The £7700 Corvette C6
Discussion
It’s been far too long since my last update, time to condense four months into a few posts.
Snow! The poor Vette still lives outside, time to build the carport now that planning permission has been granted (conservation area).
Dad helped me for a couple of days.
I've never built anything like this before. I've gone for Oak legs and softwood elsewhere, with Oak cladding and 16mm triple wall clear roofing sheets (6mx2m pieces). It's a pretty hefty structure, measuring about 6.5m x 5.5m, with one of the front corners having an overhang to help me reverse the Corvette onto the lift.
With the majority of the carport finished (it took weeks) I could finally work under cover and start fitting the parts that arrived months before. I registered to compete with the Javelin Sprint Championship, double driving with Dad. This would be his first ever competitive event, at the age of 65, much respect. http://www.javelinsprintdays.co.uk/sprint/
With my work and racing commitments we'd probably only be able to make a couple of rounds. It's been more than 15 years since I last sprinted, I'd actually said I would never do it again, with racing giving better value and more
per £, but this was something I could share with Dad in the Vette.
New oil temperature sensor, the old one would give an odd reading from time to time. 5 minutes to fit, just unscrew from the sump and pop the new one in.
Thicker Z51 spec anti roll bars front and rear, much thicker than the base models fitted to mine.
Z51 sized rear discs from EBC, with larger Z51 caliper brackets. These retain the standard calipers, but with more metal and surface area are slightly more resilient to heat.
In addition I changed the oil and filter again, with the old Bilsteins coming off and new C6 Z06 dampers going on. In some respect this might be a backwards step, the Billies are nice quality, but the valving is too soft for fast road and track use.
With this lot fitted it was time to get it on my corner weight scales. Using settings from David Farmer Racing in the States (thanks David), I adjusted the rake and then corner weights.
These are the before weights (in pounds), with 187lbs added to the drivers seat and footwell to represent me (about half a tank of fuel). It's pretty hefty at 1477 kg (1562 with me onboard!).
All set we headed to the first round of the Sprint championship at Snetterton, via A & P in High Wycombe. Getting off the M4 I noticed a ticking noise whilst waiting at a junction. It disappeared if I lifted the revs or started driving, but the loud, occasional 'tick' would return next time I idled. I pressed on....
I had booked a new set of Yokohama AD08R with http://www.adamsandpage.co.uk/ along with a full alignment set up, they are used to working with race cars so should find the C6 relatively easy. I chose the largest set of tyres that would fit the standard size rims, so ended up with 305/30/19 Rear and 275/35/18 fronts. They weren't cheap but know that I was well looked after on the total price. We listened to the noise after the alignment was done and couldn't identify exactly where the noise was coming from, other than being from the engine!
What should we do? Stop there and call the AA? Well, that would be the sensible decision......so we carried on and drove to Norfolk, trying to ignore it!
The sprint went pretty well, although a faulty GoPro memory card meant we have no video which is frustrating.
The eventual winning car, the owner was a nice guy, gave us the keys to look around and sit in the car after he'd come over to look at the Corvette.
A good sized field, we were in class J06, for 2wd cars with between 300 and 400bhp. With various Lotus Elise and Exige, an Astra Turbo and an Aston DB7. I finished 4th in class, with Dad pleased he beat the Aston. The handling was much improved in both balance, turn in and body control; still too much body roll for a track car, but it's a good compromise with comfort on the road remaining.
The noise was understandably still there, as well as two small oil leaks, oh dear. One was from the oil catch can (easily sorted with some ptfe tape), the second was from the power steering, impossible to tell exactly where at this stage. Drove home to Wiltshire and parked up, pleased the car got us back but feeling guilty I'd thrashed the poor thing in its sick state.
I invested all of £4 on ebay for one of these stethoscopes. Starting the car up from cold a week later and the noise had gone.....before returning after ten minutes of the oil warming up. The Stethoscope was useful but not precise, there was a definite noise from the front of the engine and knowing that cam chain tensioners can fail on later LS2 I thought the noise could have been the cam chain slapping around and hitting the casing. Time to drop the sump first and go from there....
Snow! The poor Vette still lives outside, time to build the carport now that planning permission has been granted (conservation area).
Dad helped me for a couple of days.
I've never built anything like this before. I've gone for Oak legs and softwood elsewhere, with Oak cladding and 16mm triple wall clear roofing sheets (6mx2m pieces). It's a pretty hefty structure, measuring about 6.5m x 5.5m, with one of the front corners having an overhang to help me reverse the Corvette onto the lift.
With the majority of the carport finished (it took weeks) I could finally work under cover and start fitting the parts that arrived months before. I registered to compete with the Javelin Sprint Championship, double driving with Dad. This would be his first ever competitive event, at the age of 65, much respect. http://www.javelinsprintdays.co.uk/sprint/
With my work and racing commitments we'd probably only be able to make a couple of rounds. It's been more than 15 years since I last sprinted, I'd actually said I would never do it again, with racing giving better value and more
per £, but this was something I could share with Dad in the Vette.New oil temperature sensor, the old one would give an odd reading from time to time. 5 minutes to fit, just unscrew from the sump and pop the new one in.
Thicker Z51 spec anti roll bars front and rear, much thicker than the base models fitted to mine.
Z51 sized rear discs from EBC, with larger Z51 caliper brackets. These retain the standard calipers, but with more metal and surface area are slightly more resilient to heat.
In addition I changed the oil and filter again, with the old Bilsteins coming off and new C6 Z06 dampers going on. In some respect this might be a backwards step, the Billies are nice quality, but the valving is too soft for fast road and track use.
With this lot fitted it was time to get it on my corner weight scales. Using settings from David Farmer Racing in the States (thanks David), I adjusted the rake and then corner weights.
These are the before weights (in pounds), with 187lbs added to the drivers seat and footwell to represent me (about half a tank of fuel). It's pretty hefty at 1477 kg (1562 with me onboard!).
All set we headed to the first round of the Sprint championship at Snetterton, via A & P in High Wycombe. Getting off the M4 I noticed a ticking noise whilst waiting at a junction. It disappeared if I lifted the revs or started driving, but the loud, occasional 'tick' would return next time I idled. I pressed on....
I had booked a new set of Yokohama AD08R with http://www.adamsandpage.co.uk/ along with a full alignment set up, they are used to working with race cars so should find the C6 relatively easy. I chose the largest set of tyres that would fit the standard size rims, so ended up with 305/30/19 Rear and 275/35/18 fronts. They weren't cheap but know that I was well looked after on the total price. We listened to the noise after the alignment was done and couldn't identify exactly where the noise was coming from, other than being from the engine!
What should we do? Stop there and call the AA? Well, that would be the sensible decision......so we carried on and drove to Norfolk, trying to ignore it!
The sprint went pretty well, although a faulty GoPro memory card meant we have no video which is frustrating.
The eventual winning car, the owner was a nice guy, gave us the keys to look around and sit in the car after he'd come over to look at the Corvette.
A good sized field, we were in class J06, for 2wd cars with between 300 and 400bhp. With various Lotus Elise and Exige, an Astra Turbo and an Aston DB7. I finished 4th in class, with Dad pleased he beat the Aston. The handling was much improved in both balance, turn in and body control; still too much body roll for a track car, but it's a good compromise with comfort on the road remaining.
The noise was understandably still there, as well as two small oil leaks, oh dear. One was from the oil catch can (easily sorted with some ptfe tape), the second was from the power steering, impossible to tell exactly where at this stage. Drove home to Wiltshire and parked up, pleased the car got us back but feeling guilty I'd thrashed the poor thing in its sick state.
I invested all of £4 on ebay for one of these stethoscopes. Starting the car up from cold a week later and the noise had gone.....before returning after ten minutes of the oil warming up. The Stethoscope was useful but not precise, there was a definite noise from the front of the engine and knowing that cam chain tensioners can fail on later LS2 I thought the noise could have been the cam chain slapping around and hitting the casing. Time to drop the sump first and go from there....
Edited by Fishy Dave on Thursday 6th June 17:31
Edited by Fishy Dave on Thursday 6th June 17:32
At risk of pointing you in the completely wrong direction, the noise could be the harmonic damper at the front of the engine. The rubber in them eventually perishes.
Edit - extreme example on an LS4: https://youtu.be/yFDbK1zmBOM
Edit - extreme example on an LS4: https://youtu.be/yFDbK1zmBOM
Edited by marksx on Friday 7th June 07:25
Thanks both.
I dropped the sump, which is a bit of a pita as the monoleaf spring is in the way and needs removing, only to see this:
Ignore the nuts in the left of the picture. However, the bent piece of metal and bits of crushed plastic should definitely not be there! Where I fitted the baffles and crank scraper I can see that the broken tensioner got as far as the scraper, before getting crushed by the spinning crank and falling through. I didn't have any low oil pressure problems at Snetterton and I'd have known if it had jumped a tooth so I think I got lucky! Time to order a whole load of parts from the States.
To get to the cam chain tensioner is a pretty big job, with everything to the front of the engine needing to be removed; parts of the suspension, inlet, steering rack and pas pump, rad fan, harmonic balancer (which did have a little wobble marksx), belts, tensioners, alternator, water pump, oil pump, various covers and more. Thankfully the heads can stay undisturbed. The big question many of us face whilst contemplating a big repair is 'shall I upgrade whilst I'm in there'? A camshaft would only take an extra hour or so to fit, add a genuine 50 horses, but would need the heads off to change the lifters and valve springs as a precaution. In the end I decided 400bhp is enough and to save the pennies, the parts needed made for a fairly hefty list as at 200,000 miles I was pretty sure many of the parts were original and should be changed as a matter of course.
As before I made use of myus.com and ordered parts from various sources, taking advantage of cheap or free internal shipping to 'my' virtual Florida address and then receiving it all as one big delivery. As it would take a couple of weeks for the parts to arrive I stripped everything down whilst I was waiting. I knew I had a slight power steering leak so replaced a few seals but couldn't see exactly where the fluid was coming from.
Crusty looking original harmonic balancer. The outer pulled off far too easily, suggesting the rubber had given up its grip.
You can see the broken plastic on the left.
60 metres of China's finest waterproof led rope lights that display all sorts of colours, brightness, flashing and thankfully just plain old white. Excellent for not casting shadows or having bulky floodlights. Sorted for Christmas too!
With the Corvette out of action I pressed the RX-8 Trophy race car into drifting service, along with five other Corvette club members at Oulton Park, great fun. Scroll to the bottom of this page on Felix's excellent thread: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
The scrutineer had picked up that there was no means of towing my car if it broke down on track. It's true, the US cars don't have any kind of towing point, so I fitted a Motorsport UK compliant steel one, using an existing hole in the crash bar. Whether it would be strong enough to pull it out of gravel I'm not sure, but am confident it would be ok for a straight tow and is certainly better than nothing.
Parts were a week away so I pressed on with other jobs. One of the known niggles with a C6 is the plastic headlight covers turn opaque or have light stress cracks appear, mine had the latter, perhaps from the Californian sun. I'd already bought Umnitza replacement lenses for less than $300 and butyl seals before Christmas.
20 minutes in the oven had softened the old sealant and you could prize the old lens off and lever the sealant out the crevices.
Original running light sockets looking a bit crispy, so changed the innards with sockets bought on ebay, you can just pull out the centres and swap them over so no splicing wires. The LED bulbs run far cooler so should last the life of the car now.
Much, much better looking, the lights should be more effective too. It took a few hours each side all in, plus clamping and drying time overnight.
The carport is at last finished, with the final, awkward piece of roof fitted, guttering done and oak cladding on, hoorah.
I could have sworn I'd changed the cabin filter but can't have done, yuk!
Next job, rear lighting. When I corrected the wiring from US spec to suit UK rules last year it did the job but I was never completely happy with the end result. The outer pair of lights were switchback bulbs that swapped from being red tail lights to amber indicators and back. However, the red tail lights were much brighter than the inner set and I'd get flashed, presumably as other drivers assumed I had my fogs on. The LEDs have resistors to stop hyperflashing, these run very hot in use and have actually melted the polystyrene behind the bumper covers.
I still had four 'Big Head' fastners left over from Caterham ownership, so bonded these to the rear bumper, added heat reflective tape and tied the resistors to the Big Heads.
Using these amber led plates, glued in to the US rear lenses. Then both pairs of bulbs can be red for brake and tail functions.
The parts are arriving shortly so I can actually get back to driving it.
I dropped the sump, which is a bit of a pita as the monoleaf spring is in the way and needs removing, only to see this:
Ignore the nuts in the left of the picture. However, the bent piece of metal and bits of crushed plastic should definitely not be there! Where I fitted the baffles and crank scraper I can see that the broken tensioner got as far as the scraper, before getting crushed by the spinning crank and falling through. I didn't have any low oil pressure problems at Snetterton and I'd have known if it had jumped a tooth so I think I got lucky! Time to order a whole load of parts from the States.
To get to the cam chain tensioner is a pretty big job, with everything to the front of the engine needing to be removed; parts of the suspension, inlet, steering rack and pas pump, rad fan, harmonic balancer (which did have a little wobble marksx), belts, tensioners, alternator, water pump, oil pump, various covers and more. Thankfully the heads can stay undisturbed. The big question many of us face whilst contemplating a big repair is 'shall I upgrade whilst I'm in there'? A camshaft would only take an extra hour or so to fit, add a genuine 50 horses, but would need the heads off to change the lifters and valve springs as a precaution. In the end I decided 400bhp is enough and to save the pennies, the parts needed made for a fairly hefty list as at 200,000 miles I was pretty sure many of the parts were original and should be changed as a matter of course.
As before I made use of myus.com and ordered parts from various sources, taking advantage of cheap or free internal shipping to 'my' virtual Florida address and then receiving it all as one big delivery. As it would take a couple of weeks for the parts to arrive I stripped everything down whilst I was waiting. I knew I had a slight power steering leak so replaced a few seals but couldn't see exactly where the fluid was coming from.
Crusty looking original harmonic balancer. The outer pulled off far too easily, suggesting the rubber had given up its grip.
You can see the broken plastic on the left.
60 metres of China's finest waterproof led rope lights that display all sorts of colours, brightness, flashing and thankfully just plain old white. Excellent for not casting shadows or having bulky floodlights. Sorted for Christmas too!
With the Corvette out of action I pressed the RX-8 Trophy race car into drifting service, along with five other Corvette club members at Oulton Park, great fun. Scroll to the bottom of this page on Felix's excellent thread: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
The scrutineer had picked up that there was no means of towing my car if it broke down on track. It's true, the US cars don't have any kind of towing point, so I fitted a Motorsport UK compliant steel one, using an existing hole in the crash bar. Whether it would be strong enough to pull it out of gravel I'm not sure, but am confident it would be ok for a straight tow and is certainly better than nothing.
Parts were a week away so I pressed on with other jobs. One of the known niggles with a C6 is the plastic headlight covers turn opaque or have light stress cracks appear, mine had the latter, perhaps from the Californian sun. I'd already bought Umnitza replacement lenses for less than $300 and butyl seals before Christmas.
20 minutes in the oven had softened the old sealant and you could prize the old lens off and lever the sealant out the crevices.
Original running light sockets looking a bit crispy, so changed the innards with sockets bought on ebay, you can just pull out the centres and swap them over so no splicing wires. The LED bulbs run far cooler so should last the life of the car now.
Much, much better looking, the lights should be more effective too. It took a few hours each side all in, plus clamping and drying time overnight.
The carport is at last finished, with the final, awkward piece of roof fitted, guttering done and oak cladding on, hoorah.
I could have sworn I'd changed the cabin filter but can't have done, yuk!
Next job, rear lighting. When I corrected the wiring from US spec to suit UK rules last year it did the job but I was never completely happy with the end result. The outer pair of lights were switchback bulbs that swapped from being red tail lights to amber indicators and back. However, the red tail lights were much brighter than the inner set and I'd get flashed, presumably as other drivers assumed I had my fogs on. The LEDs have resistors to stop hyperflashing, these run very hot in use and have actually melted the polystyrene behind the bumper covers.
I still had four 'Big Head' fastners left over from Caterham ownership, so bonded these to the rear bumper, added heat reflective tape and tied the resistors to the Big Heads.
Using these amber led plates, glued in to the US rear lenses. Then both pairs of bulbs can be red for brake and tail functions.
The parts are arriving shortly so I can actually get back to driving it.
Edited by Fishy Dave on Saturday 13th June 13:42
Two good sized boxes of parts arrived, so the next weekend I could make a start.
A good opportunity to refresh parts like coolant hoses, tensioners and belts, as well as a new GM water pump.
A Melling high volume (not high pressure) oil pump. I was in two minds whether to buy this as I've never had an issue with oil pressure, but as it is recommended for high mileage cars I thought I'd give it a go. I opted for Cloyes timing chain and sprocket set (adjustable for timing), along with their dogbone type tensioner.
Powerbond Race harmonic balancer, which I pinned to the crank, along with an ARP bolt.
A full weekend of work to put the whole lot back together. I pulled the fuel pump fuse, pressed the starter button to build oil pressure and then fired her up. It didn't sound great for a few seconds whilst the lifters refilled with oil but soon settled down to it's normal boomy idle. How the neighbours must have missed the rumble.
Oil pressure was higher than normal at 70 psi, but slightly reduced as the oil warmed. Then faintly at first the random ticking/knocking returned, arrgghhh, it looks like the noise wasn't the timing chain slapping after all. Switched the engine off, pretty cheesed off, not at the car but at my misdiagnosis.
Nothing for it but to whip the heads off the next evening and investigate further, I wish I'd fitted an uprated camshaft whilst I had the opportunity.
The heads had definitely never been off before. Still fitted with the original valve springs too.
You can see two more bits of the old cam chain tensioner in the lifter trays. They couldn't have done any harm here but good to remove them.
Everything laid out so I know what went where. This is the first pushrod engine I've worked on,in fact the first engine I've ever attempted to take apart and rebuild; it's a good one to start with being beautifully simple and well made.
At first I couldn't find a problem, the wear on the rockers, rods, lifters and cam lobes all looked to be similar and what I'd expect for 200,000 miles. Getting hands on with the lifters helped, one of the rollers felt a little rougher than the others and applying some pressure to it whilst rolling showed it would get worse. I did a blind test for others to try, passing them a good lifter and what I suspected was the bad one, all agreed with which one was faulty. So, more parts ordering, with 16 new LS7 lifters and lifter trays coming from the States (the plastic holders that stop the lifters from turning).
Working at Silverstone at the next weekend, it was great to see a C6 racing with us (CSCC).
There was only one area of light damage on the car when I first bought it, the seller was very honest about it. It was the lightest of compressions on right, rear quarter, that indented where both panels meet. It was such a smooth indent that no-one ever noticed it until I pointed it out. I had tried to apply heat and pull it out in the past but with limited success. Whilst the back of the car was off to work on the lights I could see why, a metal bracket was bent, so I made sure I ordered a new one with that last delivery.
Using a heat gun, welding gloves, gentle pulling and the new bracket I was able to restore the body almost as good as new.
Time was running out, I had one weekend free to rebuild the engine or else I was busy for some weeks and plans with the car (including a booked trackday on Monday!) would have to be cancelled. The ebay 'Global Shipping' in this case was hopeless, with a delay of almost a week. I woke early on Saturday morning 11th May, checked the online tracking (for the hundredth time that week) to find that it had arrived at the Bristol depot of Yodel but not due for delivery until Tuesday. Live chat at 7.30am, polite adviser said that I couldn't collect from a depot until they had first attempted delivery, which would be too late. I decided to gamble and drove to Bristol anyway. The guys there couldn't have been more helpful, it took them ages to track down one of the parcels containing the gasket and headbolt set, which weren't in the right place, but they didn't give up. Result!
My wife carefully removing old gasket material (she's good to me!).
I followed the instructions for torquing to the letter, having very carefully removed all coolant from the headbolt holes.
By Sunday afternoon everything was cleaned and back in, I fired 'Clive' up and silence! Well, not silence, but just the usual glorious LS rumble, no ticking noises. A quick test drive proved all was well. Isn't it surprising how much smoke is produced as fingers prints and grease burn off the exhaust primaries. So, the noise was a duff lifter, with damaged internals, the roller being rough was probably as a consequence of being pounded by the cam lobe.
Monday pm for a trackday at Castle Combe with BHP. An unusually high number of red flags and my head not quite in it meant that these weren't the best laps for me. Whilst the Z06 dampers and Z51 ARBs are better than before there is still uncontrolled roll over Avon Rise which is disconcerting, plus understeer again, something I didn't notice at Snetterton.
The brakes, whilst capable, are not up to repeated stopping, with plenty of cool down periods after each lap or two of fast running. The seats are the next area for attention, the support is non existent. Still fun though, it wasn't bought as a track car, it does better at being a comfortable road car.
MOT next and I'd noticed the rubber dust seals around the ball joints were feeling the effects of age and heat being so close to the front and rear discs. Whilst they weren't split or leaking grease you could see cracks. Splitting the joint I could feel that everything moved freely, so I injected some more grease into the boot and then tightly wrapped self amalgamating silicone tape around the joint. It's brilliant, flexible stuff and saves a lot of work and money. I would not use this on damaged boots where dirt or water may have got in, but in this case it should help give more heat protection.
It was this video that first alerted me to using silicone tape (I bought mine from ebay):
The final bodge was on the power steering leak. As everything was so clean when I put it back together I found where it was coming from, the steering position sensor. Frustratingly this is a fairly rare location and is unserviceable too.
I added some metal putty to the cleaned area and it seemed to hold. As it's such a PITA getting the rack out I will attempt a proper repair in the winter when I can be without the car for a while.
A clean MOT pass, hoorah!
A good opportunity to refresh parts like coolant hoses, tensioners and belts, as well as a new GM water pump.
A Melling high volume (not high pressure) oil pump. I was in two minds whether to buy this as I've never had an issue with oil pressure, but as it is recommended for high mileage cars I thought I'd give it a go. I opted for Cloyes timing chain and sprocket set (adjustable for timing), along with their dogbone type tensioner.
Powerbond Race harmonic balancer, which I pinned to the crank, along with an ARP bolt.
A full weekend of work to put the whole lot back together. I pulled the fuel pump fuse, pressed the starter button to build oil pressure and then fired her up. It didn't sound great for a few seconds whilst the lifters refilled with oil but soon settled down to it's normal boomy idle. How the neighbours must have missed the rumble.
Oil pressure was higher than normal at 70 psi, but slightly reduced as the oil warmed. Then faintly at first the random ticking/knocking returned, arrgghhh, it looks like the noise wasn't the timing chain slapping after all. Switched the engine off, pretty cheesed off, not at the car but at my misdiagnosis.
Nothing for it but to whip the heads off the next evening and investigate further, I wish I'd fitted an uprated camshaft whilst I had the opportunity.
The heads had definitely never been off before. Still fitted with the original valve springs too.
You can see two more bits of the old cam chain tensioner in the lifter trays. They couldn't have done any harm here but good to remove them.
Everything laid out so I know what went where. This is the first pushrod engine I've worked on,in fact the first engine I've ever attempted to take apart and rebuild; it's a good one to start with being beautifully simple and well made.
At first I couldn't find a problem, the wear on the rockers, rods, lifters and cam lobes all looked to be similar and what I'd expect for 200,000 miles. Getting hands on with the lifters helped, one of the rollers felt a little rougher than the others and applying some pressure to it whilst rolling showed it would get worse. I did a blind test for others to try, passing them a good lifter and what I suspected was the bad one, all agreed with which one was faulty. So, more parts ordering, with 16 new LS7 lifters and lifter trays coming from the States (the plastic holders that stop the lifters from turning).
Working at Silverstone at the next weekend, it was great to see a C6 racing with us (CSCC).
There was only one area of light damage on the car when I first bought it, the seller was very honest about it. It was the lightest of compressions on right, rear quarter, that indented where both panels meet. It was such a smooth indent that no-one ever noticed it until I pointed it out. I had tried to apply heat and pull it out in the past but with limited success. Whilst the back of the car was off to work on the lights I could see why, a metal bracket was bent, so I made sure I ordered a new one with that last delivery.
Using a heat gun, welding gloves, gentle pulling and the new bracket I was able to restore the body almost as good as new.
Time was running out, I had one weekend free to rebuild the engine or else I was busy for some weeks and plans with the car (including a booked trackday on Monday!) would have to be cancelled. The ebay 'Global Shipping' in this case was hopeless, with a delay of almost a week. I woke early on Saturday morning 11th May, checked the online tracking (for the hundredth time that week) to find that it had arrived at the Bristol depot of Yodel but not due for delivery until Tuesday. Live chat at 7.30am, polite adviser said that I couldn't collect from a depot until they had first attempted delivery, which would be too late. I decided to gamble and drove to Bristol anyway. The guys there couldn't have been more helpful, it took them ages to track down one of the parcels containing the gasket and headbolt set, which weren't in the right place, but they didn't give up. Result!
My wife carefully removing old gasket material (she's good to me!).
I followed the instructions for torquing to the letter, having very carefully removed all coolant from the headbolt holes.
By Sunday afternoon everything was cleaned and back in, I fired 'Clive' up and silence! Well, not silence, but just the usual glorious LS rumble, no ticking noises. A quick test drive proved all was well. Isn't it surprising how much smoke is produced as fingers prints and grease burn off the exhaust primaries. So, the noise was a duff lifter, with damaged internals, the roller being rough was probably as a consequence of being pounded by the cam lobe.
Monday pm for a trackday at Castle Combe with BHP. An unusually high number of red flags and my head not quite in it meant that these weren't the best laps for me. Whilst the Z06 dampers and Z51 ARBs are better than before there is still uncontrolled roll over Avon Rise which is disconcerting, plus understeer again, something I didn't notice at Snetterton.
The brakes, whilst capable, are not up to repeated stopping, with plenty of cool down periods after each lap or two of fast running. The seats are the next area for attention, the support is non existent. Still fun though, it wasn't bought as a track car, it does better at being a comfortable road car.
MOT next and I'd noticed the rubber dust seals around the ball joints were feeling the effects of age and heat being so close to the front and rear discs. Whilst they weren't split or leaking grease you could see cracks. Splitting the joint I could feel that everything moved freely, so I injected some more grease into the boot and then tightly wrapped self amalgamating silicone tape around the joint. It's brilliant, flexible stuff and saves a lot of work and money. I would not use this on damaged boots where dirt or water may have got in, but in this case it should help give more heat protection.
It was this video that first alerted me to using silicone tape (I bought mine from ebay):
The final bodge was on the power steering leak. As everything was so clean when I put it back together I found where it was coming from, the steering position sensor. Frustratingly this is a fairly rare location and is unserviceable too.
I added some metal putty to the cleaned area and it seemed to hold. As it's such a PITA getting the rack out I will attempt a proper repair in the winter when I can be without the car for a while.
A clean MOT pass, hoorah!
Edited by Fishy Dave on Monday 10th June 12:58
Edited by Fishy Dave on Saturday 13th June 13:59
Round 4 of the Javelin Sprint Championship at Anglesey Circuit. A long way from Wiltshire, but the perfect excuse for a scenic road trip. Only problem is that the morning after the car would need be on the Corvette Club stand at Brands Hatch, for American Speedfest!
A wet morning, that suited me fine, the heavy Vette pushing through water well with its AD08R. Not so good for poor Dad, who was double driving my car. in only his second sprint, having never driven this circuit before.
Almost dry for the final run, I overshot at Rocket, costing me a couple of seconds. It wouldn't have mattered though, I still would have been 4th in class, those Lotus are just too fast. A quick exit and long drive down to Brands Hatch.
Just time to wash the car as the crowd arrived.
It's a superb event for Americana, highly recommended.
Bringing the thread right back up to date, seats......
The standard seats are comfy, but have no support, with hard cornering requiring a death grip by driver and passenger!
I wanted a pair of seats that would suit the dual purpose role my car serves. Something that would be comfortable on long journeys, but with more lateral support, harness holes in the shoulders, allow the use of the standard belts at a sensible cost. I settled on the Recaros that are fitted to the Corsa D VXR and after watching various auctions for a month or two I snapped up this Nurburgring edition 2012 pair in superb condition.
Only problem is, they don't fit, even removing the plastic sides. The tunnel area narrows to the rear and these are just too big, unless I start butchering them.
I tried the Cobra Monaco Pro that I use in the race car, as much for size, but it's uncomfortable and therefore a non starter.
So that the weekend wasn't a complete write off I fitted a Vetteworks Sharkbar (bought 6 months ago), annoyingly this didn't come with a template or instructions, so it was a case of measure twice, guess, squint and hope, measure a few more times, pray, drill and with a lot of relief we'd drilled it pretty neatly.
This will allow me to mount harnesses, as and when I fit suitable seats. Oh, and give somewhere better to mount the GoPro. Nice quality part, but the service was not as hoped for by the company supplying.
The standard seats are back in, ready for Le Mans on Thursday, our first time, we're camping in the 'Corvette Corral'. As it's the last race for the C7 it may be our last too.
Fishy Dave said:
The standard seats are comfy, but have no support, with hard cornering requiring a death grip by driver and passenger!
I wanted a pair of seats that would suit the dual purpose role my car serves. Something that would be comfortable on long journeys, but with more lateral support, harness holes in the shoulders, allow the use of the standard belts at a sensible cost. I settled on the Recaros that are fitted to the Corsa D VXR and after watching various auctions for a month or two I snapped up this Nurburgring edition 2012 pair in superb condition.
Only problem is, they don't fit, even removing the plastic sides. The tunnel area narrows to the rear and these are just too big, unless I start butchering them.
FelixP said:
I'll be interested to see which seats you go for, I wouldn't mind replacing mine too. Space is a real premium in the C4 as well unfortunately.
Do you think a square wheel/tyre setup will help with the understeer?
Have fun at Le Mans!
Currently thinking of OMP Style seats, a more road biased seats, but at least they allow a 6 point harness. https://www.ompracing.com/en_gb/style-44807.htmlDo you think a square wheel/tyre setup will help with the understeer?
Have fun at Le Mans!
Yes, wider front would help, although the front arch width does restrict things. I'm running a 275 front, and it slightly rubs the brake cooling ducts on the inside at full lock. With a better offset I could run slightly wider fronts. In future, when/if money allows an 18" all round wheel is on the cards, giving more clearance for a big brake kit, but it's a big investment, more than half the total cost of the car!
Daston said:
Awesome read! I was looking at importing a car from the US 10 years ago and doing exactly what you did. Really regret not doing it! Maybe once the kids have grown up a bit I should revisit that itch!
Is there any sites to calculate the VAT etc? How does HMRC work out its value?
Do it, it's a great adventure. Is there any sites to calculate the VAT etc? How does HMRC work out its value?
The rate of import costs are dependant on the age of the car and the invoice value. This guide is very useful: https://www.shipmycar.co.uk/how-much-import-duty-w...
In my case they accepted the invoice value of my car, so it was 10% duty plus 20% VAT. I get the feeling they will accept the invoice value as long as it appears fair.
minipower said:
Really good thread and very interesting re Florida shipping address for importing parts.
For seats, take a look at Corbeau Evolution Xs as they seem a very popular install for Vettes. Comfortable and from the ones I have seen, do not look out of place in the car.
Thanks, yes, I really like the look of these seats, perfect proportions for the C6, but they have fixed backs and I'd need to import them. I've never had experience of vinyl seats, not sure if they'd be sweaty?For seats, take a look at Corbeau Evolution Xs as they seem a very popular install for Vettes. Comfortable and from the ones I have seen, do not look out of place in the car.
I'm a late-comer to this thread, but very glad I've not missed it altogether!
What a great adventure in the US bringing this beastie home, and what a great write up! Thank you for taking the time, it's amazing just how long creating a go write up can take..
I'll have my Corvette in early C3 flavour, with the big block thankyouplease!
What a great adventure in the US bringing this beastie home, and what a great write up! Thank you for taking the time, it's amazing just how long creating a go write up can take..
I'll have my Corvette in early C3 flavour, with the big block thankyouplease!
Fishy Dave said:
Do it, it's a great adventure.
The rate of import costs are dependant on the age of the car and the invoice value. This guide is very useful: https://www.shipmycar.co.uk/how-much-import-duty-w...
In my case they accepted the invoice value of my car, so it was 10% duty plus 20% VAT. I get the feeling they will accept the invoice value as long as it appears fair.
Very helpful thank you. I will be looking at Gen 5 (maybe 6 if I can afford it) Vipers so will deffo be 10% and 20%. My concern is the sale price of them ranges anywhere from $40 - 90k The rate of import costs are dependant on the age of the car and the invoice value. This guide is very useful: https://www.shipmycar.co.uk/how-much-import-duty-w...
In my case they accepted the invoice value of my car, so it was 10% duty plus 20% VAT. I get the feeling they will accept the invoice value as long as it appears fair.
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