New Balance and Jean shorts..non typical C5 build

[mgpdoc]

Love this

[saturnstance]

hell yeah! awesome updates.

[hinrichs]

Thankfully after getting the car back on its own weight, it sat just about the same as before. The rear was a little low so I raised it up to get a little rake going.

64969235978--7E087CB0-0503-4779-8D0F-D02BF2D4F57D by minthinrich, on Flickr
64969236836--AE83C5F3-A077-45E0-97CC-900ADA1F47CC by minthinrich, on Flickr

Got the scales out, and was very happy with the new suspension out of the box. I measured like crazy on heights and it paid off. I didnt go crazy but here is the setup.

IMG-4145 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Loaded up the car for the weekend race down at Polish Mountain in Flintstone, MD. http://pahillclimb.org/about/the-cou...lish-mountain/

IMG-4158 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Boring ride alone, 3-1/2 hour trip. I was following my buddy and I wish we stopped at this pass through. Next year I will check it out.

IMG-4159 by minthinrich, on FlickrIMG-4160 by minthinrich, on Flickr

The first day went well outside of a knocking noise that I did not have all week prior to the race. Typical car issues that always come up at the wrong times. Only ended up getting 4 or 5 runs satruday which was supposed to be a lot more. Got the car parked for the night and decided to pull a rear coil which I had my suspicion it was loose somehow. Well I was right, the upper nut for the shock itself was loose which explained my noise. Its sure fun working on grass/dirt with a jack and stands.

IMG-4176 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Hung out all night with some good food, lots of beer, and good friends.

IMG-4177 by minthinrich, on Flickr
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image000001 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Sunday was kinda a crap shoot with my driving at first, but figured it out towards the end of the day. I managed to get my time down 5 seconds overall, ended up with a 70.120 which was driving me crazy trying to break into a 69. Loaded up the car and headed home after getting my plaque for the tool box.

IMG-4185 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-4182 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[hinrichs]

Wow I have been slacking on an update in here. Sorry guys.

So the first race at Pagoda was an interesting weekend. We had a very bad crash happen on the first run on saturday. I was one of the first 7 up the hill and then we ended up sitting for about 2 hours. Everyone was a little shaken up from it. We only got 3 runs saturday due to the delay, but the full 5 on sunday. Overall I got 2nd in my class which was a fun battle on Sunday. Some pics I stole from other people. I also forgot to turn on my go-pro all weekend.

IMG-3959 (1) by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-3958 by minthinrich, on Flickr

After the race I decided I needed to finally do something about the exhaust. I couldnt stand the look anymore of the 2 single tips, so I ordered another borla s-type. I think my old setup was the borla stinger. Anyway the new exhaust came in 2 days from amazon even tho it was said to be 1 week, so I threw it on right away. It sounds a lot better at full throttle and is just enough when cruising to not be noticed.

IMG-3969 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Pulled off the Targa to see if I liked driving without it which I can do at races. It was kinda cool but I will be keeping it bolted on. I bet it looked wild on the road tho.

IMG-4020 by minthinrich, on Flickr




Now for the exciting update. I was reading through my rule book once again to try and figure out hood vents and if they are legal or not. Still working on that one, but I did find an answer to something I thought I would have to jump to the next class for. Coilovers !

M.For cars originally equipped with transverse leaf springs, spring type
may be changed to a coil spring. Spring perches may be added to shock
absorbers for mounting coil springs in a “coilover” configuration.

I was originally going to go with the LG Motorsport Bilstein G2 coilovers, but after really thinking about it for my current driving level I didnt need $3500 coilovers. After reading a lot of reviews and looking around, I settled on some Silvers Neomax. I went with the upgraded swift springs in 12k/10K. The install really was not bad at all. The rears kind of suck with the upper mount. Front are 6" spring length, rears are 7" length just for size reference. C5s have very short shocks.

64961590140--BF0CA2A5-2490-4801-82F4-CEB2A48E10DF by minthinrich, on Flickr
64963298253--C3A79289-9CFC-43DC-A061-FB5D7D945FD5 by minthinrich, on Flickr
64963299238--17EE4B26-DBBE-4FD6-8925-86D8DDC78395 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[mgpdoc]

Looks business. Getting better and better by every post.

[mark89]

Nice car!

[saturnstance]

I truly enjoy the colors of the scale controller lol

[hinrichs]

I think it's something about the blue that makes the car look super sleek.

or because blue is my favorite color lol either way, car looks good.

I didnt really like the blue all that much at first, but now I love it. I am still on the fence with the wheel color tho. It was supposed to be more grey than blue.

This is awesome man, and those wheels look great on the car!

Loving the weld in cage, did it fit nicely or did it need some adjustments?

Will be following eagerly from here on out

It actually fit perfectly outside of the windshield spreader bar. I had to massage it a little to get the targa top to fit properly with the small required gap. If I get another C5 or C6 I will be ordering the same cage again.


I have been a little busy the last few days playing with my new toy that my good friend and I went half on. We picked up a used scale setup from another racer locally. I actually bought his SCCA GTI that I posted about before. They are older, but work perfectly.

scales by minthinrich, on Flickr

First up was my friends wifes evo. Its her car, but he is driving it till she has more race time in their Lemons Del-Sol. Spent monday night hanging in the garage and getting it setup. It was a lot of up and down, and trying different things but we got it close to where we wanted.

avril-evo by minthinrich, on Flickr

Yesterday I spent most of the day on the corvette. Originally had it on the wood stands and scales, but it kept moving around and making me nervous. I have plans to address that issue in time. Got the car close to where I wanted with my weight, but still having issues in the rear. Yes a C5 corvette is 3500# with me in it. They are not as light as I once would have thought. I am only like 50# heavier than stock tho, which is a plus with adding the cage.

wood stands by minthinrich, on Flickr
scale-1 by minthinrich, on Flickr

I had to run into work this morning, so I took a few extra minutes and was going to drive the course since its usually nice and empty in the morning. Well I ended up behind a guy on a nice and slow weed cruise, so I ended up just stopping at the Pagoda for a picture since it was empty. Right before the pagoda is our finish line for this race.

c5-pagoda by minthinrich, on Flickr

[Royshe]

This is awesome man, and those wheels look great on the car!

Loving the weld in cage, did it fit nicely or did it need some adjustments?

Will be following eagerly from here on out

[saturnstance]

I think it's something about the blue that makes the car look super sleek.

or because blue is my favorite color lol either way, car looks good.

[hinrichs]

New numbers and business logo. Getting it ready for tech on friday.

c5 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[saturnstance]

Sucks about the brakes and missing the second event but always glad to see progress on the car in general.

[hinrichs]

Wow that cage is nuts, and I really like the half door panels actually. Definitely the kind of thing I would do lol.

I still have plans for a better panel, but that can wait till winter or a day I am really bored. The car will always be a "street car" so I want to keep making it better. I did finally found a better class for the future when I do some engine mods.

So the first race of the season.....

The weather was perfect for 2 weeks prior to the race. Temp dropped and it started raining Friday for the drive down. I was being nervous about pulling the enclosed, so my co-driver who is waiting to rebuild his gti ended up driving. He has been a truck driver for years which I didn't know, so he was perfectly suited for the drive. It was honestly kind of nice to just sit and relax for a change. Another pic with the car loaded up. I got very spoiled with the enclosed trailer for the weekend. After seeing a few others that had been a little more "finished", I definitely will be looking for my own next year.

Saw a Pagan in the downpour, and stopped for some good food.

IMG-3707 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-3709 by minthinrich, on Flickr

3 hours later, we got to the track. It wasn't a bad ride at all, so I plan on hitting both events next year. I have to miss the fall bigger track due to my 1 year wedding anniversary picnic covid thing we are doing. Car made it no problem and we set up for the long rainy weekend. I hardly took any pictures, and all the videos we shot ended up being junk since we never thought to check our placements.

IMG-3753 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-3711 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Overall the race was a lot of fun and I got some good seat time. The track was wet for most of the weekend which sucked, and I did go off track and spun a few times. Crazy how slick grass really is. We ran out of brakes very fast so we left early on Sunday to get home.

Race #2 up in Weatherly, PA http://pahillclimb.org/about/the-courses/weatherly/ was this past weekend. I checked over the car after its landscaping runs (2 in total ) and no issues other than some grass stuck underneath. I ordered a set of HAWK HPS pads and threw them on. One front caliper was a real fight but I didn't think too much about it. Well I took the car out to bed them in, and had a constant squeak like something was bent. With the rain all week we were having, I didn't really get a chance to drive the car much to test the brakes.

I procrastinated all day Thursday with getting the car on the trailer, but I did get everything sorted and coolers packed and ready. Monday morning around 7 am I get the trailer hooked up and in position to load the corvette. I need to make some new wood ramp extension but my old ones worked and got the car right up and on. Then I noticed I cant strap it down. Have my wife come out and help me center it, and it was not going to work. (This started the downfall of the morning...) I start getting pissed off cuz it seems my trailer is a complete waste of money now. The BMW fit, but it was still hard unless it was a perfect position. I also could use the frame mounts on that. Corvette has the same ones, but I still wouldn't have been able to actually ratchet the car down. I pulled the car off, and parked the trailer. I decided to pull the car into the garage to check the brakes since I was going to drive it up. I planned to do this at the race since I had all day to sit around once I was there. I found one of the front pads bent which explains the noise I had. Well my already pissed off and annoyed self decided I can bend it slightly straight. Well I cracked the pad almost all of the way through so yep I was done. I canceled my registration and went to work for the day. I looked everywhere local and didnt want to spend $100 on store brand pads that I didn't really want

IMG-3820 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Saturday morning I decided it was time to finally install the passenger belts. Pulled the seat, fabbed up a center anchor point for the lower 6 points of the belt, and got it all installed. I am very happy with the interior now, minus the door panels.

IMG-3830 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-3832 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[rightfullrudder]

Wow that cage is nuts, and I really like the half door panels actually. Definitely the kind of thing I would do lol.

[hinrichs]

Test fit the car into my friends enclosed last night. I will pull it out and get it washed, then loaded back up for the race at Summit Point this weekend. I will try and get pics and videos when my friend drives so I have a more exciting post for next week.

64384907992--24942984-8C68-44D6-9B36-3722779D6124 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-3703 by minthinrich, on Flickr