BFK86

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whats up everyone? been a lurker for a few years, but finally bought my first 4th gen. Was looking for the past few years for one and just couldnt find what i wanted or what i did want ended up selling before i could see it, until last week. Came across a 2002 formula NHRA edition for sale by a private seller in NY. So i called him up and had him send a bunch of pics and asked a million questions, bought a plane ticket, flew out 2 days later and drove it 11 hours back. The car made the trip flawlessly, however i wouldnt say it was the most comfortable ride back haha. As for the car it has 66k miles, and is 100% stock minus the ws6 wheels that someone added at some point, and flowmaster exhaust tips. From what ive read this is a fairly rare car..but so far all ive done is clean it up and do a light buff and wax. Next up is do the zip tie mod on the door panels as they both have small cracks starting and fix the lower fender brackets that are bent from improper lifting. Got a line on a used SLP lid and magnaflow catback with bigger Y pipe from two of my buddies that dont need them anymore, so all ill need is headers. So that will pretty much be all i do to it this summer..otherwise just gonna drive and enjoy it. Anyways, heres some pics of it after cleaning it..

Nathan C

Good purchase! I also have a 2002 Formula and I know they only made 901 Formulas that year. I'm not sure how many were NHRA editions, but i don't imagine it was that many.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Very nice, the car looks good with the wheel upgrade and it cleaned up beautifully.

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

Hey RPM, you live in Lincolnwood?? I used to work for Lincolnwood fire dept up until last year, what do you own? cause i used to be on the lookout for cool cars all the time when I was there..there was a guy right off of Pratt and Kostner that had a super clean red SS in the driveway..that you?

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Haha....wow, talk about a small world!

I know the exact red SS of which you speak, I drive by it all the time, but that one is not mine. I've always wondered if he was a member here, but I don't know him personally. I live off of Pratt between Cicero and Central.

I've lived in this town for 15 years now and have had a variety of cars you might have noticed during that period, including a red '00 WS6, a silver '98 Z28 (still own), a pewter '02 Z28, and a silver '71 Nova SS (also still own.) Only the pewter '02 Z28 ever sat outside, the others have always been kept indoors.

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

Oh wow! that's alot of cars lol, i worked there for about 4 years, dont think I remember seeing any of those though. But lets see..I remember a green 70-73 camaro, a nice silver T-type buick regal and a 93 cobra in a driveway off pratt and then there was this weird guy near Arthur and Central Park that had like 10 cars, some in the street, some in the driveway and some in the back yard...



and here's the camaro haha..knew I had a picture of it somewhere

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

The green '70-73 Camaro belongs to a guy named Tim, he's a UPS driver. He also has a blue one of the same vintage but the green one is a more serious build.

I live close to the guy with the '93 Cobra and gray T-type. I haven't seen the Buick in a while but it looks like he may have another Cobra now. We used to have a mutual friend but I haven't talked to him in a long time.

I didn't know about that stash of cars near Arthur and Central Park, I'll have to check it out. There is a similar stash of several old Ford/Lincoln products sitting outside at a house near Lincolnwood Dr. (frontage road for I94) and Fairview Ln., I think that's still Lincolnwood but it's right on the border of Skokie. I also try to keep a mental note of interesting stuff like this parked around the area. It's actually surprising how many old cars are sitting outside in driveways and streets all over the Skokie/Lincolnwood area.

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

I thought i remember seeing a bunch of old fords in a driveway..but i could be thinking of that house on central park, hes got 2 or 3 mid 60s thunderbids and that lincoln. Im pretty sure ive seen that green camaro up at da grove, ran pretty good from what i remember. But on a side note, ive seen some of your posts on here, you seem to know your sh*t when it comes to keeping these fbodys clean, do you know of anyone in the area who does paint correction? As in wet sand and buff using proper compounds to remove swirls and clear coat scratches? My car has some clear coat scratches here and there that i just cant get out with a buff..and i dont trust myself wet sanding..not sure how thin our clear coat is, dont want to find out the hard way lol.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

The house on Lincolnwood Dr. has a green early '70s Mark III and a red '67-68 Mustang. He has others as well, but I don't recall any Thunderbirds.

That's very possible. Tim drives it all over the place, and races it regularly. But there is another green Camaro that people often confuse for his around the area. The other one is owned by a guy named Al, who works for Skokie Valley Air Control in Morton Grove. Not sure if he still has his though as I haven't talked to him since early 2014.

Black is a tough color, especially for those of us who are picky about the finish. Unfortunately, I don't really have any current recommendations for paint work of that degree. There used to be a guy named Glenn who worked at the Carnica in Des Plaines, he did some good work in this regard. I only knew him through a friend whom I don't keep in touch with any longer, so I'm not sure if he's still in the area.

Are you familiar with the bubbling sail panel issue? If yours hasn't already been replaced, and especially if you're currently seeing any waviness or lumps, you might want to consider dealing with this before spending any money on extensive paint work. Just something to think about. Here is a thread that outlines the issue in case you're not familiar:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/paint-bod...e-dummies.html

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

yeah i dont expect it to be perfect, just want to try and get some of the light clear coat scratches out..looks great in most lighting but as soon as its under flourescent light or afternoon sunlight it shows all of the flaws. As far as the sail panel goes the guy i bought it from replaced it with a roof from a pre 98 TA and had it painted to match..he sent me some pics of the roof and old panel.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

It's great that the roof has already been replaced. All the '99+ cars are plagued with this, but black roofed examples have it the worst. It was horrible on my '02 before I had it replaced.

I know what you mean about fluorescent light, my garage is filled with this and it really does show everything - good or bad!

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

yeah I've noticed the dark colors are affected more than others, I assume because of the heat of the sun.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Just thought I'd mention, I cruised by that house on Central Park tonight and he no longer has nearly as many cars as shown in your picture above, at least not parked out front. The black '69 Sedan DeVille is still there, also present is a '75-76 Sedan DeVille, and something unidentified under a cover in the driveway. Only those three seem to remain.

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

last i saw he cleared a bunch of shrubs from the side of his house and parked some of the cars around back..id imagine the village finally cracked down on him to get the cars out of the street at least.

Foxrider7700

Beautiful Car!

deebee

That is a really nice car. I was looking for a decent one before I bought my Z28 and they are so hard to find now in decent shape. Good score. I have never seen one like that before.

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

thanks guys, here's a few after we buffed the car with varying compounds and resealed it.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

^ Looks fantastic.

I really do like the lines of a Formula. I wish I had bought one of those back in 2000 rather than a Trans Am, I'd probably still have it.

Those Goodyear Eagle F1 GS tires might still be original to those wheels, as they were the OE tires for the WS6 cars. It was also available as a service replacement for several years after these cars went out of production, but I can't imagine why anyone would have bought a replacement set of such a (IMO) sub-par performance tire. I think you'd be extremely happy with the performance of a tire upgrade at this point.

Also those exhaust tips look more like Corsa or Corsa clones than Flowmaster (perhaps FM is now cloning this style as well?), but either way they are hung nicely and fit the car well.

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

yeah i agree they arent the best tires, they are getting a little thin anyway but they will be fine for this summer. I have a line on a set of 9.5" and 11" ZR1s so ill probably hold off on buying tires. The tips do look like corsas but they have flowmaster writing on them..thats the only reason i knew that.

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

so i was looking for the date code on my tire today..you were right about them being original tires, date code was 0301, third week of 2001..no wonder why i can light them up so easily, explains why the wheels are in such great shape, must have come off a very low mile car.