Build thread: Honey Badger! C6 Centennial Z07

[maxharvard]

Hey guys, sorta new, been lurking and randomly posting but wanted to share my newest and latest project.


I've done my fair share of building cars in the past, here's a couple I've built and owned the last few years.




























But now, I own this 2012 Centennial Z06/Z07. I picked it up in AR and drove it all the way back home to Minnesota. Has 28k miles on it and needed one minor thing done to the steering column, otherwise was perfect inside and out.


Some work done by 21st Century Motorsports to fix the heads but otherwise, very very stock. It goes straight, stops great... but doesn't turn as well as I want it to so that needs to be fixed.


Here's a vid at the half way point of our journey back home from AR


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_q7fVDVJIk





First things first... the previous owner had Weathertech floor mats smashed onto the original mats, what the hell?... Ehh.... no thanks. That had to go. Much better now with Jake floor mats.








I didn't have a ton of time before winter hit so I cleaned it up as best I could and ceramic coated it, you can see the how-to here:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbmvUMJyi4I








Had to get groceries...





and of course, drop the boy off at school in the new "hot rod".





After that, my plan is to upgrade the wheels, tires and suspension to handle better and be a fun weekend warrior/AutoX and maybe some big track stuff with maybe a HPDE here and there.


First things first... tires. They are in the basement away from -20* weather.








and got my number assignment from my local SCCA club for the year and had these made up by my buddy Montana Strait, cool guy who can make damn near anything!





Then yesterday, the mother load hit!


What I got was all new ridetech coil overs, sway bars and the delrin bushing kit, that should make quite a difference.


Here's a quick vid with close ups.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFQHh-QmQfI







Group photo!





That's kinda it for now. Waiting for the Forgeline wheels to show up, the Planted seat bracket for my OMP seat and the F55 sims to ditch the mag ride.


More when it happens!


Thanks for reading

[maxharvard]

Before I get too far ahead of myself, I owe credit to Randy Johnson at D&Z Customs for all of his help, check his killer work out here... http://dandzcustoms.com/

[maxharvard]

New wheels have arrived!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prENlVQrTA8

[JohnJ@RideTech]

Thanks for choosing our products!

[maxharvard]

Thanks for choosing our products!

Any time! Helps to work with good people who have good stuff! :D

More parts have arrived, almost ready to install the whole lot!

Its amazing to me how much nanny-state bull crap you have to 'engineer' out of a car these days. Blech!



New Planted seat bracket, fixed position. Why? Because I'm the only one who'll ever drive it. that's why.

[maxharvard]

Even though its cold... The car starts up no problem. Really? Is the 'cold start' really a thing? Pfffttt....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBa1VoppTGQ


Also, I was able to finish my little touches on the Forgelines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MveifHI2ZM

[maxharvard]

The suspension is done... wheewww!! That was a long day at Sharadon's Performance in Hugo, MN. Denny the owner is a good dude and agreed to help me out doing this, but we got it all done in ONE day!

- Complete suspension rebuild.
- Control arm bushings -> Delrin
- Coil-over install
- Front sway bar installed
- Rear sway bar not installed... have no clue what to do yet about this, it interfere's with the stock (ZR1) mufflers. So not sure to notch them or what to buy...













This last pic... let's say, mistakes were made LOL!!

[maxharvard]

New updates!

Got myself a C6.5R wickerbill rear spoiler. Looks dope as hell only problem is that there's still snow on the ground and i can't get any really good pics of it on the car :(
Before with the ZR1 spoiler:

[maxharvard]

Work has been slow due to the crappy weather, we recently got 17" of snow and had to dig out, only for it to melt the next day. :willy:

Worked on the seat and the sharkbar. Like a moron I tried to get the seat belt to retract only to have it come flying at me when the clock spring decided to let go. Huge shout out to Jeremy Swenson who helped me with a takeoff from his car.

Dan over at Vetteworks really helped me figure out what plugs I needed to make the airbag light go off.

Between that situation, the F55 mag ride delete and the trackbox, i have successfully defeated all the nanny-state bologna and have ZERO dash lights!

I mounted the OMP seat and found the Planted seat brackets to be MUCH MUCH lower than the OMP versions.

I'm 6'1 and need the seat back as far as possible especially with a helmet so this was a huge improvement.

Anyways, on to the progress pics





This is bad, right? It will go back together just fine?

[maxharvard]

All she needs now is an alignment!

[maxharvard]

Well, the car is finally done. Got the B&B Bullets fitted up to the car and it just baaaaarely clears the ridetech sway bar.




Then thought it would be wise to do an oil change and tranny fluid.



The front oil plug is quite the motherload of oil. Yeesh.



Gear fluid was a bit easier but found a minor drip from the temp sensor so that was fixed while I was there.



I got an alignment and then it was race day! My local AutoX group is hugely organized so they always go off very well.



Lots of very fast cars with very fast drivers






@chrisadams


mnautox.com

Finished very respectable 33rd of 140 with a lot of fast drivers and having zero seat time in this car and not a thing tuned, suspension wise.

Looking forward to the next one in a month once I can get the suspension dialed in, its going to be a beast!