Normally i'd park my car for the winter, but unfortunately this time around it experienced 6 months of snow, sand, and salt. So i've spent the last few weekends trying to get it back into shape.
Re-tinted the tails, added gt signal lenses, gave it a major detail in and out, repainted the trunk filler panel black, installed black cat custom guages, did the cadillac trunk bar mod, put in a freedom design rear strut bar, and repainted the calipers and drums. I found a mint condition rear deck cover that doesn't have the holes for the child seat restraints so I put that in too. I finally found a spoilerless trunk lid at the wrecker yesterday, so I won't be rocking the white electrical tape for much longer!
As for up coming mods, i'm in on the projector headlight group purchase as well as the STD coilover group buy so I can't wait to get that stuff installed. I also need to get some new front window tint as last week a cop decided he didnt approve of the tint I had! This will be the last year the car will be a daily driver as this coming winter I plan to do a major rebuild. Thanks for looking
Looks good man! I have the same style rims on my white 03, but mine are painted matte black.
Thanks everyone! Haha yeah those wheels i've had for almost 10 years! They are very dated but I figured since they are still in good shape, i'll run them for now and focus on other aspects of the car.
car has a nice look. gotta lose the decals tho.
Looking great as always Chris! Excuse my ignorance, but what's the point of the Cadillac trunk bar?
Thanks Carrie that means a lot! I almost forgot I had posted pics on here, seems a j body needs 2 camshafts and a turbo to get any kind of conversation going! Having the Cadillac strut bar positioned like that in the trunk ties the frame rails together and helps to stiffen up the rear of the car. It works well and is a really cheap mod. The bar cost less than the spray paint I used to paint it!
WOAH... looks almost identical to my cuzins fire, except white lol
13.22 @ 105.2
I actually really like how simple yet creative it looks.
Whats the story with the cadillac trunk bar? Do you still have easy access to the spare tire?
All she needs now is the evil eye hood mod and some black motegi's.
GMR has got nothing on this
Hey thanks everyone for the comments! An evil eye hood is definitely on the to do list. Hey BoostedCavFire thats crazy how similar your cousins sunfire is to mine, 6 spoke wheels too!
Well the idea of the Cadillac strut bar converted into a trunk bar is credited to the god of j-body handling, Misnblu! Some how he came up with the idea! My car has the crappy FE 0 suspension so i've been studying up on ways to improve it. Well I noticed on Misnblu's website he had pics of this mod on his car, and there is a fantastic how-to on gmscf.com. So far I have noticed the rear of the car is a lot tighter, and since the bar was 10 bucks at the junk yard I think its a great addition!
As far as accessing the spare tire, the bar doesn't get in the way of the jack or the tire at all. The only beotch is trying to slide the spare tire cover back in place. It will slide in place like normal but it does take a little effort. Other than the slits in the carpet, everything looks pretty much factory.
Thanks man! If I can build my sunfire up half as nice as yours, i'll be a happy guy!
Chris B. wrote:Thanks Carrie that means a lot! I almost forgot I had posted pics on here, seems a j body needs 2 camshafts and a turbo to get any kind of conversation going! Having the Cadillac strut bar positioned like that in the trunk ties the frame rails together and helps to stiffen up the rear of the car. It works well and is a really cheap mod. The bar cost less than the spray paint I used to paint it!
You're very welcome Chris
! So, is the bar welded in place then?
The bar is actually bolted with 4 5/8'' bolts, fender washers, and lock nuts. All grade 8 hardware. It pained me to drill 4 holes that big through the trunk floor but I think it turned out good. The bolts are very close to the frame rails, so there shouldn't be any worries about sheet metal strength or the need for welding. Hopefully!!
looks familiar..lol
i just took the molding off
Torres @ The Barcode Magazine wrote:^^^
I think Daniel is saying his car is similar to Chris B's.
To the OP, beautiful Sunfire. Very clean, and I like the Cadillac trunk bar idea. Unique.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Monday, June 13, 2011 10:38 AM
Werent you doing a Cavfire swap awhile back or do I have the wrong guy?
Thanks for the comments everyone! Its fun to be finally making some forward progress with the car, even if it is subtle progress! Hey Daniel, yeah our sunfires are looking quite similar, yours is looking good!
Sundown, yes you are correct I was part way through a cavfire swap. I ended up having to put the car into daily driver mode so I put the sunfire front back on. Had intentions of completing the cav swap later on. However, I got in on the projector group buy and decided sunfire projectors with an evil eye hood would look good too!
This is as far as I got with the cav swap:
