03 z06 track day build - #boughtnotbuilt

Builds
1

Making this more for a reference for me than anything else.

After blowing up my 06 sti at the track, building and selling the miata because it was too small, building and selling the 95 impreza coupe because I blew it up at the track-- I decided its time to buy a car pre-built and save some money.

Thus,
I picked up a 2003 50th anniv. z06 in electron blue back at the end of feb. Drove it home from Atlanta when we had that run of nice weather.

Copied from the FS ad

Power: Car made 458/410 before head work was done (street tuned for head work)

OEM C5 Z06 Wheels 18.5” Square
295/35 Nitto NT-05 tires

Ported 243 heads
• Professional Valve job
• New 2.04 intake valves
• New 1.60 exhaust valves
• New powdered metal guides
• New springs
• New pushrods
• Titanium retainers
FAST 90 Intake
LS2 90mm Ported Throttle Body
Vararam Intake
235/238 112+4 Comp Cam
BTR dual valve springs
Trunnion Upgraded Rockers
Monster LT1S Twin Disk Clutch (pedal feels stock, never any issue like OEM LS6 unit)
Zero balanced clutch assembly and flywheel
New master cylinder
Rebuilt Torque Tube while clutch was being put in
B&M Shifter
Delrin Shift knob
Remote Clutch Bleeder
C6 Z06 BRAKES
Stainless Brake lines
DRM front brake ducting
Wide band O2 sensor and gauge
Skid bar on radiator supports
Full exhaust Modded Ti Mufflers
Offroad X-Pipe
Hotchkis Sway bars front and rear
LG Quiet Adjustable End Links
04 Z06 Shocks
Delrin ride height adjusters on front
Poly Control Arm Bushings
Camber Plate kit
MOOG HD tie rod ends on all four corners
OEM SKF Hubs on all four corners
160 Thermostat Custom Front mount oil cooler
DUAL Catch Can Setup
Wolfe Racecraft 4*Point Roll Bar
Rear tow hook
Custom front center mount hidden tow strap
New clear/black corner lenses
Rear deck assist
Double Din Head unit CTD Door speakers 12" Kenwood Shallow Sub Custom drop in box – easily removable

http://www.nyspeed.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=36357&stc=1
http://www.nyspeed.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=36358&stc=1

Got it home and watched it out my window for the following month and a half. We are going One Lap of America again this year, and we have not yet decided which car we are taking. This car is more heavily modified, but mods create increased chance of failure. Also, this car is an unknown since I havent had it to the track yet.

I had issues with the service active handling/abs/trac control message on the dash. C5 corvettes have really bad electrical systems. I re-did the grounds in the engine bay and the lights turned off.

Since purchasing, I have bought and/or installed from the other car:

— 275/35 Dunlop Direzza z2 star specs (same width as a 295 nt-05)
— Raybestos st-43 pads for all 4 corners. Bunch of blank rotors.
— LMC5 column lock bypass module
— Sparco evo 2 US. Apparently needs to be shipped from italy. How they don’t have one in the US is beyond me. I have a sparco evo 2 for the other seat.
— Custom making aluminum seat mounts (refuse to pay $350 a side for some aluminum angle with holes in it)
— G-force 5 point harnesses
— Redline synthetic PS fluid.

—Ebay projector headlights (stock headlights SUCK ASSHOLE. Don’t know how they are even legal). I did not upgrade to HID’s yet. Still a significant upgrade over stock with just halogen bulbs.

http://i.imgur.com/E4RjMXs.jpg?1
E4RjMXs.jpg?1800×450

— Sparco 383 Steering wheel with NRG short hub and NRG 2.5 quick release. Let me tell you-- getting the steering wheel off of this car was a pain in the dick. GM, obviously, has a special GM steering wheel puller. Some people reported that you could get the wheel off with a 3 arm gear puller.

http://i.imgur.com/bNvVrii.jpg?1
bNvVrii.jpg?1800×450

Negative.

http://i.imgur.com/237nhBz.jpg?1
237nhBz.jpg?1450×800

Thus, I decided to drill and tap holes for a traditional steering wheel puller into the frame of the wheel.

http://i.imgur.com/XLH58tA.jpg?1
XLH58tA.jpg?1450×800

Success! Even with these holes, I still bent the shit out of one of the bolts. I thought the bolt snapped with the amount of noise that was made when the wheel finally let go.

http://i.imgur.com/p9LfsBq.jpg?1
p9LfsBq.jpg?1800×450

In my infinite wisdom, I forgot to take a pic of the wheel installed. Derp. I need to take it off again to wire in the horn. Initially, didnt think the horn could be wired in. Now that I have it together, I realize how to do it. Installed a 3ohm resistor for the airbag, so no lights.

2

Lookin good dude!

3

18.5 rim? Also why ditch the NT05’s? They were really one of my favorite track day tires. Nice ride, I still might buy a Vette someday.

4

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet.

5

:tspry:

6

I approve! My grandfather had one of these for the track before he bought then ditched his track C6Z.

7

I’m guessing he meant 18x10.5" square set up. Nice car!

8

LOL. Yeah. Not sure what happened there. 18x10.5 square.

The nt05 is just old tech. The newer compounds grip more, handle heat better, and don’t heat cycle out. Running OLOA gets me 25% off at tire rack, so I might as well get tires. They will be used. Also, the nt05 is horrible in the rain.

9

boughtnotbuilt=:clap::clap:

10

I dig it :tup:

11

Going to run the extra quart of oil?

http://www.z06vette.com/forums/f8/additional-oil-track-days-75673/

12

Seems pretty cut and dry. Sounds like 7.5 is what should always be in there… unless you’re an old fogie that merely puts around to car meats.

13

I miss that color :frowning:

14

nice car! watch out for oil starvation if you track a lot… the damp-sump system is okish.

15

Vettes for everyone!

16

Finally remembered to take a pic of the seat/wheel.

http://i.imgur.com/zNH4JqMh.jpg
zNH4JqMh.jpg576×1024

I’m not at all concerned about oil starvation. The LS1/6 seem to be the least likely of the LS variants to oil starve on track. I’m also only running DOT “street” tires. I will be fine with a qt of extra oil.

Went out to TMP yesterday for some pre One Lap of America testing. I ran a used set of carbotech xp10/xp8 that came with the car. They worked ok and weren’t miserable, but I wouldn’t personally purchase them. Switching to raybestos st-43 after these. The car is a ton of fun. Its not as fast around TMP as I expected, although I need to remember that I’m driving a full weight street car with AC, and not a track dedicated car. I’m 2.6 seconds from my gutted subaru, I was driving poorly, and still need to completely grasp the intricacies of rwd. The cam in this car is not meant for a tight track like TMP-- I think it will be a different animal at a larger track like the glen.

We both had some minor issues that need to be addressed. Surprisingly, driving on track made both of us get a check engine light for the skip shift control circuit. Not sure whats special about track driving that would cause that (heat is my guess). We also learned that we need to stop listening to the internet. There was another c5z there who was by far the worst track driver I have ever seen-- no exaggeration. I got off the track because of how dangerous he was. Decided to go talk to him to see if he was having a medical emergency or something and it turns out, he believes he is gods gift to driving and was trying to give pointers on how we could be faster. It dawned on me. Its people like him who are posting a lot of the nonsense you read online about tracking corvettes. I think you get a significantly different demographic with tracking corvettes versus other cars. The main thing I hear people say is to use competition mode. Absolute nonsense. Competition mode was extremely intrusive. I can see how someone who doesnt know how to drive might like it, but it was a joke. Felt like driving a car in snow with traction control on. I turned all of the nannies off and the car came alive. Being able to slide around a bit really makes the car wake up and forces you to pay attention. In the subaru (and the miata before that), you can basically just mash on the gas pedal all the time because it doesnt matter. Not in this. It was a lot of fun finally having to pay attention to things like that. I was really surprised at how tame this car is with 450+hp and no traction control. There was no drama at all. When the back end stepped out, it never did anything unpredictable. These cars are a joy to drive.

http://i.imgur.com/nxK6aq7h.jpg
nxK6aq7h.jpg1024×576

17

maybe comp. mode on the C6 is a bit better? I drive around on the street in it and can get maybe 20 degrees of slip angle before it start to grab a rear caliper. Then again, I don’t track mine so I don’t have data on that.

18

This is just how the internet is in general. I had the same thought this weekend when dealing with a super badly applied fuel tank liner. “Product sucks, flaked off after 3 months”… yeah, well you fucking did a shit job of applying it, you fucking retard.

19

Went to the track again tonight on the new tires. Got 275/35-18 direzza z2 star specs. They are pretty small for a corvette, but they are affordable and I know that they are enough grip to have a lot of fun. After having abs issues last weekend, I replaced the wiring to the LF wheel speed sensor as the connectors are known to go bad. After the first session, the left front wheel speed sensor died completely, making the diagnosis easy rather than continuing to chase non-existent GM wiring issues. Luckily, the sensor is integrated into the hub, meaning that I need to replace the whole damn thing.

Surprisingly, running without ABS made me faster. I ran a 1:20.77, which is my personal fastest at TMP. I think that is pretty damn fast for a 3250lb “street” car with A/C. Id be curious to see what it would run with some wide tires or hoosiers. Wish I hadnt left my gopro home charging.

http://i.imgur.com/Ocj9cD3.png

One Lap of America starts this upcoming weekend. Feel free to follow along at www.facebook.com/onelapofawesome. I am hoping to post updates more often this year.

20

:tup:

love that sound between shifts