quick04Z06

If I wanted to buy a 2008 or 2009 Z06, and I wanted to maintain a solid, comfortable street car with occasional visits to the roadcourse, what basic mods do I need to make the car reliable? I am not worrying about being in a certain NASA class, or getting more HP, or even running much quicker than stock, etc.--just a good car for the street and for 6 or 7 HPDE track events each year.

To clarify, let me give a few key examples:

Do I need to do anything for cooling, or is the C6Z as-built sufficient?

I read a lot about the brakes not being track-worthy--what is the minimum I need to do so I can run a full HPDE weekend without worrying about the brakes--no bleeding at the track, no pad changes, no disc failures, no fade? Must I toss the stock brakes?

Seats and harnessess--again, what do I need to do to be reasonably comfortable and safe? Can I just put in a hardbar and a six point harness and leave it at that?

Do I need the large oil sump from Lingenfelter? Anything else that must be done to keep the engine alive and the tranny/diff alive?

Wheels and tires--can I get the computer reprogrammed to kill the wheel sensors altogether so I can switch tires with ease? Or, must I get a second set of wheels and tires with sensors. If the latter, what else do I need to buy to make the sensors reset quickly? I am looking to a second set of wheels because I do not want to run the runflats, not because I need the stickiest, quickest Hoosiers on the car.

I have never owned a C6Z--only C5Zs-- and I am thinking about moving up. I appreciate your thoughts.

exracer28

1, Engine oiling issues 1st, pan & tank modes ~$1K

2, Brakes, StopTech/Wilwood 6 on front, DBA rotors ,front cooling lines and ss brake lines ~$2k

3. Setup, get it scaled and set up right. In Atlanta I would skip the Corvette experts and go with Robinson Racing. They don't seem to spend as much time telling you how great they are, they just do the work that proves it. ~$500

4. Seat time with data - Run with all of the groups, BMW, PCA and others that are too many to list. Check on-line for track schedules. Some of the non club events appear very $$$. I use traqmate but there are other good systems. There is a lot of real data that will make anyone better. ~$1K

Tires etc can come later. Car has basic coolers and these can be upgraded if needed.

0Randy@DRM

Dual purpose cars are tricky to get perfect for both applications. Depending on your skill level now will greatly change the amount of prep needed on the car. If you have raced other cars you will need more things to get started. If you are just starting off, I will be the first guy to tell you, drink water, don't party all night and get to the track and be ready to learn.

With the speed that the C6z gives the brakes a hard work out. Fluid is the important, then pads and then rotors, then calipers themselves in that order. Race pads don't work on the street, and street pads fade away on the track. Learn to do brake work yourself.

Oiling system is directly related to how hard you are pushing. Get ready to spend some money to keep the engine alive. If you are just starting out on street tires don't worry about it too much.

Tires and wheels, keep the sensors. Reprogramers are super nice to own. Race tires need camber and lots of it.

Coolers are ok until you get really fast, or you run in high temps. Take a cool down lap in the middle of the 30 minutes if you need to.

Randy

michael404

keep it simple Ihave from mild to wild in our shop... sounds like you need a set of wheels and some KUMOS..... you will be amazed if you are going to really do 6 or 7 events a year youll want a harness bar for agood set of belts and to mount your camera... let the dealer change your oil always (IMHO) AND DONT TOUCH IT...Have a blast

gonzalezfj

DOT4 brake fluid is a MUST. Then track pads and maybe front cooling ducts. OEM calipers stop the car just fine, but you need to change pads for the track and back for the street.

If you buy a 2009 car it already has the large oil tank, so you don't need any oiling system changes

Get it aligned and corner weighed. Then go have fun.

Frank Gonzalez

Bill Dearborn

I have been doing just what you want to do. I currently have 10 track days on my Z that I purchased in August. So far I haven't seen any need to update the cooling system but I am running in NY and the last few weeks have been very cool. Oil temps were running right around 250 degrees in upper 50 degree ambient temps. There is a little oil consumption when running so I usually check and add a little about twice a day. Like the manual recommends I keep the oil level right at the top line on the dipstick. Depending on what track you run on you may get by perfectly well with the stock oil tank.

Brakes are the biggest problem as even stock brake parts are super expensive compared to the C5. I bought a set of the Cobalt Friction CSR (track/autocross pads)single piece pads from LG in August and have run them for 6 of the track days. Figure $700 for pads at all 4 wheels. The front pads probably have one/maybe two more days in them. The rear pads probably can go for another 4 or 5 days. These pads are not full out track pads but work well with a set of worn EMTs I am using on a second set of wheels that I purchased from a forum member the week after I bought the car. Under hard braking I will get some ABS action. I did notice that I could get a little more wear out of the pads if swap them from side to side every other day. Front and rear the outside pad tends to wear a little more than the inside pad. They don't seem to taper like the pads do in the stock C5 calipers.

Since I went to those pads I have gone through one set of rotors. They tend to crack differently than the C5 rotors. Each of the front rotors developed cracks between the holes but did not propogate them to the outside edge until the event before the last event. Then cracks developed from the outide holes to the edge of the rotor. The cracks are thin and seem to run outward along the rotor inner fin and across the fin as they propogate across the width of the rotor. The rear rotors tend to crack in a fashion similar to the C5 rotors with the cracks being between the fins. I never felt any of these cracks when on the track and they must have occurred during my last session that day since they were not there when I got into the car to go out for the session. On my C5Z I knew right away when a rotor cracked as there was a large amount of thumping that I could hear, feel in the seat of my pants and in the brake pedal.

A set of GM rotors from Gene Culley shipped to my house ran right at $380.

I use Wilwood 570 brake fluid and haven't had any issues with boiling the fluid.

With this setup when I was at Watkins Glen last week I was running a couple of seconds off the pace of the guys with the CCWs/Hoosier A6s and Stop Tech brakes. Not too bad. I was actually impressed at how well the EMTs did when pushed to the limit for half hour periods. On a very cold track they tended to be at their best after the third lap and after 4 to 5 really hot laps they tended to get a little greasy. To change wheels I bought a tool for $140 that reprograms the sensors.

I moved the Ultrashield race seats I had in my C5Z over to the new car so don't need to worry about how to fasten the lap and subbelts. However, I did purchase a Hardbar and its extensions from Gary. The problem with the Hardbar is it sits to high for the seats especially the driver's seat. I had to raise the seat on my Hardbar seat rails so the shoulder belts would go through the holes above the shoulders without hitting the top of the hole in the seat. This put the seat too high and I cannot get out of the car with my helmet or HANS on. I will probably be changing over to a different harness bar over the winter so I can drop the level of the shoulder belt mounts and get my seat bottom back down close to the floor. This became more of a concern for me after the PDA event two weekends ago when a Porsche caught fire and the driver had trouble getting out of the car. He just couldn't get the belts unfastened and free while I would have to worry about taking off the helmet and the HANS before I could get out of my car.

Bill

AZ FASTEST

The rub is the negative camber! I ran -1.8 in the front and -1.5 in the rear which I thought was mild until I corded the insides of a perfectly good set of four nearly new Goodyear street tires going back and forth to LA twice - about 1600 miles with my 'track alignment'. So beware.

0C5stein

A good alignment would also be a great idea.
If you are a novice or lower intermediate, cornerweighting the car is pretty much a waste of time. and for a couple track days each year, I'd stick with my stock seat too.

Keep it simple. When you are running and you feel your brakes starting to go away, take it easy for half a lap or so, you can still charge down the straights, but lift earilier and durring that time, focus on being smooth. Then when things cool a bit, pick it back up.

So many people forget to manage the assets that they have and wonder why they kill brakes and wear out parts prematurely.
Manage your assets!

AU N EGL

Your in Atlanta - sign up for the NASA SE final at Road Atlanta first weekend in Dec.

http://www.nasa-southeast.com/2009Dec04.jsp

mcar00

Like Frank said, change the brake fluid and remove a half quart of oil from the full mark.

Andy Freeman

Message for Bill Dearborn and Stein.

I fitted the new EBC Bluestuff NDX in my car over the weekend and did 300 miles twisty UK back roads and the brakes worked great from speeds over 100 mph and at 10 mph, there is no issue with using these new EBC Blue race pads on the street.

We also tested them at the UK Motor Industries Research Association on their decel machine and the braking from cold passed the European street brake safety test ECE R 90 which means they are at LEAST as good as a stock pad on the street.

Several racers have tested these so far and like them on the track, please review this page

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/automotive/...ng/index.shtml

They do make a bloody awful GROAN when bring right down from 100 to 30 mph about every third stop and I am working on that but for a racer that wont be an issue anyway. The pads themselves are great.

Anyone want a free test set conact me on Andy@ebcbrakes.com

Cheers guys

0C5stein

Hi Andy,
I sent you an email. I'll take you up on your offer and report back to you our findings. I'll run them on our C6Z with street tires.

mousecatcher

Nothing! The car is fantastic from the factory. Of course you want better brake fluid, but that's all you need. Even an '08 is fine with its oiling system, for the type of duty that it sounds like you will be putting the car through.

That depends entirely on your definition of 'reasonable'. There's no correct answer here.

no.

you don't have to, but i would. the convenience of the TPMS is fantastic IMHO. you can avoid this, however, by putting the sensors in pressurized pvc "containers" made from cut pipe sections.

There are any number of TPMS reset tools. Bartec seems to be a popular (and good) brand.