cseaman

A little bit of both. I wanted a bit of a brighter bronze, like what I had on the 4Runner. Unfortunately, it seems as if whoever did the powdercoating did the fronts and rears separately, and the rears don't perfectly match the fronts. I am putting new rear tires on anyway, so I may as well take the opportunity to have them refinished to something I'll be truly happy with while I have the car in the air.

no0one718

awesome build. very similar to what i've been doing with my car, machine silver, dark wheels, and yellow fogs, built to drive. i'm also an avid cyclist, both road and MTB. I've never heard of Sea Sucker racks, they look like a perfect solution, and will allow me to combine my two passions. motorsports, and cycling. I am a bit gun shy using that rack on a composite roof panel, have you have no issues?

cseaman

Thanks, man. It's been a fun car and amazingly livable. I pretty much DD it, although I have a Tacoma for when it's gross out. Still, I've done about 12k on it in three months. 3k on the Tacoma in the same time frame.

Re: SeaSucker: I haven't used it with a MTB, but my friend with a Grand Sport has the same rack and has used it with one. They are actually the rack company that a lot of pro teams are using on their team cars now a days. I have traveled 100 miles @80-85 mph with no issues with both my Specialized Venge and my heavier Crux. These racks are legit as can be, if you check out their instagram, you'll see a lot of cars that put mine to shame with high dollar bikes on the roof.

For what it's worth, I did wrap my roof in black vinyl just to protect the paint. The suction cups are not known to scratch, but some people complain about rings from the minimal amount of water you put on the suction cups. I didn't want to risk dropping a fork right on my paint or something, so the vinyl was a cheap reassurance.

MickVette

Big fan of the Black Chrome!!!!
https://www.corvetteforum.com/g/picture/8373655
https://www.corvetteforum.com/g/picture/8373657
https://www.corvetteforum.com/g/picture/8373659
https://www.corvetteforum.com/g/picture/5908461

zyal8r

Dang it!!! I missed this... sorry! Couldn't have made it, anyway, but please feel free to text or email next time. I'd love to dyno mine. There's a thread in the C4 forum of a Grand Sport with headers, cat delete, and the newest B&B exhaust. Kind of lusting after that but also kinda busy with other stuff and need a new truck pretty bad.

How'd you do at the dyno day?

Mike

cseaman

20,000 mile update

Had the Forgestars re-powdercoated. I was never happy with how ModBargains/Forgestar sent them to me, because I always noticed that one wheel was not the same as the others. It wasn't until I got them off the car that I got to reaffirm this.

This is how they sent them to me...all four were supposed to be "matte bronze". Interesting. I'd avoid them going forward, as they did nothing for me when I sent this information and corresponding finish thickness gauge shots showing that they were done at completely different times, with different people.



Anyway, dropped the wheels off at MTS Coatings in Manhattan, KS. I inadvertently chose an old school GM trim color, called "GM Silver II" from Prismatic Powders.



Hankooks mounted and balanced at Burnett Automotive in Manhattan, KS. They did a very good job and were completely cognizant of the fact that the wheels were picked up from powder that day. Zero scratching, perfect balancing...and they got them done in an hour on a Friday afternoon, right before close..with no appointment.



Hurried my *** over to the storage unit to get them on the car.







This was the longest I'd ever gone without driving it, so getting to take it out at sunset on a Friday evening was awesome at this point. Drove to KC that night, and St. Joseph to visit Nick on Saturday. The car never gets old.

Chiselchst

Thanks for your service!
Thanks for sharing this awesome adventure.
Great reminder for all of us to drive and enjoy our cars.
Have fun, but be safe!

cseaman

cseaman

Got a new plate. Nothing else too new. About to hit 22,000 miles. I figured I'd have it in storage for the winter, but it's hard to say no to driving it when it's clear out.

cseaman

Just ordered 2" primary Kooks longtubes, 3" catless midpipe, with DEI wrap for the plug wires and starter. Along with all new Stop Tech rotors, pads, and Motul fluid. All from Steve @RDP, who was super easy to work with and extended seriously great pricing.

The car will be tuned by the same guy on the same dyno, and ZERO variables besides the headers will be in play, so I will be sure to post some videos and let everyone interested know what exactly the 2" headers will do with no other additions to a car. It put 553/501 down, so I'm definitely curious what will come.

MickVette

Looking toward the results! I wonder how atmospheric condition differences may play a part. That is one of the biggest ***** I don't have control of when tuning my car day to day.

cseaman

Thanks, Mick. My car was initially tuned last January, and it'll get tuned February 24th, so I'm hoping I won't have too much of an impact related to those conditions. We'll see..

cseaman

Well, after a bunch of annoying BS with Kooks, the car is back and being driven. I dropped the car off with Tanner Pap a few weeks ago to do a bit of a spring refresh. He installed the AMT motor mounts, Kooks 2" headers, and all the brake stuff I identified in the post above.



I love the motor mounts. The additional directness they add to the car is awesome. There is an obvious, and expected, increase in NVH at idle and taking off, but once moving, they are bliss.

The brakes are great. It's a street car, so I was primarily concerned with noise and dust, both of which there is none. They do feel better, of course, because I'm pretty sure the OEM fluid was never changed.



I maintained the OEM NPP valve-actuated axleback, so it's still very easy to drive on the highway and in quiet mode, which is something I won't give up. The car made no increase in peak hp, however, carries more between 5-7k and is a lot stronger up top. I'm intake-limited now, but don't foresee tackling that project before my next deployment. The big issue is that Kooks sent some bullshit headers that didn't fit on my car, and didn't fit on their jig, that they refused to replace. They made some "minor modifications" for more bell housing clearance that didn't do ****, so the car was down for two weeks and Tanner had to **** around with all their nonsense just to end up fixing them on their own.

Moral? I will never purchase a Kooks product again. I feel more strongly about them than I do against Forgestar.



Great fitment :roll:



In any case, I am now at 24,500 miles. Took it to Denver and back to Manhattan last weekend, and it did as great as the big road trip last summer. Howeverrrrr, my DD was a garbage 2017 Tacoma last summer and now I have this Passat that is a lot less worrisome on trips, and even gets better MPG, so that may be the end of unneeded long trips in the Corvette. We will see.

MTPZ06

I guess that's why I hear so many call them Krooks.

MickVette

My Kooks X-pipe had the same fitment (too wide for the headers). I had to bend the support metal between the pipes to bring the pipes closer together. I guess that was easier than if I had to widen the X-pipe because then I'd have to cut and re-weld the support metal.

What was the power increase between 5 and 7k rpm? I will be pulling the starter soon to replace the solenoid so that would be a good time to go 2" primaries from 1 7/8"if the difference is worth it.

cseaman

The funny thing is that I was willing to buy ARH, but my vendor, RDP Store talked me out of them and said he had better experience with Kooks installation. He sold both, so I saw no reason to questions this advice.

Funny thing is, he threw his hands in the air when it came time to get assistance receiving actual help from Kooks. Literally zero help at all.

My primary collectors were actually contacting the bell housing. It was a total mess.

I don't have numbers in front of me, but it wasn't seriously significant over my stock manifolds with gutted cats. I went with 2" because of recent insight from CPR and guys like AZDave247 who have repeatedly seen overall gains from 2" compared to 1-7/8.

I don't have enough of a max-effort set up to truly warrant 2" headers at this point, which is also why I don't think I saw any significant peak power/torque change, but I didn't want to do 1-7/8 just to end up needing to swap down the road. I'm still on the mild BTR2 cam and a stock intake manifold/TB.

Innovate

Hirohawa

Great looking car!