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JT's C5 Z06

JohnnyT

New Member
Going off on a major tangent here... but just because we can make it ourselves doesn't mean it's going to be any cheaper. (Evidence any other manufacturing sector) And the refining costs of crude pumped from different regions of the world vary by quite a lot.
If pricing is based on supply and demand why wouldn't it be cheaper if supply was increased? I'm no economics major so I'm honestly asking, not questioning rhetorically.

Even if we take the price of gas out of the equation, think of the hundreds of thousands of jobs that would be created by utilizing on-shore production. Surely, that would help stabilize the economy to some degree.
 

dmention7

Hater
Supply and demand is usually a gross oversimplification, as the recent housing bubble indicated. When you get investors and speculators involved in commodities markets, the prices we as consumers pay far too often quite removed from actual supply and demand economics.

I'm not saying that increasing domestic oil production would definitely not help things, but I'm also not at all convinced it would. The general consensus I hear from almost everyone except for extremists (on both the left and right) is that there's not really much anybody in government could realistically do to bring down prices much, even with a concerted bipartisan effort.
 
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spek1098

Guest
USA have 4% of world oil reserves and 25% of world oil demand. Tapping everything we have would not make a lick of difference due to the growth of global demand and the time needed to develop oil fields. Even if we could double our production in 5 years, the rate of increase in global demand would out strip that, and prices would still rise. The math just doesn't work. There's also an argument, which you never hear, about saving our oil reserves for future generations, the true meaning of being a conservative. It requires thinking ahead more than a year or two (something politically impossible these days). Imagine in 100 years when non-sandoil oil, aka "easy oil" (Google Alberta Sand-Oil Fields) is almost gone. The value of the reserves we have in the ground would be immense. We forget about all the other things besides gas that we use oil for: plastics, fertilizer, detergent... I bet our grandkids look back and think WTF were they thinking taking what took 500 million years to make and using it all up in 200 years.

Now off to the race track...
 

JohnnyT

New Member
Nothing much new, car's running strong as all hell still. I finally got around to tinting the spare set of lights I had laying around. I did them myself using plasti-dip and they turned out very well. A few members here have seen them in person (they've been done for a month or so now). I may have Andy (minitrucker@heart) actually paint and clear them as the plasti-dip does attract dust and debris to stick to it but so far I like the flat black look.

Brake lights on:



Cars and Coffee - August 2011 pics:











 

JohnnyT

New Member
Oh and I have a lead on a FAST 92/90 intake set-up that I'm hoping to get fairly soon but the guy's got to get his supercharger details sorted out before removing it. That should put me over the 450whp mark and greatly inflate the powerband along the way which is pretty darn good for a little 346!
 

niterydr

Legendary Status!
Bump, have you had any troubles with officers pulling you over due to the dark tail lights? Stealth I just bought has painted lights and they don't shine thru at all during the night without the brake lights on.

Have you looked into applying a translucent tint?
 
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JohnnyT

New Member
Beautiful car, love the tinted tails.
Yup, +1. She's a beaut. Seriously fun car........
Thanks fellas!

Bump, have you had any troubles with officers pulling you over due to the dark tail lights? Stealth I just bought has painted lights and they don't shine thru at all during the night without the brake lights on.

Have you looked into applying a translucent tint?
Passed a few cops, had a couple right on my ass, but never pulled over or hassled about them. However, at night my lights do shine through even when not braking.

Regardless, it's illegal no matter how well other people can see them. I was never hassled with the MS6 either though.

I may get them professionally done but the light output would likely be similar to how it is now. If I get complaints from other drivers I can get brighter bulbs too.
 

Picklz

SUDO Make me a SAMCH
Running lights not shining through is just dangerous - way too dark. It's pretty easy to paint, nightshades, or plasti-dip a set like JT did where they will still allow some light through. I know Adrian got hassled for his (not sure how dark they were) so far nothing with my vette but I haven't driven it all that much either.
 

niterydr

Legendary Status!
I tossed stockers on the stealth for now, I will repaint the other ones this spring and allow the center area to remain stock for reflectors/running lights/brake lights.
 

JohnnyT

New Member
I talked to Dick with the TT Viper yesterday. Very cool guy and down to earth. I was amazed at how cheap he got that car for, especially considering it only had 11k miles. Now I just need a ride haha.
 

niterydr

Legendary Status!
I talked to Dick with the TT Viper yesterday. Very cool guy and down to earth. I was amazed at how cheap he got that car for, especially considering it only had 11k miles. Now I just need a ride haha.
For what the car has for power, modifications, mileage, and condition, he is doing VERY WELL in the cost department.
 

JohnnyT

New Member
Update 5/15 - I recently had my tuner, Carl at CJ Tunes, load me up on E85. I had a set of Bosch 42 lb. Green Tops cleaned up at TPiS and had new TR55 spark plugs/wires put in. The culprit to my drivability issues were the 02 sensors - I figured they were shot but didn't want to replace them until I got a diagnosis confirming that. Car runs incredible now.

I don't notice a SOTP increase in power, but that wasn't the main reason to switch to corn. I'd like to get a dyno run at MAP this year to compare - hoping for 430whp/400wtq. I'm so happy with the car as-is I don't really know where to go next. I'm thinking coilovers. Time will tell!
 

JohnnyT

New Member
Spring 2013 Teaser:



Parts list:

- ACI front lip and side skirts (installed)
- Mantic ER2 clutch/flywheel (installed)
- New slave, speed bleeder, other necessary clutch parts (installed)
- Poly torque tube couplers (installed)
- FAST 92 intake manifold
- Ported LS2 throttle body
- Catch can
- Shift knob (installed)

The exterior will get a nice refresh with the new body parts and I have a couple other plans not mentioned.

Definitely looking forward to warmer weather!
 
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JohnnyT

New Member
They'll be body color. Black works on some cars, but not silver. They're actually the same pieces Picklz has.
 

JohnnyT

New Member
Well I wasn't really planning on this, but it was too good of a deal to pass up. I found a set of GM T1 sway bars with spherical endlinks for a ridiculous $200. I'm not sure I'll install them right now, or even use them for that matter, but the investment cost was low and I know I can turn around and sell them for 3x the cost if they're a little too brash for the street. If I keep them I'll PC 'em to match the color of the red brake calipers.

 
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JohnnyT

New Member
Got the body pieces painted and installed this weekend. Overall I love the new look - although the fitment isn't perfect and seamless, it does look much more aggressive. Definitely gets much more attention too.

Now I just have to powdercoat the swaybars and throw those on, install the intake manifold, tune and I should be pretty well set for the year.

What do you guys think? Crappy cell pics but you get the idea:









 
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