Carbon - My 2011 CGM 2SS/RS [COTW 4/21/14]
 

I really don't know why I've waited this long to do this, but I'm certainly kicking myself now because of the backlog of photo's I've done.

In January of 2011 my daily driver, a 2003 Honda Civic SI, was "reverse rear-ended" by a tank of an early 2000's Acura. I was driving to work in the wee hours of the morning and I came to a stop behind this car which was stopped behind another car. All of sudden I see reverse lights and before I can react theres an Acura laying on top of my hood. She told the responding police officer that she had seen a movie the previous weekend where the main characters were carjacked a similar way and she was just trying to escape. :facepalm:

Anyway, the hunt for a new car was on and it was my WIFE's suggestion to look at a Camaro as she knew I had always wanted an American muscle car.

It was love at first sight......

Here is Carbon on the day she became mine. As to why she's Carbon, well, you'll see.

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Power

Roto-Fab CAI
Magnaflow Competition Series Catback w/ Truflow X-pipe
1 7/8" Pfadt Tri-Y Headers
Comp Cams Boost Friendly Custom Grind Cam
Hardened Pushrods, BT Valve Springs, Timing Chain, Melling Oil Pump
VMAX Ported TB
Apex Scoop w/ washer bottle delete
Tuned by CincySpeed
471/425 rwhp/tq

Suspension/Wheels

20" Matte Black Forgestar F14's 9 in front 10 in rear
BMR Trailing Arms
BMR Sway Bars
BMR Toe Rods
BMR Full Bushing Replacement
BMR Endlinks
BMR 1" Lowering Springs
BMR Strut Tower Brace
DBa Slotted Rotors
Hawks Ceramic Pads
BF Goodrich Stainless Steel brake lines
Installed by Raymond's Performance

Cosmetic

Exterior
DJ Grilles "Hawkeye" Grille - Matte Black
VIS Terminator Hood - Carbon Fiber
Seibon ST-style Deck Lid - Carbon Fiber
Street Scene Splitter - Carbon Fiber
RideSkinz Side Skirts - Carbon Fiber
CarbonFibre Works Mirror Covers - Carbon Fiber
AAC Ghosted Side Markers
AAC Plasma DRLs
AAC Afterburners
JDP Colorshift Halos
RPI Carbon Fiber Gills
EmblemPros Hydrodipped Carbon Fiber Taillight/Fog Light Bezels

Engine Bay
CarbonFibre Works plenum cover, fuse box cover, master cylinder cover, radiator shroud, fender trim - Carbon Fiber
Billet Custom AC port, hood cylinder rod, relay cover, heat sink cover, oil dipstick cover, pulley covers - Satin Finish
EmblemPros - custom stainless steel hood liner - Satin/Carbon Fiber
VMS Engine Cap Covers - Gunmetal
Apex Motorsports Catch Can
Holley Big Block Coil Pack Covers - Red
JDP Heater Hose Relocate
Braided Nylon Split Loom Wire Cover

Interior
Remin Carbon Fiber Trim Kit
Custom Carbon Fiber Sill Trim and Armrest
ACS Rear Deck Lid - CGM/Carbon Fiber
SRP Pedals

Recent Photos

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My first round of mods included some AAC Plasma DRL's to match the headlight, carbon fiber mirror covers, carbon fiber gills, a Roto-Fab CAI with hydrographic finish, and custom license plate!

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I then decided to get some AAC Afterburners, a Remin Carbon Fiber trim kit, some hydrodipped foglight/taillight bezels from Roger at EmblemPros, and a carbon fiber radiator shroud cover from Carbon by Design.

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I decided to work on the exterior some more with a Vis Terminator Hood and Seibon ST-Style rear deck lid, both carbon fiber of course, and a phantom grille. I also plastidipped my rims, painted my calipers red, and worked on my engine bay with a JDP heater hose relocate, holley big block covers, and some carbon fiber.

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I was tired of doing strictly cosmetic mods so for Christmas I called up Chase at Apex (who happens to be a sponsor of our local Camaro club) and Tony and Deviate Motoring to have these show up.

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Around the same time I was part of the initial group buy for the DJ Grilles Hawkeye.

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After a trip to Raymond's Performance and some cold days in the driveway installing the grille, I entered the car into a Carl Casper's Custom Auto Show and ended up with a first in class trophy!

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I was approached by Chase and Paul at Apex Motorsports to participate in a photoshoot with them. It was awesome! It was neat to see how they set up the background and lighting to capture the silhoutte of the car. O
h and Apex Amanda and Morgan were pretty sweet too.

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My hats off to you man. That is one sweet ride

I have your car in my garage....lookin' great!!

Kurt ABL99...:chevy:

sweet ride you have there!

very cool build love the photo shoot set up

congrats beautiful car and wow the carbon fibre is awesome

What no carbon fiber bowties??? Looks awsome!!! how do you like that grill?? Fitment?

Thanks! I appreciate it, it has been a work in progress!

I was really excited when I found out that Chase and Paul at Apex selected my car for their poster this year.

Thanks!

Thanks! It was a pretty cool experience to see how they manipulated everything to get a silhoutte on a black background with a dark car.

Thanks! It is a bit of an obsession and is certainly not for everybody.

Haha, actually, I only have the rear bowtie and it is carbon fiber with a matte black surround.

I love the grille because nobody has it around here. It was a big gamble for me because I did the install myself and it was such a new product. I was lucky enough to get it for a price that is nowhere near the current retail price and to date, customer service with DJ grilles has been excellent, if not slow. In terms of fitment, I did do the install myself so it wasn't done professionally. There is a little bit of open space at the portion above the doors. Fortunately, it isn't too noticable unless you're crouched down and up close.

While the engine bay had a bunch of cosmetic work to it, I haven't always been happy with the underside of my VIS Terminator hood. It has a smooth finish for the most part, but the cowl portion has a rougher texture to it. I am lucky to live an hour away from EmblemPros and had been in contact with Roger about developing an underhood liner to spruce things up a bit.

We came up with an idea to do a brushed stainless piece with "CARBON" Camaro fender-style lettering and a bowtie cutout with carbon fiber backing. It took about 5 trips to get the template correct but the end result turned out great.

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I had also picked up an ACS rear deck liner painted CGM at this past year's Camaro5Fest and instead of purchasing the carbon fiber vinyl and chrome fender lettering, I met with Roger again and he came up with the carbon fiber pieces and some brushed stainless lettering.

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I also started to do some more exterior mods by adding a Street Scene carbon fiber front lip and purchased Rideskinz carbon fiber sideskirts from Mindz.

I was able to borrow a fellow club member's lift to put the body kit items on myself but had to enlist the help of someone with small hands (My wife) to reach and secure some screws with the wheels on.

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The only piece I need to finish off now is the rear diffuser but I'm having difficulty finding one in carbon fiber that I like that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (Calloway).

This last picture is a better view of the custom underhood piece from Roger at EmblemPros.

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Christmas came early to me this year. The warranty was going to go up in February and the car was going to be spending the winter in the garage, so I bargained with my wife to get some horsepower added in November.

I took the car about an hour away up to CincySpeed to add some horsepower with their Boost cam package as well as the Pfadt Tri-Y's I had picked up after Camaro5Fest.

If you haven't had the opportunity to see the Pfadt Tri-Y's, they're just friggin beautiful. I almost wanted to just hang them on the wall in the man cave.

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The team at CincySpeed is top notch and I plan on using them once I decide on which FI route I plan on going. If you're close to Cincinnati and looking for a good shop, I'd recommend taking the trip. They dubbed my car the "Death Race Camaro" because of the hidden headlight grille.

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I was happy with the results at 471/425 rwhp/tq. It sounds just plain nasty at idle and under throttle as I'm catless, resonator delete, and x-pipe.

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About time you updated this, car looks awesome. I'm sure I'll see you whenever Apex does their open house.

I got a little crafty with the stock cam shaft, toe rod, rotor, and some spray paint.

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I also added a fire extinguisher using a billet mounting bracket from Rick's Camaro.

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do you have a link for that fire extinguisher bracket?

and why haven't u won cotw yet

I purchased a harness bar and harnesses from CipherAuto. I am still currently waiting on their arrival as Fedex seems to have trouble locating the package at the moment :frusty:

But in preperation I decided to attempt to make a rear seat delete kit from scratch before resorting to the premade piece. I think it turned out pretty well.

Deleting the rear seat was easy once I found out I needed a 15mm and deep 18mm sockets.

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The hardest part was measuring the pieces of wood to fit snugly without rubbing on the plastic trim pieces.

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I matched the interior carpet color the best I could with some fabric from JoAnn. Some spray adhesive got me to this point.

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Here it is completed and installed. The color is definitely not an exact match, but the flash from the camera also enhances the difference. With the seats back it blends in alot better. I also tucked the rear seat belts behind the trim panels for a cleaner look.

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I also laid down some sound deadening material (Fatmat) to hopefully help with sound control.

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Yes! Can't wait to see what you've been working on.


Here's the mounting bracket.

http://www.rickscamaros.com/fire-ext...-aluminum.html

You'll also need one of clamps depending on extinguisher size.

http://www.rickscamaros.com/fire-ext...-diameter.html

http://www.rickscamaros.com/fire-ext...-diameter.html

I just made the build thread so I'm a little behind haha. Now that I've actually started it I'm resolved to keep it updated.

I love the front end! I just love it :love::love:

Should be a piece of cake! Best of luck!

Finally got the Cipher Harness Bar and Harnesses in and installed. I learned how to take the seats out of the car haha. I hope the Recaros will be available for those of us who didn't have that option available at original vehicle purchase. I'd love to put in aftermarket seats, but I also want to retain use of factory airbags.

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I also got a carbon fiber gas cap for Christmas from the in-laws and got around to putting that on the car. It seemed too large at first until I put it on the car and it fit perfectly. It is from Camaro Collection for those interested. They also have door panels and dash trim pieces in carbon fiber, but for a $1000, not quite to that on my list yet.

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The car looks great man! That sure is a lot of carbon fiber!

Thanks! I appreciate your contribution to my car, the sideskirts work well with the front splitter I like to think.

So I learned how to remove the shark fin antenna. I also received some "4D" carbon fiber vinyl.

I wrapped the shark fin in this vinyl and it doesn't look half bad. The finish actually gives it some depth. I think I may try wrapping the roof in it to see how it turns out.

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That looks good. Looks more realistic than hydro-graphics

Looks great!

Hot dam & I thought I was a Mod Addict. You have done such a beautiful job on the CGM. I see you like C B also. Correct me if I'm wrong I didn't see it any where but haven't you made COTW yet? If not you absolutely have all my votes. Every thing just falls into each other on this car.

I love coming back and reading this thread very cool man, holy carbon fiber pure taking it to the next level

Thanks! It's been a long work in progress and the brevity of this build thread doesn't do justice to the many different changes I've done, some of them several different times!

I have some things planned for the future and now that this thread is started I hope to have a few more pictures up. It just needs to warm up already!

On my list:

DJ Predator Grille (back up to my Hawkeye)
Carbon Fiber vented fenders painted with exposed carbon hash marks and another little exposed piece
Wrapping my roof in the 4d Vinyl- maybe followed up with the Morenos CF Roof inlay
Rideskinz roof spoiler
Twins

Very Exiting

Man... I just finished looking at your build.. I must say its very impressive!

Lots of money and worked invested in it and looks beautiful, great taste, very well done :clap2:

Finally had a day of warm weather here so I decided to tackle my "4D" carbon fiber vinyl roof wrap. I also experimented with some stripes. It's kind of growing on me...

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Here's another with brighter lighting. I did some other cosmetic upgrades, once we get another nice day I'll take sunlight pics of the roof and the other upgrades.

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Looks great. Any links to where the vinyl is from?

It's made by Vvivid Vinyl http://www.vvividvinyl.com/index.php?route=common/home

I bought it from there store, link here http://1stopvinyl.com/

Make sure you pick the "True R" style of carbon fiber vinyl, that's the more realistic style, though at an upcharge. It comes in widths of 5 feet, just purchase by length.

Sweet build. Love the cf look

Had a bad case of cabin fever today and the temperature wasn't too bad so I decided to take some pictures with my wife's new DSLR.

A couple of weeks ago I received a Remin Exterior kit in real carbon fiber and I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it but I think I'm going to keep it on. It has trim pieces for the triangular portion near the mirrors as well as the door handles.

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I also haven't posted any pictures of the Billet Custom items I've installed but here they are!

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I think this is a neat picture of the entire engine bay as well.

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Here's a picture of some products coming in for my next project.

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Do you have a CF Tattoo yet. LOL