My LS and its mods...

[Halfcent]

My LS coupe gallery

Ok, so what we have here is an installed RK Sport body kit. The pictures were taken at twilight, so my camera was pissed off and blurry. I'll take some more this weekend. The first couple are before the kit, stock new car. The next two are after installation. The next two show door fit. The first one, though not very well, shows the tight fit between the bottom of the door and the side skirt. The second shows how the body shop had to adjust the door up a bit to make clearance at the bottom for the side skirts to fit. You can probably see my reflection in the paint better then you can see the misalignment, but I thought I'd at least try. The passenger door actually squeaks a little bit from the rubbing.

I had the guys from RK Sport on the phone with the guys from my body shop trying to figure out a good solution for the tight door fit. I'm not sure that RK Sport actually gave them a solution or not. In the end, I just asked the shop to install it with the low clearance.

Another issue was the first coat of paint blistered badly and had to be redone. There was some chemical residue on the parts from fabrication that were difficult to clean off. The second coat went on nice and clean.

Some of the seam lines show a little misfit. They are on the front and back valances were it mates with the wheel well. I'll put up some pics. But overall, a nice tight fit. It removes the factory mud flaps and screws into those mounting holes in addition to several other mounting points (rivets, adhesive strips)

I'm intially very happy with it. It's a very clean kit, not really flashy. And my body shop did a great job with what they had to work with. Compared to the Razzi kit, I think it's much better (I've seen them both). However, the RK Sport kit is a little lower in front, so you have to be careful going over those high driveways.

The car goes in for tint in two weeks, maybe one if I can get it in. I'm in Illinois so I can only do the back three, can't legally do the door windows.

EDIT:
New picts posted, see my last post for details.

[Vendian]

That car looks wicked awesome. I love the RK sport body kit. So...from your experience was it worth it? Also, what was the final cost in the end? I know the kit costs about $565 with everything, but what did that come out to with paint and everything?

[jzchev28]

yeah the car looks great

[Boostin]

Not bad, not bad at all. All you need now are rims and a lowering kit and you've got yourself one sweet ride.

Just to make sure, this is a lip kit right? Not full bumper replacements?

[Eddie]

damn what a difference that kit makes, geez, i'm lovin it, yeah get some 17" or 18's gun metal w/ polished lip, lower it atleast 1.5 " and you will have the nicest cobalt in this forum.

[Eddie]

will as of now you do every one else is basicaly stock. so keep up the good work.

[plyboy-illest]

looks good

[wbrault]

car looks good!

as far as tint, im in pa... i know a few cops and there are some state troopers in my army unit. they have told me that it isn't illegal to have tint on the windows. they told me if they feel you are a threat to them then it becomes an issue. so i guess if you arent horsing around, no one will bother you. not sure how it is where you are though

anyways, car looks great!

[Halfcent]

I'm in Cleveland right now working, car's back home in Chicago. I'll be getting some more picts up on Friday when I get home. Anyway, thanks for the compliments. The body shop charged me $600 for the install. It is in fact simply a lip kit. I don't want to lower it if I can avoid it, the front end is already too close to the ground. I will be going with 17" (still deciding on a style) and some Pirelli Pzero Nero M&S 225/40ZR17. This is the project car I have posted about in other places...

Hahn Race Craft turbo kit

On June 3, the car goes to the machine shop to get the powertrain pulled. I will be installing Eagle connecting rods and the GM Performance Parts piston set which is manufactured by JEPistons. I already have these parts, I'll takes pics of them too. I also got the Goodwrench head gasket kit for putting the block back together again, which by the way comes complete with new head bolts. The Automatic trans is going out for a bulletproofing which include the installation of an LSD. This process will take 3 weeks.

When complete, the engine will be able to safely handle 650 HP and the trans will be able to handle 500 ft/lbs. I won't get anywhere near that with the turbo, but at least I know I won't break anything.

I'll post again when the pics are up.

[theBLUEone]

Man your car is gonna be awesome....a nice lil sleeper...You'll be running 13's in no time!

[MachiBLue]

Damn that looks real nice...

[JonyyB]

Nice job! The kit is sick!

get some better pics

[Halfcent]

Ok, so I took these today. Much better then the first set. I would have actually deleted the old ones, but I didn't see a way to that. The new pics start with the car sitting in front of the jet. That's the plane I fly. From there, you get an around the car view of the RK Sport kit. Then you get a close up of the fit for the front valance. This was the only point where the lines didn't quite match up with the car, but it's not that bad at all.

Next is a gap I got that appeared a couple days after installation. There is an adhesive pad inbetween there that just plain doesn't stick that well, and it separated. We have already corrected the problem by adding some shims to the wheel well attach point and pulling that gap back tight again.

After that is a door sill picture showing the clean install look. The next one is little blurry, I was too close. Its the spot on the passenger door where the kit rubs the bottom of the door a little. Not too much I can do about that.

Then there are pictures of the engine parts for the upgrade. Figured you might be interested in seeing those.

Tinting in a week and half, engine and trans come out after that. I'll keep posting.

[JonyyB]

Featured Car
Nice work

[silverSS]

That kit makes it look 100 times better, Nice car!

Congrats on the Featured Car!

oh..and im looking foreward to seeing your progress with the car, good luck with everything!

[Cirrus]

Beautiful Citation II and Cobalt!

Where abouts are you based out of? I fly out of KBLM (South Central NJ) in C-152/172's... though, I'm only 16 (turn 17 on 6/1) so that's as good as it gets for me at the moment

--Jason

[Halfcent]

Well I just read the newly published GM ECOtec build book. That was good stuff. It convinced me to use the Wiseco 8.9-1 compression ratio piston instead of the GM Performance parts 10-1 ratio pistons that I got. Since I'm going forced induction, it just made sense after reading that book. I just ordered them, I'll take a coupe of pics of them when they get here.

BTW - Window tint is done, car is coming along nicely.

[stlurbanpunk]

nice pictures! r u a professional? i like the hanger ones the best. nice to hear that ur beafing up the drive train and engine. it should make it much more reliable and strong. excellent job!