LeibosVette

With my last car I found my ongoing build thread to be a great tool over the years. Not only did it help me to remember all the stuff I did to my car, the forum members helped me with stuff on occasion and perhaps my errors helped a few others.

Therefore, I am starting a log/build thread for my relatively new Corvette.


I previously owned some other fun cars. Most recently a significantly modified Subaru STi: Link

I bought that car new in 2003 and slowly modified it over the years. By the time I was done, it was the best handling street car I had ever driven and was better on the track than most of the purpose built race cars I have driven.

I had been lurking on this forum for a long time, thanks to the great information available I was comfortable buying my first ever Corvette May 23rd of 2015.

My new to me 2011 Z06/Z07 had only 7100 miles on it when I purchased it.

It has the following from the factory:

57U cyber gray metallic paint
785 dark titanium interior
CFZ Z06 carbon fiber package
H35 black metallic headlamp color override
U3U navi
Z07 Z06 ultimate performance package
3LZ premium equip group

Running list of all modifications:

Power/drivetrain
MGW shifter
Mild-to-wild switch (not sure if this fits any category)
Blown LED indicator fuse to eliminate skip shift
ARH Headers and mid pipe, catted
WCCH heads valve job, etc
Comp cam, timing chain, injectors
Calloway Honker intake
Nick Williams 102 throttle body
Mamo ported/shaved MSD intake manifold
Hinson motor/trans mounts
Tuned by DRM

Handling/braking/weight loss
Elite Engineering 1/4 inch tunnel plate with heat shield
Purchased but not yet installed OEM cup wheels, deciding on tires

Interior
Lloyds mats
2012 steering wheel
CRP pedals
DDX9902S headhunt with front and rear cameras
Blendmount and mirror tap for Escort Max 360
Padded two tone center arm rest
Purchased but not yet installed - Sharkbar, lap and sub belt mounts, belts, rear speakers

Exterior
Mag charger for CTEK
Front and rear tow hooks

LeibosVette

I plan to keep this car comfortable on the street as I have a dedicated race car. It will see some time at the track for HPDE as it obviously has more potential than can be exploited on the streets.

First round of changes were all about comfort, updating, and feel.

So far I have installed:

MGW shifter

LeibosVette

At the same time as the shifter I installed a Kenwood 9902S with a front and rear camera and figured out how to use the stock USB port for the headhunt input. I also installed a Mag Charger to use with my CTEK.

LeibosVette

I installed CRP pedals as I can heel-toe better with them and today I put in a 2012 steering wheel.

LeibosVette

The car had a Mild to Wild installed already. I put the controller in the pocket of the driver's side door for easy access using some velcro to secure it. My first real mistake with this car was due to lack of understanding about interior color options.

I wanted to get a new cover for the center cubby and add a bit more padding. The first time I ordered one I got the wrong color due to being careless. The second time I got the wrong color as I did not know that there was a regular and a "dark" titanium. The third time I got it right. Unfortunately these are special order items and I don't think I can return the mistakes?

LeibosVette

I installed an Elite Engineering tunnel plate with heat shield. Did not bother to take installed pictures but you can really see the difference compared with stock in this side by side.

LeibosVette

Not shown is the new Escort Max 360 with blend mount and wire tap to mirror.

I have in my garage waiting to put into the car a harness bar, and since this will require exposing the rear speakers some upgraded speakers. I am really not much of an audiophile and usually listen to the car more than music but figured it was worth it for the times that I do take advantage of the new head unit. Harness system is from TeamTech. Shark bar and Vetteworks lab/sub belt bar are from Dan at Vetteworks.

Stereo stuff is all from Dennis at DoubleD.

These guys are just awesome to work with.

Next step will be to address reliability issues and add a bit of power in the process.

Over the next year I hope to add long tubes, not yet sure which. I plan to do the heads, mild cam, and it seems that a Tony Mamo MSD intake and throttle body is sort of the way to go now. I am deciding who should do the heads and suspect this set of mods will be done by DRM for me as they are close. I am pretty comfortable doing suspension work, brake work and some bolt on stuff but have never swapped the heads before. I bet I could do it but since they will need to tune anyway, I will just ask them.

I also suspect they will be able to help me with the handling improvements I am looking to start. It seems that there is a fair amount of lateral compliance in the rear suspension, I am just starting to research how to address that. Not sure how far I will go on the suspension as I want to make sure my wife will still want to ride with me in this car for fun trips around the area.

Any suggestions?

Pinski 1

I have the same interior as you and made the same mistake as you when ordering my cover..... Great looking car!!!!!

LeibosVette

Thanks, good to know I am not the only one that does stuff like that.

*El Ocho*

Nice looking ride. I've always loved Cyber Gray

LeibosVette

Thanks, I am really enjoying it.

Forgot about another minor issue I dealt with. I did not like the concept of the skip shift so I replaced the fuse with one of the LED indicator fuses that I had blown to eliminate that feature.

Something has happened since that I can not explain. It used to happen that since I replaced the fuse the light would come on the dash but the solenoid would obviously not work because I could still put the shifter into second. Now the light does not even come on anymore. I don't really care, but it seemed weird, anyone else have anything like that?

MTPZ06

Welcome to the club! You picked a very nice example of a C6Z to join the corvette community.

With respect to suspension...it appears you have Mag Ride. I may be mistaken, but I'm not sure there's much that can be done to affect/improve that setup unless you eliminate it and move to coilovers.

Edit: And you're fortunate to have such a great shop like DRM in your backyard.

LeibosVette

Thanks, I lurked here a long time to make sure I knew what I wanted before I purchased. This forum has been a great help already.

I had coilovers on the last car, won't do that again unless I decide to turn this into a real track car so I plan to keep the Mag Ride for now. I think that some different sway bars, end links, and some harder bushings will probably get me where I want to be for now. Yes, I have heard nothing but great reviews of DRM.

vader03

Great looking Z06. I was thinking about adding a new head unit for front & rear cameras. Could you provide any more details on cameras used and difficultly level of install. Thanks

Jake5670

Welcome to the site... glad you are enjoying your corvette and making custom mods to it so you can get what you want out of it.

LeibosVette

Thanks, great forum.

LeibosVette

Sure, I got everything from Dennis at DoubleD mods. That guy is awesome and customer service is superb. He is also available if you have any questions during installation.

I would say that the install of the cameras is pretty darn easy, the hardest part is just getting the wires to the back of the headunit. While a pain, it just takes some time and persistence.

Dennis sent me Pyle cameras they are easy to wire and the picture quality is good. He just recently sold me a replacement rear camera (a new Kenwood unit) that I have not yet swapped yet. The Pyle rear camera I have puts guidelines on the image, the front one has a reversed image (relative to the rear) without guidelines.

The DDX9902S headunit allows the user to select guidelines overlaid by the headunit that are adjustable or use none at all. I wanted a new camera for the rear that didn't overlay guidelines so I could use the adjustable ones on the Kenwood unit to get a more precise idea of where the car was relative to any obstacles. I will report back after I try the new rear camera. According to Dennis the image quality of the new one should be much better.

The front camera has saved my splitter from damage by obstacles in parking lots more than once already and therefore has more than paid for itself many times over.

Happy to give more details as needed.

Down2BDirty

As I mentioned in PM... Really looking forward to how this thread develops!

SLOWRYDE

Great build along. I appreciate your efforts in sharing it here. Cyber Gray is one of my all time favorite colors in a Corvette. Enjoy the beast!

LeibosVette

Beautiful car. My twin.