steven31371

Hello Guys,

I've been reading through this sight for a while now and want to thank you all for posting such useful info. Vette owners are great!

So I just bought a 98 Vert....yeah I know I probably should have went with a 99 or above but this one was at an incredible price and was so clean inside and out that I couldn’t believe it...cleanest C5 that I've seen for under 20k...I paid $13,500!

Here's my plan, please steer me in the right direction if I am going off course, or if you have any better ideas.

I took the stock air filter housing off and zip tied a K&N on there but left it facing forward instead of cutting a hole in the radiator shroud, but I cut the fog light openings to let cool outside air into the front end, I then put some WCC grills in the fog light opening...looks good.

I went this route because I figured if it would still create a positive air pressure zone this way, without mixing with the air in the radiator opening. I figure the air in the radiator opening must be hotter than air coming from the front fog light area. Also air cools when it expands so I figured air that is forced into the larger space around the air breather through the cut fog light opening would help with breathing cooler air also. I.e. as the air forced in through the fog light cutouts expands into the larger air breather area it would cool even more. This really woke the car up lol

I want to build a strong foundation in the car as a complete driving package...an American Ferrari, only built better lol....so I am working on real world drivability performance improvements first, and then will go for the supercharger later. I want a car that can go like a bat out of hell around corners and between the stop lights, that I can take up to Laguna Seca Or Willow every couple of months and run with the Porsche GT3's and Ferrari's. But this car will also be my daily driver.

I have the car at the shop getting an XTR stage 2 racing clutch rated at 510 HP and 498 ft./lbs. of torque, in anticipation of the supercharger to come (also because I had to replace the clutch anyway so why not upgrade)

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewi...id=00564430267

While doing the clutch I am having them put in a lightweight chromoly flywheel (15.45 lbs). After a lot of research, I figure that as I have to replace the clutch anyway, the light weight flywheel, which only adds a couple hundred bucks to the work that already had to be done, was the cheapest way to gain about 30 extra "effective" horsepower. I say effective because I read an article that made a mathematical argument as to why a lighter flywheel doesn’t add dyno horsepower, it adds real world accelerating horsepower, especially in the lower gears.

Here is a link to the article....if there are any math wizards or engineers out there I would love it if you would use the formula found in the PDF link in the middle of the page and enter the corvette numbers into the equation and see what it comes up with ;-)...I think it might be very useful at this forum, and, we can't let those BMW guys outsmarts us lol

http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/flywhee...heel_works.htm

I figure in first gear my flywheel is worth around 30 HP in hard acceleration (not bad for a couple hundred bucks), but who knows, someone smarter than me PLEASE use the formulas at that website and let us all know.

Next I want to start working on the suspension and brakes....will probably go with Brembro, but if there is a cheaper brake solution that’s just as good please let me know.

I am debating whether to go with the Pfadt Spherical Control Arm bearings:

http://www.westcoastcorvette.com/p-2...04-c5-z06.aspx

or just the poly bushings, I would be thankful for any advice here....the mono bearing bushings say they are not recommended for street use,,,but the idea of crisper steering and a more direct road feel sounds wonderful to me...does anybody use these in a daily driver, what would be the drawback?

Next on the list is a sway bar...what do you guys recommend for a street, part time racer?

Also any other suspension upgrade recommendations that won't break the bank too much would be appreciated....my car has the three ride control settings and I'd like to keep that function working.

New tires are on the short list too...it has the pilot sport on there right now, but I intend on moving to the proxes R888s....I understand the Nitto's are probably a better tire but they do not come in the sizes I want..(295/30/19 rears with 255/35/18 fronts)...these tire sizes fit the C6 wheels and have the proper wheel height stagger to work with the Traction Control System (26" back and 25.1" front)

After the tire and basic suspension upgrades, I'd like to add some real down force without adding a rear wing...so a front splitter and some side skirts that don't look too gaudy...also is there a FUNCTIONAL rear diffuser available for the C5?

Can you guys recommend a good FUNCTIONAL aero kit that will help keep it on the ground?

My budget is around $2,000 a month for the next 6-8 months, but I cannot spend the $2000 for a few months to add the bigger ticket items like the A&A supercharger I want to get.

I have about $1500 left to spend this month, what do you guys recommend on the handling side of the equation?

I will handle the HP and Torque improvements with the SC, but want to stop, go, and stick to the pavement in the curves like a Lotus Exige without losing the ride controls and electronic nannies (most of the time I turn the traction control off, but occasionally have to make a two or three hour drive and like that ride control adjustment)

also, I'm not that interested in replacing the exhaust, from what I have seen it only raises the horsepower by around 10 hp, but that 10hp gain doesn’t happen until you already have the car moded to over 500whp. I only plan on taking this car to around 500 rear wheel HP so an upgraded exhaust seems like a bit of a $$$ waste for me since I like the stock sound (now that I opened up the intake anyway ;-) )

I don't have access to a lift and my garage is small...so I can't do much work myself that requires a lift or getting too deep into the engine or tranny, so my budget has to include install prices.

I live in SoCal.

Any advice or critique is more than welcomed and much appreciated.