The £7700 Corvette C6
Discussion
300bhp/ton said:
Awesome thread, roadtrip and car 
Q - who did you fly with? I must be looking in the wrong places for flights as they seem to cost more than your entire road trip.
Thanks Q - who did you fly with? I must be looking in the wrong places for flights as they seem to cost more than your entire road trip.
Norwegian Air. Once I booked direct with them, once through SkyScanner. I've just had a quick peek at the Norwegian website, flying economy from Gatwick to LA one way, economy is £184.90.
Edited by Fishy Dave on Wednesday 3rd October 16:15
MrNoisy said:
Dave,
Heading out to Snetterton on 16th Oct if you fancy comparing cars?
I have Pfadt racing JOC stage 1 ARBs and shocks and Z06 springs F+R.
Just had the car tuned yesterday which has improved it so much (amazing experience) and am eager to get on track. (It's been too long - damned house purchase!!!)
I'd love to, but am flying to Magny-Cours the next day (CSCC - work) so am unlikely to be able to make it, will try though. Heading out to Snetterton on 16th Oct if you fancy comparing cars?
I have Pfadt racing JOC stage 1 ARBs and shocks and Z06 springs F+R.
Just had the car tuned yesterday which has improved it so much (amazing experience) and am eager to get on track. (It's been too long - damned house purchase!!!)
Chevynightlife said:
Great story mate. I saw your post on corvetteforum so I justed joined on here. I'm about to pull the trigger on a C6. Just drove a Z06 and that thing is a Savage, unfortunately it sounded like there was a diff whine and an intermittent groaning through the gears.
However the experience was excellent. There nothing quite like driving a Corvette. I wish the Z06 had a targa roof, while the 427 are expensive due to their rarity. I'm going to look at a Grand Sport so I have have the best of both worlds.
If funds allowed a Grandsport would be my choice too. I'd miss not being able to take the roof panel off.....although the LS7 in the Z06 might help me forget. Show us a piccie if you buy one. However the experience was excellent. There nothing quite like driving a Corvette. I wish the Z06 had a targa roof, while the 427 are expensive due to their rarity. I'm going to look at a Grand Sport so I have have the best of both worlds.
A month ago my wife and I planned for a long weekend away in the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District. Typically it coincided with the tail end of storm Callum, so we endured various floods and almost constant rain. We did think of taking a different car or even cancelling altogether as I was ill with an ear infection, but persevered with the Corvette anyway.
I will save you the boring bits (tea and cake at Bettys) and just show you the car stuff.
The C6 has a 'clever' keyless entry system with starter button. Well, after a walk to look at some water falls we returned to the car as it started to rain.
I pressed the button above the number plate, opened the boot and chucked in the waterproofs ready for the drive to the B&B. Closed the boot, walked to the drivers door and it wouldn't open, my wife had the same problem with the passenger door, yup, we were locked out with the key inside. 300 miles from home, where the spare key was and stood in a T shirt as it blowed a gale! I still had my mobile on me so phoned the B&B owner who thankfully picked us up whilst I waited for the AA. Top service, the AA guy was with me in 25 minutes, but after an hour of us trying various things we were faced with three options:
1. Smash window. 2. Taxi and train(s) home to break into the house (Wilts) to get the spare key and drive a different car back up. 3. Call Corvette in the States, give them my chassis number, hope they can give me a key code to pass to a locksmith to get me in. None of these appealed and all would result in a ruined/expensive trip away.
The wind was howling and we were getting soaked but the guy was as determined as i was to find a solution. After some head scratching, I took out the rear light, and using a tool on my trusty penknife I made a small hole in the tub, punched a hole through the boot liner with a screw driver (AA not allowed to carry a drill) and the two of us went fishing with a piece of long wire. It took 15 minutes but bit by bit we edged my coat (with key in pocket) closer and closer to the back of the car until finally it was close enough to a sensor for a door to open! Such a relief, what a crazy design though. I will always have the key in my pocket from now on. I *may* have left some money in the AA mans spare jacket that he kindly lent me.
More of wet Yorkshire the next day, still, pretty countryside.
More to post from the Lake District tomorrow.
I will save you the boring bits (tea and cake at Bettys) and just show you the car stuff.
The C6 has a 'clever' keyless entry system with starter button. Well, after a walk to look at some water falls we returned to the car as it started to rain.
I pressed the button above the number plate, opened the boot and chucked in the waterproofs ready for the drive to the B&B. Closed the boot, walked to the drivers door and it wouldn't open, my wife had the same problem with the passenger door, yup, we were locked out with the key inside. 300 miles from home, where the spare key was and stood in a T shirt as it blowed a gale! I still had my mobile on me so phoned the B&B owner who thankfully picked us up whilst I waited for the AA. Top service, the AA guy was with me in 25 minutes, but after an hour of us trying various things we were faced with three options:
1. Smash window. 2. Taxi and train(s) home to break into the house (Wilts) to get the spare key and drive a different car back up. 3. Call Corvette in the States, give them my chassis number, hope they can give me a key code to pass to a locksmith to get me in. None of these appealed and all would result in a ruined/expensive trip away.
The wind was howling and we were getting soaked but the guy was as determined as i was to find a solution. After some head scratching, I took out the rear light, and using a tool on my trusty penknife I made a small hole in the tub, punched a hole through the boot liner with a screw driver (AA not allowed to carry a drill) and the two of us went fishing with a piece of long wire. It took 15 minutes but bit by bit we edged my coat (with key in pocket) closer and closer to the back of the car until finally it was close enough to a sensor for a door to open! Such a relief, what a crazy design though. I will always have the key in my pocket from now on. I *may* have left some money in the AA mans spare jacket that he kindly lent me.
More of wet Yorkshire the next day, still, pretty countryside.
More to post from the Lake District tomorrow.
Last Saturday was supposed to have been spent driving around the Lakes and passes, but low cloud and heavy rain made it pointless so headed to the B and B early (recommendation to stay at Lingwood Lodge, Bowness, owned by a racer and Time Attack driver, Carl Owen).
The rubber skirt has become partly dislodged due to the amount of water it pushed through.
An ear infection was making me feel pretty rubbish, so although the rain finally stopped when we woke up on Sunday I wasn't up to much driving, so planned a fairly short route.
So much room!
Wife getting slightly cheesed off with the amount of photo stops.
The cambered roads and width of the car were a bit of a problem. Scrape......scr......scrape.......SCRAPE every few metres in places. Still, it made it home, passing 198,000 miles on the way.
The rubber skirt has become partly dislodged due to the amount of water it pushed through.
An ear infection was making me feel pretty rubbish, so although the rain finally stopped when we woke up on Sunday I wasn't up to much driving, so planned a fairly short route.
So much room!
Wife getting slightly cheesed off with the amount of photo stops.
The cambered roads and width of the car were a bit of a problem. Scrape......scr......scrape.......SCRAPE every few metres in places. Still, it made it home, passing 198,000 miles on the way.
Edited by Fishy Dave on Tuesday 16th October 11:31
Chevynightlife said:
The air deflector that's damaged, in the manual I believe it says it's a wear and tear item.
Yes, I was expecting to have to replace these along the way. I haven't had chance to crawl underneath yet, I may find it just needs clipping back in place. that's a nice looking Grandsport. Edited by Fishy Dave on Tuesday 16th October 15:26
I decided to leave work slightly early on Monday and pop along to the BHP trackday at Castle Combe for the last hour, with a mate, Tom and his Z4M Coupe. Last time out the Corvette screeched round Castle Combe with a fair bit of understeer. To counter this I added more negative front camber and caster on Sunday evening, but the settings were a guess, with no level floor to measure on. Still, what's the worst that can happen eh?
It did slightly improve the balance, but the caster made the initial turn in very twitchy and there is still too much mid-corner understeer. It just required a bit more right foot to counter it
The temperature strips showed the front calipers and discs getting very hot, the Mintex pads kept on biting though. It was all too much for the rear discs which cracked at the end of the session, just in time for a winter upgrade or two.
It did slightly improve the balance, but the caster made the initial turn in very twitchy and there is still too much mid-corner understeer. It just required a bit more right foot to counter it
The temperature strips showed the front calipers and discs getting very hot, the Mintex pads kept on biting though. It was all too much for the rear discs which cracked at the end of the session, just in time for a winter upgrade or two.
Edited by Fishy Dave on Saturday 13th June 14:03
I took the Corvette to North Wales for my Grandmothers funeral, despite the circumstances I did enjoy my drive back south in the rain and the mileage ticked past 199,000.
The standard US head unit played perfectly well but struggled with UK frequencies, so it was a toss up between a £400 known brand or £155 no-name ebay purchase.
The cheaper option won, with a higher spec too. A couple of fitting snags only, firstly that I've had to order an adaptor to convert the GM only small aerial connection to a regular sized Din (Halfords don't stock these). Secondly that the PAC RP3 instructions specifically tell you to cut off the RCA plugs if you don't have a Bose amp, so, I got chopping, only to find the instructions are wrong and I shouldn't have cut them. As a result I am getting a loud hiss and far too much amplification, nothing I can't sort out though. The PAC thing retains the factory warning chimes and more and should have made fitting easier.
I am very pleased with the appearance and function of the unit though, it's like operating my Android phone. Connect to wifi and the Android store and it had duplicated my apps, so I can now view my Gopro, Dashcommand, Harry's Lap Timer and more. The Bluetooth handsfree works well too, all for the sum of £155 from ebay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Android-8-1-Double-2-DI...
The PAC unit was £55, although Amazon is showing these as more expensive now https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HFFG7EQ/ref...
The surround was also from Amazon for around £12.
Black Friday and Christmas sales were the perfect excuses to buy some cost effective upgrades, as follows:
C6 Z06 shocks (I'm keeping the standard mono leaf springs).
C6 Z51 anti roll bars.
Fidanza lightweight flywheel (a thing of beauty, a shame to hide it away).
C6 Z51 caliper brackets, these retain the standard calipers but allow a bigger disc. The budget won't run to a BBK and wheels yet.
Seat brackets, nice and cheap from ebay. At a later date I will choose seats with better support for the track.
Vetteworks Sharkbar (harness bar) and lap belt bar.
Remote clutch slave bleed kit.
2007 workshop manuals
Prices are really reasonable (shocks were $319 for all four), but it's the shipping that usually hurts, especially when buying parts from multiple sources. There are often free shipping offers within the States that I can't take advantage of. Gene Culley from https://www.cultragfactoryparts.com/ mentioned that some Brits get themselves a Florida shipping address. I looked into this and signed up to https://www.myus.com/. This gives me a Florida address, where the above parts were sent from ebay, Amazon, Cultrag, Zip Corvette and Vette works. They are then repackaged and reboxed, I choose shipping to the UK by DHL with extra padding and insurance and it all arrived here within 4 days for $556, not bad for over 70kg of bulky parts! This saved me about $1000 of shipping had I ordered directly from each company.
I won't be fitting any of these parts for a couple of months as I have a double car port to build to keep the rain off of the race car and Corvette.
I picked up a barely used, second hand scissor lift, that has good access to the transaxle and exhausts underneath. It's a 'mobile' model, but at 450kg it's quite a job to move and required my engine hoist, trolley jacks and sweating and swearing in equal measure. It works brilliantly and is the right height for working on brakes or for sitting underneath the car.
Yes, gravel is not recommended as a base, but it's what I've got, it's level and the whole rig is very secure in use (scientifically tested by me heaving on various components).
The Corvette was parked in the general display area at the Brooklands New Years Day meet.
Please excuse my childishness at 6:15 of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJUcg8pjojM
Lastly, I have entered the Vette into the first round of the Javelin Sprint Series at Snetterton on 31st March and will be double driving with my Father (his first ever sprint).
The standard US head unit played perfectly well but struggled with UK frequencies, so it was a toss up between a £400 known brand or £155 no-name ebay purchase.
The cheaper option won, with a higher spec too. A couple of fitting snags only, firstly that I've had to order an adaptor to convert the GM only small aerial connection to a regular sized Din (Halfords don't stock these). Secondly that the PAC RP3 instructions specifically tell you to cut off the RCA plugs if you don't have a Bose amp, so, I got chopping, only to find the instructions are wrong and I shouldn't have cut them. As a result I am getting a loud hiss and far too much amplification, nothing I can't sort out though. The PAC thing retains the factory warning chimes and more and should have made fitting easier.
I am very pleased with the appearance and function of the unit though, it's like operating my Android phone. Connect to wifi and the Android store and it had duplicated my apps, so I can now view my Gopro, Dashcommand, Harry's Lap Timer and more. The Bluetooth handsfree works well too, all for the sum of £155 from ebay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Android-8-1-Double-2-DI...
The PAC unit was £55, although Amazon is showing these as more expensive now https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HFFG7EQ/ref...
The surround was also from Amazon for around £12.
Black Friday and Christmas sales were the perfect excuses to buy some cost effective upgrades, as follows:
C6 Z06 shocks (I'm keeping the standard mono leaf springs).
C6 Z51 anti roll bars.
Fidanza lightweight flywheel (a thing of beauty, a shame to hide it away).
C6 Z51 caliper brackets, these retain the standard calipers but allow a bigger disc. The budget won't run to a BBK and wheels yet.
Seat brackets, nice and cheap from ebay. At a later date I will choose seats with better support for the track.
Vetteworks Sharkbar (harness bar) and lap belt bar.
Remote clutch slave bleed kit.
2007 workshop manuals
Prices are really reasonable (shocks were $319 for all four), but it's the shipping that usually hurts, especially when buying parts from multiple sources. There are often free shipping offers within the States that I can't take advantage of. Gene Culley from https://www.cultragfactoryparts.com/ mentioned that some Brits get themselves a Florida shipping address. I looked into this and signed up to https://www.myus.com/. This gives me a Florida address, where the above parts were sent from ebay, Amazon, Cultrag, Zip Corvette and Vette works. They are then repackaged and reboxed, I choose shipping to the UK by DHL with extra padding and insurance and it all arrived here within 4 days for $556, not bad for over 70kg of bulky parts! This saved me about $1000 of shipping had I ordered directly from each company.
I won't be fitting any of these parts for a couple of months as I have a double car port to build to keep the rain off of the race car and Corvette.
I picked up a barely used, second hand scissor lift, that has good access to the transaxle and exhausts underneath. It's a 'mobile' model, but at 450kg it's quite a job to move and required my engine hoist, trolley jacks and sweating and swearing in equal measure. It works brilliantly and is the right height for working on brakes or for sitting underneath the car.
Yes, gravel is not recommended as a base, but it's what I've got, it's level and the whole rig is very secure in use (scientifically tested by me heaving on various components).
The Corvette was parked in the general display area at the Brooklands New Years Day meet.
Please excuse my childishness at 6:15 of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJUcg8pjojM
Lastly, I have entered the Vette into the first round of the Javelin Sprint Series at Snetterton on 31st March and will be double driving with my Father (his first ever sprint).
Edited by Fishy Dave on Monday 14th January 18:38
Cambs_Stuart said:
Looks impressively clean and rust free underneath.
Are they more resistant to corrosion than an Japanese import?
Honestly, I'm not sure, most cars here seem to be cherished and probably don't see much salt so should have minimal rust. It's rare to ever read of rust problems on the US forums, even those from the northern states. Are they more resistant to corrosion than an Japanese import?
J4CKO said:
This thread has got me looking, a mate of my dads is a serial Corvette buyer, never had a spin in any of his, he went C4, C5 and now a C6.
What are Corvettes like as a daily driver ?I drive mine most days providing it's not lashing down or salty. I enjoy it, it is comfortable, effortless and makes me feel good.
Left hand drive could be a pain, I have to use my pass to gain entry to the car park at work.
Yes, that could be a pain, some sort of grab stick thing? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminum-Grabber-Pick-U...
f:0Fuel economy shouldn't be that bad, their reputation is pretty good in that respect. high teens/low twenties ?
I average 23mpg (UK gallons), this is actually slightly better than my RX-8 and a couple of mpg worse than the Z4M I owned before.
Reliability, seem pretty solid mechanically, big, fairly simple and low stressed V8, 190k miles on this one and going strong
So far so good, only problem in the last 12 months was a bowed, leaking radiator and cracked discs (due to trackdays).
Servicing, cant imagine its that expensive, DIY possible ?
Really easy, access to all the usual bits is straightforward and there is no undertray. I buy my service parts from the States, but there are plenty of stockists here.
Are they fun to drive in the UK though ? can you hustle one down B roads convincingly ?
Yes, brilliant fun to drive here, but they are wide and would not be my choice on a narrow B road. The RX-8 feels more fun and at home here. As soon as the roads become slightly wider on more important B roads, A roads and on track you can relax and not worry so much about the proximity to the verge or cats eyes.
What is the ride like ?
Mine is the most comfortable ride of any sports car I've owned. It is excellent at soaking up bumps and potholes, but mine is the 'base' model. It's too soft for track use, hence why I will be adding the Z06 shocks and Z51 ARBs, whilst keeping the standard springs. I will report back the difference.
Practicality, not great but then its a 2 seater sports car, ok for shopping and stuff ?
Again, it's the most practical of all the sports cars I've owned. The door apertures are large, it has cupholders(!), various cubby holes and an enormous boot. When the roof panel is stowed it does eat into the space for cases, but with the roof on I would say you could fit more than in some hatchbacks.
selym said:
I've really taken a shine to the Corvette after buying my Monaro and experiencing the LS motor.
I looked long and hard at Monaro and VXR8 mid way through my Corvette hunting, the Monaro's in paticularly seem like excellent value for money with quite a few out there with some nice upgrades such as AP's. Which model do you have? 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
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.
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