Skuttduck's Cliffjumper "Cliffy"

In looking at the colors, I thought of either Aqua Blue or Red Jewel Tintcoat, and even Silver was an option.

Victory Red and Inferno Orange were out for me, as these colors got on my nerves as our overcast state makes it hard to tell the difference between them when it is cloudy.
Plus the Orange with Orange Interior hurts my eyes. Red is my color, and Red Jewel really got me.

What I didn't know about my car was this. It was unique when I ordered it.
Most people that ordered a 2LT RJT, did not order it with black interior, a sunroof, manual transmission, the body colored engine cover, and Black Rally stripes.

The black stripes make it nice and subtle, not so in your face like the white ones. I also ordered the splash guards.

Now was the waiting. I would call my dealer every month to see where it was at, and thanks to the network at the other site I was able to track once I had it. In fact my salesman encouraged me to use that site.

That other site started going downhill, when another site "Camarotracking.com" came up, and people asked other dealers about their order as it overwhelmed the one they asked. (this is all my understanding) It became an unwritten rule and taboo to mention the Camarotracking.com website, or if you PM'd another dealer asking about your order. Way to punish an enthusiast for inquiring about their car.

Back on subject. My car arrived at the dealership on September 17th. One day before my 34th birthday. My salesman had them leave the car outside, still dirty from the trip on the trailer so I could look it over.

I had ordered the magnetic trunk blackout, and I wanted to do gill stripes. The dealer had stripeman come in and do the stripes, and I also purchased the clear bra!

I named it cliffy after the transformer cliffjumper. Because bumblebee was sunrise gold, I figured Cliffjumper would be a higher quality red. Hence Red Jewel Tintcoat. In the cartoon, Cliffjumper was tougher, and faster than Bumblebee, and he was a Porsche. Hasbro made the Cliffjumper toy in 2007, as a red Camaro.


From the beginning I thought of putting the console lid and door sills on the cars but wasn't sure about the badges.

Here are the images I posted up on facebook on September 17th:






Love the lens flare. I never noticed my wife yawning in this pic until later.


Window Sticker. I also have another one of these that I saved!



Needless to say I didn't sleep well that night, knowing I was going to pick this up in the morning.

I got it late in the evening on September 18th 2009. What a great birthday present! I drove it home, first time driving a stick in 10 years, and did really good, only stalled it once, and I even took my wife for a drive in it down Grand River Avenue in East Lansing.

We started getting the looks!

Here is the picture of me at the dealership.



I took these the next day in front of the house.





I tried to get the black gills in this pic, but they don't turn out. The black is subtle on the Red Jewel.

I took this one much later.

The first mods I did to the Camaro was to work on the ambient light in the dash. I installed an LED behind each of the factory holes and tried this out.

It looked alright. It didn't match the factory light but was kind of cool.

We took the Camaro, and the Camry down to Florida for a Caribbean Cruise at Cape Canaveral. My dad and I drove the Camaro mostly. My mom and wife in the Camry. The Camry had a Kenwood Navigation Unit so we got to try that out.

My mom and wife had people cutting them off in the Camry to take pictures of the Camaro!



What a great way to break the car in.

Average MPG was 27.5 and I noticed I could get the advertised 29mpg if I set the cruise to 60.

When I got back from Florida it was time to start thinking about winter tires if I was going to drive it at all. My research led me to the Pirelli Scorpion Ice and Snow tires. It was confirmed by "Number 3" that they used them on the test fleet and they recommended them.

The cheapest option for me was to have the summers unmounted and winters mounted on the stock rims. So I went with that. I also took the car over to my uncles house and we painted my calipers before winter.

Since the Camaro was still new and people were waiting on their cars. I was asked to show how to take off the engine cover. Not to mention this was one of the first images of the V6 engine.



Pull the oil cap off, and lift up.

My next must need was the weathertech floormats for winter driving!



The video tape was put there so people could see how black, the black really was.

At the end of November I met Deep6 (Erick). He came over and we did a little photo shoot. He also showed me the Solo Exhaust.

We took some pictures and I let him drive my car. He let me drive his as well.



My Favorite picture!

mac877 said:

great story. i agree with douchebaggery, my v6 has plenty of kick and when warrantee is done it will get plenty more. did you know chevt lied about the hp of the v6's so when ford come out with the mustang they made it 305hp but the camaro is actually 312hp

Click to expand...

I think that is pretty funny that they recertified the engine to 312hp. I posted the 304 as that is all I remembered about it.

I also remember I was able to offend some v8 drivers on that other site and tell them that if the v6 is a failure based on the numbers so is a V8 with auto.

You have 26 less horsepower than the manual, and it weighs more. Not only that you paid more for less.

I didn't tell them their v8 was running on 4 cylinders until later when I understood what AFM was.

But here is what I will say, I don't hate v8 auto, or hate the drivers. I understand that it is choice. If my choice is respected, and if I am not criticized for it, I respect it. Just way too many people are vocal on the v6 without really understanding or respecting it.

I just find it funny that most people with a v8 don't expect to be trashed upon as they trash the v6, with a valid argument.

But... but.... that argument for v8 auto is usually just ended with I can win on the 1/4 mile. Truth is, so can a v6 with a shot of Nitro..

Now that winter hit, I spent some time in the garage, even though it was cold to perfect the GM ambient lighting.

My blue LED's just didn't match for me. I was one of the very first to take apart the door lamp, and then attach the lamp to the light pipe with a piece of airline tubing.

If you do it this way, and get to the last hole I had even light all the way across with just one LED!



Since I had extra lamps, I discovered the stock holes for the footwells fit the door lamps. A $400 never released GM option reduced to $30 in spare parts!


They also still fit in the 2012 DASH!!!!


The passenger side was the worst to fit, but it worked pretty nice.


After some more sanding, and adjusting the light pipe!

Now that winter hit, and we still had the Malibu and Camry, I had to try out the Pirelli Scorpion Ice and snows.

I took this image from my cell phone going to a friends house.



Then I spent a day when it was 10 degrees to take the rest of these!





This is not snow on the rocker panel, it is reflection!



Amazing how the shadow really masks the color of the car.






My alltime favorite winter picture! I had to walk out in the snow to get the shot!

It was over the winter I learned a lesson about the v6 not having door sill plates. I had some deep gouges in the door sills. So it was here that I started the transformer mods.

I had won an auction on Ebay from Hennessey for a set of 20" take off's from an SS. The center caps were pretty good, but one was a bit speckled (not sure why). So I bought the Transformers door sills and the center caps.





I made this with an overhead transparency slide and a laser printer.



If anyone knows who can make a real set of decals in this font let me know. By the way the font is "Transrobotics"

The next thing I got was the center console lid.



The Transformation is nearly complete now! It wouldn't be until around Christmas 2010 that I get the fender emblems. I wasn't sure about adding them, but got a good deal, and I stuck with the OEM stuff, as I know the OEM stuff is tested in the extreme heat, cold, and salt.

My seats look shiney from using leathermate. It is some amazing stuff, but I didn't like that look for the car leather, so I switched to Meguires leather conditioner, and I like that better.

Leathermate is great stuff, I now mix it with tenderly to get the result I really want.

After finally getting an oil change I had the corsa catback installed. I heard another members and loved it.

Erick's solo had drone in the car on the highway and I wouldn't like that. Corsa said it didn't, and they are right. It sounds great



Corsa-catback.wmv - YouTube

2010 V6 Camaro Corsa catback, inside car - YouTube

2010 Chevy Camaro with Corsa Catback, engine rev inside parking ramp - YouTube

I went to the Michigan Fbody Meet and greet in 2010, Met Al Oppenheiser and got his signature. This was my first car show and I loved it.

Al noticed my radar detector wire and told me "this wire is aftermarket"



At the Michigan Fbody meet and greet I got a door ding :no:

Amy parked next to me, had one of her kids fling the door open when I was out looking at the cars. She apologized profusely. I wasn't mad, she did all she could to tell them not to do that etc...

But it was here that I decided to try my own hand at paintless dent removal. I purchased some tools, and did alright on that dent I had!





I've since had someone else ding me, do not know where it happened, but I think it was the pet store my wife works at. It is so faint I can't see it, I think I would mess it up more if I tried this on it!

It was right after this that I spoke to Mike Judge talked with him, and he deemed me worthy of a lithograph! I couldn't believe it!



I met Mike in person a month later, and it was really enjoyable. I even managed to get him some parts for his chainsaw here in Michigan that they wouldn't ship to Canada.

I have sense had to display a copy of the lithograph. The signatures were fading from my car shows.