March 6th, 2002:

I've finished modifying the shifter to suit the new knob. I removed about an inch from the stick and from the middle of the reverse lifter. I've pieced it back together and the end result works perfectly.

September 25th, 2002:

Today I finally finished a little project I've had in mind since the Bash in July. At the Bash, one of the things I won in the raffle was a set of billet aluminum Sunfire badges. They were meant for the outside of the car, to replace the stock badging but I can't even imagine how dumb they'd look there. Instead, while sitting and talking at a club dinner on the last night of the Bash, I believe it was Zliner that came up with the idea to use them on my inside door panels. That marked the beginning of this plan and it's taken me until now to get them finished.

Simply peeling off the backing and sticking them to the leather would have looked tacky and cheap so I knew that option was out of the question. Instead, I decided to drill holes in the backs and thread them for screws. Then I could put screws through the door panel and tighten them down from behind, giving a nice finished look to the pieces. That was the plan, but turned out to be easier said than done. After searching for a place to drill and thread them for me, I finally set out to Canadian Tire to buy a tap set to do it myself.

As fate would have it, as I was wandering through the hardware aisle looking for bolts that I thought would work, another customer overheard me telling a clerk what I was looking for. The clerk was pretty much useless but the man listening started telling me everything there was to know about tap sets and how to use them. Then he asked me what I wanted it for and I told him. At that point, he had the innovation that made this all possible. His suggestion was to drill the holes and then cut the heads off the bolts and just epoxy them in. That way I wouldn't have to deal with the taps and they'd be easier to mount on the doors.

I wish I knew who that guy was so I could show him the results and thank him. When I finally got to drilling the holes, I realized that there was no way I'd have ever been able to tap them. Billet is extremely hard and my holes were nowhere near round or uniform. I'm thankful I never tried that method.

Anyhow, after all that story telling, here's the end result. They look awesome on the doors!! I'll post the pics as soon as I take some but here's how they looked before installation. The marks and scratches are on the plastic I left on them to protect them during drilling.

August 19th, 2002:

Here's some pics from the Bash. There's a gallery of the few pics I took here.

August 12th, 2002:

I really haven't had time to do any updates here but plenty has happened. July 26 - 28 was the 5th Annual J-Body Bash in Ohio. This is THE premier show for j-bodies and all the big names were there. I had an absolute blast and won a skirt package (two, actually, but I've got plans to change that) and some billet accessories. So now I finally have a replacement for the gouged door sill and hopefully in time for next season, I'll have an RKSport skirt package on the car courtesy of GM. I've actually put a halt to most of my ongoing plans due to a shift in current priorities but I'll do my best to get the new kit on the car for the spring.

I've got some pics from the Bash but I haven't had a chance to size them right for posting yet. In the meantime, here's some pics my girlfriend took of me at an AutoX event we attended a few months back. I didn't do so well but we had an absolute blast and hope to go again sometime.

July 10th, 2002:

Last Saturday I finally picked up my replacement wheel so I'm back to having 4 matching wheels on the car. Nobody really noticed the repaired wheel but it bugged me just knowing it was there. Now, when I come up with money for a tire for it, it will be relegated to being a spare.

If nothing else, the long wait for the Motegi should at least slow down their rapid spread. These seem to be the most common wheels in the scene these days!

June 10th, 2002: It looks like there's a chance my car will be in Performance Auto and Sound again this year! Watch for it in upcoming issues. The pic they posted on their website is the only one posted so far which shows the new Racetech clear side markers. They were installed on site partway through the show. I'll post the rest of the pics I find here as well as I dig them up.

June 3rd, 2002:

I'm totally stoked! This past Saturday, I won 1st place in the semi-modified category at the JCO Bash in Niagara Falls. There was some really stiff competition in the class so I'm proud as hell of this accomplishment!

On a side note, I'm STILL waiting for the new wheel that I ordered months ago.

May 2nd, 2002:

A couple days ago I took some new pics to show some of the work that's been done over the past few months and to show off the new RK Sport billet door panel inserts. The inserts were installed with a patch of red leather behind them to keep with the ongoing theme of the interior. I decided to go with the billet pieces so I'd have something matching the polished aluminum base on the shift knob. Later I'll add some aluminum pedals to complete the look.

April 16th, 2002:

I've been a little slow with the updates but here they are. I started a claim with the province and they're replacing the wheel for me. At least I didn't get completely screwed over that pothole. All it ended up costing me is the price of the repair and I'll end up using the wheel as a spare once I save up for another tire for it. It's driveable but doesn't look quite perfect.

The really big news though is that on April 1st I got the car lowered with Eibach Sportline springs and KONI shocks and struts. The ride is awesome and it turns like it's on rails!! Here's a bunch of pics. The dirty ones were taken right after it came out of the shop.

March 24th, 2002:

I can't believe it. Friday was my first day back out on the roads and I bent a wheel on my way out to Pickering. I hit a huge pothole on the highway. It was a REALLY hard hit so I checked out the wheel when I got where I was going. I thought I hit hardest with the front wheel so that's the one I checked out. It wasn't until yesterday morning that a friend noticed the back one was quite bent. I've brought it to a repair shop and they'll know tomorrow whether or not it's garbage.

Ah well. Might as well get the bad luck out of the way right up front. I just hope this isn't the sign of a trend.

March 14th, 2002:

Just a few more pics in daylight. Here you can see that the shifter is once again a normal length and finally get a look at the wheels and hood in some proper lighting.

March 11th, 2002:

I put the wheels on the car on Thursday. Today I took a few dark pics in the garage. These will be the "before" pictures. It's looking very likely that I'll be putting the insurance on effective the 1st of April. If so, that will also be the day I get the car lowered. I know they all look the same but it was hard to get a side shot with Alex's car there.