Email to Brent Franker
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Main
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F-Bodies
1994 Supercharged
Z28 Camaro

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1996 450hp n/a
Z28 Camaro SS

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1995 Trans Am
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4th Gen Appearance
Modification Guide

F-Body Install & Fix-it Guides
My Previous F-Bodies
My Favorite F-Body
Links

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1995 Ninja ZX6
1991 KX250

Other Hobbies
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About Me
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Special Thanks to
LV-F-Body Association &
Badassride.com

for hosting this site!


Hobbies!
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I happen to enjoy a lot of different activities which is why I have a separate page for my hobbies :)  This page will take a little while to load.  It appears as though I got a little carried away while making it :)

If you haven't already noticed (you'd have to be blind not to!) my favorite thing to do is tinker with my 94 Z28 and my 96 SS.  Even though the 96 SS is a very nice and fast car, my "baby" is the 94.  I bought the car stock and have done or at least helped perform nearly all the mods on it.  Anyway, enough about the cars... they have their own pages :)

Computers!

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I must admit, I spend A LOT of time at the computer :)   I read many of the different F-Body (Camaro, Firebird, and Trans Am type cars) forums.  There is so much info and discussion on the web about F-Bodies it's not possible to read ALL of it, but I do try to keep up with my favorites!  Currently, one of the best place to get good technical info on 4th Generation F-Bodies, IMO, is the different mailing lists at www.f-body.org.  There are *many* very knowledgeable guys on these lists... and many have even had their car featured in a major mag too!  I also like to peruse around at The Ultimate Bulletin Board.  And last but not least, for entertainment value :) I read and post in the newsgroup alt.autos.camaro.firebird

Although I do spend most of my time at the computer reading and learning about F-Bodies, I also enjoy fooling around with spreadsheets and simple programming.  I've made a number of Excel spreadsheets which I use at work to save time and make things a bit easier.  As far as programming goes, well... I'd love to be able  to actually have enough time to sit down and learn at least one of the many programming languages/methods out there.  But, unfortunately, I haven't taken the time to do this... yet.  However, a long time ago, I did teach myself BASIC and at age 14 wrote a program which I sold for $300 to a local business :)  Hmmm... maybe I should have pursued programming a little further :)

Scuba Diving!
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Even though I haven't gone diving recently, I do miss it!   Scuba diving is truly an awesome experience!  I've had a great time with my friends on scuba diving adventures.  I dive mostly in Florida but have dove in the Cayman Islands.  I've dove some of the Navy Seal "test ships" in Panama City.  I've also dove in Boca Raton, Jupiter, The Gulf of Mexico off Central Florida, and many of the natural springs and rivers in Central Florida.

Here are a few pics of some of my scuba diving adventures!

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This is me preparing for the decent!  Even though I'm
in Florida, you'll notice that I'm wearing a 1/4" wetsuit.
This was a natural spring dive which means the water stays
a constant 72 degrees year round... a bit cool for me!

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Here's me posing with a couple other dive club members
during a local river dive.

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Notice all the rocks?  This was a cavern dive!

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Just me again waving to the camera!

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Here are a few dive club members on one of the monthly
dives.  Me and my buddy Charlie are on the right.

Motor Cross!

Ahh... dirt bike riding :)  Although it may be a bit crazy and dangerous, riding my KX250 is a blast!  Myself, my brother, and some friends will usually try to go riding at least every other weekend.  So far so good... no broken bones :)  Click on "1991 KX250" in the menu at the left for some details and pictures!

Street Bikes!

Yet another passion of mine :)  I had wanted a "crotch rocket" for as long as I could remember and I finally got one after a previous relationship I was in had gone sour and we went separate ways.  I guess I just said "screw it" after she left and went out and bought it :)  I don't currently have a street bike, but do plan on getting a cheap, used one sometime in the future.  I had too much fun on my ZX6 to not have something similar sometime down the road :)  See some pics of my old ZX6 by clicking on "1995 Ninja ZX6" in the menu to the left... I sure do miss it :)

Good Times!

I couldn't live without all my friends.  They're the best!  Although this isn't really a "hobby," I have such a great time with my friends that I thought this page was appropriate :)  Pictured below are just a few cases of the great times we've all had together.  WARNING:  Many of the pics contained herein were taken during the consumption of some type of alcoholic beverage... thus the reason for some of the crazy shots :)  Now, I'm not saying that we always drink to have a good time, but it just so happens that that's the time when the camera usually comes out so that's the type of pics that I have :-)

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My ex's friend :) and my buds Sam and Mike.

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This is at my place while watching The Ultimate Fighting
Championship and having a few beers and strawberry daiquiris :)

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Here's Mike again and on the right, my best bud, Charlie

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Charlie trying to be a bartender :)

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Charlie and Mike toasting the camera on the left.
On the right, well... that's Charlie being Charlie :)

The rest of my "Good Times!" pics were taken at an annual event in the Florida Keys (Key West) called Fantasy Fest.  This is quite an event that takes place during the week preceding the last weekend in October.  I've gone down to the Keys for this huge party for three different years!  It's a huge week long party with the big finale being 40,000+ people gathering on Duval Street in Key West for the annual parade.  The fun really starts when the sun goes down after the huge parade.  Thousands of people walk the streets in many times nothing more than a painted on costume!  There are lots of web sites out there with Fantasy Fest pics, so what I have here are just a few pics of me and my buds having a great time!  But, I'll give you a taste of what Fantasy Fest is like with the first couple pics :)

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Nice costumes, huh? :-)

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Here's me and a friend Scott getting our pics taken
with a couple of the body painted babes!  OK... I'll confess,
not all the women down there look like this, but a few of
them do! :)

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Here's Charlie preparing to "make a move."  :)

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This is me after a few Fat Tuesday's daiquiris.

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Here's me and Charlie after a few more :)

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Here's me with a couple buds from work... Pete and Ken.
Hmmm... wonder if we're having a good time? :)

Golf

I'm not that great at golf but I do enjoy it! :)  Many of my friends golf as do most of the guys on my shift at work.  Me and my non work buds aren't that great :) but my buds at work are pretty damn good!  Needless to say, when I go golfing with my work buds, I get a pretty good handicap :)

RC Cars!

Many thanks to my bud, Chris, for setting me up with this truck!

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I previously had a battery powered RC car, but this gas powered truck takes the cake and is awesome!  It runs on nitro and is like my cars in that it isn't stock :)  I've got aftermarket shocks, exhaust, and a couple other engine goodies!

Electronics!

I'm also into all kinds of electronics.  I love gadgets!  Ever since I've been young, I've enjoyed tinkering with old and broken electronics pieces.  I had a box of "stuff" that I one day hoped to use to be able to build my own time machine :)

I also really enjoy car audio and home theater.  My car audio experience started when I was 16.  I watched my dad install my newly purchased power booster in my 1986 Camaro.  It was all down hill from there!  I went on to later upgrade my stereo and also build myself one of the town's first "boom systems!"  Everyone would look because back in the late 80s, nobody really even knew what a boom system was.  I've lost track, but I've since built and installed probably between 20 and 25 boom systems for myself and friends ranging anywhere from a simple sub box to 32 speaker setups with multiple amps and cross-overs.  Since I was in high school at the time and so were my friends, we didn't make bookoo bucks and therefore used a lot of the "cheaper" brands... like Pyramid for example.   But, it was kinda neat because on more than one occasion, I would put my Pyramid system up against a Fosgate (popular and expensive name brand back then) system and come out the winner!  You should have seen the look the other peoples faces :)  Here are some pics of a few of the systems I built.  I never claimed to know the science of building the optimum system nor did I do anything super fancy, but my friends never did complain.  After all, almost every system I did, I did for FREE! :)  I didn't mind as I was just a teenager having a good time and helping out my buds :)  Somehow I also ended up learning how to install alarm systems (maybe being an electronics gadget guy had something to do with it :)  I've installed about 75 or so alarm systems for friends and co-workers.  So, if you have any alarm related install questions, feel free to ask!  I even made up a page on installing alarms in 4th gens... check it out!   Anyway, here are some pics of a few of the systems I did.

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This is the second stereo I put in my 86.  Don't have any pics
of my first stereo :(

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Here's a few more I installed

I'm not too much into the "boom system" scene anymore.  I suppose I grew up a little :)  However, I do have a little bass in my 94Z...hehe.  I pieced together some stuff I had laying around the garage and put in a couple Pioneer 10" subs, a Pioneer Premier head unit and 6 disc changer, a Sherwood amp, an Alpine amp, and some Pyramid and Lanzar speakers.  Not too bad but I would like to redo everything with some better, higher quality stuff someday.  Heck, I probably won't get to that for a while since I've had enough stuff sitting on the shelf to put a nice system in either the Trans Am or SS for quite some time now, but just haven't gotten around to it :)

Nowadays, I'm more into home theater stuff.  Although I don't have a lot of time to watch TV, I do enjoy it when I do! :)  I have an RCA DSS system going to a Pioneer VSX-D3S receiver and a 60" ProScan TV.  The receiver powers two 15" subs, 4 titanium midrange, and 2 titanium tweeters which weigh 15 pounds each!  All of this goes into a custom made entertainment center which my father and I built.  (Dad does wood working and cabinet building for a living :) The combination of the above makes for a life like movie watching experience!  Here's some pics of my home theater system.  The subs fire out the bottom!

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There's actually a piece missing from the pics.  It's the center piece that holds a couple VCRs, a custom center channel, and a 27" TV.   I've upgraded my TV a little and now can't use this particular piece due to obvious reasons :)

Pool!

Since I got out of high school, I've always loved to play pool!  My best bud Charlie and I have played more games together than I can even count.  He usually wins about 1/2 the games we play so it's always a good match.   Unless, we're betting :)  For some reason, I usually come out on top when we bet... hehe.  I kept a $20 bill I won off him on my pool table light for a long time.   I was also able to pay for my ex-girlfriend's nails every month from my winnings in pool... most of which came from Charlie :)  We still joke today about him spending about $50 a month on *my* girlfriend's nails :)  I think spending that much on freakin' fingernails is a bit ridiculous... until I think about how much I spend on my car... DOH!  Guess I can't complain too much :)  Here's a pic of my pool table with the unique light that my dad made for me for Christmas one year.

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Heck, I like playing pool so much that I added a room on to my house just so I could have room for a pool table.  My father and I did almost all the work ourselves.  If you're thinking about remodeling, check out these pics... can you believe I actually lived in this house during the room addition process? :)  It was a huge mess but well worth it!  I now have a pretty cool bachelor's pad! :)

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My Fish Pond!

I have an area in front of my house which gets so much shade that it is nearly impossible to grow grass there.  So, I decided to put in a little Koi pond.  I did everything myself and really enjoyed building this pond.   Currently, it is two ponds connected by a small canal which the fish use to swim back and forth between the two ponds.  To help keep the water circulated, I have a couple 1200 gallon per hour pumps to circulate the approx. 1500 gallons of water in the ponds.  One takes a suction on one of the ponds and discharges into a small, raised rock formation I made.  Out of here, it flows in a stream, *over* the canal, and into the opposite pond.  Pretty cool IMO :)  I had such a good time building this that I plan on adding to it!  The canal runs along my front walkway and I plan on building another pond on the other side of the walkway.  I'll then connect the new pond and the canal and have a wooden bridge going over the canal that connects the new pond and the canal. Should be pretty neat! :)  Many thanks to my buddy Stan who gave me most of the awesome Koi that are in this pond.  When he gave them to me, they were already pretty big!  I've had them for a little over a year and a number of them are over two feet in length!  I'm a little surprised the 'coons haven't gotten to them yet, but so far, so good! :)  I don't have many good pics of my pond, but here are a few...

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My Dog!

I have a gorgeous Rottweiler named, Amos.  He's a very cool dog and all my friends love playing with him when they come over.  He looks a bit intimidating, but as long as I'm around, he's pretty good.  When he was young, I always had him around people.  I also tried to teach him who was boss (me!) before he got too big and realized that HE could be boss if he wanted to :)  One way I did this was I would give him t-bone steak bones then make him give them back to me.  I think these are two key things in why he has turned out to be such a well mannered Rotty.  To this day, even though he is full grown, I can take away a fresh t-bone from him even after he has already had a taste of it.  I also put chips, treats, beef jerky, whatever, on his nose and he will balance it on top of his snout until I say "OK."  He then flips it up in the air and catches it in his mouth.  He puts on quite the show :)  He also works quite well as a backup to my home security system :)

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Here's Amos when he was just a little puppy.  Amos was the pick of the litter.  His father was a Champion show dog and his mother was very close to being a Champion too.  Amos was supposed to be a super show dog himself but had one minor flaw that wasn't known until he was a few months old.  He has only one testicle!  This put the axe on his show dog career and he was then given to me.

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Here he is checking out something down the road.

Racing!

I love competition and love to race!  When I lived up in Iowa, my father and mother owned a go-kart track!  That's a kid's dream come true :)  I had a 100cc Yamaha kart and a 5hp Bandito kart which I raced.  I couldn't race the 100cc because I was too young :(  I currently enjoy doing a little drag racing in either my 94Z or 96SS at the Central Florida drag strips.  I don't get to go racing nearly as often as I would like, but I'll take what I can get!

Racing runs in the family blood :)  Pictured below is my younger sister, Sheila, when she was just 4 years old!  No trickery here... she' actually racing around the track by herself!

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Well, that's about it for my "Hobbies" page!   I got a little carried away making this page and not everything here is a "hobby" perse, but oh well :)