Gotcha

I've been having so much fun with my 08, I finally got it shut off long enough to post a few pics

First I gotta thank Ken Fichtner for an awesome buying experience. Knowing Ken I expected the best, and he certainly delivered, and then some. I highly recommend Fichtner Chevrolet and their parts dept, and not just because they sent me cookies

I live in Indianapolis so the Museum and Plant are only about 3 1/2 hours away. Being so close I decided to do the Buyers tour in addition to the museum delivery. I figured doing both was a little overboard, but right up my alley anyway. So I did the Buyers tour on 8/21 with my guide Carl. My car was scheduled for marriage at 9am so I left Indy at 4am (were an hour ahead) and got there in plenty of time to hook up with Carl and watch the safety video etc..

My car rolled off the line at around 2:30 pm, I got to do the "2nd" start and everything. It was cool following the car down the assy line, the plant is just awesome.

My Delivery was Tuesday 9/4. My dad and I drove down from Indy on Monday evening and stayed at the Super 8 right by the Plant and the Museum. I wanted to be well rested for the day, and for the drive home (backroads). The hotel was nice and so was sleeping until 7am.

My NCM delivery guide was Thomas and he first took us to the plant for the plant tour. I thought another plant tour would be kinda boring to me because of my buyers tour (and my new car waiting across the street) but I was pleasantly surprised by a great tour that was quite different from the buyers tour, I really enjoyed it.

After a nice Museum tour, and some paperwork, Thomas went over the car with me. I've owned 2 C5's so Thomas just covered some of the differences for me which was just what I wanted. We pulled the car outside for some photos etc.. I pulled the fuse for the NPP right out front of the museum and it hasn't been back in since

After a few photos and some goodies from the NCM store we grabbed some lunch at Wendys before hitting the road home at 3:30pm. I took 31 to Louisville KY, (about 100 miles). This was a pretty nice drive I was able to use 1st thru 5th gears with light braking averaging 50 mph or so, pretty good break-in miles. When I got to Louisville I jumped on I65 north for the last 100 miles or so. It was going to be getting dark before I got home and I didn't want to take an extra hour or two on the backroads. I varied my speed and used 4th thru 6th gears trying to keep under 75 mph. Traffic wasn't bad and got home at 8:30pm

The car is fantastic, its 3lt Coupe with painted top, cashmere Interior, Z51, NPP and comp grey wheels:



After Getting it home I installed the GM Race spoiler, A custom Z06 based shifter and a Caravaggio steering wheel, parking brake and shift boot and a console cover.








I will try to get a post up in the C6 Tech section about the shifter. It is a Z06 shifter base (which is different) with a custom handle.

I got the console cover on that internet auction site I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep it or not but it is growing on me. It is padded and fits pretty good. You take your console cover off and take the screws out of the underside black plastic piece. Then slip the cover on (it's tight), screw the plastic piece back on and reinstall. I'm gonna get some black floor mats which I think will tie in with the console cover some.

I've since got the windows tinted and I'm working on widening a rear set of split spokes to 11" wide for some Z06 325 rear tires

1.8t

I love posts like this. Beautiful car

0SicMSP - Daniel

Very nice MODs!! love the interior..

Atomic Punk

cool.

glhglh

These posts are the ones that light the fires and make you ask yourself Why didn't I think of that...Very

Corvette Junkie

Beautiful! Here's wishing you many miles of smiles in your new C6.

traindude

jcurley290

Nice car, Good luck

Z06forski

who makes the steering wheel ? was it difficult to R&R, align, etc ? do the contours make a difference in feel ? car looks great

thanks

ATC399

I want that steering wheel..Where are your pedals?

mpuzach

What is the point of having the logo on the console cover positioned upside down?

kyle0k

oh WOW, looks like they finally caught on and fixed the cheap looking interior on the corvette.(not sure if thats just your package, but atleast its a option now)

carpe dm

70454

Everything looks great. I'd reverse the logo on the console.

TommyV

Very nice, you might want to consider the DS Vettes console:

cfl70

xcutter

Beautiful car and great mods. I love that steering wheel.

VettinFan

LuKeen Gud!!

Like the mod's. And the color is awesome.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most difficult, how do you rate the steering wheel install?

AL

talon90

Congratulations on the new Corvette. Great write-up. Enjoy the new ride. I love the steering wheel. Here's to many miles of smiles.

Paul

Gotcha

Thanks for comments guys.

The console cover can't be turned around as it's formed for the parking brake on the front passenger side. I picked it up for cheap on ebay just to mess around with mixing up some black with the cashmere.

I'm considering having Caravaggio make me a console cover but the black leather and neutral color stitching on the 08 factory console won't match his stuff. I'm still trying to figure out how much more stuff to do and make it all work.

I love the Caravaggio steering wheel. It feels even better than it looks. I went on the Indianapolis Exotic Run Saturday, with a good 150 miles of spirited driving, and it felt GREAT.

Swapping the steering wheel was easy. It took about 30 minutes, most of that spent on transfering the radio controls etc... I have a GM steering wheel puller that I bought a few years ago when I added steering wheel controls to my Tahoe. After taking the steering wheel nut off I put the puller on and starting snugging it up and the steering wheel came right off. It would have probably came off with a good tug had I tried that. Anyway, If any of you guys need to borrow the steering wheel puller let me know.

In a nutshell heres how you change the steering wheel:
Disconnect battery
Release air bag/horn assy thru the two access holes
Unplug two color coded connectors to airbag and set the airbag- aside
Remove steering wheel nut and pull wheel off
Transfer everything over and re-assemble. There's orientation marks on the wheel and the steering shaft