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Car Setup (Last Update 5/2/2023) - If anyone has any questions, input, feedback or needs this for a reference
My Objectives:
1. Fix the potential LS7 valve / head issue, get away from stock casting heads
2. Usable power (tq) for road racing / HPDE
3. Streetable - stay on 93 octane fuel, no ethanol tunes
4. Improve handling and braking first, safety, address engine last (gives me more seat time in stock config)
This thread is to document a build that is in process, over a few years. Transition from a completely stock 2008, to a road race / HPDE / TT(?) / One lap of America / street legal ZO6. I will run Mid-Ohio, Nelsons, Pitt and VIR this year. HPDE only, non-competition, just for fun.
White Rabbit - somewhat of an inside joke and the unofficial name of my boat. Figured I would carry on the "White Rabbit Racing" theme over to the 'vette. That will be our team name if we end up doing the One Lap 2023.
This is how life started:
2019, Bought the car from my father as he wanted to get back into his street rod projects and wanted to offload. We made a deal, and I kept it stock for a couple years, 16K miles. Car is kind of special to me being his. He traded a pretty spotless '94 ZR-1 for it back in 2008, crushed me a little inside to see that one go.
Did some road trippin'. A couple times on the Bourbon trail, once with my cousin in his GT350.
Last edited by blckss; 05-03-2023 at 07:58 AM.
Reason: updating build/spec list
Phase 1 modifications - Fall 2021
- G Speed spherical control arm bearing kit
- G Speed Penske single adjustable coilover kit
- SPEC Corvette sway bars
- ARH 2" longtube headers - Heat shield in trans tunnel
- LG tow hooks
- DBA's T3 4000 series rotors
- Hawk DTC70/60 for track use
- Hawk HPS 5.0 for street use
- Corner balance, add camber, align
Did Mid-Ohio Autointerests track day Monday 5-2-22 season opener.
Wake up time 4:30am, make coffee load the truck up and head out at 5:15, 1.5 hour drive, tech inspect at 7am.
Get to the track, unload car to head over to Tech inspection, car won't start. I was having battery issues, must have left the hatch open all weekend. I had finished all my prep on Friday, loaded the car up via winch on the trailer (I did put a tender on it Sunday night, must have been DEAD DEAD)
Nice GT3 at the track day. Multiple vettes, Porsche, Mustang, Camaro, one Ferrari, one Viper, couple CT5s, etc. Nice turnout. One really neat C6 ZO6 TTU car there, but he didn't run at all. When we pulled out end of day, in rolled all the IMSA trailers like a convoy. There must have been 10 teams there pulling in, some with multiple rigs, what a show.
Missed tech, made mandatory drivers meeting, then went back for a late Tech check-in. Track was cold all morning, very slippery on the used slicks I acquired on the 18" wheels I bought last year of the forum. Car spun out very easily in car control session between track time. I was very cautious out on the track.
Soooooo, track day a success. I have (what I think) is a really good instructor. Also runs a ZO6 so he can show me the vette specific lines for Mid-Ohio, which can be different than other cars. He kept me out of trouble. First time running slicks (huge learning curve ahead!) I am currently at Novice instructed. This was my fourth track day. Next one in June and I can't wait. Last couple years I drove to the track, this year I have it on a trailer. Much better with a truck and tools at your disposal.
Next mods up are to install Sparco seat for passenger (mount showed up on Monday while I was at the track...), MGW shifter and heavy ****, and take to dyno tune for the longtube headers. Other than possibly another set of slicks that have more life, not much else for now.
I want to focus on driving the car at the track with this setup, I need seat time, and instruction.
Will be doing H/C/I, TB, clutch, balancer with supporting mods late summer (backlog at Mamo motorsports....)
This is a cool build thread and the car looks great! If I may make a suggestion, the car is fast enough in stock form to get most people in trouble. If you are still learning the car, and relatively new to track days, I would not change things on the car more until you can be super consistent with the car. If you keep changing things while you're learning then the car is different every time you take it out and it becomes harder and harder to learn. I know its fun and cool to modify stuff, but I would maybe hold off a little more. Safety items and good brake pads/fluid are really all you need to learn. Slicks often times mask mistakes because they have so much grip, and once you go past that limit you may not have learned the skills for recovery. Like you mentioned, seat time and instruction go a long way early on. I would give it a full year before making too many change.
Kubs - yes sir. fully agree and thank you for the advice. Like too many changes on my boat where I can't tell exactly what part improved/degraded performance. I do want to run the car like this and as you said, a lot of changes all at once. Only real reason to do the engine mods is to get ahead of the potential head issue, else I would leave it like this. I certainly do not need the HP. I ran the car with only good brake pads and new street tires for two years. Was feeling pretty confident. THEN - slicks and felt like everything changed on me.
I'm really debating going back to street tires for a bit for a couple reasons: learning & consistency, slicks take a couple laps to reach operating temperature so for a HPDE day that's 30% loss in track time, also the scrubs are a bit unpredictable on quality and new sets are around $2800... and I could run 18" street leagal tires so I'm not changing rims ALL the time if I just wanted to go for a cruise and not have to jack up the car and swap out. No good 18" dia sizes in Sport Cup 2R....
I realized Monday that I am slow, and need to really learn the car more. I got a lot better on my last two laps of the day. Left feeling good and more confident in the car and what it was doing. Like I read here often, MORE SEAT TIME.
Thanks for the advice, I'm always open to feedback/criticism as it only helps you learn. It's a weird thing, I feel a lot more confident driving on the track solo, however, I really need the guidance of an instructor still.
Radial slicks are not forgiving when they let go you spin quickly.
I tried them and went back to bias ply slicks because they are more fun and forgiving.
I'd keep one nice set of street tires for the street and a set of track wheels with DOT R rated tires.
Re: tires. Anyone running the TOYO Proxes RR? Good tire size selection. I like the Continental sizes that are on there now - 305-660 R18 & 325-710 R18 - the Toyos are very close to that,
Sounds like at your experience level you should just get a set of 200 treadwear tires… a novice running slicks is bad for many reasons including you probably haven’t got the speed to get temps in them.
how About nitto nt01s? Very reliable tire. Good corvette sizes.
C6Z is still the pinnacle of overall Corvette Greatness (so far) to me....enjoy the car! Share some data or video if you want some driving feedback, as already mentioned no reason to let the car get ahead of the driver!
Soooo - second track day of the season. this one at Mid-Ohio this past Monday, June 13th. Anyone else out there?
Early rise @ 5:00a in order to hit the road and get situated, into Inspection and drivers meeting.
I decided to go back to street tires for now, was running 18" Conti slicks. Running now Goodyear Supercar 3, new last year w/ one track day and less than 150 miles on them since. Ordered Continental Extreme Contact Force (200TW) street tire for the 18"dia rims. Will run those in July, as they are backordered at the moment.
Sched to run Nelson, but they canceled next Friday. Next HPDE is Pitt Race July 1. Doing a baseline dyno tune July 5 (correction for the longtube header install) Then will be waiting on my Mamo package to show up later in the summer.
Track day went well, I am glad I stepped back to street tires. Felt a lot more confident, learned a lot, this is only my 5th track day, and got solo'd which was nice to be in the car alone and run the lines, especially in the last open session with no hold up from First timers, less cars and more room. I could concentrate.
Only issue I had was cooling as I ran my last group session, let the car sit for 15 mins, and went out for a good 20 minute session. Oil temps around 260 at peak, and coolant upwards of 225-230 - so I did a cool down lap and went around 2 more times, Then called it a day.
My father went with me which was neat, as this used to be his car if you read in the prior posts.
04-30-2022, 09:52 AM
2008 ZO6 build thread - White Rabbit
