New Balance and Jean shorts..non typical C5 build

[SebastienPeek]

These ram/air intakes blow my mind. It’s crazy how they can claim 40hp increase from just a simple piece of mounded plastic directing the air properly!

I’m genuinely excited to see what comes next man, I know there’s a lot you can play with on these (even if it isn’t a pre-2001) but I’m curious how far you’re thinking you’re going to take it?

[hinrichs]

The car had the "zip tie mod" for the airbox, yeah you just take off the cover and its supposed to help. I understand free mods, but I am not a hack and I cant stand shit like that on my cars anymore. Sure this would mimick alot of the filter options on the market, but it really does not get airflow where its mounted so I had to pull it off.

IMG-2381 by minthinrich, on Flickr

I searched around for a while, and honestly who would have thought picking an intake would be a hard choice. Once again, I should have bought a 2001 or newer but lesson learned there. I ended up ordering a Vararam intake which is a true cold air/ram air setup. They claim up to 40hp while moving and you will see why. It draws in air from the fog light ducts straight into the filter. A lot of people swear by them, and the price wasn't really much more than just a giant filter like most company's sell for these cars.

IMG-2456 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Threw it on right away. The fitment is very good, but its not a fun setup to install. Lots of things in the way on these cars, but overall it wasnt too bad.

62629156807--A319FA43-7D04-47F1-9F95-40865C0331EE by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-2475 by minthinrich, on Flickr
62636124556--EFD8D002-F56C-4F21-A416-BCDEBD61AD3A by minthinrich, on Flickr

Not the most exciting with an intake, but I have more up my sleeves.

[SebastienPeek]

Getting daily updates, what is this, 2012 again?!

All the suspension goodness! Getting adjustable sway bars is a solid move too

[gnmzl]

That's a good direction you are heading and very correct first mods. New wheels actually look good and fit very well IMO, even if you don't lower it any more.

[hinrichs]

So to continue with my daily posts, or trying to keep this thing updated very regular till I get caught up lets see what I did next.

Since this car is meant to handle, I figured why not throw some swaybars and shocks at it. Like I said before it had the C6 Z06 shocks installed to replace the failed stock adjustable ones. It rode great and I really had no complaints, but I figured I would start to look around and find something else. Well I found a good deal on some used Johnny O Connel shocks for a steal. They are $900 new and I paid $300 shipped. Figure I will try them out after finding a lot of good reviews online. I cant tell you yet if they were worth swapping out, but I was able to sell my Z06 shocks easily to recoup some of the cost. I didnt take any pics of them, but here is a stock photo of what they look like. Install again was stupid easy and the internet was wrong. I didnt take anything apart other than swaybars to get them in.

c6-joc-pfadt-shocks-1_2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

While installing the shocks I also did a swaybar upgrade. I never swapped them on a car before, I usually end up taking them out of all my volkswagens. I got a set on order with upgraded sway bar links and got to work. The front is 1-3/8" and rear is 1". I am not sure what stock was, but here are some comparisons. They are huge.

Front bar vs stock

IMG-2772 (1) by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-2842 (1) by minthinrich, on Flickr

Rear Bar vs stock

IMG-2840 (1) by minthinrich, on Flickr

Install was super easy. Front is 2 position adjustable, rear is 3 position. I forget where I set them up at to start, but its nothing crazy yet. Strano Parts was so easy to deal with and Sam really knows what he is talking about. All first hand experience which is nice. Here is a pic of the sway links, and the rear installed with the shocks.

IMG-2770 (1) by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-2841 (1) by minthinrich, on Flickr

I will be doing bushings soon, and a camber lock kit, but just trying to decide on which direction for each of those. There is a very big price gap on bushings that are available for the control arms. I also am trying to decide if ditching the springs and shocks for coilovers will really benifit me at this time, or wait a few years for that.

[saturnstance]

this is gonna be good. can't wait for more.

[MommysLittleMonster]

This is gonna be good. Keep going my dude.

I'm glad to see the builds section isn't dead.

[SebastienPeek]

New wheels are good, it also looks like you can still come down a fair amount before the rubbing starts!

[cblock406]

New wheels aren't bad at all!

[EasySpeed*Inc]

In for this! I love me some C5 action

[hinrichs]

Even thought I bout a set of wheels, and they may have looked good, I really did not want to run staggered anymore. The stock wheels are 17s up front and 18s out back, and I wanted to run 18s all around. The Z06 fake splits are 18x9.5 and 18x10.5 but I still needed to get 2 different size tires, and I like to be able to do a 4 tire rotation. Most of the guys I race with run square on the hills/track so why not run that setup all the time. I started to look for 18x10.5 wheels that were a little different, even a set of stock Z06 rears would have made me happy. I finally made a decision on some replica wheels simple due to price and if I destroy one, its a cheap replacement. Enter some C7 Z06 wheels. 18x10.5 et 56 all around in a gunmetal color, other choice was chrome (NO) or black.

Took them right over to my old tire shop (expensive but the best around), got some TPMS sensors since you cant disable it on my year (should have bought a 2001) and had some Accelera Sport 285/35 mounted up.

IMG-2682 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Waited a day and threw them on the car. I am still not really happy with the color, but they are much better than the stock polished wheels. I plan to get another set of some kind of reps and run some 315/30 slicks. This is mounted with no changes to the suspension other than the previous lowering.

IMG-2689 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-2688 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-2690 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Had to roll it outside to see them in the sun.

IMG-2810 (1) by minthinrich, on Flickr

[hinrichs]

Next up for me was to tackle the sky high ride height. Thankfully these cars are supposed to be very easy to adjust with the stock leaf spring bolts. Yup I said leaf spring bolts...(I know so strange in a performance car). The transverse leaf up front has a threaded bolt and that is how you adjust the height. Out back there is another bolt that goes through the spring and same very easy adjustment. I got the rear down....and then tried to tacked the front. Well the 10mm head stripped, and they were seized in the sleeve. So some searching from miss information (SCCA class rules) I ended up buying some low mile Z06 springs. Install is very easy actually, had them swapped over in about 1 hour. Tried to lower the front and same issue. Here is a picture of the arch difference. Lower ones are the Z06 springs.

IMG-2565 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-2566 by minthinrich, on Flickr

The seller said the front bolts moved...yeah they wouldnt budge for me. The internet will tell you all different methods to get them loose, nothing worked. I welded a bolt to the stock bolts and got them out. One bushing came out...oh no it was the end of the world according to the internet. Well they are very wrong. Some cleaning and JB weld and back to good. The way the threaded bushing works it will never move again and I got the car lowered down.

62698434241--C9081A22-D382-4491-AECF-848BD34240B6 by minthinrich, on Flickr
62725243343--911F61ED-A2A6-4A05-B5C2-CF7AE8F42635 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG-2549 by minthinrich, on Flickr
62751139717--1BAD498E-E797-40FC-81FF-FF64E238C714 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Not too shabby with the stock wheels and a "proper height"

IMG-2592 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[hinrichs]

Genuinely impressed by how flat the floor is on this thing!
Very interested to see this car on the ZO6 reps and sitting closer to the floor.

I honestly also thought this was a spam thread and almost deleted it because of the title, but saw your username and figured it was good aha

I sent you a PM about that, maybe we can tweak it a little.

I love the thread title haha, I say leave it.

Cool to see a Vette build, a friend of mine has a C5Z that I got a chance to drive. They're so rowdy, I love it.

I've heard finding C5 wheels is kind of a pain, don't they need really specific, weirdly high offsets to fit anything? Hope you find something cool soon, looking forward to seeing this come together!

Yeah C5 fitment is a rather hard thing. Someday I will probably go some form of a widebody, but fenders are very expensive and most don't fit well or look oem. Lets just say once I decide this car isn't a "street" car anymore, things will drastically change. The wheel issue is mainly the offsets land around 55-60 in a 10.5 or 11. There are options out there, but they are either very expensive or I just dont like the look.

[bwwaaaa]

I love the thread title haha, I say leave it.

Cool to see a Vette build, a friend of mine has a C5Z that I got a chance to drive. They're so rowdy, I love it.

I've heard finding C5 wheels is kind of a pain, don't they need really specific, weirdly high offsets to fit anything? Hope you find something cool soon, looking forward to seeing this come together!

[SebastienPeek]

Genuinely impressed by how flat the floor is on this thing!
Very interested to see this car on the ZO6 reps and sitting closer to the floor.

I honestly also thought this was a spam thread and almost deleted it because of the title, but saw your username and figured it was good aha