99StockGT

Interesting, would have figured people were swapping to an even more aggressive like off road truck tire not just a winter tire. Might have to give something like this a try next year!

*golf clap* Very well done, looks like that's a whole lot of fun. Drifty drifty stuff without the new tires every few minutes! I see a pretty wide range of cars in the "pits" including the always present Miata... how capable is a typical street car out there compared to what you are running with your Scoobie?

That's the world we live in. When you keep your head down and drag your feet rolling in with a NA big block v8 to a Dyno Day

Wow.. guess I figured 122s and PV544s would be easier to find. I may withdraw my suggestion as you ain't getting mine!

Very good to know, we do some fleet work with over the road 550/650 Fords but don't have the rack or roof to handle doing an alignment on them. So good to know I've got a friend in the business when the time comes!

I absolutely loved those cars, had a friend with rich parents who bought him one brand new and the thing was a BLAST to drive. Likely wouldn't be something easy to find that hasn't been driven to within an inch of its life and very poorly maintained though.

Well given this is for "track purposes only" yes went with a non-catted header and full stainless all the way back. Should be loud and deep and only slightly annoying They definitely aren't fast but the low end torque isn't bad at all for a N/A 4cyl, should have a bit more rev range with the new headwork also. So, anyone else going down this Fast and Furious tuning path with me? Or kicking around ideas and browsing the lists?

Yup, costs me more per month than either of the RT/TT Stealths or any of the Pontiacs. Too many specialty parts that are only on the 02-03 models or are SE-R Spec V specific And your aftermarket support other than 2J Racing who specialized in these things for some reason is REALLY not easy to find

Not sure which pass this was of yours but https://youtu.be/OofZ1oDr1wo

You can find them alllll day for under 3k in semi decent shape. However, the motor is a PITA, the 6 speed transmission and LSD I believe are pretty much exclusive to this car. The damn thing costs more to ensure than basically anything else I own. Things like 3 part oil pans, 2 thermostats, terrible cat placement that when it has issues sucks material back INTO the engine.. Joe, I'll make sure to turn off the undergrowls when we are rolling

They are actually not all that hard to find for not terribly expensive but I will warn you if you've never gone down the rebuild road on one of these things holy FUCK is it complicated and expensive! There's a reason my motor for this thing has been slowly coming together for like 7 MONTHS. On the money side of things, I don't think the typical "restoration" logic can apply to these cars. Buy car for $2000, spend $6000 fixing/upgrading/modifying and you are NOT sitting on a $8000 car (most of the time). You/I do it because you want to bring back a little piece of dying culture with hopes maybe a spark or two will catch in someone else. Any of you who has met me knows my auto interests range all over the place, this isn't just me having some sort of unnatural obsession with barely successful Japanese tuner cars. As a show of hands, how many people paying attention to this thread have built/are building/shopping to build something from this era? Will I be a one man wolf pack out there in my riced out Nissan?

Hmmmm Box trucks and 550s/650s?

*gives the pope wave* Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week, try the veal. And D, we typically try to over quote alignment work and move backwards. Sometimes you get into an alignment on something like that and find whoever was there doing it before you had NO clue what they were doing. More often than not unfortunately. Glad we could get you in and out of here quickly and on budget, she's a beauty!

It's funny how experiences like a random run off a stoplight, then stopping at the next to chat or giving a sign of respect as you pass by could lead to friendships and connections. "Hey man nice ride", how often do you hear that phrase or something like it anymore? I'll toot my own horn here to illustrate a point. Since essentially July I have been daily driving either my '71 or '70 Pontiacs 5 days a week to and from the shop. You know how many people I've had pull up and give a rev/nod/signal? 2. Exactly 2. Those sidelong glances you give people as they pass you to see if they are looking over checking out your car? Yeah... you all know what I'm talking about. How often do you get those? You don't, people are too busy playing on their phones scrolling through Facebook or taking a selfie to notice cool shit around them. Those same people are commuting and vanilla whatevers, the drive is just a hassle between point A and point B something no longer to be enjoyed.

Kerry that is absolutely an extremely valid point, the days of "Easy Money/Credit" that fueled many peoples ability to work on modification of their rides disappeared with The Crash. That's a whole other conversation to be had but certainly not a piece of this pie to be considered. Clay, on the C&C and other events yes I completely agree you see some of that culture but ... and I don't mean this in a condescending way ... we took a late night, rebels against the man, illegal, "cool" cultural event and turned it into a low key car show. We used to talk shit, inspect for mods, set up races in the parking lots. Compare wheels/tires, discuss future plans and what we had done. Now we stand around in parking lots early on a weekend morning when the wild ones aren't up yet, drinking coffee and often times looking at long lines of Mopar/Subaru/Vette guys who just spent money got a cool car and that's about it. As a shop, hell yeah we appreciate the business doing modifications/upgrades for people, but it goes to the old phase "Built not bought". You see less and less of the customized rides like as Steve was saying used to be everywhere. Remember the feeling rolling up to a stoplight just about anywhere in the city that wasn't the 'burbs and wondering at the set of tail lights waiting for you? Giving the sideways glance, the rev, the nod, the grin as you wound out 1st and 2nd against someone who was likely a total stranger? That's the part I'm talking about, that's the part I miss. Cordell you know me well enough I think to know I'm not one to toe the line, I'm building this thing how I want to and to hell with everyone's opinion on the matter.

Just for a quick example of how she sits currently. This was with the new springs/wheels/tires installed and the old (2nd) motor before it blew up. https://imgur.com/a/QBinN

I guess my thing here isn't really the recreation of a star car, but more the recapturing of a moment in car culture. Regardless of whether or not you loved the cars in the films or hated them, hell it really doesn't even matter how you feel about the films in general. Those things changed and channeled the tuner car culture to the world at large. Car meets, garage parties, late night "street racing" meetups... it was a modification and rebirth of an earlier eras car culture. Very glad to see I'm not the only one who's had these sorts of thoughts/urges makes me feel slightly less crazy. Over the years so many conversations have formed around how the experience of driving was more connected and less crazy. Anyone can learn to wheel a 12 second car down a strip/street or around a AutoX course, however a 9-10 second supercharged missile like we are buying/building these days is... well honestly way too much car for most people. As for MY F&F car, I'm not going bodykit yet but it's not completely out of the picture. I like the styling of the '02 already and lowered with wheels and tires it actually doesn't look too bad. Once some additional accent pieces are on it and she's cleaned up should be a pretty slick little tuner ride. Plus, it's always nice to bring a dead machine back to life.

They have some potential but it's interesting to see the way Nissan went versus Honda for their 4cyl power. Nissan went the kind of "Muscle Car" route with shoving a bigger displacement lower revving motor in, while Honda went with the lower displacement higher revving. 2002 Honda Civic Si 160 hp 132 lb-ft 2,744lbs 2.0liter 4Cyl 2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spev V 175 hp 180 lb-ft 2,743lbs 2.5liter 4Cyl Clearly in the story books the Si and Honda in general ruled this battle, between the dependability and mod-ability of their 4Cyl power plants the sky is the limit. We are STILL seeing these powerplants making huge power and ruling import events even today. Where as the 2.5 QR25DE went on to... uh... power the Altimas? Edit: And yes there was one that got its Furious on! https://imgur.com/a/OSOwP

Because I spend all day working on and surrounded by interesting/cool/weird/fast/project cars these are the thoughts I'm plagued with. Is it too soon to be looking back on the early-mid 0s with rose colored glasses? When cool air intakes, exhausts, lowering springs and neons were what got the blood pumping? Stickers down the doors? Enough speed to be fun and enjoy the acceleration but not fast enough to make you dead in 8.9 seconds? How about this as a thought experiment. If you had $8,000 to spend in car purchase and parts what would you or ARE you building? Since I brought it up, I'll get this off my chest and be honest. Current project 2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V Purchased with a hole in the block, actually 2 holes in the block. Ladies son had money shifted it and grenaded the poor thing. So picked up a used motor tossed it in an ran it. Unfortunately used motor was junk, popped a headgasket about 2 weeks after install and that was that. As one who can't leave well enough alone, decided to build a motor for it. So, head was gone through and worked, new high compression pistons, stronger rods, new crank. Ported and polished intake, chrome headers through a 3" stainless exhaust all the way back to a high flow muffler with a 4" tip. Chrome cold air kit with fender located cone filter. Upgraded clutch, lightened flywheel, balance shaft removal. So, FWD limited slip 6 speed close ratio with a short throw shifter should feel pretty spirited. Car is sitting on 2" drop H&R lowering springs, upgraded front and rear sway bar, new wider wheels (bronze) with autocross grade tires. Calipers/Pads/Rotors replaced all the way around along with new lines. Of course, yes they are painted. All told I've got a decent chunk in this $500 ride but well below the $8000 limit for this exercise. Nitrous kit is sitting waiting to be installed until after the engine break in is completed. Once completed she'll also be wearing a neon underglow kit, and stickers down the door from all the parts/vendors she's wearing now. Am I stupid? Yes. Does this make sense? No. Do I have an un-natural desire to make something like this? Yes, so feel free to make fun of me. So, what do you say CR? Who else has an awkward to admit desire to relive this period of Fast and Furiousness? What would you buy and build?

Anything you guys can't handle Derek please feel free to pass them our way, there's literally nothing we can't get aligned. From dragsters to slammed Hondas, lifted jeeps and big 'ole duelly trucks we do it all.

Ahh the good 'ole days! When your 400wph car bought you a ticket to the show, now with those power levels we don't even get to peek in through the windows *still driving my modified street/track car from the 03-08 Columbus car scene*

If I had a dollar for everyone of you lowered ricers wanting to pay for their alignment work in sexual favors, I'd have the itchiest dick in Dublin.

Nope. We just have a line painted on the ground and use a string. Usually dials in just about everything perfectly

Lol ummmm...

Thanks for the C10 shots Think I'll take that thing to lunch today!