Ben's Aqua Blue Metallic Build Thread

[ben3350]

Originally Posted by Sky

Real nice man. Someone else installing your zl1 front end?

And you posted your build later than me and are already on your second page! I'm jelly. Just got my rear gfx put on today!

Yes I'm getting my local shop to install the zl1 fascia as well as the headlights.

Dropping off my car wednesday and they said I should have it friday.

Then I'll have almost all of my mods done! I may have to wait a bit on the powder coated wheels because the amount of time they'll have my car for is too long for me to go without a car. It's my daily driver and I commute in and out of the city. So I might have to wait for a holiday or some kind of break.

But yes I am so close to having all my mods done and its looking so good already!

Sky, your GFX looks awesome! I always thought about doing that. But just FYI, if you're still planning on getting it, I don't think the Ark N-II exhaust will fit in the GFX, it's just too large in diameter. I know some people have had issues with it.

[Sky]

Yeah I asked, they don't fit but that's what the square tips are for! I will probably buy them and just replace the tips . Pshhh you think you're gonna be done. Yeah right! I'd bet money you come back around to do some stuff to your interior.

[ben3350]

Originally Posted by Sky

Yeah I asked, they don't fit but that's what the square tips are for! I will probably buy them and just replace the tips . Pshhh you think you're gonna be done. Yeah right! I'd bet money you come back around to do some stuff to your interior.

haha you may be right on that one, but at least not for a while after I'm done these mods.

[Behic2320]

very cool cant wait to see all your new upgrades on

[vroomapunk]

Originally Posted by ben3350

haha you may be right on that one, but at least not for a while after I'm done these mods.

Congrats on the ZL1 fascia and headlights, gonna look great. ABM's with the ZL1 front end look so nice, saw one at C5fest.

Makes me really want to see an ABM ZL1

[ben3350]

ZL1 Bumper and HID Halos installed!

Just got my car back from the shop this morning. What a transformation! I think it looks great.

Here are some pictures. I'm gonna take some pictures later on in the day, because the sun was just coming up and while I think it looks good in the pictures, the sunlight was not too kind during the time I took them. Lots of shadows and glares. But I know a lot of people wanted to see what an ABM with a ZL1 bumper looks like so I didn't wait.

And while the pictures are nice, it just looks incredible in person. I've only had my car back for 3 hours and I've already had two strangers ask to take pictures of it. I get complements on my car almost daily, but rarely do I have people asking to take pictures.

It turned out so much better than I was expecting!

And I like I said I will upload some better ones later on when the sunlight is more forgiving.

[Sky]

Words man. Not enough. That looks SO SICK! And you beat me to it. I should have mine done next week I hope. Those headlights are also gorgeous with your paint! Would totally go great with HID's for your fogs and drl man!

[bluetooth-ss]

ABM + ZL1 front= WIN!

[ben3350]

Originally Posted by Sky

Words man. Not enough. That looks SO SICK! And you beat me to it. I should have mine done next week I hope. Those headlights are also gorgeous with your paint! Would totally go great with HID's for your fogs and drl man!

Thanks man! And yeah I agree the fogs and drls would looks better as HIDs but just didn't fit my budget. Maybe sometime down the road. But I doubt I'll use my fogs that much anyway.

Originally Posted by bluetooth-ss

ABM + ZL1 front= WIN!

Agreed, seriously this thing looks amazing in person. I can't believe they've never made an ABM ZL1 with how much it makes that bumper stand out. Oh well, it works out for me, I'll be one of few with my color and my front! I only know of 2 others.

[aquablueL99]

Originally Posted by bluetooth-ss

ABM + ZL1 front= WIN!

What he said!!!

Looks great....been thinking about something like this for a while...thanks for beating me to it.....

Kurt ABL99...

[ben3350]

Originally Posted by aquablueL99

What he said!!!

Looks great....been thinking about something like this for a while...thanks for beating me to it.....

Kurt ABL99...

You're gonna love it! that bumper was made for our ABMs.


So all I've got left are the wheels and stripes.

One of the ballasts for my HIDs on my driver side went bad. Have to get it replaced but no one who sells them are open until monday. Luckily my body shop guy will just replace it once I can find the part.

I'm scared to start work on the hood spears, side stripes and gill stripes because I don't want to mess it up. But I guess I have to get started on it soon. I'm anxious to see how the hood spears look with the new bumper.

[ben3350]

Oh and heres a pic with the lights off

[ben3350]

And heres another one. I like this pic because you can see the clouds reflected on the hood.

[ben3350]

Hey everyone,

wow haven't posted since september, but I have done a couple things to the car in the last few months. Most of them have been interior and audio though.

I will have pics in the next few days of everything I've done/will do

Some new things I've added to the car

- Replaced factory amp with JL 300/4v2 slash series
- Replaced component speakers with JL C5-650's
- Added a JL 10w7 subwoofer in the trunk in a ported box
- Added a JL 500/1v2 slash series amp to power the sub
- Dynamatted basically the entire car (side doors, quarter panels, rear seats, roof, trunk, trunk lid, basically any area that could have any kind of rattle, that 10w7 hits extremely hard and I love it)

Really love the new sound upgrade. I have both amps which have the same style side by side and bolted onto the back of the backseats. So while the backseats are up, nothing is visible, but I can bring the seat down to view the amps and mess with them. I think they look pretty cool with the seat down. Much cleaner sound now thanks to replacing the amp and speakers. The JL 10w7 sub is just ridiculously powerful. I know the w7 is JL's top of the line sub, but since it was just 1 10", I figured it would be powerful but not crazy. This thing hits extremely hard where you can feel it in your chest.

Things I am planning to do, in the process of doing:

- Replace factory radio with Alpine dash kit
- Add the Alpine INA-W910 head unit into the dash kit
- Add the Alpine WCE-C305R backup camera
- Add PAC 7 module for video bypass
- SiriusXM tuner

The factory radio looks alright, but I really wanted to upgrade it whenever I had the chance. Not only will it look great, but the sound signal will be much cleaner too. So there will be a fairly significant sound upgrade once I put that head unit in as well as disconnect the center speaker. I've also been wanting video navigation for a while. I'm sick of having to use my phone's GPS as a sole way of navigation (plus its unsafe) so this will be great. Having video in the car is also a plus and I use Pandora daily and the Pandora integration will be awesome to have. I listen to SiriusXM constantly as well and I needed a tuner for it to work with the dash kit/head unit so I got that as well. Another thing I am super excited about is the new backup camera. No longer the days of worrying about backing up or parking with the visibility of the camaro not always the best. I got the top of the line camera, the HCE-C305R with tons of cool features. Wasn't cheap, it goes for 5-600 but got a great deal on it for much cheaper. Also got a license plate mounting kit that works with the backup camera.

I have ordered everything I am planning to do, and have everything here except for the actual dash kit and head unit, which is scheduled to arrive on either friday or monday. As soon as it's all here I will get it installed.

I will upload pics soon of all the new stuff I have already done very soon, and will do the same for the future stuff and soon as that is done.

Thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with my thread, it's been a lot of fun, and hopefully will inspire someone else to do some similar mods because we all know mods are super fun and addicting!