0Jeff @ TPE

Hey Guys,

In the years we've been on this forum, I think this just might be our fist post in this section. So for those of you who dont know us, Hello..
We've always been known as a shop who builds high performance boosted "Street" cars.Most of which end up on the show circuit. As we've expanded, customer demand has pushed us closer and closer to the drag racing scene. Its not that we havn't been a part of it, only that it hasn't been a primary focus.

So we figured what better way to do it than to build a full tilt car that has one purpose, and that is to go fast. Originally, we had plans of building an already stripped down version of a C5Z. Unfortunately, circumstances forced us to use a car that we hadn't planned on using.

The purpose of this build, is to not only show the fabrication capabilities of our shop, and my crew, but to throw our hat into the ring of taking the all time IRS record. Yeah Yeah, I know.....


Heres a brief breakdown of our build as it stands today, and current parts.

• Chromoly 25.3 6.0 second certified 2000 C5 Coupe
• Custom Ford 9" IRS w/ Strange Ultra center & DSS shafts (waiting for the new shafts though)
• Strange Front brakes, Stock rear brakes
• LG drag spindles
• Pfadt spherical mounts
• Strange F & R coilovers
• RPM spec'd Powerglide (Still need to order)
• DSS driveshaft, axles, halfshafts (Waiting on them to be finished so we can order)
• RHS Tall Deck (specs to be withheld)
• Sonny crank, CP pistons, GRP rods
• Mozes heads (with all the normal goodies)
• Jesel valvetrain & timing
• Weld Alumistar Double Beadlock 15x12"R & 17x4"F

Plus the 9 million other essentials that go into building one of these cars.

Obviously, were not building the motor in house. We've been talking to a few companies around the country, but we havent landed on anyone yet. As for the turbo system, we've spoken to George over at TTi and he has agreed to build us the system we need. In the coming weeks we will be shipping him the car for him to work his magic.
For the class we will be running, we will use twin 88's. But when it comes to the other events across the country, we will be using something much larger. My requirement is that we must be in the mid 2K range to the wheels. We do have exact numbers, but we cant discuss it.

Please enjoy the first round of pictures. Its basically our chassis that we just finished. We will start posting the build pics as we go along. If you want some cool parts bling pics, let me know..

ANY advice or constructive criticism you have to offer is appreciated. If you have any specific questions please feel free to ask.

0Jeff @ TPE

Heres a few more for you..

I forgot to mention something. You will see in some areas of the chassis, that they are not completely finished. We are not 100% done with it yet. Also, the rear portion of the car, specifically at the control arm mounting locations, will be receiving some fairly heavy bracing. We just need to confirm that it does not affect our ability to tech the car in the class we are running and pass.

0Jeff @ TPE

Annnnndddd that last round of pics..

98NYFINESTVETTE

The car looks great, Good Luck.

DOUG @ ECS

Looks good Jeff, going with a KB on it?

breecher_7

0Jeff @ TPE

FFFFFFUUUUUU*******KKKKKKKK No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd put my wifes blow dryer on it before I went down that long dark hole of a road.

DOUG @ ECS

Hell has frozen over...


Two things, I thought 25.3 was 7.0 or 7.5 legal? 25.2 is 6.0? I dont have an NHRA book in front of me, but thats what I thought.

And why IRS? if your going that far I would have gone straight axle. I dont think an IRS axle will hold up to six second passes, but let me know if you want a set of axle loops for it.

Best of luck with it.

4DRUSH

Jeff you talking 10.5 outlaw class?

I get the IRS record quest, but I think a well built IRS X275 class car could take that record in the 1/4 and will be more competitive than running IRS 10.5 class.

(unless you're planning to build previsions to add solid axle later)

Just my $.02

They don't sell gray caulk out you way?

mackeyred96

Looks Great, Good luck with the build....

0Matt @ ECS

25.3 is for 3600 lbs (max.) down to 6.50.. It was designed for a number of reasons, including the drag radial guys that have mandatory minimum weights (Usually in the 33-3400lb range) but are faster than 7.50. The 25.2/25.1E spec's were all written for 3200/2800 lb. cars so there was nothing for heavy cars faster than 7.50... Most tracks just allowed the certification break because there was a nothing for them to fit in. The cars got faster, quicker than the specifications could catch up

Nice work Jeff!

tirecraft

Looks great. Are you keeping power steering ?

SheDevll C6

Jeff, nice looking build. I also was curious about why IRS over straight axle and....also.....whoever 4Drush is right, ODR is slowing fading out and X275 is the upcoming new class that will eventually fade out the ODR class.....seems to be shrinking!

Best of luck in whatever path you choose!

0Jeff @ TPE

No, not the outlaw 10.5 class. We will be predominantly running the PSCA XDR/TT-5 class. We're required to run 12 inch MAX wide D.O.T. Drag Radials or Slick - Mickey Thompson 29.5x10.5 (3062 or 3062s) Or Goodyear 29.5x10.5 (D2690 or D2709). The outlaw class is just too fast of a class. Plus, we didnt build the car to support it competitively.
Provided we are able to run it, we will do so for seat time, but we want to run where we know we have a chance.

Why did we go IRS? Thats a good question. I fought with that for quite some time. In the end, I wanted to keep the car with its root problems. I figure if we can be competitive with the IRS, then we can honestly say we ran a corvette, and not a race car made to look like a corvette. But we did make the necessary bar adjustments to allok for a virtual drop in solid axle. There is a few things we need to change, but not a ton.

No, they didnt have grey. I tried. But we are required to carpet it anyways, so it was no biggie.

0Jeff @ TPE

Honestly Doug, once I looked past the personal loyalty, and saw it from a pure business perspective, it made sense. Dont get me wrong, we still use the KB on the Camaro. This is because the changes that were desperately needed for the corvette were implemented in the Camaro. But as for the Corvette, I dont even tech them anymore. I refer them to KB.

Being as this was our first 25.x cage, we weren't exactly sure of the rules; so we bought the 25.3 SFI book. When we built the chassis, we had the inspector come by. He informed us that if we added a couple more bars in a few different spots, it would cert to 6.0. So thats what we did. In the end, he certified it to the 6.0 mark.

I've been talking to Frank for quite a few months. He said that the new shafts he's making right now, in the spline count that we need for this rear, should effectively hold to about 3K hp. Wether or not that is perfectly accurate, I dont know yet. But if anyone knows, its him. We just need it to hold above 2k. I honestly dont think the car will make it in the 6's. I agree with you. I dont think the rear would be stable enough. We took every available precaution to hold it together. we've braced the diff and control arm mounts as much as could be braced. We've also changed the tie rod configuration to better handle to load. So were just hoping it will be solid and consistant enough for future low 7's.
Yes, we will be needing your hoops. As soon as I am ready for them, we'll call to order them. We're also working on building a tubular front K member in order to lower the rack. If for some reason we dont, I'd like to also get one of your bumpsteer kits if you still have them.

DOUG @ ECS

TRZ makes a tubular front end with the rack forward and loward. We are a dealer for them if you dont get a break on the price. I was going to make one myself when I found out they did already last year at PRI. Not worth the time IMO to make a one off, and not enough of a market for two vendors.

0Jeff @ TPE

No, the rack is just in there while we pushed the car around. We havent mounted the manual rack yet.

0Jeff @ TPE

I looked at those guys as well. Problem is, is they change the track width. If memory serves me right, we're required to keep the width the same. If not, then I may go that route.
I spoke to George at TTi today, and were hoping to shoot the car out there in the next few weeks. If we dont need to swap to the TRZ rack, we prob wont. But if the space calls for it, then we will.


Oh, I just saw your glide thread today. That is f*** awesome. I wish I would have seen that earlier. I would have definately gone that route. It would have saved a ton of room. I just might be able to still, so if we run into any issues, I'll definately be ordering one.

STEALTH 99 C5

On the block ?? Low 7's ? Don't take this the wrong way Jeff , but that car is a long way from being track ready , so I wouldn't say your a contender until it's running and made some test passes . Especially since in the past you've talked about drag racing and never put up any numbers . Good luck with it though !

0Jeff @ TPE

I didnt go into this expecting to be greeted with open arms. Especially by a select few members. The cars state is a mute point. We didnt say we were racing next month. But we do have virtually everything ready to go.

Just because our business focus has not been drag racing, does not discredit us at all. It just means that was not our end goal. We are the LARGEST Corvette shop in Nevada. We didnt get that way by not knowing what we were doing. While we did not follow through with every project, it was not due to failure. I was due to me realizing that we were simply doing it out of ego. Once I realized that, and new it was going to gain nothing, I squashed it.

We are not asking for your acceptence, or permission. We are also not expecting you to take us seriously until we lay down the number. That is more than fine by me. I take no issue with earning the respect one race at a time. At the end of the race, its my hope you will have a new found respect for our new direction.

I may not like you in the least bit, and think your about as cocky and arrogant as they come; But I respect what you've done, and the accomplishments you've made with the Corvette.