Mikelly

Thinking of coming back to a Corvette (been 8 years since my last C5) and I figured I'd ask the experts here...

Focused on the C6 Grandsport Coupe/Manual with all the coolers... Any known "Must do" or "Must have" issues to address other than the common brake pad/fluid swap?

I have three race/track cars in various stages of tear down/rebuild/race, and it would be nice if my daily driver was a capable track car as well. So I'm leaning in this direction...

Mike Kelly

96GS#007

I instruct for BMW, Porsche, and a couple other groups. When I'm out on my own, I'm a proverbial "7/10s" driver....I go out and have fun and I'm not worried about setting the world on fire. With that as the backdrop, before a track day I swap rotors, pads, and tires (Toyo R888). I added brake cooling ducts and I do normal maintenance. Other than that, I put gas in it, drive to the track, have fun, and then drive home. In three years, the car has never missed a beat.

ErnieN85

close to bullet proof

mdavis7

If you stick with street tires, ducts, pads, plus maintenance as others said is good, but if you start increasing g forces you'll need to ensure you have a dry sump and even then you can blow your motor if you are too aggressive (like me) and are using the factory dry sump which is more a damp sump than true dry sump.

I have a 2011 GS manual.

theweej

My self and two friends got GS's in the last year ('10, '11 and '12) and track them. We all DE'd other cars and this car is great.

Please get the TPMS tool when you change tires. The system will put you in limp mode once it realizes it's not getting the readings. It's also nice to learn by watching the pressures come up during the session.

Louis Gigliotti

You should stick to Porsches and beater BMWs mike

Having said that, the GS Manual LS3 is a great track ready car. As mentioned, pads, fluids, ducts, stainless brake lines (youll melt the stockers easily) and go have fun.

TKOGTO

First day or so, brake fluid, pads, extra qt of oil (at least for the A6) and reset the TPMS if different wheels and you are set. If you plan on somewhat more frequent events, the cooling you mentioned along with the brake ducts mentioned will also be necessary. The Quantum kit I have came with a heat shield for the tie rods and ball joints. I needed something similar for the rears so having this as part of the front kit was helpful. I'd lose the stock calipers again depending on frequency. Thin pads that are a PITA to change and flaming dust boots will have you regretting a BBK or upgraded calipers. If you're keeping the stock seat, get Angel Wings (or buy mine). These and the cinch technique do a very good job of holding you in.

Mikelly

You guys rock... Thanks for the feedback!!

Louis

I'll keep you all posted... I have a true drysump in my LS3 powered Datsun, if I can ever get that motor back into the car, so I totally get what you guys are saying about the "damp-sump" configuration.

Mike

truth.b

Can you elaborate more on the short comings of the factory dry-sump system? Roughly at what sustained g-forces do you feel it becomes inadequate? Can oil starvation be monitored via a PSI alarm trigger or some other device?

Mikelly

I'll give a stab at this myself since I installed a true drysump oiling system in the Datsun LS3/416 stroker due to the concerns raised in the racing community about oil starvation and oil system failures on the LS platform.

As I understand it the stock setup relies on the factory oil pump to provide pressure to the system. In a traditional drysump assembly where you have the external pump driven by a belt off the crankshaft, and several stages for scavenge within the pan to insure proper circulation. The factory pump/pan work against each other during high load events causing cavitation and potential oil starvation.

The other issue is the collection of oil in the heads with inferior drainbacks. On our race motor I had the builder install dual drainbacks at the front and rear so the heads so they don't trap oil unnecessarily up top.

Again, all this was relayed to me via a host of vendors/race shops. I'm really not sure where that magical point is, since a number of race teams are still using this damp-sump setup on racecars with a fair amount of success. I know Matt Isbell has been using dampsumps on his cars without issues and he is making crazy HP on his LS powered Datsun Z.

You can set alarms for the oil pressure. A host of companies sell kits for this. On our racecar I'm going to use the FAST EFI to shut power to the XIM controller for the coilpacks when oil pressure falls below 10PSI. I'll also set an alert on the touch screen dash display.

truth.b

Thanks for the info. I currently have several alarm triggers via OBDii interface. My setup is primitive and only runs at 2.5Hz (0.4samples/sec) but I do trust it enough to warn me of impending danger. Currently, my car is bone-stock not included the upgraded brake pads & blank rotors. Here's a video of me messing around on the skid-pad at my last track day. I have my low Oil PSI warning set to 20 and at about the 2:30 mark you can hear the alarm trigger sounding off as I clutch out. Why did you choose 10PSI on your race car?

truth.b

OP,

In my very biased opinion I feel that manual Grand Sports are probably one of the the most reliable track cars GM has ever produced. I've put almost 56k miles on mine all while tracking it a handful of times a year plus going to the drag strip and it has been flawless. What impresses me the most is that all of the Z06 & ZR1 parts in combination with the LS3 engine truly makes it an over-built car. Also with very little mods (headers, exhaust, intake, cam) you can make big power and run with the best of them.


If you're interested in seeing what my car has been through check out my YouTube page. I have over 40 videos of various track, mountain driving, auto-X, and drag strip vids posted.

Link --> Truth's YouTube Page

Mikelly

It's a drysump and the likelihood would be that the belt gets pitched off. That could easily change with the car properly tuned and sorted. But we figure it'll be idling somewhere above 1200RPM and I won't want to cut ignition near idle.

Going to see the car either Friday or Saturday. I'm taking a car trailer and a check...

Mikelly

Two months and nearly 6000 miles in and I am in love with this car. This is definitely a track day "best buy" car!

And yes, I have had it on track already this year. Instructed a drivers clinic for DriveLabs on Veterans day. Car needs an alignment and I need to kill off these runflats, but the stock brake pads are awesome!

2 GTOs

Glad it worked out

dizzy8085

Grand Sports for the win!

truth.b

What did you end up getting.. Manual/Auto/Mag Ride/Trim/Year... and are you dailying it any?

Mikelly

I would only get a manual transmission sports car, and quite honestly I have no clue why there are so many corvettes in automatic, but hey that's just me...

What I wanted was a 1LT Coupe/Manual Trans/Cyber Grey with black wheels and black accents. I wanted the competition sport seats and I wanted something with low miles.

What I ended up getting was a 2012 GS 6speed manual 1LT in Cyber Grey with Chrome wheels, but with black accents. Previous owner had installed the Corsa Xpipe and had the windows tinted. Car had 7800 miles on it.

I commute in it days when it is above freezing. My commute is 140 miles RT and I've put on over 5K miles on it since November 6th when I bought it. On cold and nasty days I'll drive my tow vehicle, a 2006 Dodge Megacab 3500 diesel truck.

I also coach/instruct with a number of car clubs and race in ChumpCar, so I really wanted a daily driver I could take to the track when our racecars are down for repairs/maintenance.

Mikelly

This is what I got for $40K!!

fatbillybob

At $40k that is Z06 territory all day long. So why not go with Z06 for same money and 505HP? Is that to get the A6 gearbox?