3000GT / Stealth / GTO - Car of the Month January 2011

I purchased this car in 2002 from an elementary school teacher who really didn't know how to take care of it.
I fell in love with it after the 1st test drive! It had 178,000km.
It started out as a high-end used car for a daily driver.
The first thing I had to do was get it painted. Paint was thrashed and sideskirt split... My cousin the ex-bodyshop mgr stripped it down sanded it, threw all the parts inside (bumpers and all) and took it to the paint shop for re-painting it stock/original orchid pearl blue. When it came out, I helped him put it all back together again. Thats when I learned how well built these bodies are! Took forever, but it was worth it. Paint still holds its own in car shows to this day.

I found the 3SI website shortly after, then the 'obsession' began..... I met other owners with beautiful cars, engine bays, etc. etc. and wanted a car like theirs. I started organizing all of the local meets and couldn't get enough of these cars. I started 'upgrading little things here and there as I could.

Stereo Upgrade was next, even built my own sub box because being long distance daily driver I didn't want to lose my spare tire!

Then I learned how to polish Aluminum......then it snowballed... 'Hey! I can polish that too!' I kept saying. Local 3S owners started calling me Mr. Bling....

Show & Shine judges would walk by my car, look at the engine bay, realize how many hours it took to polish all those parts, and just shake their head.....then give me a trophy at the end of the day

Kept driving it 100Km to/from work every day, but eventually
at 320,000km the head gasket finally gave up.

Our local guru/Stealth-God mechanic at GT Racing said 'Bob - if you wanna go Turbo, now is the time to do it'. Need a whole engine rebuild, so away we went!
The Single-Turbo setup, including turbo, intake, headers, exhaust are all custom made (stainless steel) for this car. GT designed the whole thing. While it was in the shop (engineless) I found a set of Leather seats that a friend reconditioned and replaced all damage leather on. I installed them while it was in the garage being re-built.

The Turbo was made from 2 different turbos (bigger vanes, faster spooling ball bearing type). Custom waste gate and BOV. Front mounted intercooler.
Last Dyno run est 410HP at the crank.
As this car was a 'prototype', there were lots of issues at the beginning (too much fuel at low RPM, not enough at high RPM) so in went the Apexi Neo and the Supra fuel pump.
Then there was all that 'heat'. Almost melted everything around the turbo (including my battery). So in went the titanium header wrap and battery wrap.

The next winter I slowly converted the entire interior to Blue LED lighting. Patience is very necessary if anyone even thinks about being crazy enough to do this like I did....LOL

List of modifications since it was a stock R/T NA is extensive:

Suspension and Wheels:
- Tein Coilovers
- Diablo 20" Chrome wheels
- 275/30ZR20s Rear, 255/35ZR20s Front
- Cross drilled rotors, SS brakelines, Axis Pads.

Electronics:
- Innovative Performance Digital A/F (A-pillar)
- AEM Boost Gauge (A-Pillar)
- Apexi blue LED Turbo Timer
- Apexi NEO A/F Mgt
Audio:
- Alpine MP3Head Unit
- Audiobahn amp for sub
- JBL 10" Sub in Homemade Box

Interior:
- Reconditioned leather seats (Stock was cloth)See below.
- Blue LED conversion on all switches and lights. See below.
- Speedhut Indigo Blue gauge face overlays including centre gauges
- 3SI Floormats

Engine:
- Polished intake plenum, intake pipes, valve covers, fuel rails, water housing, headers, downpipe, Stealth R/T Spark Plug cover, strut bar.
Note: I did all my own metal polishing.......
- Custom Single TD03 Turbo
- GT Racing Wastegate and BOV
- Steel Forged Crank
- 360CC injectors
- 99 lifters
- Chrome rings
- Upgraded racing pistons
- Full front mount intercooler
- Front mount Tranny cooler
- Stainless steel intake piping and exhaust system (again custom made by GTR)
- K&N FIPK mounted down by foglight.
- Supra Fuel Pump - Hot-wired.
- Chromed plastic Timing Belt Covers

Other:
- FIAMM Horn Mod
- Snake-Eyes Mod
- Single to Dual Exhaust conversion
- Window tint

Odometer now reads 356,000Km....... and it's just like a brand new Stealth R/T FWD ATX except a lot better and a lot faster!