When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hey everyone! So I’ve been working on a big project for the last several months. Here’s my story- In July of 2016, I purchased a 2015 Corvette Z51 3LT with 10k miles from an insurance auction in Indiana. I bid low on it since it had damage on pretty much all body panels BUT it was a RUN & Drive vehicle. I’ve repaired 2 other corvette’s (both c6 but with far less damage) and decided to take this car as a challenge. After doing more research I decided to make a bid on the LIVE auction. Long story short, I won the car for $17,800. This was done via the web so I didn’t actually see the car in person. The next day I drove out to Indiana to pick it up.
When I saw the car in person, it was pretty much what I expected. Most of the paneling was damaged and the windshield was smashed. I later found out that the car drove into a ditch. Anyways, I was able to jump start the car and it was running great with no issues. I loaded the corvette onto the trailer and delivered it back.
The very next day, I started to take apart the corvette. After removing the fenders, hood, bumper I realized that I wouldn’t be able to salvage any of those parts as they were beyond repair. The front impact bar was damaged but thankfully the welds that held it in place only snapped and didn’t affect the frame rails (I found out later that GM purposely did that in the C7’s because of the aluminum frame). The Engine, electrical and cooling was untouched although I did replace the radiator and AC condenser because they were bent.
So my first priority was to replace the impact bar. I ordered an OEM from GM ($229). I found a local welder that had a mobile unit and he was able to weld the new piece in for me.
The next step was removing doors, quarter panels, and rear bumper. I was only able to repair the passenger door as it had very minimal damage (small crack in fiberglass). The rest of the paneling had to be replaced.
After most panels were removed, I started looking for new body panels. Buying brand new was too expensive so I started to look on forums and auction sites for used parts. That’s when I came across a forum member that was parting out his 2015 ZO6 (tree fell on it). I immediately contacted him and negotiated a price for both front fenders, rear quarter panels, rear bumper, driver door, hood, and front bumper.
Originally my car was blue but I really like to DSOM color on the Corvette C7 so I had all the new parts painted DSOM.
I purchased the rest of the parts online (headlight, side mirror, (2) aperture panels, tail lights, fender liners, etc). The real work started when I needed to remove the aperture panels. In the generation before (c6), you could have converted to the c6 wide body quite easily by just replacing bolt on panels. But because GM changed the design of the aperture panel on the C7, you have to replace it completely because the rear quarter panel will not line up! The only way to remove both panels was to chisel and sand it off since they are bonded to the frame. It took 2 days to remove both aperture panels and sand down the epoxy.
After removal and sanding I cleaned up the area and prepped it for the new panels. I used Lord Fusor for the bonding adhesive which did an excellent job.
After both aperture panels were bonded, we proceeded to replacing the dashboard as the airbag destroyed it. I ordered a brand new one from GM ($899) along with a brand new airbag ($599). Replacing the dashboard took about 4 hours total. Everything was pretty straight forward.
After the dashboard was complete, we proceeded to the doors. Those were another animal. I had to transfer the glass, wire harness, and interior door parts onto the new door. After replacing everything, it was time to hang the doors. This was especially challenging because you have to hang them just right so that the window rolls up correctly with the top and the lines match up with the rest of the body panel. This took up about 2 full days.
After the doors were hung, we proceeded with installing the quarter panels. Those were pretty easy as they are simple bolt on. Just had to make sure that the spacing and lines were correct with the rest of the body.
After the quarter panels were installed, we hung the rear bumper. I had to replace the original ZO6 harness with the original Z51 harness because the connector that hooked up the body of the car was different. Fun fact: the z51 harness allows for the zo6 tail lights to hook right up.
After completing a lot of the panels, we went back to deal with the windshield and the windshield frame. After removing the cracked glass, we called a local glass vendor that was able to come out and install a new windshield.
After the windshield was completed, I proceeded with the front of the car. I installed both fenders and liners. Everything lined up without any major difficulty. All the mounting hardware lined up correctly with the body. No modification was needed for any of the paneling that was bolt on.
I did purchase 2015 Corvette Z06 Wheels stock and they fit perfectly without any clearance issues.
The hood was pretty straight forward as well. I did purchase a Z06 hood as they have a slightly bigger ‘cowl’ and air vent. Aligning it correctly took about an hour or so but it looks great once it was installed.
Lastly, the bumper was attached. Again, this took several tries (removing and reattaching) because the mounting brackets had to be aligned perfectly. I did buy the stage 3 aero kit (front lip, side skirts). I attached the front lip but haven’t gotten around to the side skirts yet.
Last week I took her to the alignment shop and got her all straight. Below is a picture before I had the shop finish the paint:
And here is the before and after picture. I still need to add a few things like the side skirts, wheel well trim, etc. But looking back, I probably wouldn’t convert another C7 to Z06 wide body again. Many hours and Saturdays were invested. Total cost of project: $30,600.
01-31-2017, 11:05 AM
My '15 Corvette C7 Z51 conversion to Z06 WideBody
