice, p.o.s. ect........ I had to walk away i was getting mad. There was about 5 or 6 of them standing next to some 4th gens, none with trophies!!! The pics are nice but it doesnt do it justice. The detail was unreal. I will get my pics developed and post the ones of your car that i got. :hail:

 

Oh ya by the way, Got my website up and running, only one pic of my car so far,i have to resize all of my pics so they would upload. If you guys get the time check it out, i have some pics of the 17th annual transam nationals up there on the second page. Just click the little www button down there.

 

Sorry i forgot to ask if i could use the images on that site there here, ( if they would work?)