I really could turn this into a novel...the plain and simple the reason why I kept on with this project for so long is because I set out to complete this project way back in 07 after the nitrous boom and what was said at the end of the video. ( ) By God I'm going to finish it! However, there is a huge back story that involves a lot of family / personal reasons.

I've always been interested in drag racing...my mom was the one that got me hooked though, taking me to NHRA events all the time. My Dad passed away when I was 13 and never got a chance to build cars with me or teach me mechanic things. I did get to work on his Harley Davidson motorcycle shortly before he passed and that got me wanting to build / learn.

Fast forward a few years and I'm looking at getting a new car after having my first car, a 2003 Kia Spectra, go through 4 automatic transmissions ( it was considered a lemon ) I found myself at a Chevy dealership. True story, I had never driven a manual car to that date and yet, I wanted to test drive the one I ended up buying. I stalled a couple times of course and ended up having the salesman drive it back lol. Still bought it though.

The plan was to start a few modifications right away, first with getting a new exhaust....but then I caught the mod bug and there was no looking back. I must have visited my local race track 10 times in the span of 2 months just having fun. It was never the goal then to "have the fastest 2.2L" but I wanted to play with nitrous. Play I did...and pay I did.

Skip to the day the accident happened, in retrospect know it could have been a lot worse. The car doors actually locked on me and for whatever reason they wouldn't work after the boom. I still never to this day got upset about blowing it up and laugh about it still. Initial estimates were a couple thousand in repairs.

Then I met one of the GM sponsored drivers on here. He had a posting for one of the race engines for sale along with other parts. After buying the engine and a few other parts, I worked on his team for the 2007 NHRA sport compact world finals to see what these cars could do in person and to shoot video.

After that race, the plan was for him to take the car from California to his shop in Texas to be built up. Long story short and I'm not going to dish out all the dirty details...never will...but the car sat for 3 years with nothing happening after the first roll cage was put in. Which that roll cage is a whole another story if you've read this thread from the start. (...I would have died if the car wrecked...) but I had not heard ANYTHING for years, I mean I thought the car had been sold off / scrapped / sent to the moon hell if I knew. Just then to 2012, I was moving back to California after living in Fl for a few years and I finally got a hold of the person with the car and picked it up.

I at least had it in my possession again.

It sat in the garage in California for a while collecting dust...and believe me after the already hellacious wait...I thought many times on just giving up. I knew from day one this was going to be an expensive build and take a lot of time. Just didn't think it'd be this kind of undertaking. So I leave California again in 2013 to move back to Florida and the fun begins again.

By chance, I got in contact with someone who purchased a lot of the old GM race Cobalts, Luciano Nichetti and team manager Mano. They just happened to live an hour away from where I'm at. From day one they have always supportive of the cause and backstory of this car..and I'm very fortunate to call them not only teammates, but friends. Since under their wing, I've had the opportunity to REALLY get to know these cars inside and out...plus learn a new language (Brazilian Portuguese).




Here we are today. The car is now back in our hands at Horsepower Sales and we'll be pushing to get this done pretty quickly but know stuff happens in this industry that slows things down / dealing with drama and people issues.

But I'm not going to quit when I'm this close to the summit ya know . Even if the first time I hit the throttle on this thing and it blows up...I wont break a sweat and build it again. Why? BECAUSE I CAN and it honestly doesn't matter in the end what others say...it's what I want.

I still left out a TON of things that have happened over the years...but that's a long story in short version, yes short version. I do want to thank those that have followed this story over the years and welcome aboard anyone else who wants to see this madness unfold!

Bottom line: when others would have given up...I'm still fighting...when some would have gone the easy way out and put it back together stock or something...I decided to upgrade to a larger turbo .

 

Really have to thank Ezequias Joao and the rest of the Horsepower Sales crew for cleaning up my car today for a special announcement! Best she's looked since I bought her. Thank you Luciano Nichetti for believing in me and ArilsoneKarine Henz for giving me a hell of a rocket!

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Welcome aboard Turbo By Garrett!

More to come very soon!

 

Your thread is awesome dude, and its nice to see im not the only one with the "madness" who refuses to give up on this as a race car (allbeit Im going road racing slowly) Cant wait to see more updates.

 

I'll just leave this here

 

Very nice!

 

Thank you!

Still working on the car...been waiting on a fab guy to do the exhaust / intake manifold and intercooler setup. Car is going to head over to his shop on Friday so things should be happening again soon.

Of course realistically, I wont be racing this year. Now that's not to say the car wont be going down the track by the end of the year...but with the last race being Nov 3 and me not having any seat time already...I'd rather not be stupid and go ***** out on a brand new car.

 

Im reminded of Disney movies where the regular Joe car fulfills his dream of being one of the cars that was born a racecar

 

Few more pictures for you guys to check out...

My intercooler core is here!









Sleeping beasts...











One is coming home, the other is headed out!



Last time you'll ever see the front of the car looking like this...







Oh and...here's a little treat!

 

I'll just leave this here...





And finally......

 

Gettin closer!

 

Nice progress, can't wait to see this things first pass

 

Little by little..but she's starting to look good now! Gotta pick up a dash asap and then get the car finally over to the intercooler guy. We've been waiting on getting the motor in / all the mounts right before taking it in.

 

lookin good man

 

Thanks guys!

It's not too bad looking for a backup / mock motor . The 4t65 looks great in there along with the 4202 if I do say so myself.

There's a new Championship Drag Racing series here in Florida that features big payouts of ($2k per race for 1st place) $10k for season champ and you get a NHRA Wally.




If you're around Florida, you gotta come to a race!

 

Couple more pictures...I'll be visiting the car tomorrow so I'll have a lot more MUCH higher quality pics coming soon.

Staging brake is in and some work on the fire system.


Ground Control suspension is in.

 

YUM what does that sob weigh?

 

She's a hefty bitch...haven't put her on the scales yet but she's pushing probably 2600 with me in it. We are going to try to do a few weight mods here and there to get as close to class rules permit (2400lbs with driver).

Tell you what though, when it had NOTHING in it, thing was light enough you could practically pick it up.

 

The real deal, bad bitch...all prepped, wired and ready to go. Getting EXTREMELY close to first fire up!

Going to post more high quality shots later today of what's happening with my project...you're gonna need a new set of underwear ;-)

 

Damn that's pretty

 

I can haz race motor.

Looks good man. Cant wait to see her run down the track.

 

Here's some close ups from my recent visit. Every time I call out a set date it passes...but I'll just say things are looking good for first fire up VERY soon. Hope you're all sitting down, let me know what you think!

 

Looks great!

Those wheelnuts look familiar too lol

 

Another small updates:

Rear suspension is completely done!


Front suspension is completely done!


Then this little beauty started going in today, steering column with quick disconnect wheel. On the wheel are buttons for the parachute release system / radio / transbrake.

 

Holy **** snacks, this is starting to look awesome. Can't wait for vids of the first passes

 

Car left Horsepower Sales today to go over to a new show to finish up the intercooler / charge pipe / up pipe and few other goodies finally.

The car is at a VERY reputable shop so don't expect this work to take forever and a day . Should have some progress photos by mid week coming up. I got a chance to sit in the car today with the new interior...gotta say, it was everything and more I could have asked for.

On to the photos!

Loaded up and ready to head out....


Now at the new shop....