I used my Garmin Catalyst for the first time on Saturday. You can hear it coaching me in the video above. According to the Catalyst I should be able to put together a 1:37.XX lap if I just get all the pieces put together.
Note that there is no sound:
I punched my tire temps into the spreadsheet. I think I'm about 1 PSI over on all four corners.
The JackPoint jack stands worked out really well. It was pretty easy to get the car up on all four and it's super stable once you do.
The rear brake pads are retained with a pair of pins. They need to be tapped out of the caliper to remove the pads. I turned a punch with a dimple in the end to match the point on the pins. Then I noticed that it was hard to tap them back into place without occasionally whacking the caliper from behind so I turned a tool with a pocket to match the head of the pin. Much better.
I got one nice beauty shot while I was at the track.
I installed a set of Scrape Armor Radiator Grill guards on Tuesday. They are the only guards designed using GM's CAD files and approved by them. They went in pretty easily. I think it took about an hour total. I cleaned out the radiators and under body panels while I was in there.
This was the first chance I got to try out the JackPoint jack stands that I modified. I made a spring loaded pin assembly so that the pin can extend 2.5" above the normal position. In theory this would make it a lot easier to line up the second stand on each side without having to lower/adjust/raise/realign the pin on the stand to line up with the forward jacking point. It worked better that I thought it would. Sometimes a plan just comes together.
I had a nice chat with Ken at KNS brakes today about the brake pulsing I was feeling. He has a ZL1 Camaro and has worked with a bunch of guys in the C8 community. He agreed that it was from the pads overheating and transferring material to the rotors. He said I could try a pad like the DTC-70s but eventually the rotor will get too hot and the pads start transferring material. He said that the C8's front brakes are undersized for any serious track use. He said that it really needs a 370mm rotor like the ZL1 or C7 ZO6 have.
I asked him about the difference between the OEM Z06 calipers and rotors vs an AP kit. He said the big advantage to the AP kit is the 25mm thick pads, but you have to use aftermarket wheels to use those calipers. He said the Z06 setup would hold up just as well, you'd just have to swap pads more often.
FWIW: He's running the stock 6 piston calipers, GiroDisc two piece rotors and GP50 pads on his ZL1.
I think I'm convinced on the Z06 swap for the front. I placed an order for the calipers, hoses, dust shields, and pin kits tonight. Once I receive a tracking number for those, AKA they are actually available and in stock, I'll place the order for pads and rotors.
What a great read! And really exciting for you, too!
Thats pretty nuts about the tire getting turned on the wheels; I would not have expected that. I guess that happens on top fuel dragsters on launch but still.
That Laguna Seca video, man. Takes me back to the license test in Gran Turismo 3 all those years back. Nicely done!
I get what you're saying about the silver wheels. Some cars look good with shiny, some with matte, hard to say what exactly yours needs to be just perfect, but IMO a major improvement from the black wheels.
Maybe it's just me but it's funny to see someone with a car like that doing their own mods. My time is enough at a premium that if I had the funds I would gladly pay someone these days! But I guess you're not atypical on GRM :)
I started out racing R/C boats, then planes, then cars, and high power rocketry. There were always things that I wanted that I couldn't find exactly what I wanted so I bought a lathe and benchtop mill and used the power of the interwebs to learn machining. I ran a garage shop CNC machining parts for the R/C cars and HP rockets and it paid for a lot of my hobbies though my 40's when we didn't have the money to spend on them otherwise. Machining is actually really cathartic for me. It's great to come up with an idea and then make it into reality.
As far as cars go I did most of my own basic maintenance until I was in my late 40's. My career has progressed and the company I work for has done extremely well in the last few years (NVIDIA) so I can afford to have someone do grunt work when I don't feel like doing it myself. I still swap the brake pads and wheels for track days, but anything more difficult than that goes to a shop or the dealer.
If money was no object I'd probably spring for a set of light bronze wheels of some sort, but the black wheels are easy to keep up and they came with the car. If I buy a better set of track wheels I'll probably get them in black too.
I mostly do everything myself, unless I don't know how (internal transmission work) or I just don't want to (rusty exhaust work).
I'm bummed I just read about your brake upgrade - there was a guy on the corvette forum who was looking to trade his z06 brakes for the smaller ones. Forgot why but he had no takers and just bought the parts.
In reply to jfryjfry :
I saw that. He was in Florida and I'm in CA. He wanted to swap them all at once in case there was more parts that needed to be swapped. It's OK. I can still sell my stock Z51 brakes to recover some of the expense.
Welllll, after ordering the Z06 calipers on Thursday night it dawned on me that I hadn't seen anyone confirm that they had actually completed this conversion. I specifically started worrying about whether the stock wheels would fit without spacers. Someone who bought the calipers but hadn't installed them yet was kind enough to give me the width of the caliper from the mounting face to the outside face. It turns out to be about 1/4" wider than the Z51 calipers. berkeley!
This car has studs so adding a 1/4" spacer doesn't sounds like a good idea to me. They make 20mm spacers that bolt to the hubs and have another set of studs but you have to cut down the OEM studs to use them. That doesn't sound like a good idea to me either.
I decided to cancel my order for now.
Good news, I was able cancel my Z06 caliper order before the parts shipped. Ken at KNS had mentioned that he had a used AP racing kit available when I talked to him last week. It has used calipers but all of the other parts are new. So, after I canceled my Z06 caliper order I called and made a very good deal with him for it.
Unfortunately, there's more news. I took my car into the dealer on Monday because I saw a buildup of grime and grit inside the rear wheels. It didn't seem like axle or CV grease, but it had an oily feel to it. I thought it might just be rain combined with brake dust and road grime. The dealer called back and said that the transmission pan is leaking and there is a CSB to replace it. The good news is that it will be replaced under warranty. The bad news is that there's a national back order on the replacement pans and it could take 2-4 weeks to get one. So, for now Babe is on time out in the garage.
I've been in a funk for the last couple weeks and having the C8 on time out isn't helping. Yesterday afternoon after work I watched TV for a bit, took a 3.5 mile walk with my wife, made dinner and then took the dog to the park. After all of that I decided that I needed some garage therapy to shake the funk off so I started installing the AP brake kit.
Overall it was pretty simple. Remove the stock caliper from the knuckle, remove the stock rotor, install the AP rotor, caliper bracket and caliper. Then the fun began. I tried to crack the brake line loose from the hard line. At first it wouldn't budge. After more force than I would have expected to use it finally cracked "loose", but it was still pretty stiff. I had to use a wrench all the way to the last thread (two flats at a time). Once I had it apart I looked at the nut. It didn't appear to have any thread lock on it, so maybe it's some kind of deformed nut? Ok, whatever. The line is dripping fluid. Let's just get this back together. I lined up the new SS brake line but it was really hard to get the threads started. I could only get it to thread about 1/2 turn with my fingers and worried that it might be cross threaded. I tried it a couple times with the same result. Paranoia started to set in and I worried that maybe I was sent the wrong lines, but no, the package said they were the correct ."C8 '20-'24". OK... Let's give this a shot. I used a wrench to tighten it up and thankfully, other than being stiff, it went together without a hitch. So, I have the passenger side installed. I'll do the driver's side tonight if I have time.
I started the driver’s side tonight. I couldn’t get the flare nut started on the SS line. I was able to get the original line threaded and tightened up. The banjo bolt would thread into the SS line. I measured the bolt threads as 10x1.0 so I went ahead I ordered a metric thread file and a die. Unfortunately I won’t be able to get back to it for a couple days
AMT just came out with their c8 camber lock out kit and they have a memorial day sale every year in about 2 weeks...
Yesterday I worked on the driver’s side brake line. I decided to start with just running a nut onto the threads and work up to using the die. The nut went on ok, but it was snug. I think that the flare was over tightened and it made the first thread oversized. Once I got the nut started it would get easier to turn as it was threaded farther on. I tried using the die but I couldn’t get it started straight. I took a nut and cut a slot into the threads at one end using a mini hacksaw blade to make a thread chaser. I ran that on and off a couple times. Then I went back to the die. It took a few tries but I finally got it started straight and was able to clean up the thread. After that I got the SS line threaded up and snugged down. This whole process took over an hour.
I bled the brakes and then took it for a drive to bed the pads. Everything seems fine.
Now, if I could just get the transmission pan replaced I’d be ready for my next track day.
Good news: Apparently the transmission pan/gasket/bolts were delivered to the dealer yesterday. I called my service advisor and he hadn't even been notified yet. They are backed up so my install appointment is a couple weeks out.
In reply to CAinCA :
I work in financial services and listen to Bloomberg constantly. Nvidia is a regular topic on there.
A C8 remains squarely on my radar. I told my wife that I really only had 2 vehicles that I really wanted that I haven't already owned: a Lightning and a C8. We got the Lightning over the weekend, so...
Beautiful car and great spec. I'm learning a lot from you before I take the plunge!
In reply to Loweguy5 :
NV has been very, very good to me. I worked at Intel in the late 90's and saw the veterans on the money train. That was nothing compared to what we've seen over the last 5 years. We weren't even doing $1B/year when I started here 15 years ago.
I really wanted a C8 when they first came out. Other than this oil leak it's been really fun. I really like how it drives. IMHO There's nothing close in this price range.
There has definitely been a learning curve in the ownership experience. There's a dealer in town but it isn't like the service I was used to from the Indy shop that worked on my Cayman. The service rep I've been working with isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.
One other major difference is the lack of knowledge on the forums about tracking these cars. My Cayman was 7 years old when I bought it. There are a ton of guys that have tracked them. On the Corvette forums there are only a few people who have seriously put the C8 through its paces.
In reply to CAinCA :
And that's a shame too. For most guys (let's just call it what it is, guys buy these) they reach the affluence to buy one when they are also nearing retirement. They aren't tracking the car; the drive it to the New Balance store and to JC Penney for some new jorts.
I also agree on the price vs. what you get. I believe that is the best performance car value under $150k and is even competitive with many cars well beyond that in price point.
Domestic dealer service advisors can be a real crap shoot (in fact all service advisors can be) but my bet is you'll find one somewhere that gets it and then he will be your guy.
Perhaps I should mail off a few payments on the Lightning before I bring this up with Mrs. Loweguy...
It's been a bit since I posted here. I'm doing well now but I had a heart attack on Memorial day and was in the hospital for a month. I just came home last Saturday. I'm walking, going up and down stairs, shopping, cooking, etc. I'm walking slower than I used to but I managed to walk three miles in spurts yesterday.
I'm not allowed to drive and I'm not sure when I will be allowed to again. It's probably going to be a month or two. I won't be working on cars or tracking anytime soon. I'm aiming for next Spring but we'll see how it goes.
My wife and brother dropped my car off at the dealer Mid-June to have the transmission pan replaced. They got the old pan off and then realized that the replacement was the wrong one. It took another couple weeks to get the correct pan delivered. I just got the car back this week. Unfortunately, it's probably going to be sitting for a while.
Take care of yourselves.
!!
Im so glad to hear you dodged that one!
Get to feeling better, man.
Yikes, that is some scary stuff. Glad you came through relatively unscathed. Give your body the time to heal and get stronger. You'll be back on track in no time!
Damn, glad you're still here and wish you the best getting back in the vette quickly!
Wow! A lot of people don't survive that event. Happy that you did, GRM brother. Take care. Next spring will be here soon - will follow along at whatever pace you can muster.
Take your time and take care... Glad to hear you're making good progress!
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