01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Remember, markets are tangible items...meaning they are created. When the buyers fail to buy, the market is no longer a reality. Baby boomers are buying up all those Gen I Camaros and are generally responsible for the "muscle car" craze that has been commanding stupid high prices the last few years. When they die/go broke/go to a nursing home/retire that market will go belly up and a lot of people will have almost completely worthless "investments".

Paul 1953

hahaha sounds like some wishful thinking maybe?

What I need to do is find some famous guy to drive mine. Then it can brag that it was driven by Brad Pitt or whoever. (too late for Steve McQueen) :-)

But seriously, $7,427 makes "just a little more" for a set of nice flowing heads look like nothing right? (see, that's my addiction talking)

TurbopigB4C

iTrader: (5)

I spent more than 7k in mods in one week on an sr20det 240sx swap and really never was super happy with the car and eventually just parted it out. My Camaro I think has less than 10k in mods and car purchase price together and has run 12 flats.

bayer-z28

iTrader: (14)

9 years and that's all you did?? (j/k) I've had my Z for 8 and I'm well over your total.. But a wad of deployment cash helped a lot too. if you count EVERYTHING I've bought for the car (not counting the car) it tips $25k.

Here's my laundry list..

Exterior Modifications:
Fiberglass SS hood
15% Window Tint -Sides and Rear-
15% Tint strip on Top of Windshield - (Both help to keep in car cool)
"Whistler" Headlight Mod
Silver Start Ultra II head lights
Carbon Fiber Emblems, side, nose and rear fill-ins
VHT Nite-Shades Tint -Taillight and Side rear Markers
Clear Corners
Removed molding from side of the car. -looks a lot smoother now.
SLP Bowtie Grille
Shortened Antenna

American Racing Rebels. 18x9 front and 18x10 rear
Good Year Eagle F1 GS-D3 275/35 18 front
Nitto NT05 rear tires @ 285/35 18


Interior Modifications:
Custom Stereo, stock interior.... I like to keep it clean looking.
A-pillar gauge pod


Performance:
-INDUCTION-
FTP 98mm lid W/ K&N Filter
Silicone 4" hose
Nick Williams 102mm TB
FAST 102 LSXr manifold
SD Tune

-EXHAUST-
SLP Long Tube Headers
SLP 3" ORY
3" TSP Rumbler Catback w/ Dynomax Bullet Muffler.
Dual SLP PowerFlow Mufflers. (at the back)

-FUEL-
-LS1 42# injectors from FIC.
-Racetronix 255 pump with hotwire fix.
-FAST Billet fuel rails
-Custom Black Teflon -6 Feed line and -8 Crossover
-Jegs black/red fittings

-ENGINE-
MSD 8.5 Superconductor Wires
NGK-R TR6 Plugs
LS6 243 Ported Heads, New sodium Valves
Patriot Gold Dual Valve Springs for .650" lift
Thunder Racing Chromemoly PR's
Comp Cams 6* ADJ Timing Set
Thunder Racing Ported Oil Pump
Thunder Racing/PatG Custom Grind Camshaft @ 224/228 .637 .639 110
ARP Cam Bolts
Cometic .040 head Gaskets
ARP Head Bolts
ASP 25% UDP
ARP Crank bolt



-Other/Brakes-
SLP Traction Control Module
SLP CAGS Eliminator
Earl's Stainless Steel Braided Brake lines (front and Rear)
Hawk's Brake Pads, Full Set
Rotorworks Drilled and Slotted Rotors, all 4.
160* T-Stat (fans turned down w/ LS1 Edit)
Throttle Body bypass
Ram-Air mod (cut out under filter)
Drill Mod for Braided Clutch Line


Suspension/Chassis:
Strano 35mm Front Hollow sway, w/ Urethane Bushings
Hotchkis Lower Control Arms w/ Polyurethane Bushings
BMR Chromemoly Adjustable Torque Arm W/ Poly Bushing
BMR Chromemoly Shock Tower Bar
BMR Chromemoly Tubular Subframe connectors
BMR Chromemoly Adjustable Panhard Bar
BMR LCA Relocation Brackets
Eibach Pro Kit Springs
Bilstien Shocks
Energy Suspension Trans Mount
Heater Hose Mod, Retained Isolator. One wrap of Hose.
Shaved Rear Bump Stops 1/2"

Drivetrain:
T56 Rebuilds M6
New 1-2 Slider, New 3-4 Slider, New 5-6 Slider, New Reverse Slider,
New Mainshaft, New 1-6 Gears,
Carbon Fiber Synchros,
3-4 Billet Keys,
New Mikronite Finishing on 1-4 Gear,
Mikronite Finishing on 1-2 Slider and 3-4 Slider,
Steel 3-4 Fork, Bronze Fork Pads 1-4 forks, New Bearings

McLeod Single Disk Clutch, Kevlar/Organic Disc
McLeod Adjustable Master Cylinder
2002 Slave Cylinder
LS1 Speed Short Shifter Stick


-Weight reduction and Misc-

Fiberglass hood shaves 30lbs.
A/C Delete -40lbs
A.I.R. system Delete -10lbs
EGR delete -5lbs
Cruise Control and bracket Delete -10lbs
Spare tire and Jack -25lbs
Removed sound deadening material from sail panels and floor of car.
Removed wiring harness for rear speakers. -Both about 5lbs.
Monsoon Deleted -4lbs
Plastic crap in trunk deleted. -Not the side rear speaker panels.
Plastic panels near sway bar deleted. -? -1lb

Cobalt Fuel pressure gauge
LC1 Wideband
HP Tuners

-Stereo-
Pioneer DEH-P6400
Memphis MC SYNC C6 6.5" Component speakers. Front
Alpine rear speakers 2way
Dual Infinity Kappa Perfect 12's
"T-Top Box" for dual 12's from Subthump.com
Cadence Z8000 Amp, 500WMAX, Bridged, Routed parallel, 4ohm (need bigger amp)
*Genaric* 50x4 component amp
1farad Cap

Paul 1953

Man alive! That's an impressive wad of deployment cash! I hope the kids aren't hungry (j/k)

I'm pacing myself. It all began when the last of our kids moved out with his own car. My wife turned to me and said " Well, maybe it's time you went out and looked at some of those cars you always read about in your magazines" It was summer 2002...just enough time to score a remaining 35th Anniversary edition.

I still stay in her good graces with the money I spend :-)

ws6outlaw

98 ws6
motor swap from 99 t/a with 30k miles
ms3 cam
241 heads
pacesetter lt's and true dual exhaust
4.10 gears
corvette rims
monster clutch

my total investment.....$9500 car and all

FST SS

I'm with you Paul, I had a hot rod early in life, then went through the family life years and now have an 11 year old car that I wouldn't sell even if I got every penny back that I have invested.

Jenson

iTrader: (32)

Hmmm, how much have I spent so far...

Bougth my 01 SS in 05, drove it stock with a lid for 2 years, longest I have ever left a car stock

used car price:$17'300

Round 1;
Lid - $120
Cutout - $50

Round 2;
TSP duals - $350
HPT - $250 used
Hooker LT's - $250 used

Round 3; Finally got a beater and in went the cam
ported TB - free
ported 241's - free
G5X3 - $300 used
cam supporting mods - $400
manual steering rack - free
Spec 3+ - $300
LSS - $40

Round 4 in progress;
Sunoco Hood - $450
LS3 - free
Need to buy about $12K worth of stuff to go racing with it now

and somewhere in all that I bought a few sets of wheels;
Silver 10 spokes - $400
chrome Z06's - $500
XXr 962 - $450
Anthracite TTM's - $450 used
17x11 ZR1's - $450
Weld Pro star's - $450 used


And for kicks, last year about this time I bought my second F-body, 99 V6 bird, $2500

Firehawk Hood+paint the whole car - $1000
LS1/T56 swap from SS - free
swap parts - $400
Fikse FM5's - $1700 used
suspension - $250 used
comp custom cam and spring kit - $600
QTP LT's, Y pipe, muffler - $700 used

Camaro= $22'510
Bird= $7'150

That was fun

LunarWillow

iTrader: (3)

Sorry to hijack, but it sounds like you have a cool wife! I'm lucky enough to have a GF that truly appreciates my T/A. She was right there helping me put on my BBK headers/ORY (I have photos to prove it! ), always helps me wash/detail it, and doesn't care how much money I ever spend on it or the fact she can never drive it, as long as she gets to help me work on mine, and I help her find a T/A of her own. Only problem is she wants a Bright Purple Metallic one... might have to teach her to paint too! lol

Performance mods so far (much more to come!):

Dynomax catback- Free, came with car
MSD wires/NGK TR55s- Free, came with car
17" WS6 chrome 5-spokes/new Bridgestone street tires- $400
SLP lid- $65
BBK headers/ORY- $360
Grand total- $825, I have much more money than that set aside for future mods, but saving up more because I want to do as many mods as possible at one time to make the most use of the car's downtime.

black_phoenix

iTrader: (27)

Good lists everyone!!

So here is my list: 1998 trans am A4, paid $4400 had 146K unmolested miles

Bought 03/11 and already put in a lot of money in both mods and maintenance:

maintenance:
brand new brake calipers + labor: 242
ceramic brake pads: 50
power steering pump + labor: 280
starter + labor: 150
spark plugs: 25
tranny oil: 45
tranny flush: 50
tranny filter: 20
fuses: 3

modifications:

wheels+ tires in sig: 420 minus selling originals for 200: total 220
drilled rotors: 190
volant intake: 100
PTB: 65
LTs: 180
CATS: 100
stall: 350
gears with install kit: 210
tranny cooler: 80

subtotal mods and maintanance so far: 2360, holy cow i got ripped off!!!!!

still need:

overhaul transmission + stall install: ~ 800 with a hook up
gears intall: ~200
tune: 250
and A/C repair plus a few minor things

Im guesstimating another 2 grand or so

s25hanh

iTrader: (8)

......now thats not easy to do
Damn, thats awesome

Paul 1953

Yeah, she likes the car, esp freeway on-ramps. What she really likes is the looks from other guys. Once when I still had personalized plates "DADS Z28" she pulled into the gas station and the attendant asked: "Does your father know you're driving this?" :-)

Thanks for posting your lists guys. Interesting to compare.

s25hanh I'm waiting to hear the results of your tune after all that work and expense. I'm still amazed at your 286 hp! But, I'm no mechanic (just a tinkerer)

s25hanh

iTrader: (8)

got 326whp/334wtq. 40whp/44wtq+ just from longtubes and ls6 intake

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

I put nearly that much into just repairs on mine over the course of a couple years, and have nothing to show for it. Bah

Mean87SS

iTrader: (21)

I dont want to know....

Paul 1953

Yeay! At least you're in the 300s now and about right for boltons. I only gained 20 from my LTs but as an 02 it came with an LS6 intake. It was the cam & tune that got me up to nearly 400.

Obviously I'm not counting tires/oil changes and a leaky water pump last month..but that's all.

Here's a factor: Since the $7427 was only parts, having done the labor myself.... What would the same mods have cost if I'd paid someone else to do them!!? Easily over 10 grand I'm sure.

ncsu602

iTrader: (10)

Less than $8k including the price of the car a year ago. The best idea is to buy one already modded, but not ragged out.

I would've never had the cash sitting around to do the cam swap, even doing the labor myself. The dyno tune would've just about killed me. Mine is just a toy, the extra money we have goes toward the house/wife/two kids/college fund/car payment/retirement/etc........boo.

Paul 1953

Nice car. I like the shot of the burned rubber going down the road. Pretty good for 8K all in! And we both scored the same 394 bragging rights.
I know what you mean though. Mine are all out of college & launched. The cam swap was my bday present last yr :-)

tspence45

iTrader: (30)

I started figuring up the money I had in my T/A at one point last year and got sick to my stomach and stopped. I bought the car for ~$6k 2 years ago and started dumping money in right away. Spun a rod bearing 3-4 months after buying it and just decided to have fun and throw more money at it. My last figure got pretty close to $20k between buying the car and doing mods and I only had the car for a little over a year and a half. Ouch

LSCha0s

iTrader: (4)

I wonder how much I have invested In the wife..Better not add it up