Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me - Photos & Media Forum

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Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 12:03 PM
SweetnessGT
I was about to post up pics in the old school thread when I realized - I have a LOT of pictures, many of which even I haven't seen in a long time. These pictures date back to nearly the beginning of this car and I thought I'd share these with you guys. The car still sits in my garage waiting for me to finally finish it... it's been almost 4 years since I've driven it and almost 2 years since I've even heard the engine turn over. These are the memories of the ghost that haunts me.




















































































And how she sits now.... waiting....




I'm sorry, car. You didn't deserve the fate I handed you... life simply got in the way and now you suffer the indignity of a car cover and an incomplete engine. Some day I will make it up to you... until then... you wait.

As always, questions, comments & criticism is welcomed.

-Chris-



-Sweetness-
-Turbocharged-
Slowly but surely may some day win this race...

Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 12:16 PM
Addicted to meth
I love this car, simple looks, and great performance!!



FU Tuning



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 12:31 PM
jason norwood
Thats is the way I feel about mine and its complete, I drive mine every once and a while and still think it is neglected



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 2:33 PM
Agent Omega
Always considered you one of our top-tier members with tons of know-how to offer. Hope to see the car done and back on the road soon, man.






Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 3:16 PM
Tony the Tiger
omfg that is the sexiest -03 fire i've ever set eyes on.. inspiring!


Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 3:22 PM
Addicted to meth
anthony labreck wrote:omfg that is the sexiest -03 fire i've ever set eyes on.. inspiring!


03?????

That is not a 03 sunfire.



FU Tuning



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 3:25 PM
gtpsunfire
Hey, there I am
So, when do I come to install the new Turbo?



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 4:26 PM
-Z Yaaaa-
ohhhh engine porn. love those exhaust ports.

sing me a song with your sexy voice!



Come join us over on the Olds Quad 4 and Twin Cam Facebook group!
Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 5:24 PM
slvrblit
Addicted to meth wrote:
anthony labreck wrote:omfg that is the sexiest -03 fire i've ever set eyes on.. inspiring!


03?????

That is not a 03 sunfire.


Note the (-) there. Think he got lazy and didn't want to put Pre-03



M62, 42's, ZZP 3", ZZP S3 H/E
214whp 190wtq
Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 6:22 PM
David Ingram
Still one of my favs!










~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
______________________
WHITECAVY no more
2012 numbers - 4SPD AUTOMATIC!!
328 HP
306 TQ
Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 6:38 PM
stargrrrl
A fan, as always.




Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 7:04 PM
Skilz10179
500whp Spring 2005....














I love u


- 93 mph in the 1/8 mile
Member of J-Body Of Michigan.

Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 7:23 PM
My Z is Slow (Mike)
loved the car from back in the day. get it going, you will not regret it. All it takes is a few mins here and there.



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 8:29 PM
BuiltNBoosted
Glad to see you back and that you still have it learned much from you while using MSN



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 9:02 PM
Shawn McKenzie
I have gotten bits and pieces over the years but what happened to your motor? What was it pushing when it died or you started upgrading?



PS3 ID: Phatchance249
MW3 FTW!
Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Friday, February 17, 2012 9:21 PM
Skip (The Original Skip)
SweetnessGT wrote:


Is that the old baggedfire to the left ?

SweetnessGT wrote:



That's not cookie's car is it? The color looks how I remember it.








Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Saturday, February 18, 2012 3:20 AM
gtpsunfire
Skip (The Original Skip) wrote:
SweetnessGT wrote:


Is that the old baggedfire to the left ?

SweetnessGT wrote:



That's not cookie's car is it? The color looks how I remember it.


The first pic is the original Bagdfire and the second one is StickyGreenZ (Sandeeps car)



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Saturday, February 18, 2012 5:22 AM
DavefromEngland
you forgot a 'picture'



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Saturday, February 18, 2012 8:25 AM
SweetnessGT

Agent Omega wrote:Always considered you one of our top-tier members with tons of know-how to offer. Hope to see the car done and back on the road soon, man.


Thanks kindly I appreciate that.

Quote:

Hey, there I am
So, when do I come to install the new Turbo?


In 2015? Lol... I donno.... yeah that was the photo of you helping me pull destroyed built engine #1. It's your fault it got nuked after all!!

Quote:

500whp Spring 2005....
I love u


Haha hey Jeremy, been a while! I love you too... just not the Detroit border.

Quote:

ohhhh engine porn. love those exhaust ports.


If I had to recommend something, it's do NOT port the LD9 ports that large. I lost a lot of bottom end and it is a TOTAL whore to get any kind of a manifold to line up to them due to the need to heavily port the manifold. Gaskets are paper thin.

Quote:

Still one of my favs!


And yours is one of mine Dave - and yours runs!

Quote:

Glad to see you back and that you still have it learned much from you while using MSN


Yeah - sorry that I haven't been around that much I haven't used MSN for much of two years... the need kinda disappeared for me, sadly. Of course I still have it - I'd lose my shirt getting rid of it.

Quote:

loved the car from back in the day. get it going, you will not regret it. All it takes is a few mins here and there.


A few mins here and there and about $3500 give or take. It's not the time or effort that kills the drive to finish the car, it's the $$ involved which I have to put towards other things in life such as my house unfortunately. I may try to buy the FIC this summer at least and wire it in and finish porting/polishing that H.O manifold and get the PCV system I designed into place. It has worked well for others so real life testing is complete.

Quote:

you forgot a 'picture'


Oh, I didn't forget my favorite picture! I just don't have a photo of it.... its right beside me on my desk here in the office, prob one of my favorite posessions. I believe I did post the original up there, though?


Darren is right the first car is Bagdfire's original car at JCO Bash 2004 at Cayuga... and the 2nd car is the StikigreenZ which also sits dormant and complete in storage waiting for some love some day. I love the colour of that car.


Quote:

I have gotten bits and pieces over the years but what happened to your motor? What was it pushing when it died or you started upgrading?


For the few who don't know.... Sweetness has been a car of great promise and potential, but has never lived up to it for me. Not even once. Originally built in those first pictures as an N/A bolt on engine with a heavily ported head and secret cams (the candy blue engine) the car was a complete disappointment as the porting of the head destroyed any and all bottom end oomph the engine had - the best I could manage in the car was a paltry 16.2 @ 88mph in it. That's slower than stock.

After some thinking I decided to turbocharge the engine, and did so. I took that engine (pre HPTUNERS) to 15 psi and it was an animal... but alas my stock head bolts and felpro headgasket didn't hold and one night before I could dyno it the engine blew the headgasket... unfortunately it was running so well I didn't notice and she ran low on oil... and spun #3. The car at that time untuned had managed another disappointing 15.2@ 92 mph on 7 psi of boost. Heavily ported head, every bolt on, misaligned H.O manifold, stock cams and a 2.5" exhaust.

Then came my big announcement - I was going to defeat Mike Karas' untouchable WHP goal and hit 500. My mouth wrote a cheque my ass never cashed, unfortunately. The built engine with a laundry list of custom parts including custom cams, custom lifters, custom springs, full heat coating to all surfaces and a lightened rotating assembly with custom crank was born... and dropped into the engine bay. My luck with Spec and their garbage clutches kept me from making any significant runs in the car for a while but with a slipping clutch I managed a 14.1 @ 103 mph @ 10 psi on the built engine at the JCO bash... very disappointing to me. 2 clutches later in the fall of 2006 I took the car out with Darren for a late night recording of what it was like to take the car to 180mph on the cluster, as the needle would hit 180 and spin around and start from zero again.... the car made it to 175 mph, seemed to skip a beat for 2 seconds as if I'd blown an axle, and the engine went dead. I had blown my custom engine to smithereens. Later it was discovered that with all the $$ I spent and all the care we put into building the engine, my re-used $8 thermostat had stuck and on that run overheated the engine and warped the headgasket. The cometic headgasket we pulled from the engine was stiff as a board and warped in 2 different directions. Awesome. To this day I have never had the car back up to the power level it was at that night.... it was hitting a very firm 22 psi that made Darren almost leave a stain on my blue seats that he hates so much.

In went built engine #2 in 2007... the head was decked and salvaged, the block was completely intact as the piston cooling that had been added saved the rods and bores.... a new set of valves was put in as mine were scorched, new custom pistons AGAIN, new main bearings and a re--balancing of the entire engine to spec as had been done the year before. My custom crank was also intact, thank god. But... once again spec and their garbage clutches f'd me over and another clutch failed within 3000 km - the spring cages had let go and a spring had popped out and tore into my custom lightweight flywheel. I'd had enough and in went a Bully stage 4 custom 4 puck clutch... That went in and I made it to the JBO Bash for the first time but didn't race... I had the pleasure of watching Brian (SpeedRacerZ) not just crush into the 12's while Tom (Wrenchmonkey) tuned the car, but go deep into the 12's again and again. One of my fav moments in my car was running alongside the car that convinced me to boost mine....

2008 came, I had been snapping downpipes and balding my front tires for a season now.... the bully stage 4 had all of 1000 km on it. I attempted a fake 2 bar tune on the car that had some degree of success and drove the car to the 2008 JBO bash... the car got 320 miles a tank and I even ran it on 87 octane there and back. Again - no racing. I got the car home as it started to blow black smoke in Cleveland... for the THIRD time my turbo was blown.

in 2010 I removed the turbo and exploited manifold from the car... the exploited manifold is cracked in SEVEN spots... and the turbo has some decent shaft play. My idiocy had caused me to put some gasket sealant on the drain flange and of course... it blocked the drain. *shakes head*

So now the car sits.... awaiting a new custom log manifold some day with a 44mm WG outlet... a rebuild with GT3582r parts into the body of my turbo (my turbo builder is incredible with borg warners)... a 44mm wastegate, a dump tube, an AEM FIC so I can finally tune the car and the new PCV system. Bam. $3g's give or take.

Not only that... to add insult to injury in 2010 I managed to FINALLY find a map of my BorgWarner turbo only to find out it runs out of air at about 430-450 whp. I never stood a chance of living up to my original goal of 500 hp... and 7 years later I still stand the goat who said he'd do it and then had to sit and watch others achieve the goal.

That is why Sweetness haunts me.

-Chris-



-Sweetness-
-Turbocharged-
Slowly but surely may some day win this race...
Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Saturday, February 18, 2012 8:45 AM
DavefromEngland
SweetnessGT wrote:

Quote:

you forgot a 'picture'


Oh, I didn't forget my favorite picture! I just don't have a photo of it.... its right beside me on my desk here in the office, prob one of my favorite posessions. I believe I did post the original up there, though?



yeah 14th photo. but pretty sure it's mikes car in the reflection, as opposed to what darren says



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Saturday, February 18, 2012 9:32 AM
SweetnessGT
DavefromEngland wrote:
SweetnessGT wrote:

Quote:

you forgot a 'picture'


Oh, I didn't forget my favorite picture! I just don't have a photo of it.... its right beside me on my desk here in the office, prob one of my favorite posessions. I believe I did post the original up there, though?



yeah 14th photo. but pretty sure it's mikes car in the reflection, as opposed to what darren says


I'm pretty sure it's mikes car too... love that you can see it clearly in the drawing.

It's all that's left of that poor car!

-Chris-



-Sweetness-
-Turbocharged-
Slowly but surely may some day win this race...

Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Saturday, February 18, 2012 9:38 AM
DavefromEngland
SweetnessGT wrote:
DavefromEngland wrote:
SweetnessGT wrote:

Quote:

you forgot a 'picture'


Oh, I didn't forget my favorite picture! I just don't have a photo of it.... its right beside me on my desk here in the office, prob one of my favorite posessions. I believe I did post the original up there, though?



yeah 14th photo. but pretty sure it's mikes car in the reflection, as opposed to what darren says


I'm pretty sure it's mikes car too... love that you can see it clearly in the drawing.

It's all that's left of that poor car!

-Chris-


yeah, to be honest, i spent more time on that picture than any other one. the one i did for pete was about an hour, that one was probably closer to 8.



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Monday, February 20, 2012 3:48 AM
-MD- Enforcer
2007 was the last time I say the car in person also. It was great talking to you guys at BW3's. "Buffalo Wild Wings"
I'm not sure what Darren thought of my wife. lol











Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Monday, February 20, 2012 3:49 AM

PRND321 Till I DIE
Old Motor: 160whp & 152ft/lbs, 1/4 Mile 15.4 @88.2
M45 + LD9 + 4T40-E, GO GO GO
Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Thursday, February 23, 2012 3:14 PM
Zspot


One great J-Body!



Re: Sweetness: The Ghost that Haunts Me
Saturday, February 25, 2012 4:47 PM
BoostedJ
mph? you mean kph...



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