2002 C5 Z06 *noob*

Hi everyone. I figured I should finally sign up since I get linked here daily from a few guys on a local board.

Name's John. I own a 2002 C5 Z06. I picked it up in May of 2010 nearly bone stock minus a C6Z shifter, flowmaster axleback, and other small goodies like a shorty antenna, partition, etc. Here's how she looked the day I bought her:

The first 'season' I got a few basic things done - tinted the windows 20% , installed a Vararam CAI and lowered the car using C6 bolts and longer rears. I somehow managed to find my dream set of wheels on Craigslist - CCW SP500s. 18x10 fronts with 275/35s and 19x11.5 rears with 305/30s. I replaced the Blowmasters with a Borla XR-1 catback and got it tuned by Carl @ CJTunes. She put down average #s - 360whp/355wtq. After season one here's the refresh:

The second 'season' things got a bit more interesting. I wanted to keep it N/A for as long as I could so I went with a fairly aggressive custom grind cam - 238/240 - .600" / .600" on a 112 LSA + 2 and paired it with a set of LG SuperPro 1 3/4" LTs, X-pipe, and replaced the Borla XR-1 with a GHL axle-back. Here's a few build pics:

Out with the old:

In with the new:

After the tuning was all said it done she put down 427whp / 394wtq. Overall she finally sounds like she should. Drivability is overall still very good, and boy does this thing pull like a train. At 3k it starts to pick up pretty good and by 5k it's screaming as the hp keeps climbing to redline. The sound is bliss. Absolutely no drone, ever, and I'm pretty sure my neighbors hate my guts. One told me every time I drive by, nearly at idle, it shakes his house. It's so worth it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZXzpj70qAk

On to 'season' three. Not a whole lot new here. I finally got rid of the crap stock seats and replaced them with a set of microsuede Corbeau A4s as they're one of the only few that fit this car. Since it's not seeing a ton of track time I wanted something supportive, but not a race bucket. These are by far one of the best mods I've ever done - very comfortable and worlds more supportive:

I also converted to e85 and with that came new injectors and a re-tune. I was street-tuned so I don't know what the overall power gains were quite yet (I'll know in a few weeks when I'm on the rollers), but overall she runs a good 20* cooler now and the extra octane sure doesn't hurt engine longevity.

Next year I'd like to start to get into some seat time at the track. I'll definitely need some better tires (and preferably 18s all around), and I'm heavily considering coilovers as the next mod. I don't have much engine parts left to touch as I want to keep the stock heads but I may look into a new intake mani.

That's the long of it. For those that say tl;dr I have a cammed vette...it's silver.

JT, your avatar is destroying the board, and is a terrible facade at masking your latent homosexuality. The vette does a great job of masking your laughable manhood, though.

(OK srsly... make avatar smaller or something.)

Rad car. Dumb avatar. More of the first and less of the second please.

Have you bought a miata yet?

Welcome to the board! I love the car and think the wheels look great. But dump the animated avatar please. :-)

Sorry fellas. It looked fine on my end but I'm running pretty high resolution. Now back to your regularly scheduled comments...

Dang, now I wish I had seen this avatar everyone's ranting about.

Nice cheby, by the way.

Sky_Render wrote: Dang, now I wish I had seen this avatar everyone's ranting about. Nice cheby, by the way.

See: http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/1304072100_1304047163_1.gif?w=234&h=244

lol. nice vette too.

Those CCW's look pretty damn spectacular.

Current avatar is much better, love the car. Sounds incredible when you get on the loud pedal!

I feel bad for the neighbors.. But that car sound glorious.

That sounds sweet. Funny thing is at the local supermarket one of the refrigerator cabinets must have something wrong with it but it makes the same cammed V8 sound.

Good luck with it!

Thanks fellas, it sounds a lot better under load but tough to get a good sound on video. During the winter I'll look into coilvers/sway bars and get to work on suspension.

I'll admit, the car sounds pretty berkeleying wicked in person.

I've got that fizzy feeling...

That is a pretty nice plastic bastard you have there.

Thanks guys!

Well, I was finally able to get on the rollers to see what my street-tune on e85 could do. I dyno'd 2 days ago at the same place I did my stock baseline run at and was very happy with my results:

422whp/405wtq.

I haven't been emailed the dyno graph quite yet but I'll do an overlay from my stock run to see where the big gains are as I'm more curious in the midrange.

I took this video from my phone, she certainly doesn't lack in the noise department:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1bC8u7pP9E

It was REALLY damn loud in person. I pulled up just in time to hear the last run. Inside my car. On the other side of the building.

People who get into a new Z06 and say "hmmm, needs more power. And it could handle a little better too" are my heroes.

mndsm wrote: It was REALLY damn loud in person. I pulled up just in time to hear the last run. Inside my car. On the other side of the building.

Wait, you heard my run all the way over there AND inside your car? Holy crap! I thought for sure you missed it considering you were walking up as it was getting pulled out. The best thing about it all...zero drone, ever!

pinchvalve wrote: People who get into a new Z06 and say "hmmm, needs more power. And it could handle a little better too" are my heroes.

I feel like I'm good on power now as getting 15-20hp more will now cost me a good $1,500+. Ironically, that's the cost of coilovers. Guess where I'm going next? :)

Yeah dude, I heard it actually.... out on the road in front of MAP as I was getting to their lot. Probably at LEAST a block away. IT's berkeleying loud.

So John, what are you going to do with your 422 hp? Track days?

jstein77 wrote: So John, what are you going to do with your 422 hp? Track days?

This year's coming to an end pretty quick as our temps are dropping fast but over the winter I hope to have suspension nailed down (coilovers and sways).It's definitely getting some track time in next year too, just need to bum a better wheel/tire set-up. Our nearest track is a good 3+ hours away which is a hassle (especially if something breaks), but she'll definitely see the track.