Welcome to my automotive page. I am an automotive enthusiast. This is my car, a 2006 Triple black Corvette convertible. It is an LS2, A6 that I bought on August 4, 2018 with 45,700 miles on it. Higher miles than I like on a used car, but the condition of the car was excellent.
This is my 2017 LT Chevrolet Colorado. I purchased it new. It is a 3.6L with 310hp.
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This is my 2011 2SS/RSS Camaro. Sold it to purchase the 2006 Corvette. It is an LS3, MN6 that I bought on January 19, 2012 with 10,077 miles on it..
I added matte black racing stripes (GM factory), Hockey stick stripes, nose blackout rally style stripes and an AirAid Cold Air system. It comes stock with 426 hp and 420 ft lbs of torque. I believe it is closer to 440 hp at the moment with the CAI and GM performance axle back mufflers.
New custom cover that I made from one I purchased on Ebay:
This is my latest mod to the cover: I cut the center section out to expose the intake and allow heat to escape. I added a mesh screen to keep the bugs out
Here is the stock engine cover :
Brake Calipers painted
My Camaro at MacMulkin's open house hanging with the Vettes 5/11/2013
My Camaro at Innovation Academy's car show 9/21/13
Here are some of the upgrades that I've done to my Camaro so far.
The Corvette below was my 2002 Corvette Z06. I bought it with 2800 miles on it and sold it two years later with 4138 miles on it.
As of 4/17/06
On Sunday September 18, 2005 the Spindle City Corvette Club of Lowell, MA held it's 30th Annual Harvest of Vettes show. I entered my 2002 Z06 in the Show Class division. In my opinion this is the hardest and most prestigious event. All aspects of the car are judged for example: exterior paint, trunk compartment, wheels, interior carpet, dash and trim pieces, seats, glass windows, underhood engine compartment, engine ... Out of a field of 6 C5's including several 2004 models I won FIRST PLACE.
My '02 is in the foreground, 2004 Z06 behind mine. Other cars in my class are shown.
Me posing with car at show (it never rained)
Receiving trophy from official
Enough already , they get the idea :)
Here is the website for Spindle City Corvettes. Click on "Harvest of Vettes 2005" -> Show Class and scroll down to - I 1997-2004 (C) 1st Place - That's me "Bob Hovey" :)
Spindle City Corvettes
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Here are some of the upgrades that I've done to it so far and some done by the dealership prior to my buying it.
I sold this 1996 CE Corvette in order to buy my 2011 Camaro - 1996 Sebring Silver CE LT4 Z51 (03/26/2007)
Completely stock 1996 CE LT4, Z51 Sebring Silver Corvette with 13,435 miles on it on March 24, 2007. The car is almost flawless. It has two removable roofs solid and blue transparent, ZF 6Sp, FE3 suspension, 3:45:1 rear and more.
I entered my '96 in Spindle City Corvette Club's 32 Annual Harvest of Vettes on 9/16/2007. It was my first show with the '96 but I worked all week polishing on her and she looked great. I registered at 8:30 AM on Sunday morning and put her in the Show Class. I fine tuned the cleaning and preparation until 12PM. Two judges gave her a thorough going over. There were 4 cars in this class. My assessment was the 1993 Ruby Red with only 9000 miles on it was my biggest threat. At 4:PM the trophies were handed out. I was happy to hear my name called for a first place win in Show Class.
This car also took another first place win at the Gate City Corvette Club's Annual Spring Fling at the Annheiser Busch plant in Merrimack , NH in May 2009. It won first place in the Show Class.
I had the car dynoed in the fall of 2009. Completely stock with a fresh oil change and rear end fluid change it made 304.5 hp at the rear wheels. That equates to approximately 360 hp at the crank. Not bad since GM rated the LT4's at 330 hp.
Here are some of the upgrades that I've done to my 1996 CE LT4 so far.
My 1987 Bright Red Corvette (10/1998 - 8/2004)
I sold the '87 Vette to buy the Z06. I spent endless hours in my garage taking this engine apart and polishing everything on my 1987 Corvette. I think when you get an old car like this, you want to see if you can make it look and run like new again. I removed the plenum, throttle body, runners, valve covers, and even the alternater bracket. I stripped them down to bare metal (aluminum) and polished them by hand with sand paper. Starting with a 120 grit and working my way to 1200 grit. I kept the metal shinny with Mother's Mag and Wheel polish. I broke down the TB and put the parts in a bucket of parts cleaner called B9. It came out awesome. I bored out the runners a bit while I had them off and the manifold ports as well using a dremmel tool. I replaced the plugs with NGKs, wires with 8.8MM Accel, and cap and rotor with Accel. It had an HEI ignition. I added an SLP (Street Legal Performance) ram air induction kit. I had to cut a 2½ inch by 6 inch hole through the plastic in front of the radiator. I placed the air snorkle through the hole. It grabbed cold air outside below the front air dam. I replaced the shocks myself using KYB gas shocks. I replaced the entire exhaust system myself from the exhaust manifold to the mufflers. I used Random Tech high flow cats and targa glass packed mufflers. I won several show trophies with my red Vette. It was a great car.
My 1987 Bright Red Corvette's engine (L98 -240 hp)
My 1986 Chevy Camaro (5/1996 - 10/1998)
I sold this Camaro to buy the '87 Vette. It was a 305ci V8 LG4 with a Rochester 4 barrel. I think it was originally a TPI setup but someone swapped in the rochester. The car was silver when I bought it. The paint was not very good and the interior was just so so. I took a 13 week auto body course at the Nashoba Valley Technical High School in Westford. I brought the car there every week for 13 weeks. I spent close to 1000 hours on the body between working on it at home and at the school. I learned a lot about auto body work ...it's very hard work. I got to use a sand blaster, dual action sander, HVLP DeVilbiss spray gun, and lots of elbow grease. I think the results speak for themselves. I sanded the car down using various methods including a dual action sander, sanding blocks and even sand blasted it with coal dust. I used fiber glass, bondo and polyster filler to smooth out the panels. My instructor (Ed Hodgeson former owner of the "Bump Shop in Dracut) told me I had a "good eye". So why did he keep telling me, "do it again"? :) He could just look down a panel and tell you if it needed "a little more time". I primed the car myself at the school using a Euro primer with an HVLP spray gun. Eventually I had it painted at Duffey's Auto Body in Chelmsford: two coats of Sikkens Tuxedo black and three coats of clear. They even color sanded it to remove the orange peel. I removed the seats (front and rear) and replaced the uppolstery with red vinyl seat covers. I learned what hog-rings were. I removed the 4 barrel Rochester and had it re-built by Hobbs carburetor shop in Salem, NH.
My 1986 LG4 Camaro
This is my 1999 Ford Ranger 4x4. I sold this truck right after I sold the Z06. I traded it for the 2006 Frontier. It was a solid truck for 4 years. It had a 3.0L V6 and put out about 160hp. Kind of weak. I bought it off a lease with 30K miles and sold it with 51K miles on it. I added the following myself: some Western side rails (not shown in pic), and Extang tono cover, K&N filter, Lund bug deflector and a Flowmaster 40 series 2 chamber muffler.
My 1999 Dark Green Ford Ranger Access Cab 4x4
2006 Nissan NISMO Crew Cab 4x4 (5/2006)
My old ride is a 2006 Nissan NISMO CC 4x4. It has a 265hp 284ft.lbs. all aluminum block and heads 4.0L engine (4Q) . So far I have added the following myself: an Airaid CAI (should be good for 5-7hp), NISSAN bug deflector, Wade chrome taillight guards, NISSAN step rails, Lorado tono cover, bed extender, Autovation racing pedals, chrome tailgate handles, and painted the calipers red. Chrome billet grille and a dual cat back exhaust system using a Cherry Bomb muffler.
