[Z06] The history of Frankenvette, a long story but a good one.
06-02-2014, 09:30 PM
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The history of Frankenvette, a long story but a good one.
Im a little bored, so I thought I'd share the story of my car that has become known Frankenvette.
Last June I had sold off my beloved 02 trans am ws6. Car had full bolt-ons, 100shot, moser 12 bolt rear, monster stage 2 clutch, tick master cylinder, minor weight reduction. That car went a best of 12.3@114 on motor then never quite ran right on spray only going 11.86@117. I loved that car more than anything but started craving a c5z, and as i started getting more frustrated with the deterioration of the ws6 my hunt began.
2 weeks post listing my t/a with 80k miles on it with all of those mods and a crack in the transmission case for 6,000$ it sold. The hunt was on for a c5z.
Late in June of last year I found what appeared to be a very clean example of a c5z06. Had 90k miles on it, ended up picking it up for 16,500$.
The car was 100% stock, to my knowledge....My knowledge was far wrong.
I had made the mistake of rushing into a car and buying after a short cruise of a test drive, everything felt tight and drove smooth in normal driving conditions.
After driving it home I had opened it up and realized this car is horrifically slow! I then went to my tuner for some data logging. After realizing it could do more than 100mph in second gear we realized it had a 2.73 rear diff, and a mn6 trans.
I then posted my frustrations on facebook where a friend of mine said, I know this car. His friend used to own it. It had at one point a procharged ls6 that blew up, then a tr6060/c6 diff, with a procharged lq4 that blew up. After the lq4 blew up he then threw random parts in it and sold it to we buy anycar.
After I was told this story I checked the motor out and the dealer swapped in a junkyard ls6 with an ls1 intake on it. So motor wise i was okay as it ran strong.
Two weeks after purchase I bought a c5z06 diff off of my tuner and swapped it in.
With the rear diff swap done the car ran much better, my tuner and I went to the track and managed to get 12.8@114 out of it on street tires, with the ls1 intake and mn6 trans.
Shortly after that I purchased headers and off road x-pipe from the previous owner for 150$, they werent quality but they worked. I also purchased an ls6 intake off of my other friend for 250$. With 50$ hoosier DRs on borrowed camaro wheels and gto spares up front, this set up was good enough to go 11.86@117 mph.
Unfortunately the ls7 clutch the previous owner threw in it did not like the 11s at all and began slipping anywhere during wide open throttle.
I purchased a complete monster stage 3 clutch kit with fly wheel slave, torque tube rebuild for 650$. And bought my self a pair of camaro 10 spoke wheels with 26x11.5" bias ply et streets.
Back into the 11s i was. By now we're into tax retrun season and I couldnt give up my previous drug addiction of nitrous, I ordered a complete nitrous outlet plate kit, being the first part I paid retail for.
Unfortunately the mn6 trans was the next victim as the output shaft bearing exploded and tore up the rear case.
This now gave me an excuse to put an mn12 in, so I went to a local corvette salvage yard and bought a low miles mn12 unit. And to the track we went
Unfortunately my first pass on spray (150shot) i had screwed up the launch terribly, only going 11.5@127mph, and this pass I managed to bend the 3-4 shift fork locking my new trans in gear. The salvage yard warrentied it and in went a new mn12.
Now, we are to where I sit now. The car runs strong, went 11.2@127 on a 1.74 60' this passed friday night. My last run wouldve been a 10 second pass. I cut a 1.63 60ft, but lost 6mph due to my bottle going empty, ended up going 11.3@121mph.
Here is how the car sits now:
Mods:
Junkyard ls6
Junkyard mn12 trans
Hand-me-down 3.42 z06 rear
second hand knock off 150$ headers/xpipe
ebay axle back
monster stage 3 clutch
tick master cylinder
f-body ls6 intake
nitrous outlet hardline plate kit 150shot
current best 11.2@127, has 10s in it. we'll find out next time.
And that is how Frankenvette became what it is
Last June I had sold off my beloved 02 trans am ws6. Car had full bolt-ons, 100shot, moser 12 bolt rear, monster stage 2 clutch, tick master cylinder, minor weight reduction. That car went a best of 12.3@114 on motor then never quite ran right on spray only going 11.86@117. I loved that car more than anything but started craving a c5z, and as i started getting more frustrated with the deterioration of the ws6 my hunt began.
2 weeks post listing my t/a with 80k miles on it with all of those mods and a crack in the transmission case for 6,000$ it sold. The hunt was on for a c5z.
Late in June of last year I found what appeared to be a very clean example of a c5z06. Had 90k miles on it, ended up picking it up for 16,500$.
The car was 100% stock, to my knowledge....My knowledge was far wrong.
I had made the mistake of rushing into a car and buying after a short cruise of a test drive, everything felt tight and drove smooth in normal driving conditions.
After driving it home I had opened it up and realized this car is horrifically slow! I then went to my tuner for some data logging. After realizing it could do more than 100mph in second gear we realized it had a 2.73 rear diff, and a mn6 trans.
I then posted my frustrations on facebook where a friend of mine said, I know this car. His friend used to own it. It had at one point a procharged ls6 that blew up, then a tr6060/c6 diff, with a procharged lq4 that blew up. After the lq4 blew up he then threw random parts in it and sold it to we buy anycar.
After I was told this story I checked the motor out and the dealer swapped in a junkyard ls6 with an ls1 intake on it. So motor wise i was okay as it ran strong.
Two weeks after purchase I bought a c5z06 diff off of my tuner and swapped it in.
With the rear diff swap done the car ran much better, my tuner and I went to the track and managed to get 12.8@114 out of it on street tires, with the ls1 intake and mn6 trans.
Shortly after that I purchased headers and off road x-pipe from the previous owner for 150$, they werent quality but they worked. I also purchased an ls6 intake off of my other friend for 250$. With 50$ hoosier DRs on borrowed camaro wheels and gto spares up front, this set up was good enough to go 11.86@117 mph.
Unfortunately the ls7 clutch the previous owner threw in it did not like the 11s at all and began slipping anywhere during wide open throttle.
I purchased a complete monster stage 3 clutch kit with fly wheel slave, torque tube rebuild for 650$. And bought my self a pair of camaro 10 spoke wheels with 26x11.5" bias ply et streets.
Back into the 11s i was. By now we're into tax retrun season and I couldnt give up my previous drug addiction of nitrous, I ordered a complete nitrous outlet plate kit, being the first part I paid retail for.
Unfortunately the mn6 trans was the next victim as the output shaft bearing exploded and tore up the rear case.
This now gave me an excuse to put an mn12 in, so I went to a local corvette salvage yard and bought a low miles mn12 unit. And to the track we went
Unfortunately my first pass on spray (150shot) i had screwed up the launch terribly, only going 11.5@127mph, and this pass I managed to bend the 3-4 shift fork locking my new trans in gear. The salvage yard warrentied it and in went a new mn12.
Now, we are to where I sit now. The car runs strong, went 11.2@127 on a 1.74 60' this passed friday night. My last run wouldve been a 10 second pass. I cut a 1.63 60ft, but lost 6mph due to my bottle going empty, ended up going 11.3@121mph.
Here is how the car sits now:
Mods:
Junkyard ls6
Junkyard mn12 trans
Hand-me-down 3.42 z06 rear
second hand knock off 150$ headers/xpipe
ebay axle back
monster stage 3 clutch
tick master cylinder
f-body ls6 intake
nitrous outlet hardline plate kit 150shot
current best 11.2@127, has 10s in it. we'll find out next time.
And that is how Frankenvette became what it is
06-02-2014, 10:08 PM
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Its not that he was dishonest, believe it or not I knew of the car and knew the previous owner through mutual friends. He sold it to we buy anycar to avoid from ripping someone off personally. The way I look at it is, as much as it sucked, at least i got it rather than some older fella buying his dream car who wouldve had to pay to fix the issues i had.
Once I had talked to him about it he was very strait up about the car told me everything i needed to know, and I actually bought the headers off of him.
Once I had talked to him about it he was very strait up about the car told me everything i needed to know, and I actually bought the headers off of him.
Last edited by bottle_fed; 06-02-2014 at 10:11 PM.
06-02-2014, 10:20 PM
#4
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gotcha... your write up made it sound like you didnt know of the issues and non Z06 parts.
I'm glad you got it squared away and are enjoying the car!!!!
I'm glad you got it squared away and are enjoying the car!!!!
06-02-2014, 10:24 PM
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I didnt know about them until after I bought it. I didnt realize it was his car until after. He sold it to we buy any car and a dealer bought it off of them. If anything the dealer is shady as the knew they had swapped a motor in it and the other issues but told me it was original. I went to my lawyer but he said there was little i could do because the paper work claimed sold as is no warrenty and they only verbally told me it was original and it wasnt stated in writing. So imo the dealer was shady not the previous owner.
It was definitely a long battle, i hated the car for a very long time and wouldve given anything to have the t/a back. I finally enjoy the car and its doing what I ask of it but a piece of me still wants the ws6 back. Ive been told that car has since been parted out and scrapped.
It was definitely a long battle, i hated the car for a very long time and wouldve given anything to have the t/a back. I finally enjoy the car and its doing what I ask of it but a piece of me still wants the ws6 back. Ive been told that car has since been parted out and scrapped.
