Craziest car part that you "just had to have"?

[Steve1968LS2]

I have a new winner for me..

Being OCD is tough, and expensive.. I found this out durring the latest rebuild of Penny. I had finally found splined 12mm open lug nuts so I went ahead and install my new ARP front wheel studs into the ZR1 hubs. I have longer 12mm studs in the back but when I put the open lug nuts on the were just shy of coming all the way through the nuts.

It looked funny and from a tech standpoint they needed to be longer. I had bought these back when I did the three-link and they had to be custom ordered.

Specs: 12mm, full thread, 10.9, 60mm in length, 1.5 pitch

I needed them to be another 20mm longer. No problem right? Wrong.. turns out that 60mm is the longest offered. Any longer and they either droped to grade 8 (metric), gained a shoulder, or changed thread pitch to 1.75 -- They even checked Europe and no go.

So my only option was to pull the axles, drill them out and move to 1/2" -- but then I would have 12mm in the front and 1/2" in the back (here's where the OCD kicked in)

While researching online I found a place in Texas that will do custom hardened bolts. I guess they do a lot of stuff for the military and such.

http://www.zerofast.com/service.htm

Talked to them and they said "no problem".. but I only needed 10 so of course the price would be high for such a short run.

I ordered 12 (two spares) and the price was... wait for it.. $299.00

So I ordered them up and in a couple of days they arrived.. perfectly what I wanted, but they were raw steel and uncoated.

SOOOOO... off to Embee to have the Cadmium coated (after all, this would match my front studs).. Cost for this was $108.00

That means the 12 bolts cost me just over $400 or $34 PER BOLT!

All because I wanted open ended lug nuts and I'm f-d up in the head.. lol

So, what's the craziest thing you've ever shelled out cash for on your car?

[HRBS]

a color matched air freshener for $1.99.
I dont even like the scent... but its green.

[Van B]

It's got to be the Precision Metalcraft fabricated intake. At $2300 I could have done it much cheaper, but I had to have it for the visual WOW when you open the hood.

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by Van B

It's got to be the Precision Metalcraft fabricated intake. At $2300 I could have done it much cheaper, but I had to have it for the visual WOW when you open the hood.

Well, it is purdy...

I like the air-fresher as well.. do they come in orange?

[BritishGreen68]

Originally Posted by Steve1968LS2

Well, it is purdy...

I like the air-fresher as well.. do they come in orange?

of course not you have to have that color custom made!!

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by Van B

It's got to be the Precision Metalcraft fabricated intake. At $2300 I could have done it much cheaper, but I had to have it for the visual WOW when you open the hood.

I get that one Jeff.................

Jody

[sixtnine]

You are sick. LOL. Everyone I know thought I was crazy for buying a DSE frame three years ago til they went for a ride. I thought I was OCD!

[Vegas69]

I'm surprised but I can't touch that. I'll just stick with my 12mm up front and 1/2 out back.

[Matt@BOS]

I might have to agree with Jeff about those Precision Metal Craft intake manifolds. They're pricey but really nice. And on a side note, let me just say, Jeff, I like your style when it comes to engine bays!

I also had to powder coat my brake calipers gray which ended up running around $800, after having to buy new pistons and seals for them.

Craziest thing I had to have though, I and I don't have any finished pictures would be these:

Matt

[66GTFB]

Ha ha Steve, that made me laugh.

I had a similar experience, but not with one particular part.

After running an 11.0 in my mustang on street radials, I decided to take the plunge and add slicks and a cage so I could dip into the tens. So I spent around $5000 on cage, race seat, harness, trans blanket, tech inspection, race wheels, slicks, front runners, fire suit, gloves, boots, arm restraints etc. Then made it to the track 4 times, battled rain cancellations and extreme heat (107f air temp with 134f track temp), made a total of 5 full passes, and broke tailshaft uni's, valve springs, blown head gaskets and now cracked a piston. And after all that I only managed a best time of 10.93.

Now I've decided to drop the comp and add a smaller cam to make it more streetable and actually have fun driving it instead of breaking and fixing it all the time.

But that's cars, and drag racing, and at the end of the day it's good fun.

Joe.