Introduction.

By....

Jerking up the e-brake to slide around on a gravel road, dropped the brake, gunned it, something made a distinctly breaking noise, engine cut out.

That's when I saw the smoke coming from under the hood and went for the fire extinguisher. Jumped out and saw fire spreading under the front tires, ran a sufficient distance and sat down to watch the 2 1/2 lb NO2 bottle in the glove compartment go boom.

Called for a tow truck and told them to take their time. (It was a nokia 9300, so no camera phone, that'll teach my priorities.)

As I waited I watched my poor little car burn and smolder while pondering what the real meaning of the term "firewall" was.

I later adopted the attitude that, while it sucked, at least I didn't get burned/dead and it was actually pretty fricken cool to watch.

As to the back lights, if you can figure out which junk yard it was hauled to be my guest.

Insurance did for the most part, with the exception of the equipment I didn't have listed. Who would list half the things we put on our cars though? I hypothetically asked them how much putting in the NO2 would raise my premium once. "$500 Mr. Watkins" Yeah right, the equipment didn't cost that much and I do my own work. No way am I paying more for coverage every six months than what I paid for the equipment.

Watching my project car go up in flames was actually way too surreal to be called a "Bit..".

I really can't be mad about it anymore. If the G6 had survived I would never have put the work in to the Grand Prix I bought later. Tame as it looks, it has crushed the souls of many a driver of better cars. It's still naturally aspirated and I only have 400 lbs or 40 more horsepower to go until I reach my goal ratio of 1 HP to 10 lb. As cool as the IVVT for the newer engines is there's still something to be said for changing camshafts.

I'm stuck at the crossroads of making up horsepower to compensate for the stabilizing braces I need to put on so I can still control it reliably once I start getting closer to 350 HP. I know I can save a few pounds with the exhaust I'll have to open up when I get to 350, but I'm running out of things I can take off without 1) cutting the car up; 2) ruining the stock look; or worse still 3) making the car unsafe. (My engine compartment is so open at this point that it runs up to about 50 degrees cooler at highway speeds than it does idling at a stop.)