2008 LS3 A6 Triple Black Vert
07-17-2012, 03:52 PM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
2008 LS3 A6 Triple Black Vert
It’s a long story, but the short version goes something like this:
During the latter part of 2011, my health had started to fail and so I began composing my bucket-list. It was short: either get a new corvette or modify the one with all of the components I had always wanted. The following situation helped me with that decision.
Back in November of 2011, while driving on I-H35, I was involved in something that no one on this forum would want to have to endure. I was in the far right –hand lane when an 18-wheeler started to enter the freeway from my right. Traffic was heavy and as those guys often do, he sped up to squeeze into a space immediately in front of the pick-up (which was pulling a trailer) in front of me. The semi’s left rear wheels rolled over what appeared to be a pile of concrete that had been jack-hammered up earlier in the day and piled up and left to be picked up. The truck in front of me saw what was happening and swerved left to avoid the 18-wheeler and the debris it had thrown up causing his right rear wheels of the trailer to run over the same pile. This caused the cars to my left to slow down, leaving me nowhere to go but to drive through the equivalent of a hailstorm of concrete with some of the chunks being the size of a softball.
Now I would not be able to get what I needed in trade-in without body work, so I opted to use the insurance money to help me start the project of remodeling my baby, a 2008 LS3 A6 Triple Black Convertable. The first call was to Donny Barker at Jeff’s Auto Body Repair here in Austin. They did a superb job of installing the 2011 Grand Sport body kit and repainting the car in its original color (black). Donny managed to fit some ZR1 chrome rims as well as 19” pilots on the front and 20” on the rear into my budget.
As far as my engine modifications go, my car has been in two shops. The first I will not name. The second has been a collaboration of Jason Carter (1BADZR1, research & design through his shop: Aspire Performance Tuning) and Brian Reckert (installation and tuning at his shop: Reckert Performance Tuning (Brian is a contributing forum vendor). My car is built around the E-force 1591 supercharger. Due to the addition of a 3” pulley, custom grind blower cam, AR long tube headers with high flow cats, and ported and polished heads, it needed a Kenne Bell Boosta-pump and Fast 65 lb. injectors. The lifters, valve springs, push rods, rocker and trunions have all been upgraded. All of the smaller details such as NGK TR6 plugs, MSD wires, 160* have been attended to. ZO6 brakes were added as well. Brian deserves all of the credit for my car running the way it does (and even running at all for that matter). Time and space do not allow for me to describe how many ways my car was set up to fail and all of the things he did. Right now, people actually have complained that my car is too quiet with the NPPs closed (I had BB Bullets on it, but I took them off because there was too much air screaming through them and it sounded more like a Boeing 747 taking off than a Corvette). It rides and drives smoother than it did before we started and has gotten 19.1 mpg since we finished. Due to the tuning of my A6, the transmission shifts more smoothly and on time than it did before. So far, the temps have stayed below 212*F for coolant and tranny, and 240*F for the oil. And that is on days where the outside temps have gone over 100*F, driving the car for an hour on the freeway at 70 mph and then pulling off and sitting in traffic for 10-15 min. But, do not be deceived. Give it a half throttle and you had better make sure you have it pointed where you want it to go and have a good grip on the steering wheel. The low end torque people talk about with these blowers is REAL! Heck this car is fun even when not in boost. And Brian said there was more in it but was tuned down for safety of the engine and transmission.
My blower does not look this sloppy, just my attempt at photo shopping the name of the first shop out:
Brian even installed the leather wrapped interior from Apsis. Again, time and space do not allow for me to do justice to the quality of work and customer service provided by Mr. Jersey Wu.
In closing let me say that I am fully aware of the things that can go wrong when you start modifying your car. I am also aware that there are some very fast and beautiful cars on this forum. We are not completely through but mine has turned out just the way I wanted it, to this point. If you have any questions about the car or the vendors mentioned, their products and/or their workmanship, please feel free to ask. Lastly and most importantly, I have made some very good friends with some very fine people throughout this process that I never would have met had I not done it this way. For that I am most thankful.
Thanks for looking. Coach
During the latter part of 2011, my health had started to fail and so I began composing my bucket-list. It was short: either get a new corvette or modify the one with all of the components I had always wanted. The following situation helped me with that decision.
Back in November of 2011, while driving on I-H35, I was involved in something that no one on this forum would want to have to endure. I was in the far right –hand lane when an 18-wheeler started to enter the freeway from my right. Traffic was heavy and as those guys often do, he sped up to squeeze into a space immediately in front of the pick-up (which was pulling a trailer) in front of me. The semi’s left rear wheels rolled over what appeared to be a pile of concrete that had been jack-hammered up earlier in the day and piled up and left to be picked up. The truck in front of me saw what was happening and swerved left to avoid the 18-wheeler and the debris it had thrown up causing his right rear wheels of the trailer to run over the same pile. This caused the cars to my left to slow down, leaving me nowhere to go but to drive through the equivalent of a hailstorm of concrete with some of the chunks being the size of a softball.
Now I would not be able to get what I needed in trade-in without body work, so I opted to use the insurance money to help me start the project of remodeling my baby, a 2008 LS3 A6 Triple Black Convertable. The first call was to Donny Barker at Jeff’s Auto Body Repair here in Austin. They did a superb job of installing the 2011 Grand Sport body kit and repainting the car in its original color (black). Donny managed to fit some ZR1 chrome rims as well as 19” pilots on the front and 20” on the rear into my budget.
As far as my engine modifications go, my car has been in two shops. The first I will not name. The second has been a collaboration of Jason Carter (1BADZR1, research & design through his shop: Aspire Performance Tuning) and Brian Reckert (installation and tuning at his shop: Reckert Performance Tuning (Brian is a contributing forum vendor). My car is built around the E-force 1591 supercharger. Due to the addition of a 3” pulley, custom grind blower cam, AR long tube headers with high flow cats, and ported and polished heads, it needed a Kenne Bell Boosta-pump and Fast 65 lb. injectors. The lifters, valve springs, push rods, rocker and trunions have all been upgraded. All of the smaller details such as NGK TR6 plugs, MSD wires, 160* have been attended to. ZO6 brakes were added as well. Brian deserves all of the credit for my car running the way it does (and even running at all for that matter). Time and space do not allow for me to describe how many ways my car was set up to fail and all of the things he did. Right now, people actually have complained that my car is too quiet with the NPPs closed (I had BB Bullets on it, but I took them off because there was too much air screaming through them and it sounded more like a Boeing 747 taking off than a Corvette). It rides and drives smoother than it did before we started and has gotten 19.1 mpg since we finished. Due to the tuning of my A6, the transmission shifts more smoothly and on time than it did before. So far, the temps have stayed below 212*F for coolant and tranny, and 240*F for the oil. And that is on days where the outside temps have gone over 100*F, driving the car for an hour on the freeway at 70 mph and then pulling off and sitting in traffic for 10-15 min. But, do not be deceived. Give it a half throttle and you had better make sure you have it pointed where you want it to go and have a good grip on the steering wheel. The low end torque people talk about with these blowers is REAL! Heck this car is fun even when not in boost. And Brian said there was more in it but was tuned down for safety of the engine and transmission.
My blower does not look this sloppy, just my attempt at photo shopping the name of the first shop out:
Brian even installed the leather wrapped interior from Apsis. Again, time and space do not allow for me to do justice to the quality of work and customer service provided by Mr. Jersey Wu.
In closing let me say that I am fully aware of the things that can go wrong when you start modifying your car. I am also aware that there are some very fast and beautiful cars on this forum. We are not completely through but mine has turned out just the way I wanted it, to this point. If you have any questions about the car or the vendors mentioned, their products and/or their workmanship, please feel free to ask. Lastly and most importantly, I have made some very good friends with some very fine people throughout this process that I never would have met had I not done it this way. For that I am most thankful.
Thanks for looking. Coach
07-17-2012, 04:37 PM
#3
Team Owner
Member Since: Jun 2005
Location: Northern, VA
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St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
car really looks good 
07-17-2012, 04:45 PM
#4
Team Owner
Member Since: Aug 2006
Posts: 22,985
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C6 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
Glad you found someone with the knowledge to fix it the way you wanted.
Great looking Vette and I bet it is a blast to drive.
Great looking Vette and I bet it is a blast to drive.
07-17-2012, 09:13 PM
#17
Racer
Thread Starter
Pics of the damage
Boraxman: no I do not have any picture of the damage.
There were a lot of scratches, similar to getting your car keyed by a several people at the same time. Busted windshield.
The car has never been wrecked. No damage to anything other than the body panels. First time it had ever been in the shop for anything other than routine maintenance.
I plan to install a ZR1 spoiler, move the battery to the rear and install another tank for coolant in the engine bay, and change all the fluids (rear end, tranny, steering, and oil) and posibly put it up for sale soon if you know of anyone who might be interested
There were a lot of scratches, similar to getting your car keyed by a several people at the same time. Busted windshield.
The car has never been wrecked. No damage to anything other than the body panels. First time it had ever been in the shop for anything other than routine maintenance.I plan to install a ZR1 spoiler, move the battery to the rear and install another tank for coolant in the engine bay, and change all the fluids (rear end, tranny, steering, and oil) and posibly put it up for sale soon if you know of anyone who might be interested
