EGash

Last October I purchased a 1999 FRC Corvette that had been mostly equipped to look like a C5Z, including a nice C5Z Mod Red Interior.

Here's the car the day I bought it:



I quickly added some cool black C7Z wheels with MT tires, C5Z brake ducts and fixed a few maintenance items and drove it for a month and enjoyed it.



I even made a few passes at the track, where I managed to run a string of 13.0's on an original 120K mile stock clutch.




After finding a great deal on a 4L80E/ZR1 Diff Drivetrain, and being inspired by this thread: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...t-with-ac.html

I decided to make a street/strip project out of this car over the winter. So I made a project plan, made a budget, ordered all the parts and proceeded with the build with the hope to have it ready to race this spring, roughly 4 months.

Here's a list of the parts included in the build:

Engine
LM7 5.3 Block
Wiseco 3.8” Boost Pistons
Manley Pro HD I-Beam Rods
Manley 3.622 Crank
BTR Stg III Turbo Cam
BTR Ti Retainers
BTR Dual Valve Springs
BTR Pushrods
LS7 Lifters
Melling HP HV Oil Pump
IWIS Timing Chain
ICT Valley Cover
SFI 25% UD Balancer
Manley Stainless Intake Valves
Manley Stainless Exhaust Valves
799 Heads
LS9 Headgaskets
ARP 2000 Head Studs
ARP Main Cap Studs
ARP Cam Bolts
LS2 C6 Oil Pan
Stock Rocker Arms with Trunion Bearing upgrade
Dorman 615-901 LS2 Intake
LS2 Throttle
ARP Intake Bolts
Billet EGR Intake Plug
Short-Block Machine & Assembly by Estes Machine, Nicholasville KY
Heads Cleaned, Milled, Assembled by Back’s Cyl Head, Lexington KY
Motion Race Works Engine Diaper
Long-Block Assembled by Me

Turbo Kit
CX Racing C6 Hot Parts Kit
VSR 88mm Billet 96x88 1.32 T6 Turbo
PTE 46mm Wastegates (2)
Tial 50mm Blow Off Valve
Treadstone TR1260 Intercooler
CX Racing 4” and 3” Aluminum Piping
Compressor and Turbine Flanges from LJMS
T4 to T6 Turbo Adapter flange
T6 Turbo Blanket
Heat Wrap
T6 Feed and Return Fittings
4AN Feed / 10AN Return Line
5”x10” Air Filter
3” & 4” T-Bolt Clamps
Drivetrain
Rossler 4L80E w/ Trans Brake
Precision Industries Triple Disk Convertor
RPM Trans Built Torque Tube
RPM Billet Splined Input Shaft Coupler
C6 ZR1 Differential
Driveshaft Shop Axles
ECS Transmission/Rear Diff Brace
C5 Auto Shifter & Auto Brake Pedal Swap
Dual Hayden Trans Coolers w/ 9” Fans

Fuel System
Walbro 485 In Tank Pump
ECS Fuel Ring for E85 (8AN/10AN)
Magnafuel 750 EFI Pump
Magnafuel Pre & Post Pump Filters
Magnafuel Regulator
Billet Fuel Rails
Fragola 10AN and 8AN Lines and Fittings
Deka 212Lb/Hr Injectors

Cooling System
Northern 26”x16” Radiator
16” SPAL Fan
Custom Radiator Mounts
Motion Race Works 4AN Steam Vent Kit
LS2 Waterpump
CX Racing Aluminum and Silicon Piping

Electronics
Haltech Elite 2500
Haltech WCB1 Wideband
Haltech Boost Control Solenoid
Haltech 4 BAR Motorsports MAP sensor
Haltech 150psi Pressure Sensor (x2: Coolant Pressure, Exhaust Back Pressure)
Haltech 250psi Pressure Sensor (x2: Trans Pressure, Convertor Pressure)
Haltech I/O Expander Box A
Haltech CAN Hub
Haltech 12 POS Rotary Trim Module (x2: Boost Control, Power Management/Trac Control)
Haltech Flex Fuel Sensor
Haltech High Output IGN1 Coils & Chevy V8 Harness
ICT Billet Coil Brackets
MSD 8.5mm Plug wires
NOS Solid State Relay (Trans Brake)
Billet Inc “Trans Brake” Button
Custom Wiring Harness (built by Me)

Brakes
Drilled /Slotted Rotors & Semi-Metallic Pads (Front)
Strange 4 Piston Calipers (Rear)
Strange Slotted Rotors (Rear)
Stainless Steel Brake Lines

Suspension
AFCO Rear Coilover Spring Kit
Menscer / AFCO Double Adj. Rear Shocks
ECS 15” Drag Spindles
C6 Rear Cradle
PFADT Rear Drag Sway Bar

Wheels & Tires
RC Comp 15x10 2-piece Double Bead Lock Polished/Black Wheels
RC Comp 17x4 2-piece Hammer-S Polished/Black Front Wheels
Mickey Thompson ET Front tires
Mickey Thompson 275/60-15 ET Street R Rear Tires
Buck Performance Billet Lug Nuts

A LOT of people helped me out with this build and a I need to mention a few of those:

Kyle @ BTR
Jared (formerly) @ BTR
Robbie @ Magnafuel
Jessie @ Jessies Garage
Rick @ RC Comp
Brint @ Fragola
James @ ShorTuning
Tommy @ Mickey Thompson Tires
Doug @ East Coast Supercharging
Doug @ Motion Race Works
Buck @ Buck Performance

And most of all my best bro 'Elic' Blackburn for helping me in the garage along the way.

And here is the build in pictures:





















































































































































































































































After a short period of street driving/tuning, we bolted it to the Mainline Pro Hub Dyno at Haltech USA.

With the torque convertor unlocked, it put down the following:

720hp at 16psi E60 Pump
790hp at 20psi E60 Pump
860hp at 23psi E60 Pump
880hp at 23psi VP C85
908hp at 26psi VP C85
918hp at 29psi VP C85

We tried one run at 29psi but it only picked up 10HP to 918hp, so I think this VSR 88mm turbo may just be out of steam there. I turned it back down to 25-26psi as it seemed happiest there.

We also tried one pull with the convertor locked at 16psi early on during the tuning session and power jumped from 695hp to 750hp with the convertor locked, but the car/dyno/turbo were much happier doing pulls with the convertor unlocked, so we left it unlocked for the reminder of the tuning session.








(Ignore the Torque number as it's inflated by a could hundred Ft/lb because of the unlocked convertor and the fact that I didn't have a tacho pickup installed to provide an accurate RPM signal)


After the Dyno Session, I took it to the local 1/4 track the next day to make some shake down passes. It was opening day at the track so there wasn't much rubber to work with on the starting line, and I also had Trans Brake tuning issues (which I later figured out) and transmission shift speed issues, which took a couple passes to figure out, so I wasn't able to make any impressive passes due to poor 60's times and banging it off the revlimiter between shifts and traction control. Nevertheless in its first outting it did go:

9.89 @ ~150 1st pass off the trailer 1.67 60' Lifted twice for it to shift
9.85 @ ~151 1.87 60' (121mph in the 1/8!)
9.90 @ 151.5 1.85 60'

There were also a couple total throw away passes in there where it spun. The MPH is promising, if I can get it to go mid/high 1.3 60's like it should.



UPDATED TIMES HERE: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1596813222

I Tore it apart Oct 27th 2017 and fired up the new Combo Jan 27th 2018. First Test Drive was Feb 25th, (and I even spent 2 of those weeks in Feb on a business trip/vacation out of the country) Dyno was on 3/1-3/2 and it hit the track on 3/3, so I'd say so I made my 4 month goal more or less. Overall I'm very happy with the build and can't wait to put down some quicker ET's.

silver408z

Looks like a pretty awesome build. Its moving nice now and going to be really fast once you get it sorted out.

chris308

Impressive setup!

MRc5z

C5 Pete

Very cool build.

Seems that 88 should make more steam.

Regardless, have fun with it. You’ve got a good crew in your camp.

C5 Pete

What is the compression ratio?

TastyBacon

Another C5 with the CXRacing "C6" kit making great power. Nice work. Looks like you're just running a 90-degree dump pipe post-turbine; did you keep A/C?

EGash

Thanks. I hope so.

Thanks. It's not a big budget build, but I made the most of my budget.

Thanks. I had the shortblock machining and assembly done by a proficient local machine shop, same with the heads. I had help from a few friends who came by when I need help with the big parts (i.e. dropping the motor in and installing the trans/rear, but yes, basically we did it all on the floor in my garage.

Thanks. I would have thought so too. The convertor was showing more slip on the dyno as boost increased, and showed significantly more from 26psi to 29psi. I'm sure if I had a clean pull on the dyno with the convertor locked it would have shown a lote more power.

~ 10:1

Yes, the headers actually fit quite well and only required a little grinding on one of the mounting lugs on my alternator. As for the downpipe, I just built a simple 4" turndown for now. I deleted the AC when I moved the radiator forward to make more room, though I could potentially either add the AC back in with a custom sized condenser or route the downpipe through the AC compressor are and towards the back of the car (although the fuel system is now occupying the exhaust tunnel area)

TTBlueZ06

Damn Haltech employee's and all their fancy toys!!!


That thing is awesome.

junk c5

Awesome build. I like the MPH.

BLOWNBLUEZ06@RKT Performance

Damn nice build Eric! I realize since you're the national sales mgr of Haltech that you know a ton, but I still want to play with your tune or at least do some collaboration work with you on it. If you get bored and feel inclined, give me a shout!

Bret

FourG63 97GST

wow nice build, thing definitely escalated quickly

c5muscle

Very nice build in a short timeframe. What was your budget if you dont mine me asking?

Looking to do something similar

Dave concrete

When you get a chance can you post some pics of the build Holy **** man, what a great job.

b16gsr

man this is quite the build, nice job

Dnealy

Awesome build man. Any interior changes/issues after the tunnel mod?

HardcoreABN

rossler makes a 4L80 for our cars? how much was it?

nullpointer

Wow, nice build. Have some questions for you on running the Haltech if you wouldn't mind.

1. Is the stock ECU still in place for the gauges to remain operational ?
2. Could I pass an ODB-II test (if #1 is true) ?
3. Do you sell the harness?

Thanks

EGash

Haha, thanks.


Thanks man!

Indeed. It always seems to snowall.

Man I'd hate to guess, but it adds up quickly. At retail cost, there's probably $40k in parts, most of that in the drivetrain.


Haha You want some MORE pics? LOL Thanks.

Thanks!

Yeah, I had to heat up the center console with a heat gun and flare it out to make it sit down on the tunnel. It doesn't fit perfect, but I didn't spend a ton of time on it.

They did at one point, not sure if they still do. I bought this drivetrain 2nd hand.

[*]Is the stock ECU still in place for the gauges to remain operational ?
Yes, OEM ECU runs the dash. (That's all it's doing)
[*]Could I pass an ODB-II test (if #1 is true) ?
I'm not sure, depends on what all is involved in the OBD2 test. I can't legally give you advice on this. ;-)
[*]Do you sell the harness?
Haltech sells a universal flying lead harness, which is what I used to build the harness in my car. A basic parallel wiring installation, to keep the OEM ECU in place to keep the dash happy, is actually quite easy to install. I took mine a bit farther as a labor of love.

Haltech also sells fully terminated plug and play LS harnesses, but those don't interface with the OEM ECU.

Rkreigh

Hi Eric,

way to go! I'm going to try out a 4.8 .20 overbore with stock gen 4 rods and crank, and wiseco pistons, AFR 225 heads

I need to get a copy of that wiring diagram and tune! great runs, that car is making some solid power.