I have been remodeling my house for the last three months and when we started using the garage as storage for furniture I had no room for the steel blue and the GS. I moved the GS to my brother's place and moved the Steel blue to the shop for the 6 speed swap!

My car has been in the shop for a little over 2 months between waiting for parts, custom fabrication, and other issues.

Finally, I drove the car for the first time on Saturday with the 6 speed. I am running a MCloed dual twin with Aluminum flywheel, I also added a B&M ripper shifter with MOMO ****.

Along with the 6 speed swap I also added:
1. Accel DFI wide band O2 controller with 2 1/16" gauge to mount on the A pillar.
2. Deleted the A/C and stock tensioner.
3. Canton Road race pan.
4. Custom catch can for the engine oil.

I wasn't in a big hurry because my house is still being worked on and I have no room here for the car but I waited over 1 month for the clutch from Mcloed and almost 1 month for the oil pan from Canton!!! Good thing I didn't need it done fast.
I am just glad the tranny is in and I am able to drive it again. Right now the only thing we are waiting for is the Wide band gauge from Accel.

However, I was able to hook up the lap top and read the actual A:F ratio off my computer while driving. It seems to me the car needs to be tuned as the DFI is trying to constantly trying to correct the settings to hit my target A:F ratio. Even with 25% max. correction, I am still off on my A:F ratio by quite a bit!

Even though the A:F was off it never went anywhere dangerously rich or lean. The car runs very rich as matter of fact. under short WOT runs I saw the A:F reading at 10.6:1. under cruising I saw anywhere near 11.5 to 13.8:1.

Now back to the 6 speed! The car is so much more fun to drive and the ripper shifter makes the car seem indestructible. I do feel like the car needs more gears. Right now I am running 3.73s but with my 236/248 377CID and blower I think I should step up to at least 4.10s. The car feels fast even though we went back to a bigger pulley to reduce boost. I still saw 8 to 9 psi of boost when the use of methanol. With 305 Nitto DRs the tires are no match in first three gears with anything over 3/4 throttle. I went on the freeway and down shifted from 5th to 3rd and it got sideways and I couldn't believe how hard the street twins grabbed, it felt my rear end was going to come apart.

The trickest part of this deal is not the swap but the removal of the stock A/C and belt tension. My mechanic fabbed up his own pulley and tenisoner, it is really the sweetest part of the whole deal. I left the shop with a very big smile and can't wait until I get her back home where she belongs.

I will post pics tomorrow.

Paul

 

I cant wait to see pics of that bad boy!

 

Can't wait to see picts.... going to do an in-car video for us again?

 

Zelement,

Glad you back on the road... I'll be back on the road in another week or so, I tore mine down to put a 8 rib pulley setup ( by Greg at Blowerwoks) on mine... Along with some other just "cleaning up" and new roller timing gear / chain, new stainless hoses etc.

I had considered a 6 speed ( they priced out about the same) when I took second out on my auto back in february... I had it rebuilt by select in Babylon NY... They did an awesome job, my thought was with LA traffic jams I didn't want to spend my life shifting :P

Look forward to your pictures as well....

Mo

 

Nice job. You may want to avoid slicks with the dual disc... they are known to break parts The McCloud dual disc is a silky smooth clutch with incredible clamping power, and zero slippage. Sounds like a fun car to drive though.

 

holy macaroni, zelement, sounds like you have a super-beast congratulations, enjoy the extra fun factor (6 sp)!

 

I would love to....but I don't think I can hold the camera with my right hand this time around

 

Yeah if you plan on driving in LA traffic everyday I would stay with auto too.
How's the 8 rib working out?

TPI,

I'm not going to drag the car anymore. I think I'm pretty much through with that, the car is really not setup to do that anymore. I will take it to the track just to get some MPH though!

 

Paul, dude... that sounds insane!!!!!!!

Gear??? you need to go down. Going up to 4:10s is only gonna make it worse. 3.45s might be a viable option.

The car already has a D44, right?

 

Yeah the car is got D44 with carbon fiber half shafts.

I guess I am used to the low 1st gear on the 700Rs and 3000 stall. I was expecting to roast the tires in first with only 1/2 throttle. The big cam really shines above 3500rpm and I just want to keep it above that at all times.

 

It just gets better and better
Waiting for pics

 

Did you use a new ZF6? I'm curious if you get a lot of tranny noise from about 1600-2200 rpm, depending on engine load? My used ZF6 was supposed to have about 64k on it, but makes quite a racket in the range I mentioned with the Aluminum flywheel McLeod setup I put in over the winter. Congrats on the swap. Did you did you do the swap yourself?

 

ninetyfivevette - your noise has nothing to do with wear - it has everything to do with the nature of the transmission.

the super light flywheels are too light to effectively absorb the vibrations fed into the transmission that create noises inside the tranny.

you see, the ZF6 is a strange box, the way the main shafts lay in there create rattle between the gears.

the DM flywheel is designed to be heavy enough to absorb various sources of vibrations, either from the engine or the transmission that reverberate inside the transmission as those noises.

the super light flywheels also drone like hell.

did you match balance the flywheel to the flexplate? I think that has to be done... but I am not 100% sure.

 

bogus-

I did not match balance the flywheel to the flex plate. I was assured by Merle at Exotic Muscle that the weights installed by McLeod would be sufficient. I don't have any driveline vibrations at any RPM, so I tend to agree. I more or less am just looking for a sanity check.

 

'Been a while since we'd heard from you Paul. I'm glad you're back in action and you're a "shifter" now

I'd think with your blower and larger engine, you wouldn't need a higher numeric ratio gear. I could be wrong.

I am shopping for a Z06 in case you didn't know. 2002-2003, torch red mod red or black interior. I need another 'vette! buggin' without one.

Good to hear from you.

 

My car is so loud as it is. I really couldn't tell but I do notice everytime I down shift to slow down there is a siren sounding noise. I thought I was getting pulled over the first time I heard it. :o

No. I didn't do the swap myself.

Jay, what's going on with the S4? Are you selling it? I thought there was something wrong with you when you sold the Vette for a Euro 4 door sedan. I appreciate the luxury but would never give up the vette for it though. I actually just bought a 06 BMW 530I as a daily driver, great car but its no vette. Yeah Z06 is a great car stock and I'm sure with you it probably won't stay stock for long.

I stopped by the shop to take a few pictures but I forgot my camera so I took two pictures with my phone. Does anyone know how to load phone pics on the computer?

Paul

 

Here are some pics.

There was no lift available today so I couldn't get any under car pics.

I will post the under carriage pics another day.


Here is the custom A/C delete my mechanic made. Notice the trick belt tensioner setup.


Another pic:

 

Nice pics Z....

I'll be posting mine once I get my 8 rib back on the car...

Mo

 

Congrats Paul!!! That looks real nice. Paul still has the best looking C4 on the planet as far as I'm coincerned!!!

 

You have BOTH a flywheel AND a flexplate on your car??

I'm so confused.....


Larry
code5coupe