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

[nsogiba]

With my 6.0 LS powered E39 saying goodbye in late December '15, I was in the market for something smaller, more fun, more agile, and better on gas. I was willing to give up some horsepower and engine size to gain that, but found a nice compromise After about 8 months of deliberation I settled on this nice 2000 Corvette FRC Hardtop (fixed roof coupe).

After the usual slew of homework and background checks on the car, I booked a flight out to Providence to go pick her up. Nothing quite like getting on a one way flight with a pair of license plates and crossed fingers. This was my first time buying a car out of state and everything went off without a hitch.

Apologize in advance for the poor quality pics. Here is the traditional long winded, pic heavy story.

Early flight out of Buffalo to Philadelphia was uneventful if a bit early.

Somewhere over PA:
IMG_1177 by Norbert Ogiba, on Flickr

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Flying into Philly on a nice Sunday morning. Need to visit in person some day.
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Quick layover and a bite to eat, back on the plane to continue on to Providence. 40 minutes later, the sellers Joe and Kathy picked me up at T.F. Green Airport and we made the 45 min drive to their place to inspect the car. I can't thank them enough for their generosity in making the drive there and back on a Sunday morning!

Pulled up to their place and pulled out Kathy's new C7 and my new C5 for inspection, comparison, and general drooling.

Kathy's new C7 Stingray. What a sound out of the exhaust on this car...no, it's not stock either
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15 year generation gap
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Myself and the new car.
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After tying up the last few loose ends I tossed my bag in the car, said my goodbyes, thanked Kathy and her husband for everything, and hit the road:
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I was lucky enough to get a 50F day at the end of January with no snow on the ground to make this journey.

Some ominous clouds gathering around Hartford CT
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Open road and remnants of fall scenery in Connecticut
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I passed over this bridge north of Hartford many times as a kid in the family van on the way to visit family. A nice memory.
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Beautiful skies coming out of Massachusetts, pictures don't do it justice.
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hmmmm...decisions, decisions.
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Cruising at an easy 82mph, the car returned stellar gas mileage.
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Being the realist that I am, I decided to pull over to fill up the half empty tank and see how she really did. Exactly 250.1 miles, it used 9.345 gals, for an average of 26.7 mpg, with me ripping on it every chance I got. I'm sure it would come close to 30mpg if I were cruising at 70.

Some pictures and admiring the lines as the sun set in Central New York State

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Last couple hours were uneventful.
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The HUD is awesome.
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Finally back to the Bat Cave:
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Will be back in a BMW some day, but for now it's time to enjoy this one. :woohoo: : :cheers: :rock: :thumbs:

2/2/16:

I took it out fer a rip last night and drove it to work this morning. Seriously daily-able.

Placed some orders last night:

TR55 plugs
GMPP Red plug wires
a shitload of oil filters (at $3 a pop for OEM AC Delco parts you can't go wrong)
wiper blades
air filter and fuel filter
hood lip seal (weatherstripping)
4x leave-in jacking pucks so i can get this pig up on the lift
some interior trim pieces that the PO broke
stubby antenna

once the jacking pucks come in I plan on doing plugs, wires, engine oil + filter, trans fluid, diff fluid, fuel filter. The motor has an ever so slight miss while sitting at a light, and based on looking at most of the stuff under the hood I'm guessing the plugs and wires are original. I also need to order the LCM5 column lock bypass - even though the column lock was replaced/serviced multiple times over the past couple years.

I did the zip tie mod to the intake last night and it definitely is a big improvement on the butt dyno. I took apart the whole snorkel/"power duct" to inspect it and am glad I did. bunch of leaves, dust, and general grime came out of the pre-filter area, and the MAF screen had last seen daylight circa 2000.

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The marks are just from me gently rubbing my finger on the screen face. Luckily the screened portion is removeable from the heated wire element so I gave it a hot soapy bath with a toothbrush, rinsed out the lower airbox, and put the whole thing back together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBlpzpM-lL8

Finally I pulled the codes - looks like they are all history codes - I need to check the listing and see what they're all for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh04RXNSUv4

[laextreme5]

really like the sleek 90s lines of the c5 coupes. excited to see where this goes

[nsogiba]

i plan on test fitting some style 65s on it later this month (OEM E39 M5 wheel)

[philohlean]

Loved your E39 build, excited to see where this one goes. Always glad to see someone representing the Buffalo area so well ! Still wish I had seen the GMW before I moved.

[hinrichs]

cant wait to see where this goes.

[theblackmax]

nice car like to see where this goes

[fackinsteve]

Nice man I have a huge soft spot for FRC C5s.

[reiernumans]

Google doesn't know what it'll look like but I love style 65's so I'm gonna check in here to see how it'll look

[nsogiba]

I'm thinking either Style 65s or M-Parallels

[royalife]

I loved your 5 series! Excited to see where youll take this.

[white out]

Congrats!!!!

Definitely do LCM5 and I highly suggest HP Tuners to kill the column lock. It blows when that strands you.

Chinese long tubes are worth it.

[loekaaz]

Congrats!!!!

Definitely do LCM5 and I highly suggest HP Tuners to kill the column lock. It blows when that strands you.

Chinese long tubes are worth it.

What this man says.

http://www.complianceparts.com/

[nsogiba]

Time to resurrect my old LSX stainless license plate frame, which lived a life of glory and burnouts and commutes on my 6.0 LSX BMW.

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the mild hardware on the BMW plate had left its mark on the stainless plate frame. not good.

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the black background to the LSX nameplate had seen some mileage too.

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a brillo pad made quick work of the staining

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I ran the brillo pad over the whole surface of the stainless plate frame for good measure, the wife definitely won't be happy about the outline left on her kitchen towels from all the dirt and corrosion removed. I thought this was pretty funny

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the solution for everything is carbon fiber (3M wrap)

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lay the background against the vinyl wrap

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work the edges out with your fingers for a smooth finish

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ok, so work out the edges, trim it, and put it behind the plate frame - now we're talking

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ok - let's get serious - no more cosmetic BS - time to get dirty

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I am a big fan of cheap/free mods that return REAL gains, so the zip tie mod was in order. the existing air filter had seen better days.

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this should breathe just a bit better.

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I am a big advocate of starting fresh on maintenance history so I decided to start fresh on all drivetrain fluids, starting with the differential.

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The diff oil MAY have been changed - not sure. At 105K I'd rather not take a chance
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What came out wasn't too bad in all honesty. A bit dark but overall clean with no particulate
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I also changed the trans fluid (T56) with new Dex III, no pics. What came out (again) wasn't bad, but wanted to start fresh. Finally, a fresh oil change with 5W30 Mobil 1 Full Syn. and AC Delco Filter rounded out the fluid changes.

the MaxJax lift makes things a bit easier

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Oil and Filter
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Rounded out the maintenance with new TR55 spark plugs and Red Chevrolet Performance Plug Wires

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The old plugs looked so - so, but the gap on them was abysmal - up to .075" on the worst ones
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Driver's side 1 3 5 7

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Workspace

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105K worth of use
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new red GM Performance Wires
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Luckily, I was able to reuse all the stamped metal heat shields for all the new wires.

Took the wife to the driving range and hit a couple buckets of balls. Car ran flawlessly. I spent Super Bowl Sunday morning washing the exterior, vacuuming inside, detailing the dash and door panels, cleaned glass, and cleaning the "udders" inside the engine compartment. Some minor leaves/crap in the udders, removed them and the AC drain and hosed them down inside and out.

Picking up a set of Z06 Titanium mufflers tonight locally to replace the droning bullet mufflers on the car now

Now that the car is pretty much all set with maintenance, I am going to passively start looking for some longtubes and and LS6 intake. In the meantime while I wait for spring I'll be trying my hand at paint correction since the clearcoat has random light scratches everywhere from 16 years of use. I think it has a lot of potential to look great with some work.

[hinrichs]

Running any better with the new wires and plugs? Air filter mod just runs open then right?

Looking good and awesome to see that some of the fluids were clean.

[nsogiba]

Yes, air filter mod removes the shroud covering it so that the filter is open. I added some weatherstripping to the hood/bumper connection so that the filter wouldn't get drips of water on it when driving in heavy rain. Should have been there from the factory IMO.

There was a slight miss at idle once every couple seconds, after the plugs and wires it's reduced, but I only put about 20 miles on the car after the work, so I can't really say that it's gone yet. Weather here blows.

Picked up a sweet set of Titanium factory Z06 mufflers last night for a steal, I will need to modify the current exhaust to allow them to bolt up. Car is already up on the lift, I'll be cutting off the old exhaust tonight. My neighbors are not going to like me.