Project Stroker

The Beginning: The Interior

After two separate power plants with two different visions, the chassis formerly known as "The Grey Ghost" needed a facelift. And what better way to start than by gutting this former daily driver. Now knowing that we would have to push past the point of no return, we knew that returning this car to a daily driver was out of the question. However painful it might be, we pushed forward and during the winter of 2004 and through the spring of 2005, we completely stripped the car down to the bare metal throughout. The chassis looked naked, and after driving the car for 6 years, I felt kind of sorry for her.

But starting with a clean plate, we knew that a lighter car would mean a faster, more responsive ride. Now tentative plans was for this car to be a street car with trips to Gainesville to iron out the kinks. But I know somewhere down the road those plans will change, as will the powerplant knowing us. With Scott pushing the 10 second barrier right now with the Silverfox, I am sure he will be seeking bigger and better parts for the 2006 calender.

But for now I need to show you what we started with and take you through the process of putting some of it back together. As the car sits now, November 5, 2005, her interior is null and void excluding some stocker seats we stuck in there. I will be working on the interior in December and finalizing the "little things" in order to fire her around the first of the year.

		Here is a shot of the dash completely removed and all of the A/C stuff removed. We weighed the material after removing and the grand total came out to 17 lbs!
		A shot in from the passenger side to the driver side. Car will definitely be a lot lighter now! Not sure on seat selection, I have some Kirkey seats but not sure on comfort level there!
		Here is a shot over the cross bar into what was once the back seat. Will fab up a firewall before she heads to the track.
		UPDATE 12/27/05: Got the carpet and dash back in. Got to install the plate where the stock shifter was, then re-install the cheetah shifter. Call won't see the center console. All the dash needs is the cluster and tidy up the wiring.
		A shot from the passenger side shows some rust I need to take care of on the cage! You can see the 6al from this angle also. I will be mounting it up under dash once the carpet is set in place for good!
		UPDATE 12/31/05: Re-installed the Cheetah and got the cluster in along with the gauge pod, did some painting on the cage. Need to hook the tach into the 6AL and ground some of thos wires hanging!
		UPDATE 714/06: Well the new cage is in and the car has made its first three passes down the track. With a best of 7.33 in the 1/8 mile with a 60 foot time of 1.6, the car is definitely on its way to the 10 second realm.
		Thomas has yet to mount the nitrous in place of the passenger seat, but will do so once the car's tune is dealt with and some higher octane fuel is added.
		Here is a shot of the halo on the passenger side. The cage was updated from an 8 point to a 10 point with the anticipation of much faster times!
		The new Kirkey seat has been mounted along with the harness. The cage was modified a bit to allow for a little extra space.
		Here is a shot across the driver side at the interior. We are currently contemplating either gutting the current doors or stepping up to a set of glass doors.