Looks good, the attention to detail is awesome! Has somewhat of an IS300 feel on the front end before the black, looks much better. I'd personally do some black forgestar wheels or something, the new black/silver are an improvement over the chromies, but some black (I'd go gloss to match your badges etc.) forgestars would look sick:

 

That is a sick rim! I looked at Forgestar,I think, and If I am remembering right, they only come in a 19". I was thinking of something in that style or a simple 5 spoke, like the ADV5.1 in a matte finish. Of course I keep thinking a matte black wrap would be killer on it.
Maybe matte black wrap, matte wheels, black out the muffler, get different tips, and have the caliper done in orange. Can you powder coat a matte color?

 

I like everythign but the chrome wheels. The front looks a lot like a Nissan Altima.

 

My car had a rough start to the year.
How she looked before all this:

In January I had plans to change up the look of my car for the 2011 car show season. After laying the plans and spending a good chunk of money in preparation for the makeover, my L76 decided that it didn’t like me anymore.
The Carnage:
No this is not a viewing window:

I hate it when this happens:

The culprit, the number one cylinder rod. The consensus is rod failure.

This can’t be good!

No, that won’t buff out!

More carnage!

Shrapnel!

As long as we are destroying things, let’s kill the heads as well!

 

Are you crying yet?


There wasn’t anything internally that could be salvaged. Due to the Tune, DoD delete, Cam, and Torque Converter I had installed, trying to get it warrantied was a real long shot. Carb Connection and Vector Motorsports to the rescue! Well, let’s just say they both were very gracious and willing to help me turn my lemons, in lemonade ****tails!
The Plan: A Forged LS3, stroked to 427ci (7.0 Liters for my Canadian friends), topped with Mast Black Label Heads, Compstar Rods and Crank, Wiseco Pistons, a Vector Motorsports Stage 3 (yes, you read that correctly) Cam, Ported Intake, Ported Throttle Body, a bunch of other goodies.




I can’t wait to see these heads in person:

 

After getting the black window trim last summer, and solid colored door handles in the fall, I decided to make a move to an entirely chrome free car. I did something that I thought I would never do, but after seeing so many cool photoshoots of ADV1 wheels in matte black, I decided to go for it. I purchased a set of Staggered Niche Sport Wheels, manufactured by MHT, who also makes ADV1 wheels. Yup, that’s right, fake wheels! Let’s just say I paid less for all 4 than what I would have paid for one real ADV5.1 wheel. Yes, they are made from a different material, but they look the same to me! Benchmark Motoring helped me out by creating some custom center caps for the wheels. Did I forget to mention that the rears are concave? I love the look! Since I wasn’t driving her, I had the new wheels installed, and then she went over to Mark at Eurotech Bodywerkes for some fender massaging. Mark did an amazing job of trimming, further rolling, and then flaring the rear of the fender where the bumper bracket is to create plenty of space for my new setup, and to get a little bit of the flush look. My old setup rubbed a bit, and now, there will be no rubbing! Mark promised me I could put it in the weeds!




Custom Center Caps on a dirty wheel!

A little change up with a Personalized Plate. I am going to make a small vinyl dash ( - ) to go between the E and the S, EXCE-SSV, and I will be adding a black out SSV emblem to the boot lid.


That’s my other ride in the background, an all original 1974 Ford Bronco purchased brand new by my Grandfather. It has been in storage for 19 years since he passed away, and I just got it out here to Seattle.

 

Among Friends!


After several unexpected parts delays Vector got my motor onto the engine dyno for her maiden run!




I asked the Team at Vector Motorsports to create something very specific for me: A motor that would drive around town and behave like a stock motor, and that when unleashed would tear up the asphalt! A little lope was ok, and yes I wanted power, but since this is my daily driver, I wanted her to have manners around town. I say all that to preempt the comments, “it should have made more power.”
One the engine dyno today she made an initial 590hp, and 575ft lbs. The tune is not finalized, as that can only be done once the motor is installed in the car. If we take those numbers and estimate 18% drivetrain loss, it should lay down at least 483rwhp and 471ft lbs. With some fine tuning maybe we can get close to 500rwhp! The scary number of the day is that she made 500ft lbs at 3600rpm and it stays over 500 all the way past 6000rpm!! This should create a good scenario for tire shredding with the Yank 3200 Stall Converter.
I am also adding a GXP Tranny Cooler, thanks to Greg at Pace, to try and keep some life in my tranny.
I do have some more appearance mods waiting in the wings. I will keep them under wraps until the day she is all done! Hopefully that will be within the next two weeks.
I cannot sleep! I WANT TO DRIVE HER!!

 

I was a little flustered when I first glanced at this dyno sheet,


Then I looked closely and realized the details. 460ft lbs at 6500rpm! My first reaction was, look at the torque drop off! Hee Hee! I think she is going to make driving smiles!

 

Yes, it's not until you look at the scales that you realize that life is very, very good!

I love your project - the G8 is nice looking but your Holden conversion is badass. I don't understand why Pontiac would have strayed so far from the original look. At least they didn't give it ribbed sides

Jim

 

Thanks for the comments.
Body Cladding for the PFAIL!

 

My friends car looks identical to yours with the holden stuff.

 

Nice. Love the new wheels. I was very close to buying a set for my M5, as you said for the money, how can you go wrong???

After I thought about it, I decided big brakes (bigger than factory anyways) would be necessary with all that area in between the spokes showing off the stockers.

Car looks very very clean my friend!

 

There are about 6 people who have done the front end conversion. Most of them are on the G8 Boards.

 

Thanks for the compliment. Bigger brakes are in my future for sure. If I hadn't just bought a motor, they would be on the car already!

 

My friends name is Jerry hes from Toledo Ohio. He has the same badges and everything on the rear. I remember we were at a car show and one of the ushers was saving him a spot and asked him what kind of car he had so he could look for him and he responded a holden comodore and the guy just gave us a blank stare.