After about a year of driving it was developing a bad case of loose front suspension and it was also time for a cosmetic upgrade. I picked up new ball joints, tie rod ends and a 12:1 ratio AGR steering box.
I also scored a set of Trans Am GTA wheels off ebay for a great price and after a little rattle can semi-gloss black effort threw on a set of 225-50 and 255-50-16 BFG G-Force Sport tires. Because of the funky F-body offsets, I had to put the rear wheels on the front of the car with a 3/4" spacer and extended studs and the front wheels on the back.
Photo from the ebay ad, anybody on here?
While I was in there I cut the factory springs to get a feel for the look of it lowered, and added a little more rattle can semi-gloss to hide some paint chips on the lower panels and hood. Here's the end result. It's dropped about 3" out back and almost 4" up front.
Last summer I got a taste of road course and autocross when I attended an open track "Wide Open Wednesday" at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT. I ran the autocross several times and the road course once. Unfortunately part way through the run on the road course unknown to me a valve spring cracked. Luckily the valve got stuck in the guide and it wasn't until I got in the pits at idle the valve let go and tagged a piston. Fortunately I shut it down fast enough that all it did was scuff the carbon on the piston and bent the valve slightly. No major damage to the short block. Whew! Time for a refreshing! That about gets us caught up on the car's history.