Thread: 1998 Camaro Install- lots of pics, rear seat delete

Originally Posted by sporty_drew

Do you have any experience with these? I'm debating on one because i think it'd look good on my car with the tinted windows. This one looks a bit sun faded tho

Hmmm, I always thought they looked kind of ugly, but if it was painted black by a body shop (no rattle can) it might look pretty good on a black car.

I may consider one of them myself. I wanted to remove the rear tint so I can back up at night , keep the back window covered in some way to hide my stereo gear. then have the window clear to show everything off. With this rear cover I can leave off the tint and keep it on the car during the daily driving and then remove it for when I want to show off. Hmmm. That just might work. Do you know who sells them or how much they cost?

Presently, I was thinking of using that stick on mask that has the tiny holes in it that you see on vehicles with advertisements. I'd just get a plain gloss black. You can't see in the car at all, but you can see out real well. I can then peel it off for showing off. The only thing that bothers me is that the angle of the window is so slanted the holes are going to be pretty small so it may be hard to see out the back.

Decal material like this:


You can see out real well.

Heres where i found that one. I know when i was looking at them last year that i found them somewhere else, like summit or someone else big like them. The one i found looked to be built a little different, as i'm not sure about the ABS plastic.

That stuff I was refering to is called perforated vinyl. Supposed to block 75% of UV rays.
one way vision/perforated vinyl. You absolutely can not see inside a vehicle with this stuff on it.

Plus you can print any kind of picture or logo on it you want.

I may go with the "Texas Assassin"
Killin'em on the stereo front, performance front and show car front.

I went to the Houston Autorama last weekend and all the f-bodies there were weak. No wild suspension, mild stereo systems. Just weak. I'd blow them away with all the stuff I have planned. I may enter my car next year.

can't say i've ever heard or seen that stuff (damn Iowa ) lol

How many times would you be able to pull it off and put it back on before you had problems? Have you sourced a place to get it?

I've never heard of that show. How big is it? I have no doubt that you'd blow them out of the water with your planned setup. Thats one reason i miss my Monte Carlo. I didn't care about having the flashy stereo in it, racing seats, and painting it up. For some reason i can't let myself do anything that jumps out with this car. But oh well i like the way it's going and "kind of" hope others do too.

Originally Posted by sporty_drew

can't say i've ever heard or seen that stuff (damn Iowa ) lol
How many times would you be able to pull it off and put it back on before you had problems? Have you sourced a place to get it?

It's just like the vinyl stickers you see on cars, except this stuff has tiny holes in it. I saw a few vehicles completely wrapped in that stuff. Usually it's a promotional vehicle of some sort. Once you peel it off, it's done.

I've seen the bulk rolls on ebay, but I'd need to call a few places that make vinyl signs to see what a rear window size piece would cost. Those sign places run it through a big inkjet (or whatever) printer to make whatever design you want. The images you can put on it are limitless. I mainly like it as you can't see in the car at all. I mean I stuck my nose right up on it and I just could not see in, but you could see out fine. In my opinion, that's better for hiding a big sound system than limo tint, plus you'd be able to see out it at night.

Now if you just left it on, a quility piece of vinyl should last several years. I still need to contact a sign place and get more details and prices and so forth.

Originally Posted by sporty_drew

I've never heard of that show. How big is it? I have no doubt that you'd blow them out of the water with your planned setup. Thats one reason i miss my Monte Carlo. I didn't care about having the flashy stereo in it, racing seats, and painting it up. For some reason i can't let myself do anything that jumps out with this car. But oh well i like the way it's going and "kind of" hope others do too.

The Houston Autorama is probably the biggest car show here of the year. All the big cars, including some Riddler winners are there. http://www.autorama.com/casi/houston.htm

Excuse me while I talk about my plans.
I don't plan on my car being flashy. I don't care for it. I'm going to run a straight black paint job with the chrome rims. It will look just like it does now on the outside. I'll probably keep the front seats and carpet all stock. It's when you pop the hood or the hatch that you'll see it's not stock. Still no bright colors, just blacks and grays. Very refined. I'd sure like to do some dark cherry stained wood accents like on the big amp and a few other places, but I'm undecided about that right now. The engine bay will be all cleaned up with a hidden radiator/condensor in the nose, relocated dryer up front as well. The battery will drop down into the front wheel well and on the other side the fuse blocks will drop down into the fender well as well. The coils will be relocated and I think I may build an air cleaner assembly into the Raptor hood so you won't see it at first. I'd like to hide all the wires as well. I want to pop the hood and see nothing but engine.

If I go ahead with the hydraulic system I'll probably hide the pump under the car and all you'll see is the front cylinders sticking up through the shock towers and the line attached to it. Vrrrrrp, Vrrrrrp, car goes up, car goes down. I've got it all planned out in my head. Oh, and I don't think I'm going to build the big 402. Instead I'll find a used short block LS1 and put some ported heads and a rumbly cam in it. I just can't justify spending several thousand more dollars just for that hundred extra horsepower. 500+ to the wheels would be nice, but 400+ will have to do if it can save me $3000. Know what I mean? It's a very expensive hundred extra horsepower. I could use that money elsewhere.

Oh yeah, I checked the cable tension on the AC control cable and I had less than stock tension to start with yesterday, but 24 hours later all the tension left it, so I had to snip the ends and add new crimped ends. I got the tension nice and tight like stock. I'm guessing the cable must have stretched a little or else the sleeves pulled together a bit more. I don't know, but it seems fine now. I'll ship it out Fri morning or Sat morning at the latest.

Originally Posted by JasonWW

It's just like the vinyl stickers you see on cars, except this stuff has tiny holes in it. I saw a few vehicles completely wrapped in that stuff. Usually it's a promotional vehicle of some sort. Once you peel it off, it's done.

I've seen the bulk rolls on ebay, but I'd need to call a few places that make vinyl signs to see what a rear window size piece would cost. Those sign places run it through a big inkjet (or whatever) printer to make whatever design you want. The images you can put on it are limitless. I mainly like it as you can't see in the car at all. I mean I stuck my nose right up on it and I just could not see in, but you could see out fine. In my opinion, that's better for hiding a big sound system than limo tint, plus you'd be able to see out it at night.

Now if you just left it on, a quility piece of vinyl should last several years. I still need to contact a sign place and get more details and prices and so forth.

Well now you have me interested in seeing how much it'd be and what not. I'd really like to be able to see out my back window at night.

Originally Posted by JasonWW

I don't plan on my car being flashy. I don't care for it.

I by no means meant that it would be goddy (sp?) when i said flashy I just meant that i'm trying to keep strait lines (for some reason) and that i wont be able to let myself go all out and fiberglass a sub box/ amp rack for the rear sear until i get that out of my head.

I think that sticking with a ls1 is a good choice. It makes it affordable to drive yet you still have plenty of engine. I would really like to put one in someday also. Your engine bay sounds like it'll be one of a kind site (in a f-body) and i like the idea of hydrolics. Any reason you're planing to use them over bags in the back and air shocks in the front?

Sounds good on the cable, Thanks again for doing that. I received a 105 amp alt yesterday (to hold me off till spring) and i got my RE 35.1 today I'll get pictures up later today.

Originally Posted by sporty_drew

Well now you have me interested in seeing how much it'd be and what not. I'd really like to be able to see out my back window at night..

Me too. The last owner had real dark tint installed and it's a pain backing up at night.

Originally Posted by sporty_drew

I by no means meant that it would be goddy (sp?) when i said flashy I just meant that i'm trying to keep strait lines (for some reason) and that i wont be able to let myself go all out and fiberglass a sub box/ amp rack for the rear sear until i get that out of my head.

I'm not sure what you mean here. I was thinking flashy as bright colors, like red seats or stripes on the hood. Maybe you can try explaining it again.

Originally Posted by sporty_drew

Any reason you're planing to use them over bags in the back and air shocks in the front?

What I was actually planning was no air stuff at all. It would be coilovers front and rear. The upper coilover mounts would be attached to the bottom of the hydraulic cylinder so I can raise and lower the mounting points. The reason for the hydraulics is that it will hold the mount nice and solid on both compression and rebound. The car will be running on coilovers due to their superior handling ability over air bags. The coilovers are also much shorter than the factory shocks so that will give me the room I need to install the cylinders on top.

So lets say I set the coilover to give me 4.5" of total wheel travel. 2.5" on the compression side and 2" on the extension side. Once that's set, it stays that way. I would be able to set a 3" ride height off the ground and the car would not bottom out. It would ride good as well due to the extra travel. (I only have 2" compression travel right now and it rides pretty good, but the car is way off the ground) So thanks to the front and rear wheel tubs I'd be tucking the tires way up there, riding way low and smoothly, too.

The best part is I can raise the car up for steep driveways and I might even be able to 3 wheel it. How sweet would it be to lift a flat tire off the ground without a jack to change the tire?

If I add a small computerized controller ($500) it can automatically set the car on the ground when I turn the engine off. Then raise it to ride height when I crank it back up. The controllers typically have 3 adjustable heights. On the ground, ride height and way up. If I pressed the 3rd button the car would lift up for steep driveways. Plus I'd have the manual switches for whatever I want. It's a lot of extra work, but it's so badass, you know? I mean, it does everything I wanted it to do. No more jacks, either. Just lift the car up, slide jack stands under the body and then lift all 4 wheels. I was thinking of seperate air jacks just for that purpose, but the hydraulics take care of it. It's just so sweet, I have to do it.

Even with all these extra parts and freaky looking setups, it won't lose it's handling ability, either. It will still carve the corners like a champ. The one stumbling block is I need to build some dropped spindles in order to prevent altering the suspension geometry. I'm working on a sloution to that right now.

Ok now i understand why your looking at that over air. I was looking at bags since they have a kit for our car and i'm not the best with that stuff. Wish i could do that to my car, but i'll have to stick to just dropping my car some.

I guess my thought on flashy is stuff that stands out and you know is custom. Not a bad thing at all. We have the same thoughts on what it is, just different words

All right, I'm off to mail that cable.