'00 FRC Hardtop - moar LS/Murica/long distance high speed cruising

[190Evan]

LCG is just being a big bully. I'm in for this. I haven't checked in on this thread in a while. Good work can't wait to see that intake plenum painted.

[nsogiba]

Ready for paint...

and then you post primer pictures...

and to top it off, double post.

Come on man, get your shit together. you can do it!

to be fair i did say ready for paint, show it unpainted, then say primer, and then show primer.

Red paint gets here tonight, so be patient my friend.

[LCG]

Ready for paint...

and then you post primer pictures...

and to top it off, double post.

Come on man, get your shit together. you can do it!

[nsogiba]

[nsogiba]

Wow that really in there!

Let's start with some guest appearances...

The new owner of my old car is enjoying it - he is finishing up the little things that I never got around to - electric cutouts, tint, etc. Weird seeing it with different plates on it

IMG_1388 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

IMG_1387 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

A friend stopped over last weekend for some work on his goat

IMG_1378 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

IMG_1377 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

Back to your regularly scheduled crap...just been driving this thing to work on every nice day we get

image by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

Couple small updates

Needed to get the car inspected and it was throwing a bunch of codes after the longtube install, so shut off those codes via HPTuners and also raised the rev limit to 6500 (from 6200) in anticipation of the last couple of bolt-ons I'm going to do. Picked up new LS6 OEM valve springs, 16 new seals, and an LS6 intake manifold. When it's all apart I will finish deleting the AIR system, should clean up the engine bay a bit.

I am not a fan of mimicking trim packages that the car didn't come with (aka putting red fuel rail covers from a Z06 on this car) but I wanted something different in the engine bay, so the LS6 intake will be getting paint. Starting off with deep clean, masking off the usual parts, and then primer. Final color will be a wrinkle red. Might do the air bridge too if I like how it turns out.

Ready for paint:
_DSC4907 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

Primer:
_DSC4908 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

_DSC4909 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

_DSC4910 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

Buddy of mine asked me if I was interested in a paint correction - he wanted to show my car in his booth at http://www.buffalomotorama.com/ . I am not a big "show" person but this is a pretty cool opportunity. I will snap some pics this weekend when I go to the show. He worked wonders on the BMW so I'm sure the Vette will turn out great as well.

Check out his site.

https://www.facebook.com/sheerluxe.detailing/

IMG_1394 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

IMG_1384 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

Also started working on some cutouts. Picked up a drill press, don't know how I went without one all these years. Poor hole saw got its brains beat out by the stainless but the end result is nice.

image by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

I am going to try something different on the cutouts. I ran an electric QTP some years ago and wasn't happy with the operation, reliability, etc. The motor crapped out on me and the vendor told me I had to buy a new one as they didn't sell parts. So I picked up some vacuum actuated ching chong 3" units off the chinese ebay wannabe site to try to put together my own "NPP" option. There is another Corvette guy using these for muffler modifications with success so I have high hopes. I haven't yet figured out how I want to control them, but am thinking about using some old EGR vacuum solenoids to control the valves on demand. We'll see.

[DER E30]

Wow that really in there!

[Amgcdi]

Nice! I'll watch this

[white out]

Wow, that looks like a total PITA to remove.

[nsogiba]

When I bought the car it had some wacky subwoofer fiberglass box in the OEM cargo well. ***** not having room for jumper cables, couple tools, the usual "necessities", so it had to go.


so here's what I started with

_DSC4888 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

_DSC4889 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

_DSC4890 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

Pulled back the carpet, sure enough they glassed it right to the OEM tub. I'm sure it took somebody a long time to do this because it seemed to look pretty nice but I'm not into big audio and I want my storage space back

They glassed the wood into the shell and then bonded over that as well. Then laid the carpet over it and trimmed it with a knife.

_DSC4891 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

So out came the hammer for some test hits

_DSC4892 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

Pretty brittle stuff so it started ok along the stress points

_DSC4893 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

The wood flaked apart easily

_DSC4893 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

_DSC4894 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

_DSC4895 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

_DSC4896 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

Keeping at it. Sides came away

_DSC4897 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

The pile grows
_DSC4898 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

The final shell in the bottom of the tub proved to be very tricky.

_DSC4899 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

After some more cursing and yanking
_DSC4900 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

Finally! I vacuumed everything up
_DSC4901 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

And lined the entire rear with Frost King insulation. No pics of the finished product, I was losing daylight and wanted to get it done.

_DSC4902 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

I finally remounted my 12 CD changer in the OEM spot since they had laid fiberglass in the well where it was supposed it go. New mounting nuts and lockwashers, and now it's like brand new. I am more than pleased with how it came out.

[nsogiba]

Pulled out the clutch assist spring:

_DSC4884 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

_DSC4885 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

_DSC4886 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

_DSC4887 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

Will be fabbing up a real return spring in the next week or so

[nsogiba]

^ I was thinking about that. They're super floppy inside and don't seem to do much.

Did some tuning over the weekend with HPTuners, emissions codes deleted and AIR shut off. I also made a bunch of small changes like lowering the temps at which fans come on, shutting off AIR system, turning off CAGS (skip shift), and repurposing the 1-4 shift light to act as an actual shift light. I set it at 3000rpm for testing and it worked like a charm, so I'll have to change it to 6000 for the real deal. I also got in my LCM5 module to proactively fix the column lock but didn't get a chance to install it. While I had the laptop hooked up I also set the Column Lock Fail parameter to shut off fuel above 284mph in case of CL fail - so good to go there. I'll toss in the LCM5 this week and that should take care of that potential problem permanently. Finally I shut off AIR and rear O2 codes, flashed the tune, and took a ride to get it inspected. Unfortunately flashing the PCM erases it (along with readiness monitors for emissions), so I wasn't able to get a sticker today, but I put a bunch of miles on it Sunday with the wife, so should be good to go in a day or two.

Had a few minutes before dinner Sunday and the weather was nice so I removed the Clutch Over Center spring (partial assist and return) to see if it helped with the sticking pedal - it seemed to have helped a bit but haven't beat on it hard enough to tell for sure. I am also working on a DIY solution for an actual return tension spring but need to think about how I want to attach it...

[white out]

Side moulding removal = win

Remove the fender vent plastics. Looks neat without them, might aid in cooling underhood temps, and the ECM is going to get wet anyways.

[DER E30]

Nice! I'll watch this

[loekaaz]

luckily this one wasn't touched by Dr Frank

But there's always time for that to happen right?

Thanks for posting, I enjoy your Porsche and E38 threads immensely, one of the main reasons I come on this site. Keep on posting and thanks for stopping by.

Don't forget to mention that outrageous goat...

[nsogiba]

luckily this one wasn't touched by Dr Frank

But there's always time for that to happen right?

Thanks for posting, I enjoy your Porsche and E38 threads immensely, one of the main reasons I come on this site. Keep on posting and thanks for stopping by.