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Beautiful Black Z06 I really like the C6Z rims in Black. Looks badazz with the new rims and tires. What sizes are they?
That's some parts list. Look forward to the progress.
Productive night cleaned up a couple things I didn't like on the headers and got them ready to go be dropped off for ceramic coating tomorrow, dropped the driveline out of the car finally which was actually much easier than I expected. I also removed the bellhouing which I found was cracked, and removed the old clutch, pressure plate and flywheel which aren't in terrible shape. Previous owner claims a lot of work includingthe clutch was done at 120k. Still not sure if I believe it.
I did find that the rear main seal and associated housing gasket were the source of my oil leak. Also replacing the dipstick tube o rings as they are very brittle from age.
Now that the major work is done, the upgrades and maintenence can begin!
A little more progress today. Went down to Central CT Coatings to drop the headers off for Ceramic Coating this morning. Then grabbed a loaner pilot bearing puller from Advance Auto Parts and went to the shop. Wasn't an easy process by any means, but a little brainpower allowed me to overcome a stuck pilot bearing. Had to double nut a piece of threaded rod to allow me to use an electric impact to get the fingers of the puller in tight enough to allow them to pull the bearing out. Once I did that, I removed the double nut, and used a gearwrench to pull it out. Worked like butter!
Transmission also got separated from the torque tube. Going to drop it on a pallet and it will be on it's way to my pal Jared @ Murcia Performance in Kentucky for a Mild Trans Build, and rebuilt diff with a few upgraded stronger parts and 3.90 gears.
Have I said how stoked I am to get this thing back together already?!
Changed my plans just a tad. After talking to my pal Jared @ Murica Performance, as well as some other Corvette friends and owners, I decided to throw a set of 3.42s in the rear instead of 3.90s. For the track that I will be running at, I was worried I might need to shift into 6th on one of the straightaways and decided I am not willing to take that risk on an untested car. If I get the car out there and find that I still have lots of RPM left in 5th gear, I will revisit a different ratio. Right now, I have to swap out the rear gears either way due to a bad whine in my rear but I will just use a set of 3.42sp gears for now.
Not much new today. Did some cleaning under the car and replaced some of the old brittle wire loom and taped it up nice with some of the good 3M electrical tape. Also strapped the DTE brace onto the diff/trans so when it gets reassembled it is done so as a single unit. It will get strapped to a pallet and shipped out to Murica Performance in Kentucky later this week.
Going to take a little time off from working on the Corvette as I have a couple circle track cars that I have to finish preparing for the upcoming season opening practice on March 24th.
Due to the blizzard here in the northeast, I was unable to go to work on the other cars that I need to prepare for our circle track racing season that is upcoming, so I decided to go to my shop and work on the Corvette a little bit tonight.
I didn't do anything really crazy, I replaced the rear main seal and a rear engine cover, removed most of the evap system, replaced the oil pressure switch, replaced the valley plate gaskets and installed new knock sensors with a new harness and also replaced the valve cover gaskets. Something I noticed was that for a 143k miles, under the valley plate and valve covers were extremely clean. Something else I noticed that I thought might be a little odd was that I have blue valve springs. I was previously under the impression that all LS6 engines were built with yellow valve springs from the factory. My car is a 2002 and after some forum searching I am a little confused. I don't know how to tell if these are stock valve springs, or if they are an aftermarket gm performance set, or if the are from an 01 Z... Anyone with some insight I would really like to know. At first I wase xcited to not see yellow because I was under the impression that's all the Z cars came with and know there were some issues with them, but now I am curious as to what I might have.
Last edited by slow_pokeC5; 03-14-2018 at 02:55 PM.
Yellow springs are OEM LS6 springs that are prone to breaking. The blue ones are LS3 springs that can replace the LS6 ones and won't break. It's a very popular preventative thing done for the LS6. I had the yellow ones and replaced them with the blue ones last summer.
My car is a 2002 and after some forum searching I am a little confused. I don't know how to tell if these are stock valve springs, or if they are an aftermarket gm performance set, or if the are from an 01 Z... Anyone with some insight I would really like to know. At first I wasexcited to not see yellow becauseI was under the impression that's all the Z cars came with and know there were some issues with them, but now I am curious as to what I might have.
Those springs are too blue to be original 01 springs. They were blue-ish.
Those springs are good.
That's awesome to hear. I was freaking out a bit last night. Though, I still may go ahead and order a fresh set of springs with as cheap as they are and how easy of a job it is to change them. I do beat the snot out of the car and it will see some pretty good RPM's on the track this summer.
Well, my tax return results came back to me today and I am getting back quite a bit more than I was expecting. So, what better way to use the money than to go even bigger...
I have decided to go full on baddest of the bad on the transmission and differential from MURICA Performance. I have updated the main post as well, but here is the rundown...
MURICA Performance "WILD" Transmission Build with 30 Spline Mainshaft, Carbon Blocker Rings, Billet Keys 1-6, Gear Bronze Pads Kit, Steel Fork, New Bearings, Cryo Treated Gears, Media Blasted and Painted Case .
MURICA Performance Full Diff Build with fresh 3.42sp gears, Pinion EDM for 30 Spline Mainshaft, New C6Z Shafts, New Differential Shaft Gears, New Locks, New HD Springs, New C6Z Clutches, New C6Z Pinion Support, New Seals and Gaskets, Media Blasted and Painted Case
Super stoked now!
Last edited by slow_pokeC5; 03-19-2018 at 08:04 AM.
Sorry for the lack of updates to anyone following along. I ordered a fresh set of Chevrolet Performance Valve Springs #12499224 as well as a set of FelPro Valve Stem Seals. This wasn't an initial thought when this project began, but definitely will be a nice piece of added insurance. Hopefully I will get to hop back onto this project in the coming weeks. Lot's of work going into getting circle track stuff ready for open practice on March 31st as well as the first race of the season on April 7th.
The transmission and diff has been strapped to a pallet and as long as we get a little bit of good weather this coming week, I plan to haul it up to the shipping terminal and have it sent out.
Picked up the headers from ceramic coating today... Damn did they turn out good. The guys that do these, do a lot of work for the local oval track guys, myself included so it would be foolish not to go to them. They definitely didn't disappoint and at $250 for a set of headers, I felt it was a damn good deal too.
The transmission/diff are now in the hands of Jared Allen at Murica Performance... Waiting patiently for the completion of that part. Haven't touched the car other than slapping in the new Pilot Bearing.
While I have been waiting however, I did pull the PCM and send it off to Frost for a bench tune and some tweaking. Unbelievably quick turnaround time on that and already have it back within a week of sending it.
One thing of note is the PCM was stuck in the plastic mounting bracket on the chassis. That bracket broke into about 6 pieces trying to carefully pry the PCM from it's grip. For anyone who runs into this issue and breaks that bracket, they are pretty cheap. I got mine for $15 brand new off ebay shipped. Part number from GM is 10288066.
Looking like we might get to race the oval cars this weekend here in Thompson CT as long as the weather holds off so hopefully next week I will be able to hop back in the shop and get some good progress on this thing again. Really hoping to have it on the ground by mid May.
03-09-2018, 05:06 PM
I really like the C6Z rims in Black. Looks badazz with the new rims and tires. What sizes are they?
