Greetings, all. I'm pretty new here (gee, THERE'S a surprise
) though I've had my car for about 8 months. It's a manual trans '98 Sunfire GT in Hawiian Orchid (I think). It came with some stupid grey GT stickers on the front, rear, and sides, and had the side "Sunfire" badges stickered as well. I've removed the front and most of the rear stickers, as well as the "S...ire" on both sides... My girlfriend called it the Unfire and the name stuck.
So far, the only work that has been done is maintenance:
-A week after I got it, the starter went kaput (wouldn't even crank, but the car would bump start). That was covered by the dealer I purchased the car from.
-In early July, the front pipe broke off just under the manifold... I kept the (tinted) windows up until I got it fixed... I don't mind a throaty exhaust, but this was way too loud. I took the car to Crappy Tire (Canadian Tire, for those who don't know) because they were having a 25% off exhaust parts sale. They had to order some parts and tried to screw me by saying "they weren't in stock parts" but I got the money out of them, since the advertisment didn't specify "in stock parts only."
-I just had the car in for a Semi-Annual inspection, and to fix my blower motor (since it's getting cold here in Ottawa). They pulled the wheels off, and my front rotors (aftermarket that came with the car... slotted/cross-drilled) needed to be replaces because they couldn't machine them, the rear drums and shoes also needed to be replaced (drums were rusted to hell and the shoes were cracked into 4 pieces).
In the future, I want to either purchase or weld up my own evil eye hood. If I fabricate it, I'm going all out with some Grand Prix GTP vents in the corners, just inboard of the suspension towers. I might get some hood pins for it too, since I get a lot of hood float above 120 km/h. I pulled off the weatherstripping across the back edge of the hood, and might put some across the front, to possibly generate a small amount of negative pressure under the front of the car (I know, it's not all that likely, but a guy can dream, can't he?). A front lip is likely in order, though nothing too deep, as I like my ground clearance, particularly when driving on gravel roads and heavily rutted jobsites (I'm a landscaper). I'd also like to aerodynamically clean up the underside of the car, and try to build in a functional rear diffuser. For the rear spoiler, I ultimately want to rework a last-gen Trans Am unit to fit the trunklid, but in the meantime, might just stick with mounting the stock spoiler further towards the rear, possibly with some 1/2"-1" risers.
As far as the engine goes, I'm thinking about the GM supercharger kit, or maybe an intercooled turbo (with unlimited funds, I'd do both, but let's be realistic, shall we?
). The turbo might come with a second, built, engine. (As an aside, I'm annoyed that GM Performance parts doesn't offer the LD9 as a crate. Jerks.) I don't have an in-depth plan for the engine yet, since I haven't done heaps of research into it at this point. The car came with a single exhaust with dual tips, as you'll see in the photos below.
Suspension might involve slightly stiffer stock height springs and shocks (again, with the ground clearance on crappy roads), and not much more.
Wheels and tires are currently M+S on steelies with a couple of really slow leaks, that hopefully will get me through the winter. The brake job ate up the available cash for proper rims and all-seasons (or winters.. still not sure) but eventually, I'll go with something in a gunmetal or a gold, likely 17s and 215 wide.
Currently no plans for the interior, though I'd like to get a better reciever for my stereo, as the reception at the bottom end of the FM range sucks monkey balls. There is dark tinting all around, including a strip across the top of the windshield (SO handy when driving into the sun!).
Anyways... pics! They were taken shortly after the interview for my current job.
Front (duh...)
You can see the bug and mud splatter from driving to the job interview.
Front left
The GT sticker on the front was the first to go, and the others are slowly disappearing.
Rear left
That GT sticker is half gone now. I hate obnoxious stickers like that. Also, the car came with that exhaust.
Rear
There is now a Support Our Troops magnet directly under the third brake light.
Above right
If you look closely, you can see the crappy respray job on the hood, and the rust spots that were apparently supposed to be repaired by whoever did the work.
I'm sure I would have figured it out eventually, but you saved me some time.