Any recent interior pictures?

 

 

Trust me when I say this. Get rid of the dash assembly. Takes up weight and more importantly, room.

 

The gauge panel on the right is temporary - will get moved over to driver side in some fashion. Plan is to ditch all the factory dash including the digital dash and make a custom. There is very little left of it as it stands now. Before the cage is done the old dash will go.

 

Ouch!

I bought my '94 for $4k (in a smallish beach town and he was asking $4500) and all it really needed was tires and rear dampers. With new tires at $650, rear Bilstein shocks at $160 and a bunch of preventative maintenance (drive belt, fluids, O2 sensors, clutch hydraulics) it comes to $5080 for an LT1, 6-speed, Z07. I will need to replace the clutch eventually, but I found a new Luk set on Craigslist for $125.

 

Racing isnt cheap. Especially when somebody stuffs your car into a wall.

 

No it is not. Been there, done that. That's me in my '66 Dart at Portland International Raceway around Y2K. $6k into a car that has yet to go racing, doesn't have a cage, seat, harness, fire system, transponder, oil cooler, etc is doing it the hard way. I'm really wondering where the money went.

 

It's all in here: the car (rust free chassis), title transfer, gas to fetch the car, license plates, new battery, alternator, water pump pulley, fuel pressure regulator, new fuel injectors, dismount/mount tires, gaskets for engine, plug wires, brake pads, O2 sensor, engine coolant temperature sensor, mass air flow sensor, 6 engine valves, engine rings, radiator hoses, transmission filter, exhaust manifold studs, degreaser, thermostat, oil pump pickups (2), new power steering lines, convert rubber fuel line at to braided steel hose with fittings, new oil pump, gauges: AFR, oil temp (2) and oil pressure, water temp, custom windage tray hardware and metal, braided stainless steel brake hoses, wiring pigtails for <distributor tach, speed sensor and torque converter lockup>, two extra sets of wheels, all new fluids <trans, engine, power steering, radiator, brake fluid>, all new vacuum lines, spare running engine (including a valve, gaskets and bearings to get it running), other engine parts basically a short block, extra TPI setup, header heat wrap, brake booster, master cylinder, air pump bypass pulley kit, serpentine belt, spare exhaust manifolds, headlight bezel, missing front subframe bracket, fiberglass top and correct brackets, 3rd brake light bulbs and flasher unit, wiper arms and blades, new front calipers, spare rear calipers and rebuild kits, hood pin kit, replacement rocker panel, also we broke a window so spent $25 on replacement, spare distributor, spare injector rail spare intake manifold base, used power steering cooler and brackets, fuel sending unit, track day for preliminary shakedown.

The only services we paid for so far were a tire dismount/mount and one valve seat regrind on the backup engine.Before I bought this car I did a lot of searching. It is typically cheaper to buy an already built race car and modify it and that is what we did with the Saturn. Found some fine race cars at $20k basically a C4 I could just buy and drive. None close by so figure more $ to see it, and deliver it, plus minor costs to meet league rules, and cost of spares. Other racing Vettes I have found are heavily modified and won't meet the rules of ChampCar without a lot of retrofitting back to stock. I just did not find anything that lined up. I'm still open to a complete car that is already done for a reasonable price. I'm not seeing them.

Also its entirely possible I could have found a better starter car. I paid my money and took my chances. $1500 for a clean chassis with all the drivetrain seemed like a good kick off point.

 

Should have just bought mine and finished the cage.

 

Kubs doesnt work like that for those of us building/planning Champcar Endurance series cars anyway. Your car would to be unbuilt and stock components replaced. There have been multiple race cars come up for sale (yours incl) but we have rules we have to follow.

edit: only L98’s allowed in for now too.

 

I know. I work with Mostmint. He thought about buying mine for a short time but like you said it would take too many steps back to make it Champ legal.

 

Which is why Champ sucks

 

Since last update:

• Acquired Z51 sway bars and rear spring
  
• Acquired stock L98 bottom end. Flood car so block probably no good but valvetrain I can use for backup engine as well as oil pan, harmonic balancer
  
• Acquired a spare hood for $40 – it had been damaged as the hood latch was stuck on passenger side – this I will use for aero testing (where to put holes in the hood)
  
• Acquired an aluminum radiator – Holly Frostbite
  
• Installed a flasher for the third brake light
  

• Installed new Autometer AFR gauge. Test drive shows AFR is not actually pegging lean after all it seems the Innovate Motorsport gauge was having problems
  
• Took the buffer to the car it looks much better – did sand the clear off in a few places as it was cracking and peeling
  
• Learned a lot about Corvette roll cage design. Working on a proposal to submit to ChampCar
  
• Debugged our Summit oil gauge. The sensor was faulty and they warrantied it. The mechanical gauge shows 60 psi cold so I feel much better about the backup engine in the car now
  
• Trimmed more excess fiberglass from the interior of the doors
  
• Installed the racing seat with a solid mockup using seat slider
  
• Acquired a parts car
  
  
  
  $40 investment in a spare hood to use for aero development
  
  
  My old man putting some shine on the car
  
  Sanding the clear off the top of front bumper cover due to cracking and peeling. Yes some of the red came with it
  
  This will never be a show car but it is nice to have a little shine in the paint
  
  
  
  Yes the parts car has 15" Jaguar wheels on it. Hoping with a fuel system purge and a battery that it will start. Just acquired it yesterday - unmolested L98 with auto
  
  

 

nice job!i can see the increase in wheel gap from the decrease in weight

i was thinking going to have to lower the cars quite a bit to compensate.

i was also thinking maybe the softer spring rates would work with a materially reduced weight?

 

Not sure about spring rates. Have not installed the Z51 suspension parts yet, but I am concerned even they will not be firm enough. Won't know until we get them installed and some track time.

 

Parts car:

Cleaned the gas tank, replaced the fuel pump, changed the oil a couple times to get the radiator fluid out. The car now runs – leaving radiator cap off so as not to build pressure and force more water into the oil. No metal in the filter. I assume the intake gasket is bad and will replace as time allows. Operating temps of the cylinders are different I suspect injectors. Those Jaguar wheels hit the rear calipers and can’t be used for regular driving without spacers, but are in use to lot drive/store the car with some washers. This car was extremely dirty and so I washed it a couple times and cleaned the trash out of the interior. I believe this car was hit in the back and has rear window, bumper cover and exhaust from a newer C4.

Race car:

Submitted a proposal for roll cage design to ChampCar it has been approved. I did a lot of research to get this done. The C4 does not have a lot of space for a taller driver and the roll cage as the roof is quite narrow and slopes downward toward the back of the car. In addition the main hoop then can’t make it to the floor. Maybe I'll do a full write up on this once it is done.

Silence for four months. So many reasons!

Troubleshoot fuel pressure problem – hello the fuel pump still had a little ground when the ground wire to passenger B pillar was disconnected which made it much bigger problem to detect.

The aftermarket oil gauge was failing – obtained and replaced the sensor so it is back on line.

Installed and fitted a prototype aluminum race seat into the car with full range of slider motion. This one was cheap so I’m drilling and cutting til location and design suits, then will redo once with a better seat.

Work has started on getting the roll cage installed. I have a main hoop fabricated, and several cage mounting plates fabricated and installed. Cut the floor in several places to mount the cage base plates. To maximize height, welding the top bars to the main hoop will be done through access holes in the B pillar. Removed the exterior body panel to accommodate this activity.

Parts car cleaned, running and in storage

So stupid, disconnected fuel pump ground yet pump still has a little bit of ground.

This is fun. Mechanical gauge shows 65 PSI cold - engine running a few seconds

Replacement electric gauge now shows 40 PSI cold. That's a 25 PSI differential with the mechanical, still trying to figure out which is right.

 

Update:

· Roll cage:

o Roll cage about 2/3 done: Base plates are fabricated and welded in. Main hoop, main hoop cross brace, front legs running from near A pillar base up to main hoop, halo hoop, back supports for main hoop are fabricated and welded in

o Fabricated the car to fit the cage also about 2/3 done: Removed rear hatch, fabricated new attaching hardware to allow install with main hoop in place. Temporarily removed fiberglass panel covering the B pillars and top of factory main hoop – trim this panel to accommodate roll cage bars. Cut access holes in the main hoop to allow proper weld of roll cage bars, and subsequently welded them back into place

o Other details: Painted the bars in the sections that will be hard to access once installed. Much time spent cleaning metal to prep for welding, and cleaning up metal from cutting and grinding. Remove trim from targa top and A pillar

o To do: Door bars, dash bar, seat belt bar, extra top bar need fabricated and installed. Fabricate method to attach targa top to the roll cage since stock brackets removed to fit roll cage. Fabricate covers to close up the holes in the fiberglass where roll cage is now attached to the frame

· Electrical – addressing minor issues

o Replace low coolant sensor, though light seems to be coming on intermittently

o Fix fuel gauge sending unit

o Troubleshoot factory engine temp gauge. It was jumping around. Root cause has to be ground in the wire, since the sending unit was removed in 2019

o Move aftermarket temp gauge sending unit into intake manifold directly next to factory ECTS for ECU – keep wires from hot exhaust, better read on coolant temp that ECU is reading. Engine fan kicks on automatically at 218

o Removed 8 non essential fuses from the fuse box, eliminate wires associated with those circuits – most were just pigtails left over from prior wiring cleanup

· Other

o Install factory power steering cooler

o Measure for and obtain engine and transmission oil coolers

o Obtain a stack of spare body panels and misc from an 86 Corvette

 

Awesome work on the build! What sort of panels are you looking for specifically? And will 84 work for ya?

 

Good job on the updates. Building race cars = a lot of work.

Can you explain in a little more detail how you removed the cover for the OEM roll HOOP.

Thanks
CB

 

Thanks. As of now I think I have a spare of every panel except the rear quarter panels. At some point in the future I expect I'll need more but for now I have all the others.

Thanks. Yes I'll share what I learned. It might not help though depending on your plans. I looked online I was not able to locate specific instructions so I had to wing it. I think there is a repair book that explains how the body shops would do it but I was not able to locate it.

Since I was not concerned about putting it back like it never happened, I took a Sawzall to the gap between the bottom of the B pillar cover and the fender.

It appears the fender has a tab sticking up and the cover is bonded to it during assembly. I also inadvertently cut a bit of metal towards the back because I did not understand it was there.





Of course the targa top and rear window have to come out, as does the targa top seal. There are screws holding the seal in place so that seal would be hard to save in this process.

After that I gently pulled up on the bottom of the cover and rocked it to break it free of the glue they used from the factory – presumably to reduce rattling/vibration. They used a fair amount of it – particularly around the bolt holes where the rear hatch hinges are attached. I did all of it at room temp, not sure if cold or heat would have helped reduce adhesion to made it easier to disassemble.