MY C6 Z06 TRACK CAR PREP

Hello all! I'm slightly a bit late on posting my 2007 C6 Z06 Track Prep/Build Thread. I always wanted to start a build thread but unfortunately 4 Track cars later I never did so I figured better late then never! I still am a bit late on this one but I got enough info & some photo's to start from the beginning to current. Story - I love the history of the C6R & how unstoppable it was during 2005-2011 in GT1 with the Katech LS7.R - Winning Le-Mans & Multiple championships is a great accomplishment. This adds to the C6 Z06 Lure as it is a Homologation special.. The LS7 is a masterpiece of an engine when you look into the design & Minds behind it. I love the character of it due to all of it's lightweight internals, bore & stroke it revs up so quickly, makes wild noises up top, feels so good & pulls so hard. I'll give you all little back story on how I ended up with this car as well.  I loved the C6 Z06 since a kid when I was middle school when the car was released I always wanted one. I remember going to a Local Corvette dealer in 2016 after seeing they had a C6 Z06  & sitting in it with my Girlfriend of 8 years now & telling her " One day I'll own this car "  As time went & I experienced them in my late teens & early 20's the desire for one grew really strong so I decided I need to have one. 

It's November 10th 2021 & I spotted a C6 Z06 at a local dealership online after months of looking. It was black & checked all the boxes as far as price & Mileage went. I had already been looking for months & I decided I'm going to go ahead & look at it. I go look at the car, start it & instantly fell in love with it. The second that LS7 fired right up I was SOLD! I told the Sales guy I'm coming to get it  this Saturday. He got all the paper work ready I came in & picked it up ... Drove it around for a week then put it away for storage. I called up KATECH which is local to me & I told them I want a stage 2 done to the car in the spring OF 2022  which we did once spring came around. I loved the car & had some serious fun with it once the STAGE 2 package was done. I don't know what possessed me to sell it months later during mid-summer but I did & about a week later I was in instant regret.  After the sale I watched multiple videos that I had recorded on the Black C6 Z06 I once owned along with multiple online videos & endless online C6 Z06 articles. At this point I realized I was obsessed & fascinated  by the C6 Z06 also to mention the pure nostalgia I had for this car Considering Video games during middle School & the awesome top gear video where the car drag raced THE FUEL THAT IGNITES IT which being younger you thought that was one of the coolest things ever! I knew I had to have another one... I told myself I'm going to buy one in either red, white or blue because MURICA. 

Fast forward to the end of summer here in 2022 I'm scrolling Cars & Bids Literally for fun .. What pops up? A RED C6 Z06! I call my girlfriend & tell her out of excitement I tell her I'm going to jokingly bid on this car & just mess around with the auction ..... Couple days later the auction is down to the final minutes without my realization & the most ironic part about this was I was on the phone with my Girlfriend during these final minutes I go to her I'm going to throw a few small bids at it to joke around I won't win it at this low of a price anyway. I throw in my final bid the timer ticks & I win the car. I could not believe it I tell my Girlfriend "guess what? I just won the car I have to let you go so I can figure out shipping talk to you in a bit" I get in contact with the seller we put everything together no less then a week later I had the car home & could not have been more excited. I call Zach at Katech & tell him the news I informed him I'd like to go with another STAGE 2 PACKAGE so we did in October - Long story short I ended up going back to stock cam this spring for competing in time trails I did not feel like dealing with going full aero etc on the car to be competitive with it. Alright enough with Story time let's get to the track prep & build part.

Here is what I currently have done to it. Keep in mind this car was COMPLETELY STOCK!

BOLT ON LIST 

- Corsa Carbon Cold Air Intake.

- Nick Williams 103MM throttle Body.

- MSD Intake Manifold. 

- 2.5 Inch Kooks Long Tube headers.

- Kooks 3 inch X-pipe.

- Corsa Xtreme black tip cat-back exhaust. 

ENGINE MODIFICATONS 

- Improved racing Oil Pan Baffle.

- GM LATE MODEL Pickup tube.

- Improved racing crank scraper.

- LS7 Windage Tray Kit.

- Improved Racing Barbell.

- Lingenfelter Dry sump tank expansion. 

- KATECH LS7 Blue Oil Pump.

SUSPENSION/ETC

- APEX SM-10'S 18X11 ET 38 F & 18X12.5 ET 52 R In Anthracite Gray

- DRM DELRIN STEERING RACK BUSHINGS.

- C6 REMOTE CLUTCH BLEEDER.

- ARP WHEEL STUDS

- DORMAN WHEEL LUGS

What I'm going to be installing over the winter 

- AP RACING BRAKES ( FRONT ONLY ) 

- DRM BILSTEINS.

- BORG DELRIN SUSPENSION BUSHINGS.

- AMT C6 Z06/ZR1 CAMBER LOCK KIT.

- AMT RACING SEAT MOUNTS.

- SPARCO QRT RACING SEAT.

- C6 CORVETTE AIRBAG SIMULATION PLUG.

I will be posting Upgrade work, Photos at the Track, Track Day times, Autcross results & hopefully some wins!

Here is a photo of the Car on Cars & Bids in stock form. Won on 09/07/2022.

Here she is getting loaded from her old home & then making it to her new home on 09/14/2022 around 3pm!  

Awesome.  
I didn't see anything about head work...   stock heads are known to drop valves. 
there are also issues with the connecting rods losing their costing and chewing themselves up. 
 

but that's about it.  Heads can be "fixed" for under $2k if you do work yourself. 
 

look into unplugging the steering wheel sensor so the car doesn't go into ice mode or do other weird things if there is an issue with the tpms system. 
 

these things are amazingly potent on track.  I loooove to out-brake the other cars and have had a few fast ones shoot by me because they waited until I got on my brakes but by then it was too late for them!! Hahaha

i did a mod where I ran 3" mandrel through the stock mufflers, replacing the necked-down 2.25" pipe in there.   Still have the valves and can make it loud or quiet at will.  It's pretty great....

Oh and because everyone likes pics....

In reply to jfryjfry :

Out of all the things I mentioned that was one of the things I forgot to mention considering it is the most important thing I don't know how I let it slip right by me! I do have the Katech Head Fix done Once I get my Invoices in Order I'll post them on here for people to see! 

Yeah, glad you mentioned that I will make sure to do so. The car did do something funny once where it decided to throttle itself for about half a second while I was in 3RD gear getting ready to enter the Highway. 

Nice photo by the way. Always nice to drop a good ol track photo 

Alright, got it at home now & unfortunately the front fender liners seem to be really faded .. so I removed the front liners on driver & passenger side, cleaned them up, prepped them & then refreshed them with trim paint. Here is a before & after! Done on 09/18/2022 around 5pm. 

Have you done the bushings yet?  I did a little write up on how I did mine and they were suuuper easy to take apart, sans flame.    It's in my thread in this forum

In reply to jfryjfry :

Nope! It's going to get to get BORG 100AF's here soon ... I'll definitely take a peek at your post. Thank you! 

Taking it out for a cruise October 16th 2022 before dropping it off to Katech on October 22nd 2022.

That's a great little build there!

Only real comment is that I don't understand the 160 thermostat.  These things are supposed to run warmer....   but love reading about another c6z

Looks like a nice build. My father purchased a similar one BaT.

The two big issues we have had on track is the oil gets hot and the GM slave cylinder has failed twice. His has a Dewitts radiator with integrated oil cooler and the original Z06 cooler was removed. We went to the GSpeed dual oil cooler kit that replaces the fog lights and that definitely helped keep it cool. Still working on the slave cylinder, I'm planning on doing either a Tilton or McCleod aftermarket slave cylider to hopefully eliminate that issue.

In reply to da_johnny_boy :

How did the slave cylinder fail?  If it was the plastic spacer thing, there are billet replacements.  Quartermaster makes a great one that is, at least when I got it, the most affordable.   I've had no issues with my oem slave cyl + quartermaster billet retainer on long, hot so cal track days (air temp 105+). 
 

aftermarket slaves might solve that too but make sure you get them set up properly. 

let me know if he ever decides to sell that gspeed oil cooler setup!

Added the Katech Carbon Spoiler which looks great! Also got some tints! 

Closer look at the Corsa Xtreme Black Exhaust tips!

Added a Carbon lip from RPI designs, installed Black pocket headlights & Clear Markers which I personally think look a lot better then orange markers.

Ordered a set of APEX SM-10's here are the specs! 

Apex wheels are now here! 

You've been putting on some real fancy accessories!!   Looking good. 

In reply to jfryjfry : Thank you!!

Ok, so at this point all the proper engine work has been done to the vehicle so that's completely checked off. The looks department is pretty much all set based on my preferences so I can say that's checked off too. Here are the new wheels installed & they look great especially wrapped in the Nankang AR1's 

Now it's time to move into working on the suspension & checking it off finally completing the track prep process for this C6Z!!

Hood vents are common and beneficial as well

That Carbon spoiler looks great, I like it a bit better than color matched fiberglass. The World Challenge Style vented hood is pretty nice. It helps get a ton of heat out. Also might want to get a front and rear tow hook before going on the track.

In reply to jfryjfry :

not sure yet how the slave cylinder failed. I didn't receive the broken parts after it was repair the first time, so I can't diagnose that. I've been procrastinating taking it apart this winter, but it did the same thing as before when it failed, which was dump clutch fluid out the bellhousing.

Yeah, I saw Quartmaster has one too but I'm avoiding them for a couple reasons.

I doubt he's gonna sell the Gspeed oil cooler setup. I do have a parts list for a similar dual 25 row cooler setup if you want to build your own. You'd just need to make some brackets to mount it.

In reply to da_johnny_boy :

Sure, post it up!  Maybe the stig would like to see it as well!