New member, new house, two garages!

[psu goat]

Hi all. Some of this will be a repost of what I put in my introduction thread a week back, sorry if you have already looked at some of these pictures.

Anyway, I'm new to GJ and thought I would post up some pictures in this section. I will try to update this thread as I slowly make more upgrades to the garage. I'm sort of starting with a clean slate. I bought my first house, a 4-year old energy star house, late last summer after saving up for many years. This picture will probably show why I think it was the perfect house

The attached garage is just under 25' wide by 23' deep, and the detached is 21' wide by 28' deep. My plan is to make the attached garage more of a detailing area/hangout and use the detached garage for more of the dirty projects. Some of these photos were taken several months ago, before I started to clean things up. Sorry for the rides being dirty, these are the only decent pictures I have of the garage when I first got the house.

The attached garage, with my two toys, daily driver on the left, show/race toy on the right:

Plenty of room all around both of my vehicles:

My pride and joy, a heavily modified 2006 Pontiac GTO that I've been building up since I bought the car new in 2006.

Craftsman 6' work bench and stool that I picked up on Black Friday:

I finally started to organize my detailing supplies a few weeks ago:

And the detached garage. The previous owner left the peg board on the back wall and all of the extra paint cans for the walls in the house. The Camaro isn't mine. The owner is a good friend of mine and we were working on the car some that day.

My plans for the attached garage are to upgrade the ceiling lights, a wall mount TV with an old computer hooked up to it, paint the walls in a two tone pattern, and maybe a small couch or futon and mini-fridge in front of the GTO.

 

[psu goat]

I just got my shipment of GarageDeck from BigFloors.com this afternoon! Sorry for the not-too-great cell phone pictures.

Three hours later, and with some help from my dad, we were able to finish almost everything. Edge pieces, cutting out around the pole, and underneath the GTO are all that remain...I have the interior of the GTO fairly dismantled right now, and there isn't a steering wheel connected to drive the car at the moment

Thanks for looking! A lot of garages on here are what inspired me to start upgrading mine

 

[flybefree]

Wow, I love the set up with a detached and attached garage...raacedeck looks sweet too.

Shaun

 

[Mmfh]

Two garages to play in, alright I'm coming over.

Nice setup!

Mm

 

[cletus66]

Nice spread !!

 

[MONTE7071]

Nice garages vehicles and looks like a nice view out back also.

 

[psu goat]

Thanks! Yes, the view from the back deck is pretty incredible

 

[schwalby]

Nice!!

Question I am not into detailing so sorry for what is probably a simple question. But what is with all those bottles that appear to be identical. I own a truck with close to 300K and a Jeep that that has more mother nature pin stripping on it it is worth doing more than a simple wash so don’t know anything about detailing.

 

[psu goat]

Most of the bottles are all different products, I go a bit overboard

The row on the shelves with all of the spray bottles are things like detail spray, carpet and upholstery cleaner, glass cleaner, waterless wash, undercarriage spray (quick way to get the insides of the wheel wells black again for shows), and all purpose cleaner. There are some other bottles like the Vinyl, Rubber, Tire (VRT) dressing and car wash. Behind all of the bottles are one gallon jugs of the stuff mentioned above, since it's cheaper to buy the stuff in bulk, then I just funnel it into the spray bottles.

The second to bottom shelf has all of my porter cable (buffer) type of bottles - severe swirl remover, swirl & haze remover (for less serious scratching), fine machine polish, spray sealant, in&out spray (for turning all the faded black plastics and vinyl back to a nice dark black), brilliant glaze, Americana paste wax, and revive polish (for polishing by hand if I don't want to use the buffer).

The bottom shelf has stuff like metal polish, leather cleaner spray, and leather conditioner.

The top shelf is various foam hex applicator pads for wax, tire dressing, polish, and so on. They all have different softness layers of foam material depending on what product is being used.

I use Adam's Polishes exclusively for several reasons: ease of use, outstanding customer service, 110% money back guarantee, and everything they have smells great - bubble gum, coconut, grape, pina colada...no nasty chemical smells

 

[SullyZX2SR]

Very nice garage, and very nice rides too. Would love to hear more about the GTO.

I too have gone nuts with detailing stuff, but most of mine comes from Griots. It's enough to fill 2 Gladiator 30" wall cabinets.

 

[Lawson4450]

hey goat boy lol welcome i thought i recognized that Adams shine on that little blue car lol

 

[Woffski]

Very nice place!!!

 

[psu goat]

Very nice garage, and very nice rides too. Would love to hear more about the GTO.

I too have gone nuts with detailing stuff, but most of mine comes from Griots. It's enough to fill 2 Gladiator 30" wall cabinets.

Very nice garage, and very nice rides too. Would love to hear more about the GTO.

I too have gone nuts with detailing stuff, but most of mine comes from Griots. It's enough to fill 2 Gladiator 30" wall cabinets.

Hmm, where do I start? haha. Here's a picture of the car the first day of purchase to compare to where it's at now. Factory 18's, 6-speed manual, and Bermuda Blue leather...the only three options for the car. LS2 6.0 V8, 400hp/400ft-lbs from the factory in Australia.

Since then, I've slowly modified nearly every aspect of the car to how I want. I go to a lot of car shows with the car, but I also started autocrossing shortly after I bought it, so anything and everything related to suspension was improved first. I swapped out every bushing underneath with Pedders poly bushings, installed a set of Pedders Xa coilovers front and rear, and Hotchkis swaybars front and rear as well. Then I eventually got the Rota P45's, 18x8" in front and 18x9.5" in back, with 245/40/18 and 275/35/18 Dunlop Star Specs. The wheels are 1 of only 20 sets made specific to the GTO bolt pattern and offsets, 10 sets in the hyperblack finish I have, and 10 sets in a normal gray color. The rear quarter panel lips had to be rolled for tire clearance and the rear quarters were then blended and re-cleared. Unfortunately it's very difficult to fit wide tires on the GTO. I also upgraded to stronger ARP wheel studs front and rear with some titanium lug nuts.

Here's a shot of the ride height with the coilovers. I have them set pretty low

After I had the handling and grip greatly improved, I decided to upgrade the stopping power. I got in on a great group buy with Wilwood for a big brake kit. 14" two-piece rotors and 6-piston calipers up front, and 12." rotors and 4-piston calipers in rear. I had them powdercoat the calipers blue for something a little different than every other new gen GTO out there.

I've done a lot of visual modifications throughout the years as well. I removed the stock trunk spoiler and replaced it with a carbon fiber lip spoiler from Maverick Man Carbon. I then added several more of his carbon fiber parts to the car, including a carbon fiber version of the Sport Appearance Package upper grilles, hood scoops, rear bumper lower diffuser, and a license plate frame. I also have a reproduction of the Holden Specialty Vehicles (HSV) roof spoiler made in carbon fiber from WestCoastSpeed, and I have a carbon fiber front splitter sitting it the basement for the front bumper. I also put some billet arrowheads on the front and rear with gunmetal centers. About two years ago, I finally found an OEM Sport Appearance Package front fascia extension for the front bumper and got the reproduction SAP rocker panels. I had the body shop re-spray the front bumper, hood, and blend into the front fenders while they were installing these parts.

A bunch of the carbon fiber parts:

A nice picture of the SAP front fascia:

 

[Red Leader]

That is a NICE car. What do those usually go for on the used market?

And 2 garages? Twice the fun

 

[psu goat]

Once I had all of the handling, braking, and visuals done, I decided to finally add some more power to this beast. My friend's shop did a fairly large build to the car over the winter months of 2010 into 2011, since I simply didn't have the time or knowledge to do everything myself. It consisted of the following: Magnuson TVS1900 with 3" pulley at 7psi, GM LS9 ZR1 cam, Duspeed over-the-radiator air intake from Australia with an LS3 MAF, Comp pushrods, PRC dual valve springs, RPS twin disc clutch rated to 800/800, Walbro 255 fuel pump, triple a-pillar pod with boost, fuel pressure, and air/fuel (boost and fuel pressure have custom GTO font to match all of the other gauges), GForce1320 carbon fiber driveshaft, anti-wheel hop axles, and billet inner axle stubs, and a Harrop diff cover. I already had Kooks 1 3/4" longtube headers and a Magnaflow exhaust on the car before the supercharger build.

My buddy decided it would be easiest to drop the whole front cradle to make the cam, supercharger, and clutch install easier.

Completed shot of the engine bay:

The car made 539rwhp and 521ft-lbs of torque. Needless to say, it's a monster. Since those numbers, I've put on a Kooks 3" Street Screamer catback, and I have an electric water pump waiting to go on that should help it pick up a bit more power.

Kooks mufflers and one of the GForce anti-wheel hop axles:

As for interior modifications, I have OEM Holden Oil Pressure and Battery Voltage gauges in the center dash, a Pioneer head-unit with Nav and bluetooth, an MGW short throw shifter, Schroth 4-point harness for autocross, and some Lloyd's floormats with the GTO shield emblem embroidered into them.

All of my hard work paid off this summer, when I won 1st place for 2006 GTO Modified at the All GM Nationals at Carlisle. I was absolutely ecstatic.

And if you think it's only a show queen, you would be wrong!

I know the new generation GTO isn't exactly the most loved car in the car world, in fact, there's a lot of hate for it, but this car is my pride and joy and I don't ever plan on selling it! Thanks for being interested and letting me take the time to share it with all of you

 

[psu goat]

That is a NICE car. What do those usually go for on the used market?

And 2 garages? Twice the fun

Thanks! 2004 GTO's with the LS1 can be had for as low as $11-$15k now. 2005's and 2006's with the LS2, hood scoops, revised rear bumper, etc can go anywhere from around $13-$22k depending on mileage, condition, and so on. Lots of them are modded and the owners will usually de-mod the car before selling. There are always some great ones up for sale on ls1gto.com too. They can have quite a few odd little quirks and issues, and replacement parts are getting very expensive since it was a low-production car and most of the parts need to come from Australia.

Sticker on mine was $34,185, but I got it for $500 over invoice for about $31k new, which wasn't the greatest deal at the time back in '06, when others were selling for $29k new; however, blue on blue with 18's and the 6-speed was a pretty rare combo for all years, and there were only about 17 new ones left in the country when I got mine, so I didn't feel too bad about paying a little extra for it, especially since they had to dealer-trade it from a place 50 miles away

By the way, I love you garage! I hope that some day mine will look like a modern-day Craftsman garage

 

[PEDDRO]

I know the new generation GTO isn't exactly the most loved car in the car world, in fact, there's a lot of hate for it....

Well, I'm no Holden guy, but even I don't mind the Monaro. It's just a pity you guys got lumbered with that damned ugly front bar! The HSV fronts would have been nicer for the US model.

 

[flybefree]

Wow, great work on your GTO, looks great.
Shaun

 

[UN4GTBL]

Nice setup!

 

[Nimrod_R]

Nice to see a fellow LS2gto.com on here.

Sweet house and garages too.

 

[DRhodes]

Very Very nice. Thanks for all the pics.

 

[Munich77]

Congratulations that is a sweet GTO. I wish I had bought one when they were new.

 

[CreteCoater]

Looks good. You from State College?

 

[HOTFR8]

Nice garage and I have to agree with Peddro as the Aussie Monaro has a better looking front even if you changed it to a Chevrolet front with the badges as many do here.

 

[psu goat]

Looks good. You from State College?

No, I'm south of Pittsburgh, but I'm a Penn State alum. I was dreaming about buying a GTO while still in college up there, so this username has stuck around for many years and several forums

 

[TheAnser]

Great house, property, garages, and toys!

I'm a huge fan of Adam's products as well; great stuff!

 

[hemi]

PSU goat, sorry to be critical but you must have sunk alota cash in that goat. I bought an 08 Z06 instead. I was not a big corvette fan but, 3,130lbs. and 505hp was a very applealing combination. 427ci didn't hurt either.
hemi

 

[psu goat]

PSU goat, sorry to be critical but you must have sunk alota cash in that goat. I bought an 08 Z06 instead. I was not a big corvette fan but, 3,130lbs. and 505hp was a very applealing combination. 427ci didn't hurt either.
hemi

I'm not gonna lie, yes I have, lol. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I think it's one of the most well-balanced new gen GTO's around - power, performance, visual modifications, handling, etc. I travel a lot for work, and nearly every modification I've done to the car has been done with extra money I've made from traveling over the past 5 years. I'm a single guy, and cars are basically my only hobby, so I don't feel bad about dumping the money into the car. So far I'm probably close to the cost of a new z06, counting the purchase price of the car and everything I've done to it. I've never actually sat down and added it all up, but the supercharger build alone (and associated parts for it like upgraded drivetrain) ran close to $13k...again, I bought up all of those parts over the course of two years though and finally installed everything all at once last year. Trust me, I love Corvettes, but I've been a fan of the Monaro even before they announced it was coming over here as a GTO. Being a huge GTO fan of the original goats also helped with buying the car. Some day I hope to have a c5 or c6 z06 to use as an autocross/road race car, but I think that will be a few years from now. I'm so ******* with my job lately that I don't have much time for racing anyway.

The GTO is a heavy car, but I honestly love everything about it - great power, good handling, good clean looks (at least in my opinion), and amazing comfort for long haul road trips to car shows. When it came out, the fit and finish of the interior was probably the nicest thing GM had to offer at the time, and it still holds up well with today's standards too. I love the rarity of the car and its unique factor with the blue leather interior. I've also done probably 150-200 pounds of weight reduction with the parts I've swapped out, but then added back another 60 or 70 pounds with the supercharger kit.

 

[hemi]

PSU goat, loved your response to my post! Way to stick to your guns. Funny how personalities and cars go together. My tastes range all over the place, my second favorite car i own is a 1966 426 hemi Satellite. I guess that means i have multiple personalities. As far as your goat is concerned you certainly caught the modding bug but have maintained the integrity of the stock look, which is clean, simple, but with a subtle aggressive style. The goat was on the leading edge of the current musclecar renaissance and if you are a "car guy" waking up in 2012 is like living a dream!!! hemi...

 

[purpony]

was this picture taken by beaverdale PA?

 

[psu goat]

was this picture taken by beaverdale PA?

No, it's actually at the windmills near Somerset, a few miles from the turnpike. A group of friends and I went out on a mountain cruise in the fall, stopping at several places including the Flight 93 Memorial and the Youghiogheny River Dam.

 

[STClurker]

I'll admit, I'm not bit into the GTO's; but that is a nice ride.

and now I have this song stuck in my head:

 

[BUCKNERBUCK2]

Ugh, another GTO guy. I would park the Cavalier outside.

Everything is looking great man. Nice work. Dig the floor colors and design.

 

[roger440]

Love the goat. And you just cant go wrong with a Maggie strapped to the top. Did yiou not consider the TVS2300?

 

[psu goat]

Ugh, another GTO guy. I would park the Cavalier outside.

Everything is looking great man. Nice work. Dig the floor colors and design.

Haha, thanks Rob, are you ever going to drive yours again?

Love the goat. And you just cant go wrong with a Maggie strapped to the top. Did yiou not consider the TVS2300?

I figured the 2300 was overkill for a stock cube ls2, and others have said the same. It also didn't hurt that I got a killer deal on the TVS1900 for a one time only price of 5400 shipped...the 2300 was waaay more money than that! I've also read that the 2300 has more clearance issues with the hood, and the 1900 barely fits in my car, with the hood liner removed and using lowered poly engine mounts.

 

[roger440]

Haha, thanks Rob, are you ever going to drive yours again?



I figured the 2300 was overkill for a stock cube ls2, and others have said the same. It also didn't hurt that I got a killer deal on the TVS1900 for a one time only price of 5400 shipped...the 2300 was waaay more money than that! I've also read that the 2300 has more clearance issues with the hood, and the 1900 barely fits in my car, with the hood liner removed and using lowered poly engine mounts.

Fair enough! I use the 2300 on everyting now. No downside, but plenty more if you need it. Do have to lose 3mm of the mounts though. Never had a problem with the 1900.

5400 is indeed a very good deal.