Hello! My long winded introduction!

[Styluss]

My name is Ryan. But you can call me Styluss. I'm 31 and have been living in Colorado for the last 25 years now. Always within the Lakewood/Littleton area. I love it here. I have watched this area go from small settlements no further out than C-470 to what it is today. I often drive by an area and think to myself "That used to just be a field..."

As for hobbies?? I am an avid Auto crosser and Rally X'er. I have run 3 or 4 seasons with the SCCA Rocky Mountain Region Autocross and 2 or 3 seasons with the SCCA Colorado Rally Cross Organization. My best finishes have been 5th place in STS and 3rd place in Production Class respectively. This year I could not afford new rubber in order to be competitive with the Autocross guys, so I am planning on running a few events with the Rally X group. It's kind of a bummer as I feel my driving skills were just about to crown out and I may have had a 3rd place finish or better with the Autocross organization. But it's all good... seat time is seat time. I just picked up some used Falken rally tires last night. The 2009 Rally Cross National Championships will be held here in Colorado this year and my goal is to take first place, if not podium at least, in the Rally Prepared Front Wheel Drive class (RPF). I have always done well against local competition so I cannot wait to see how my skills fare on a national level! As much as I wanted to do a lot of prep work to my car for this event, I have simply not been able to find the time with as busy as I keep my life. I'm not a big fan of down time you know?

Besides all of the automotive stuff, I dabble in many other things as well. I have an Associate Degree in Web Design, although my education has proven pretty much useless. Right as I graduated, the job market went from wanting graduates to know X amount of knowledge and skills to Y amount. As much as I feel I got short changed on my education, it is partially my own fault for not keeping on the grind and furthering my skills on my own. Oh well, it was a nice exercise in personal strength and commitment for me to go back to school at 27, even if it was only for two years time.

Well... enough about me huh? Let's get onto the cars.

[Styluss]

Car 1: 1989 Chevrolet Beretta Euro GTU Mock

This car was bought 5 years ago this March. It was a lowly Base Model when I bought it and through numerous junkyard runs, a few expensive online purchases and some friends from waaay overseas, it is what it is today. The GTU model Beretta was only made in '88 and '89 from the factory so finding a lot of these parts was a bit tough. The hardest to acquire would be the front chin spoiler. In 4 years of junkyarding, I have only ever seen 4 of these pieces and 2 of them were broken or busted up pretty good. The body kit and a few suspension upgrades as well as some small things like badges and the like are what made the GTU what it is. The GTU was made to commemorate Chevy's entry into the Gran Touring race series in 1988. Although they were made with 5-speeds... mine is a lowly 3-speed automatic.
As for the Euro portion of the car's title, Chevy made about 3200 Berettas for the European markets. These cars had to be modified slightly to fit into the overseas road regulations and such. Really, small items like fender mounted side markers and large license plate brackets were all that was needed to make these cars street legal overseas. The other items; headlights, tail lights, fender flares, side mirrors and the spoiler were simply cosmetic changes. My car has every one of the for mentioned items making it the most complete Euro conversion outside of the European countries. Something I am very proud of. Although a few people have the Euro headlights, tail lights and side mirrors on their Berettas, I have the ONLY set of fender flares in the US as well as one of only two Euro style spoilers. Although any average Joe would not notice any of this upon looking at my car, I am very proud of all of my conversion work and the overall rarity of my car as a whole.

Now, for the specs:

2.8L V6 Engine mated to a 3-Speed Automatic Transmission:
- Polished and painted intake plenum and valve cover
- Styluss Automotive cold air intake
- Fast Forward Performance under drive pulley
- Fast Forward Performance billet dogbone engine mount
- Magnaflow high flow cat
- Magnaflow high flow muffler
- Custom 2 1/4" mandrel bent exhaust
- Full AC system removal
- GM Factory AC delete pulley
- 180* Thermostat installed
- Throttle body bypass on coolant line
- Solid billet upper transmission mount
- Completely rebuilt Transmission with shift kit

125 Horsepower from the factory (don’t laugh). Adjustment for altitude puts me at 104hp. Although I have never had it dyno'd, I would like to think I'm back into the 125hp range or more with all of these mods. Still slow as balls, I know.

Exterior:
- Most complete European Mock exterior:
Euro headlights
Euro fender flares
Euro side mirrors
Euro tail lights
Euro spoiler
- Tint, 25%
- City lights in headlights
- Z26 fog lights w/o diffusers
- Clear Z26 style turn signals
- Clear custom LED upgraded side markers
- Z34 hood louvers
- Z26 solid grille
- Ventshade window shades
- Solarwing rear window spoiler

As I know many of you don’t consider cosmetic modifications actual mods... I feel that they bring a lot to what makes this car what it is. I also like to think that these cosmetic mods have been tastefully done and do add a lot to the overall look of the car.

Interior:
- Full factory black interior swap
- Black dashmat
- Rear seat 60/40 split fold down
- GTZ black leather wrapped steering wheel
- Leather wrapped shift knob
- Leather wrapped E-brake handle
- Custom mount trunk release
- Auto-dimming compass mirror
- Sun visors with lit dimming mirror
- Custom HVAC knobs

Many of these bits and pieces are from other cars entirely. The leather shift knob, the dimming mirror and the sun visors are all from a Cadillac and all were made to work in the car by me.

Suspension, Wheels and tires:
- KYB struts
- Koni shocks
- Eibach lowering springs with 1" drop
- Full Energy Suspension poly front bushings
- GM strut tower brace
- GM radiator to strut braces
- GM lower sub frame brace
- GM internal rear brace
- Addco rear sway bar
- MRZ Performance rear shock tower brace

- Daily wheel: Quantum Tek 18" wheels - Black
- Daily tire: Barum Bravuris @ 225/40 R18
- Auto X wheel: MB Motoring 15x6.5
- Auto X tire: Falken Ziex ZE-512 @ 205/60R-15
- Rally X wheel: Factory steelies 15x6.5
- Rally X tire: Falken Azenis RS-01D @ 215/60R15

Although it may only be a Beretta, this things drives tight and corners very well. All of these factory and aftermarket bars give the car great footing in corners and a steadfast feel to everyday driving as well as my competition driving.

Factory options and extras:
- Full GTU body kit
- Power windows
- Power locks
- Remote trunk release
- GTZ leather wrapped steering wheel
- '92+ Seatbelt swap
- 60/40 split folding seat
- Trunk mounted cargo net
- Sony CD player
- Sirius satellite radio
- Infinity dash speakers
- Imported Euro rear speakers
- Garmin navigation system
- Tinted windows
- Keyless entry
- Remote start
- Trimmed antenna
- Race modified E-brake


And yes, she has been to the track before and yes... she is slow.
Best time at altitude: 17.968 @ 78.06mph.
Best time at sea level: 16.680 @ 79.53mph.
If you really want proof of these slow ass runs, I'll post time slips. But is it really necessary?

And now, finally... for the pics:

Here's what she looked like the day I bought her.


And now...


Engine.


Done up for the 2007 Beretta Fest Car Show.


Other random photos...
Killing it at a Rally Cross


And the aftermath...


Autocross action.


Three wheelin'!


And the dreaded high quality hood open shot.


Me and my baby.

[Styluss]

Car #2: 1990 Chevrolet Beretta Indy Pace Car Replica

This is my most recent purchase. I sold my Explorer to help pay down some credit card debt and I felt that the truck was going to turn into a maintenance nightmare shortly. But I just couldn't go back to living life with only one car after having two for so long. And this baby just kind of fell into my lap at just the right time.

The Beretta Indy edition was made to commemorate Chevy's involvement with the 1990 Indy 500. For the 74th running of the Indy 500 Chevrolet was chosen to make the Pace Car for the event. This coincided well with Chevrolet's desire to make a convertible Beretta model. Chevy provided 3 of the Convertible Berettas to the Indianapolis Speedway for the event. And although these cars were well accepted by race fans and the public, they were a complete failure from a build standpoint. Although the convertible models were never produced, there were 7000 Indy Pace Car Replicas produced for sale to the public. Only 1500 were offered in Yellow, and 5500 were offered in Turquoise Metallic or more commonly known as simply Teal. This model Beretta was only sold in 1990.

The Beretta Indy I bought was a great find. It has been a garage queen most of its life and has been babied by the two prior owners. The interior is in nearly immaculate condition which is a very rare find for an Indy model. These cars had a few things that set them apart from any other Beretta. Foremost, the large Indy side decals. This car also shares the same body kit as my GTU model, although it came with a different style spoiler. The interior featured very well designed seats with sewn in highlights to match the color of the car. The Indy logo is also stitched into the headrests of all four seats. The door panels have a very smooth inlay as opposed the typical carpet style seen in all many other models.
The paint is original and is in great shape minus a few chips on the hood and roof. The passenger side door was ran into at one point and the repair work was crappy to say the least. You can see the area that was damaged, but the pint was color matched well at least. The car also comes with a bunch of rear underside rust as it was born on the east coast. this is the biggest issue I have with the car and I will take care of it soon. Doesn't seem too bad and I think a lot of sanding and a few good coats of rust inhibitor will keep her from rusting out any more.

And again... the specs:

Engine:
3.1L V6 mated to a 3-Speed Automatic Transmission
- Styluss Automotive cold air intake
- Solid billet upper transmission mount

I'm not sure of the factory horsepower on the 3.1L engine, but rest assured it's not much faster than the 2.8L I don’t think she's giving me all she's got yet as I have to dig into an idle issue and the tranny seems to be shifting funny. I'll be hitting the garage today to dig into these issues...

Suspension, Wheels and Tires:
- Strut tower brace
- GM lower sub frame brace
- GM internal rear brace
- Z51 solid rear sway bar

- Daily wheel: GM factory Indy wheel with color match highlights
- Daily tire: LeMans HR @ 205/55R16

Factory extras & Misc items:
- Full Indy body kit
- Power windows
- Power locks
- Remote trunk release
- Leather wrapped steering wheel
- Leather wrapped shift knob
- 60/40 split folding seat
- Trunk mounted cargo net
- Trimmed antenna
- Sunroof, removable.
- GM Factory sunroof bag

And of course, the pics:







Engine

[Styluss]

On a side note... I am currently looking for an Underdrive Pulley and a Dogbone mount for the Indy. I have a wanted post up in the for sale section.
Also, I make CAIs for the 2.8 and 3.1L engines. I am currently working on a set up for the Quad 4s. The intake I make can be seen in both of the engine pictures for my cars. I have sold a few of them to the guys over at BStuff.com and my reputation as a seller can be verified over there as well.

[bszopi]

Welcome! Definitely some nice Berettas.

[Rhedalert]

Welcome, cars look good!

Years ago, I had painted my 3.1 plenum in the same fashion.

[3400-95-Modified]

This guys a crack job... LOL

Styluss you have a package coming your way FYI.