Nikita's Transformation

[MidlifecriSS]

Well, I saw my doctor today and was diagnosed with a severe case of Camaro-Mod-itis. Apparently I acquired it the day I brought home Nikita (my 2011 Camaro SS/RS) and there is NO known cure.......
Thankfully I have a wonderful support group known as Camaro5!! I plan on making Nikita into the car I dreamed about when I was a kid.......
Here she is when I picked her up back in February 2011...and I will update each mod done and in the works going forward...Because it's an addiction...and the only cure is....

MORE MODS!!

[aquablueL99]

Midlife,
What a sweet looking Camaro!! It is outstanding just the way she sits....love the touch of the SS on the fenders....

Kurt ABL99...

[MidlifecriSS]

I have to give a lot of credit to my fellow Upstate C5 members for the inspiration on my mods!!
This is where Nikita was at the end of 2012 to bring you up to speed...
First there was the CAI mod...easy enough right? No warranty implications...maybe some HP gain...getting my feet wet.
Next, the amber footwell, dome, and trunk lighting...no harm there!!
Little did I know, I was getting the addiction.....

[MidlifecriSS]

Now I hope I am not alone in saying I went through 200 or more youtube and Camaro5 videos before I made my decision on exhaust...
Do I go with the headers right away? Do I get the HF cats? Do I ease into it and just get some sound with catbacks? After 3 months of stupid thinking, the winner is.....
SOLO Mach X Catbacks!!!
I visited Mufflerman in WNY and they sold me on them immediately. Love to show pics, but they did the install for free, soooooo......yeahhhh......

It's onto Camaro Fest!! Thanks to Joe (Mr. Wyndham as he is now known) for planting that seed to drive to Indy on 5 days notice!!

[MidlifecriSS]

Being a Camaro Fest rookie, I should have thought this through better. 100's of Camaro merchandise vendors, 1/4 mile drag strip, road course...
CAMARO HEAVEN!!!!
I should have brought a truck with me to bring it all home...look out for me at CFEST4...I will be the one with the HUGE shopping cart!!!

I went with the Oracle ColorShift 2.0 headlights because I love the evil look up front with the red eyes (and mostly because it would fit in our pitifully small trunk with the suitcases!!) and rushed home to install them!!
I wish I could find the pic of my wife with her oven mitts helping me after the headlights came out of the oven!! Pretty easy install though...

[MidlifecriSS]

Jump ahead to Spring 2013...
I love the way Gen 5's sit when lowered...I went with the Pfadt's Racing/Lowering Springs! Install was overall easy...until the very last bolt decided it wanted to make my night miserable!! My son and I fought with the damn thing for about an hour (at midnight after a loooong day!) but the lower arm would not work with us! Finally, my lovely wife comes out and sends my son to bed (something about "school" in the morning?? Whatever.....lol) and she proceeds to push the damn bolt through on her first try!!!
Gotta love HOT car chicks!!

[MidlifecriSS]

A couple of easy mods...one was an absolute necessity and one just looked awesome on my buddy SSMike's car, so I pulled the trigger!!
I have had the dreaded "clutch stuck on the floor" mishap and the fear of it happening again lead me to the separate clutch reservoir. Best piece of mind mod to date!!
Then the Roto-fab engine covers...AWESOME company to work with!! They told me with the custom paint, it would be 3 weeks...imagine my surprise when I received a package 5 days later!! I tore open the box, cut away the bubble wrap, and.........
it was unpainted.
Called the company and they were great!! She rushed out another set to the painters and I shipped these back...5 days later I got another package...this time I could smell the paint before I opened it!! YUM!! Here they are:

[MidlifecriSS]

I skipped over the interior upgrades!!
Removed the interior trim pieces and painted them IOM thanks to a local paint shop!! They referred to Inferno Orange Metallic as chicken wing sauce...yeah I live around Buffalo, NY...

[MidlifecriSS]

This is the upgrade I have been looking forward to the most...
KOOKS headers and High Flow cats. Hoping to install this weekend!!

[MidlifecriSS]

So it's been a long time since I updated this...working way too much. I have made several upgrades since last June.
We went to Camaro Fest last July and raided the vendor tents. Left the fest smiling from ear to ear after running the 1/4 mile for the first time. My times sucked thanks to Pirelli's with far less than acceptable tread left, but DAMN was it fun!!
I left with engine compartment accessories from Billet customs and ZL1 style rockers from ACS Composites. I was so excited about the rockers, I made my beautiful wife hold them on so I could see what they looked like as soon as we got home!! For the install, it was nerve racking drilling into the rockers, but all went well...GREAT PRODUCT!!
Big thanks to RDP Motorsports for letting us hang out and get on the Dyno on the way down!! The memories with the Upstate C5 gang's Camarovan down to Indy were priceless though!!

[MidlifecriSS]

I skipped a few things in there too...
I had the throttle body ported and a new tune from New Era back in July. On a 90+ degree day (not optimal temps for dyno testing) Nikita still pushed out 410 at the wheels. I am going back to New Era for the Cam upgrade in 2 weeks, so I am looking for 460+ after!!
In the meantime, I changed out the shift knob to a custom Speeddawg knob (GREAT PRODUCT...EASY INSTALL TOO!). I also got around to the new rubber...Hankook Ventus EVO's all around. Hopefully I will hook up better this year!! Big thanks to my son for the free tire mounting!!

[Ron_Robinson1]

Great build...

[Black Knight]

Nice mods keep it up

[kjkjr27]

Looking great Jeff, car sounds amazing! Btw hope you don't mind did a little photoshop with a couple of your pics!