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95naSTA's Bonneville Progression


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Here's the progression of my car over the past three and a half years.

Right after I picked it up:

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Engine and trans from my last bonneville installed plus some SSE/i tails:

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Flared out my bumper:

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I resto-ed some 16x8 (22 ET) GP crosslaces and had the centers powdercoated black:

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New almost everything suspension with GP AGXs and Eibachs up front with LS1 F-body brakes and Powerslots. Custom 3" drop springs in the rear with air assist shocks.

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SS Braided Lines from the fuel tank:

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Vac pump setup:

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A trip to VA:

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DIY front coilovers and 4" rear dropsprings:

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E39 headlights and Super RSes from Japan.

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2-stage Black Onyx 202 paint:

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I had already determined how low I could be with raised drivetrain and modified fenders but I decided to bottom it out anyway to see how the axles would respond.. They shook the whole car so bad that I only drove it a half a block.. here's what it looked like though:

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suspension geometry fail.

Headlights cleaned up and Super RSes back on:

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Interior refresh:

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How it looked till about a month ago:

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And the start of my engine/bay build:

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Such a great looking car! :lol2: I love the new headlights and the body work that made them fit. :D The only thing I would do is give the bad boy some pontiac split grills!!!! I hate how Pontiac dropped there split grills for a few years... Bring them back!!!!! You seem to be pretty darn good at body work/fabing up stuff. I bet you could find some grills and a frontend to steel from another pontiac.

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' date='Dec 3 2010, 11:10 AM' post='43084']

Good GAWD....

I love the work done to the Bonnie. So tasteful.

Also, if you EVAR decide to sell those BBS's, I want them. So legit.

I tried to sell the wheels right before I got into an accident that destroyed one (see intro) but it's tough to get what they are worth. New, they're $6k imported from NZ. I got them for $2200 used from a JDM importer shipped and machined to 115x5 and 70.3mm bore. I've seen them go for as much as $3k on the east coast though. Theres probably 2 dozen sets in the US tops.. Which is why that set with one wheel's barrel destroyed beyond repair is now worth nothing. (believe me I'm searched/called/emailed for a barrel)

Oddly enough I had the new wider and chromed set by the time of the accident.

so r u in va or pa

I live in Philly but I'm in VA Beach/Norfolk area a couple times a year.

Such a great looking car! :rofl: I love the new headlights and the body work that made them fit. :rofl: The only thing I would do is give the bad boy some pontiac split grills!!!! I hate how Pontiac dropped there split grills for a few years... Bring them back!!!!! You seem to be pretty darn good at body work/fabing up stuff. I bet you could find some grills and a frontend to steel from another pontiac.

I do like that idea. Problem is I think it would be too close to the beemer kidney grills. I like that the grill is different enough to where it's not completely resembling an E39. Also, without any major other bodywork aside from the shaved trunk key hole and antenna, a lot of people really think that I didn't do anything at all to make the lights fit. That's kinda cool in a way.

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This is the kind of build I enjoy; subtle body modifications, a proper stance, some OEM+ styling, and coilovers hidden behind the wheels. This is exactly where I want to go with my Grand Prix.

What components did you go with for your coilovers? I'm currently in the process of piecing together my own set and just about have all of the parts ordered. Mine will be a DIY assembly too, front and rear.

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This car is perfect. I really couldn't think of anything better. Keep it up! I look forward to seeing the progress on the engine swap, I am sure it will be absolutely killer once you are finished, especially considering your intense attention to detail and all. Awesome.

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You know, sir...

I highly recommend ditching that boat anchor L36 for a far superior 60*V6...FYI, the LX9 motors LOVE boost, or can make stupid high compression for high torque N/A fun. Just sayin' d00d...:rofl:

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' date='Dec 4 2010, 06:29 PM' post='43150']

You know, sir...

I highly recommend ditching that boat anchor L36 for a far superior 60*V6...FYI, the LX9 motors LOVE boost, or can make stupid high compression for high torque N/A fun. Just sayin' d00d...:lol2:

I was waiting for someone to bring up 60*v6s..

I actually have a lot of respect for 60*v6s and I've been a member of 60degreev6 for over 5 years. I even enjoyed the LH0 in my Regal when I had it. (did the 1.6 JY rocker mod just because) No doubt the splayed valve, aluminum heads, and overall better flowing upper end have me beat.. stock for stock. But it was never a comparison to me. People always want to compare the two and I've never understood it. Sure they're both pushrod v6s but that's about all they have in common.

One guy will say an L67 can handle more boost the other will boast about 60* flow numbers then that gets countered with 3x00 gasket issues (just did 3400 head gaskets on a rendezvous today), then it's hp vs. boost, then how fast has each actually gone.. lol. Believe me, I know the advantages of both.

What you probably don't know is my ported heads flow better than stock 3500 heads and are even slightly better than a stock LS1 head. This is referencing the flow comparison chart on 60degreev6. And they have a near perfect intake to exhaust flow ratio, which is why I chose them.

The point of my build it to take this outdated 'boat anchor' and make it perform as well as it's stock up to date n/a counterparts. I know very well it can and reliably.

It probably seems like a strange thing to do.. I know I get 'why not just top sway it?' or 'turbo it' a lot from 3800 guys I mention it to. lol. It's just not what I want. I built a SS turbo hot side for an L67 Regal already.

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I gotta say I have run versions of all 3 engines... guessing the engine your bonnie came with was a series I. Then had the series II in my 05 Bonnie and 99 Bonnie, the 99 having 205k on it and sitting in my back yard for the winter under tarps, and my van having the LX9. I love the performance that I get out of my LX9 with just a custom exhaust set up, I'm actually looking into running a ported intake and in the far future doing a full overhaul with a larger cam.. courtesy of WOT-TECH. But for now I'm just running the old van with a custom air intake and custom exhaust at the 140k mark.

Overall, I do love my Pontiac's, as do have to say I love this one. I wish I could afford insurance on both my bonnie and my van, I would drive them both everyday. My '05... what a beauty. I smashed that into a tree two years ago this month.. :lol2:

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This is the kind of build I enjoy; subtle body modifications, a proper stance, some OEM+ styling, and coilovers hidden behind the wheels. This is exactly where I want to go with my Grand Prix.

What components did you go with for your coilovers? I'm currently in the process of piecing together my own set and just about have all of the parts ordered. Mine will be a DIY assembly too, front and rear.

I got the thrust bearings for top and bottom and QA1 400lb springs from Summit. The sleeve and the lower perch are from A1racing. I welded a piece of 2.5" pipe to my stock top mount to center the spring and bearing. For the most part this setup works well. I would love to draw an adjustable top mount up in CAD with provision for a pillowball mount, but that will have to wait till later.

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Ah, well, at least you know what the 60*V6's are capable of. I'll admit, I am a bit more biased to 60*V6s, but I still love V6 performance as a whole.

To boot, I'd love to see a 60*V6 powered G-body :lol2:

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  • Founders
' date='Dec 12 2010, 11:43 PM' post='43702']

Thing is...who tipped them off? :lol2:

I wish I could claim credit but only reason I found it was because I saw a flux of visitors in the analytics report :lol2:

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  • Founders
' date='Dec 13 2010, 12:16 PM' post='43742']

Damn. FP is popping up more and more on the internet's radar.

Yup! I've been happy over the past week we've been averaging a great number of vists and pageviews.

Sadly SEO isn't something you can achieve overnight it takes a while, especially with a small site like this. I'd love to see us continue to grow on this steady basis or more.

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