Buckeye Stealth (John Harbert)

October 2008 - Ride of the Month 3000GT/Stealth International

1996 VR4
Pearl White

3SI Member #38711

Body:

• Cianci Victory 1 hood
• Cianci vented widebody front fenders
• Full '99 front conversion
• 8000K HID low beams
• '99 sail panels
• All windows tinted, except windshield
• Factory white pearl with an extra shot of pearl
• Functional active aero rear spoiler
• Tail light garnish painted body color
• Debadged except for the chrome Diamond Star on front bumper
• All lines and wiring removed from firewall, cleaned up, filled and painted pearl white
• Brake lines relocated, cruise control removed to clean up inner fenders & painted pearl white
• Underside of hood painted pearl white & finished same as body
• Rear Window Wiper ass'y removed and hole filled in and painted body color

Suspension, Chassis and Wheels:

• TEIN fully adjustable coilover suspension
• 3SX lower control arms for lowered cars
• Cross drilled and slotted rotors w/CarboTech pads
• Motul brake fluid
• Stainless braided brake lines
• AWD LSD insert
• PST 1 piece Carbon Fiber driveshaft
• ENKEI 18x8.5 wheels
  • BFG g-Force 265/35/18 street tires
  • TOYO Proxes R888 275/35/18 track tires

Electronics:

• DEFI-Link 60mm Blackface gauges
  • Oil Pressure
  • Oil Temp
  • Coolant Temp
  • Exhaust Gas Temp
  • Fuel Pressure
  • Turbo Boost
  • AEM UEGO Wideband Gauge Controller
• GReddy Profec B-Spec II built into console
• AEM EMS w/AEM 3.5 Bar MAP sensor
• CrimeStopper Alarm w/remote start

Interior:

• custom right & left pillar gauge pods
• Indiglo Speedo & Tach faceplate
• Custom Blue LED's through out incl. all switches
• Short throw shifter w/ custom Titanium knob
• Billet aluinum trim rings for front & rear speakers
• Custom Laser cut billet aluminum door inserts
• Stainless steel door sill plates
• Custom billet aluminum console top w/Profec B-Spec II built in ahead of shifter
• Polished aluminum diamond plate floor mats
• Lots of new OEM interior pieces

Engine:

• New oem shortblock punched to 3.1 liters
  • Balanced & Blueprinted
  • Everything Magnafluxed
  • Carillo billet rods
  • CP forged pistons, sides slick coated, tops thermo coated
  • ARP studs
• Port and polish heads & blend ports
• 1mm oversized valves
• Competition valve job
• Blended & polished intake runners
• re-ground camshafts
• Turbonetics turbos
  • Stage II TD04 ported 15G
• PTE 680CC injectors
• AEM fuel press. regulator w/RobBeck adaptor
• 3SX fuel rail loop
• Krank Vents®
• 3SX polished intake plenum & valve covers
• Polished driver's side motor mount
• MSD DIS-4 Digital ignition
• MSD plug wires w/factory coil
• 3SX aluminum crank pulley
• Tuned by IPS, June 2008
  • 400 AWHP @ 14 PSI boost - conservative tune just to get to Memphis
  • 430 AWTQ
  • Tuned on SUNOCO 93
  • Returning later in the year to tune @16 PSI on Pump & 18 PSI on 100 octane

Notice the lack of brake lines on the passenger inner fender and the only thing on the cleaned up firewall is the AEM UEGO Wideband box (Has since been removed and replaced with the AEM gauge controller)

Support Equipment:

• Optima Red Top battery
• Fidanza aluminum flywheel
• Spec Stage III Max clutch
• Walbro fuel pump w/hotwire kit
• GT PRO FMIC w/polished aluminum hard piping
• HTS red silicone connectors w/stainless T-clamps
• 3SX Dual pass aluminum radiator w/ dual FAL shrouded fans
• Second set of dual shrouded fans in front of A/C condenser
• TiAL BOV
• Single shot exhaust w/ Bee-R muffler
• Morgan's Motorsports custom pre-turbo intakes w/twin K&N filters
• Morgan's Motorsports custom down pipes - catless

Audio:

• Kenwood eXceleron DDX8017 DVD player
  • 6.5" LCD touch screen monitor
  • Garmin GPS Navagation
  • Sirius ready, HD radio ready
  • Plays DVDs, CDs, MP3s WMA, JPG & MPEG 1&2
• Memphis Belle 16-MCH600 5.1 Channel amp
  • provides for 5.1 channel surround sound for movies
• 10" Rockford Fosgate PUNCH Audiophile sub
• Custom fiberglass sub enclosure covered to match interior (see image in Electronics)

Fun Facts:

• 1 of 315 3000GT VR4s built for 1996 MY
• 1 of 10 exactly identical cars as built, now 1 of 1
• Of all Pearl White VR4s built '91-'99, 309 were built BEFORE this car and 309 were built AFTER this car for a total of 619 Glacier Pearl White VR4s. This one is EXACTLY in the middle of the run.
• Only 76 Glacier Pearl White VR4s were built in 1996
• Youtube Autocross Video

My story:

John "Buckeye Stealth" Harbert

I have long been an admirer of the 3000GT's and thought that they were one of the coolest looking cars that ran the streets in our area and really wasn't that aware of the Stealth sibling all that much. While I was at the Cleveland Autorama five or so years ago, I ran across a few Stealths entered in the car show and was really impressed with the styling and the mods that were done to the cars. This renewed my interest in the 3S platform, but not enough to buy one, the timing wasn't right. Fast forward to November 2007, timing and Karma was right. While at the Daytona Turkey Run back in Nov. '07, my wife spots a Stealth R/T for sale on a trailer, long story short, I get the car for her to autocross in and as a fun summer car to drive, hence my screen name of Buckeye Stealth. Although is is a really nice automatic R/T, I thought I would like one of my own and a stick shift was mandatory, so the search began.

Looking at car for sale websites and various 3S forums led me to an ad on 3SI.org that linked me to ebay and I found the car of my dreams, a '96 VR4 that was modded to a very high level. On my birthday, Dec. 15th, I found myself in St Louis picking up that car and heading back to Ohio. Although I can't take credit for putting the car together, the former owner for his list of things to do and Von Morgan (xwire) for carring them out get the credit where credit is due, but I am already formulating my own list of little subtle things I want done and will do myself to put my own touches in place, like adding the Cianci rear widebody fenders to complete the look. My plans are to keep the car pretty much just like I got it because I like what was done and most of the things about the car I would have wanted to do anyways.

Not being one to hold back, I decided to jump into the 3S community by joining all the forums I could find to get info on the cars we just acquired... a little bit of time had to be made up. We decided another great way to learn about the community was to attend the NG08, so I signed up for the whole package to get the best out of the experience. The driver's school was the pinnacle of the National Gathering for me, being able to experience my VR4 going 140+ mph down the straight on the road course and running the turns in a coilover suspension car was awesome. I met a lot of people and the St. Louis crew really rocks, a group of super people, as are pretty much all of the NG attendees were. Memphis was only the beginning of a long haul of 3S ownership events that is our future, can't wait until the next one.

-John Harbert

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