The £7700 Corvette C6
Discussion
Fast forwarding to early July now and making the most of the weather.
We fitted in a trip to the North Devon coast for a bit of bodyboarding (the boot is HUGE) and back on the brilliant A39 north coast road. A pic outside Royal Crescent, Bath and last minute prep before the cars first track outing at Rockingham.
Before opting for an expensive Big Brake Kit (which the budget wouldn't allow for some time) I wanted to see if I could uprate the standard brakes to cope with track work. The 'vette is fairly weighty at just under 1500kg and would need to scrub off a fair bit of speed, so a combination of cooling (the Z06 ducts fitted in a previous post), fresh fluid and uprated pads were the first step. The original brakes pads felt very wooden, so as early as January I had been talking to the very helpful team at Mintex/TMD Friction and Questmead. By putting together standard C6 backing plates brought in from Canada and the compound I race on (in a friend/colleagues R53 Mini) they created F4R* front pads right here in the UK.
* Disclaimer, i made it clear to Mintex these were for track use therefore are not EC90 compliant so it is at my own risk if I chose to use them on the road.....they are excellent on the road from hot or cold, just a tiny squeek
For the rears we have gone for 1144 compound. The drilled and grooved discs were in very good shape so we used them for now.
I fitted an AP temperature strip to the front and rear calipers to keep an eye on temps, although the format at the Supercar event was two hot laps and into the pits, drop of the passenger, collect the next, have a friendly chat and off for two more laps and repeat, so it wasn't like we were doing 20 minute sessions.
The Tech2 is clever and can carry out the brake fluid bleed for you. Just plug it in to the OBD port, select the correct menu and just do as it says! It operates the ABS pump, ensuring the pump is flushed and no air gets in the system, really excellent, with no need for an assistant to pump a pedal.
When playing back a video clip from the US trip i noticed a small puff of blue smoke when changing gear at high revs. It could be valve seals or similar but there are plenty of recommendations on US forums to fit a catch tank when using the wet sump LS engine on track. Plenty of quality items around for $200 including shipping, but that was a bit much for me, so good old ebay turned up a unit that is identical to a US sold product, but was only £20ish. It was easy to fit and I angled it to fit under the stock engine cover, with metal pot scourers to help filter the oily air. It cured oil consumption and WOT smoke on the E46 so hopefully it will work here too.
Just time for a quick tracking check and adjustment, as it had altered after lowering the car and increasing the front negative camber by removing the washers behind the front upper wishbones.
I had volunteered myself and my car for the whole weekend at the Supercar event. Yes, it's not strictly a 'supercar' but it is red, pointy and fairly loud so it ticks some boxes. As long as people got out with a smile and paid money to the childrens trust I was happy. It was a baking hot day, the paddock and pit lane were pretty unpleasant for more than a few minutes honestly.
The rides were going well, here is one with a hard working Marshal who regularly volunteers with us at the CSCC
The heat was sadly too much for the discs, with the outer face developing a whole load of cracks by about 4pm on the first day.
It was very disappointing to let people down early, but there was no way of continuing. The front calipers had reached 166C, the rears had reached a temperature to register, so neither were that high. I didn't have disc paint so couldn't tell their peak temps.
So a crawl back to the hotel to check out early via this viaduct scene and limped home braking very gently, if at all!
The car passed 197,000 miles on the journey and performed brilliantly. The handling was decent considering the soft set up and road tyres and the Mintex brake pads were strong and fade free, with minimal dust. The new alloy rad stopped peak temps going above 228F (109C) and the oil reached 235F (112C), both very safe figures. Whilst we were speed (and fear) limited around the banking I kept an eye on the oil pressure and this didn't dip below 51psi (3.5 Bar), thanks to the Improved Racing sump baffles and the 5W40 Shell Helix oil (these engines usually run 5W30 on the road).
Regards, Dave
We fitted in a trip to the North Devon coast for a bit of bodyboarding (the boot is HUGE) and back on the brilliant A39 north coast road. A pic outside Royal Crescent, Bath and last minute prep before the cars first track outing at Rockingham.
Before opting for an expensive Big Brake Kit (which the budget wouldn't allow for some time) I wanted to see if I could uprate the standard brakes to cope with track work. The 'vette is fairly weighty at just under 1500kg and would need to scrub off a fair bit of speed, so a combination of cooling (the Z06 ducts fitted in a previous post), fresh fluid and uprated pads were the first step. The original brakes pads felt very wooden, so as early as January I had been talking to the very helpful team at Mintex/TMD Friction and Questmead. By putting together standard C6 backing plates brought in from Canada and the compound I race on (in a friend/colleagues R53 Mini) they created F4R* front pads right here in the UK.
* Disclaimer, i made it clear to Mintex these were for track use therefore are not EC90 compliant so it is at my own risk if I chose to use them on the road.....they are excellent on the road from hot or cold, just a tiny squeekFor the rears we have gone for 1144 compound. The drilled and grooved discs were in very good shape so we used them for now.
I fitted an AP temperature strip to the front and rear calipers to keep an eye on temps, although the format at the Supercar event was two hot laps and into the pits, drop of the passenger, collect the next, have a friendly chat and off for two more laps and repeat, so it wasn't like we were doing 20 minute sessions.
The Tech2 is clever and can carry out the brake fluid bleed for you. Just plug it in to the OBD port, select the correct menu and just do as it says! It operates the ABS pump, ensuring the pump is flushed and no air gets in the system, really excellent, with no need for an assistant to pump a pedal.
When playing back a video clip from the US trip i noticed a small puff of blue smoke when changing gear at high revs. It could be valve seals or similar but there are plenty of recommendations on US forums to fit a catch tank when using the wet sump LS engine on track. Plenty of quality items around for $200 including shipping, but that was a bit much for me, so good old ebay turned up a unit that is identical to a US sold product, but was only £20ish. It was easy to fit and I angled it to fit under the stock engine cover, with metal pot scourers to help filter the oily air. It cured oil consumption and WOT smoke on the E46 so hopefully it will work here too.
Just time for a quick tracking check and adjustment, as it had altered after lowering the car and increasing the front negative camber by removing the washers behind the front upper wishbones.
I had volunteered myself and my car for the whole weekend at the Supercar event. Yes, it's not strictly a 'supercar' but it is red, pointy and fairly loud so it ticks some boxes. As long as people got out with a smile and paid money to the childrens trust I was happy. It was a baking hot day, the paddock and pit lane were pretty unpleasant for more than a few minutes honestly.
The rides were going well, here is one with a hard working Marshal who regularly volunteers with us at the CSCC
The heat was sadly too much for the discs, with the outer face developing a whole load of cracks by about 4pm on the first day.
It was very disappointing to let people down early, but there was no way of continuing. The front calipers had reached 166C, the rears had reached a temperature to register, so neither were that high. I didn't have disc paint so couldn't tell their peak temps.
So a crawl back to the hotel to check out early via this viaduct scene and limped home braking very gently, if at all!
The car passed 197,000 miles on the journey and performed brilliantly. The handling was decent considering the soft set up and road tyres and the Mintex brake pads were strong and fade free, with minimal dust. The new alloy rad stopped peak temps going above 228F (109C) and the oil reached 235F (112C), both very safe figures. Whilst we were speed (and fear) limited around the banking I kept an eye on the oil pressure and this didn't dip below 51psi (3.5 Bar), thanks to the Improved Racing sump baffles and the 5W40 Shell Helix oil (these engines usually run 5W30 on the road).
Regards, Dave
Edited by Fishy Dave on Saturday 13th June 14:09
Dave, epic post and a great purchase. You have made my 1500 mile trip across the states to buy my C6 seem like a trip across town 
I've been tracking my C6 for about 7 years now (5 stateside and 2 here) and it has been consistently reliable and a whole lot of fun. It's a 2005 Z51 with a few bolt ons and a tune, just turned 110k having bought at 59k. I honestly can't imagine ever selling it as there is nothing even close that provides the track fun, weekend away, camping etc etc.
I changed out my grooved/drilled quite early on after experiencing the same heat cracks. I replaced with DBA (4k?) single piece and have had no such problems. I have used Hawk HP+ pads with great results, EBC blue with appalling results and expect next will be something else.
You may know this already but if you go too sticky on the rubber you will likely have issues with pad knock back and inconsistent pedal feel, it is well documented and only resolved by upgrading to ZR1 xtracker hubs at - kerching - each corner! I found R888's were amazing but I was having all sorts of trauma at the next braking point.
Let me know if you ever come out Snetterton way as that is my local haunt and visit quite regular, it is really well suited to the Vette. It would be great to compare notes! I miss being sat in the paddock in the USA with another 20 or so Vette owners talking V8 schizzle lol.
Ritch
I've been tracking my C6 for about 7 years now (5 stateside and 2 here) and it has been consistently reliable and a whole lot of fun. It's a 2005 Z51 with a few bolt ons and a tune, just turned 110k having bought at 59k. I honestly can't imagine ever selling it as there is nothing even close that provides the track fun, weekend away, camping etc etc.
I changed out my grooved/drilled quite early on after experiencing the same heat cracks. I replaced with DBA (4k?) single piece and have had no such problems. I have used Hawk HP+ pads with great results, EBC blue with appalling results and expect next will be something else.
You may know this already but if you go too sticky on the rubber you will likely have issues with pad knock back and inconsistent pedal feel, it is well documented and only resolved by upgrading to ZR1 xtracker hubs at - kerching - each corner! I found R888's were amazing but I was having all sorts of trauma at the next braking point.
Let me know if you ever come out Snetterton way as that is my local haunt and visit quite regular, it is really well suited to the Vette. It would be great to compare notes! I miss being sat in the paddock in the USA with another 20 or so Vette owners talking V8 schizzle lol.
Ritch
Just fantastic. Have been thinking about a roadtrip across the US for a while, trying to do a lot of 66. I never thought going out there to buy a car to do it in and bring back though 
Some great shots, but love this one:
Plus, can't get over how clean it is underneath. Makes you realise just how harsh our roads and weather are.
Some great shots, but love this one:
Fishy Dave said:
Fishy Dave said:
The best account of buying a car I've read on Pistonheads for years!
I'm full of admiration for their sheer guts and "can do" achievement! The best of America and Britain shown by true car enthusiasts coming together and doing a deal with no cheating, falsehoods or knocking down prices so liked by TV production companies. If Pistonheads had an award for "story of the year" then The £7700 Corvette C6 would be very high contender. - David
I'm full of admiration for their sheer guts and "can do" achievement! The best of America and Britain shown by true car enthusiasts coming together and doing a deal with no cheating, falsehoods or knocking down prices so liked by TV production companies. If Pistonheads had an award for "story of the year" then The £7700 Corvette C6 would be very high contender. - David
Zaba1950 said:
The best account of buying a car I've read on Pistonheads for years!
I'm full of admiration for their sheer guts and "can do" achievement! The best of America and Britain shown by true car enthusiasts coming together and doing a deal with no cheating, falsehoods or knocking down prices so liked by TV production companies. If Pistonheads had an award for "story of the year" then The £7700 Corvette C6 would be very high contender. - David
Thank you, that's very kind of you to say. Thanks to PH for noticing too, great to see we made it to the front page. I'm full of admiration for their sheer guts and "can do" achievement! The best of America and Britain shown by true car enthusiasts coming together and doing a deal with no cheating, falsehoods or knocking down prices so liked by TV production companies. If Pistonheads had an award for "story of the year" then The £7700 Corvette C6 would be very high contender. - David
Cambs_Stuart said:
Great read. Always liked the shape of the C6.
Interesting to see the drilled discs cracking, I had heard it could occur under high stress. Will you replace with more drilled or use something like the godspeed g-hook design?
To bring the story up to date, I called EBC the next day and to my surprise they had a pair of dimpled and grooved discs in stock and they arrived the next day. Interesting to see the drilled discs cracking, I had heard it could occur under high stress. Will you replace with more drilled or use something like the godspeed g-hook design?
There wasn't a single crack on the inside of the old discs, but the outer face had loads. I'm guessing this was as a result of the air being ducted to the inner face only?
I like the black anodised coating on the EBC's, I'm hoping it will resist corrosion for a while.
Back in January I had been chatting to Mark Eaton on the CCCUK stand and we both agreed we'd like to encourage owners to use their cars in anger but in relative safety, so we encouraged booking on to a Lotus On Track/Car Limits handling day. Fast forward to the 27th July and 11 Corvettes turned up along with an assortment of other machinery (including Porkrind's new AMG C63).
It was a scorching hot day, but once again my car took it in its stride, although for it 30+ degrees was probably normal California weather so I shouldn't have worried. The coolant and oil temps were both kept at sensible temperatures, it was the driver that suffered! The brakes were perfect, although the caliper temps reached 210C/410F, I'm not sure at what point the caliper seals start to melt?
The afternoon was spent on the MSA Sprint circuit, a layout that had changed since the last time I sprinted there with SELOC 13 or 14 years before. The C6 set the second fastest time of the day, only beaten by a new Porsche 991.
The Mintex pads were mighty, perfect modulation, not grabby but with plenty of bite. Heel and toe was possible without head-butting the steering wheel!Superb photos can be viewed here by David Stallard Photography: https://www.davidstallardphotography.com/Petrol-He...
The photos highlight the amount of bodyroll, something I will look at over the winter.
Since then we have finally completed on our house purchase so a carport will need to be commissioned. Being in a conservation area is going to be a pain in this respect.
One DRL bulb stopped working but Radioflyer sorted a replacement quickly. The last couple of weeks they have taken it in turns to work intermittently due to old plastic bulb holders, something easily changed. Edited by Fishy Dave on Wednesday 15th August 14:23
Great write up, OP. I see you cite Tehachapi as famous for trains...given your other reference to Eagles album covers I thought you might also be familiar with it being mentioned in the chorus of Little Feat's "Willin' "
I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me weed, whites and wine
And you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin'
I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me weed, whites and wine
And you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin'
Fantastic thread! A proper adventure.
We hired a C6 convertible in California back in 2013 for a couple of weeks, brought it all flooding back.
We loved every minute of it and it was a superb car. We covered about 2000 miles from San Francisco to San Diego, Palm Springs, Vegas (37 degrees), Sequoia and up to Lake Tahoe (2 degrees). It was fast, comfortable, economical, practical
and felt special, a really superb car.
My old BM650 is getting a bit leggy and I am struggling with what to replace it with for the 20k miles per year, your thread has really got me thinking.
The idea to do a US driving holiday and purchase a C6 is incredibly appealing.
We hired a C6 convertible in California back in 2013 for a couple of weeks, brought it all flooding back.
We loved every minute of it and it was a superb car. We covered about 2000 miles from San Francisco to San Diego, Palm Springs, Vegas (37 degrees), Sequoia and up to Lake Tahoe (2 degrees). It was fast, comfortable, economical, practical
and felt special, a really superb car. My old BM650 is getting a bit leggy and I am struggling with what to replace it with for the 20k miles per year, your thread has really got me thinking.
The idea to do a US driving holiday and purchase a C6 is incredibly appealing.
MrNoisy said:
Dave, epic post and a great purchase. You have made my 1500 mile trip across the states to buy my C6 seem like a trip across town
I've been tracking my C6 for about 7 years now (5 stateside and 2 here) and it has been consistently reliable and a whole lot of fun. It's a 2005 Z51 with a few bolt ons and a tune, just turned 110k having bought at 59k. I honestly can't imagine ever selling it as there is nothing even close that provides the track fun, weekend away, camping etc etc.
I changed out my grooved/drilled quite early on after experiencing the same heat cracks. I replaced with DBA (4k?) single piece and have had no such problems. I have used Hawk HP+ pads with great results, EBC blue with appalling results and expect next will be something else.
You may know this already but if you go too sticky on the rubber you will likely have issues with pad knock back and inconsistent pedal feel, it is well documented and only resolved by upgrading to ZR1 xtracker hubs at - kerching - each corner! I found R888's were amazing but I was having all sorts of trauma at the next braking point.
Let me know if you ever come out Snetterton way as that is my local haunt and visit quite regular, it is really well suited to the Vette. It would be great to compare notes! I miss being sat in the paddock in the USA with another 20 or so Vette owners talking V8 schizzle lol.
Ritch
Hi Ritch, I've been tracking my C6 for about 7 years now (5 stateside and 2 here) and it has been consistently reliable and a whole lot of fun. It's a 2005 Z51 with a few bolt ons and a tune, just turned 110k having bought at 59k. I honestly can't imagine ever selling it as there is nothing even close that provides the track fun, weekend away, camping etc etc.
I changed out my grooved/drilled quite early on after experiencing the same heat cracks. I replaced with DBA (4k?) single piece and have had no such problems. I have used Hawk HP+ pads with great results, EBC blue with appalling results and expect next will be something else.
You may know this already but if you go too sticky on the rubber you will likely have issues with pad knock back and inconsistent pedal feel, it is well documented and only resolved by upgrading to ZR1 xtracker hubs at - kerching - each corner! I found R888's were amazing but I was having all sorts of trauma at the next braking point.
Let me know if you ever come out Snetterton way as that is my local haunt and visit quite regular, it is really well suited to the Vette. It would be great to compare notes! I miss being sat in the paddock in the USA with another 20 or so Vette owners talking V8 schizzle lol.
Ritch
Good to hear that you use your C6 on track with standard sized brakes (although yours are the slightly bigger Z51 discs). I hadn't read about the pad knock back, interesting, I will look into that. My family live in Norfolk so may well book a trackday over winter, let me know if you book anything in the meantime, would be good to meet and compare cars.
Pothole said:
Great write up, OP. I see you cite Tehachapi as famous for trains...given your other reference to Eagles album covers I thought you might also be familiar with it being mentioned in the chorus of Little Feat's "Willin' "
I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me weed, whites and wine
And you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin'
Honestly, I'd never heard that song before, it was the sellers wife, Michelle, who recommended we stay at Tehachapi rather than a Motel 6 or similar. Thanks for the extra info. I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me weed, whites and wine
And you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin'
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