2005 Chevy Corvette build & upgrades & Nova parts donater thread

[bonecrrusher]

Back to the Pontiac - I've been rolling around with out any center caps for awhile now, I finally got a chance to paint the caps with the SEM trim paint that I ordered a few weeks back.



I cleaned all the caps, then masked them off using fine line masking tape, then spray bombed them:

Results below:

[bonecrrusher]

I hope everyone will have a great happy holiday season!

Thought I would help spread the Christmas Spirit - my local Corvette club participates in a parade every year and throw candy to the kids. This year we threw out 40 pounds a candy and a few Power Tour hats this year.

I filmed it this year with the GoPro - not very exciting stuff but should get you into the Christmas spirit.



Also - went to a local "Cars and Coffee" event here in Charlotte and had a photographer taking pictures - he snapped this one of the G8.



Not bad if I may say so myself...

Everyone be safe and have a happy holidays!

[bonecrrusher]

Well I havent fallen off the planet - just been busy with life and what not.

I finally have a few minutes to throw some pics up on showing the updates around here.

First - the Corvette is currently at the body shop getting the rear end and the doors painted - so no more 2 tone rolling bruise for me!

In preperations of sending the Vette off to paint jail - I removed the rear GM 'chicklet' badges that the black z06 fenders had on them - they are not going back on the car.

Obligatory pics:





Second - since the Vette is in paint jail - I have one open bay in the shop and figured it would be a good time to start to fix up the ceiling in the shop without having to deal with 2 cars.

I bought 4 48" T8 recessed lighting from Home Depot well over a year ago. They've been sitting on the shop floor taking up space and collecting dust.

The only lights I had in the garage where two CFL bulbs - needless to say the lighting was pretty piss poor.

Since its been 10 years since I last worked on any house electrical - I took this very slowly and had to figure it out on the fly as I was not familiar with how the builders ran the electrical wires in the ceiling above my garage. So I cut out the drywall around the socket - turned off the breaker of course - and eventually cut a 4' x 12" hole in the cieling to hang the light in.

What I didn't know at the time - was that the studs above the garage where 22.5" on center - so the plan to hang the lights using the legs that kick out went out the door and I had to re-engineer how I was going to mount the lights.

So I bought some 2x1 in 8' lengths from Lowes and cut them to fit between the studs. I then screwed them into the studs and used these as the mounting points for the lights.

I put in a junction box for the lights on each side and ran new electrical cable to the other end of the garage for the second set of lights to work.

After I got the first light done - the overall time to hang the lights dropped dramatically.

I have hung the lights, patched the drywall - and I am currently doing the mud and sanding.

I have patched up all the holes in the cieling and where they used drywall screws and finished the sanding up for that.

I am currently working on the seams - the builders did a rushed/piss poor job on the seams so its going to be a lot of work - but my plan is to get those smooth and eventually paint the ceiling white.

Now for the pics:

Before:








Third - my Girlfriends father bought a new air compressor so he ended up selling me his old one - now since I do not own a truck I ended borrowing a co-workers '99 7.4L Big Block dualie and trailer to get it home. I'm lucky if I got 10 mpg in this beast.

So now I've got a 80 gallon 5 hp air compressor - I need to run the 220 wire for it - but thats a project for a later date.

[bonecrrusher]

An update!

I finally finished up sanding all of the seams in the garage.

I am very close to finishing this project - I can almost taste it!

I picked up a 5 gallon bucket of Drywall primer/sealer - and got one full coat on.

I will finish up the spots I couldnt get with a roller, and put one more coat on - then I will decide to paint it or not.

Pics:



Also - I picked this up today - it was gone for just over a month. I guess thats what I get for saying no rush.

I am glad that it took that long - it gave me time to get motivated and do this ceiling project. I look forward to not working on the ceiling for 3-4 hrs every night after I work a 10 our day. Seriously - the ceiling project felt like a part time job that I wasn't getting paid for.

My painter did an awesome job on the car like always - it is very weird having a single color car. The Vette was 2 colors for damn near 10 months. Seeing it all blue really changed the car - for the better I think.

I'll probably do the front end next winter - its car show/autocross season!

Pics:

[bonecrrusher]

I've had the Corvette back for a week - and on to the next project...

I've had a set or Michelin Pilot Sport Cup rear tires sitting in storage for a long time - so I finally got those mounted today.

It's nice having tires that dont howl and suck anymore! Those Runflats where terrible!

[bonecrrusher]

So down here in Charlotte - there is the Food Lion Autofair car show that occurred this weekend.

I got the car back from the body shop about 2 weeks ago and got the new rear tires mounted.

So I spend the last week getting the car all cleaned up - wash/wax/full detail/etc.

I wanted to make the car stand out - so I ended up making a display for it.

After shopping around on the internet - I wasn't going to sped 200 bucks for a flimsy piece of crap plastic unit that wouldn't fit my needs.

I wanted something that I could mount my 10" Motorola Xoom tablet too. I created a video with some of the screen caps of my build - and some of the videos that I've shot with the GoPro over the last couple of years.

So after some thought an design - I tracked down some diamond plate sheet @ Lowe's.

I picked up a jig saw, some metal cutting blades, some aluminum c-channel, and some cap screws and got to work:





Not shown in the pics is the 2x4 that I mounted in the middle of the back of the display to reinforce it.

Sad thing is that I took so much time cleaning up the car and taking pictures of other peoples cars - that I never got a picture of it @ the show this weekend!

Heres the link to the rest of my pics, and a select few chosen pics:

http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/n...Spring%202012/

[woody80z28]

Needs moar L-bodies!

[woody80z28]

I don't see any parts donating going on in this thread. And I do know of another 400hp/6spd Chevy that needs those 13.4" front brakes...

[bonecrrusher]

I might have a set of G8 brakes for sale - I am looking at some 15" rotors up front for that car.

[bonecrrusher]

Its been a crazy couple of weeks here.

I've traveled to Chicago, I just got back from the Hot Rod Power Tour - and life/work has been crazy.

A few weeks back I started on an upgrade project on the Vette - and boy did that snowball.

Every time I get into the Vette - it really pissed me off that I didn't have steering wheel controls - I have them on the G8 - and I use them daily.

So I've been shopping around for steering wheels for awhile now, and found a user selling a 2008 C6 Z06 steering wheel for $100 shipped - so I bought it.

Next I was looking around for the proper airbag- and I have seen some sell on ebay for like 400 plus - I refused to pay that. I found one of the vendors selling new airbags from GM for $180 shipped - so I bought one of those.

Now the airbag and 2007+ steering wheel bolt right to my 05, just I needed to swap out the steering wheel clock spring - and the steering column harness with units out of a newer Corvette.

I again shopped around - and bought both the clock spring and the harness from GM for the best price I found them.

Everything is plug and play with this swap - except for the radio control signals themselves. I pulled the 3 wires out of the steering column to firewall connector and put in a new connector so the steering column harness can still be removed like stock. I chose a weatherpack connector for this, so I had to buy a crimper and wire kit - I actually found a good deal on ebay. Then I ran some 18 gauge wire through the dashboard and over into the radio bay.

2 of the connectors go into the back of the radio, and the other line goes to a dash indicator line - I tied into the hazard switch which is right above the radio - so the steering wheel controls glow at night.

I put everything back together and went for a test drive - and you'd think I'd be done at this point - but no.

The steering wheels controlled the radio just fine, and even light up... the problem was that I was hearing a binding/grinding noise when I turned the wheel.

At this point I think its the clock spring - so I tore everything apart (again) and find the clock spring is sitting just fine - I position it a bit differently and put everything back together, go for a test drive - and still binding!

So I tear it apart again - to discover that the plastic shroud that goes between the steering wheel and the dash board - it surrounds the turn signal stalk and what not, was not perfectly circular - it was kind of oval shaped. I end up hitting it a few times with angry fists, put the wheel back on, and everything else back together - and what do you know, it works!

So I take it for a test drive and everything is fine and dandy - then I notice that the Nav system is not getting a GPS signal, I'm like WTF. I am out in the middle of the road - no trees/tall buildings/mountain valleys to block the signal.

So I tear the center console, the arm rest, and then the radio out - and find out I didn't push the GPS connector in the back of radio all the way in - damnit!

I put it all back together and everything works - luckily I got everything fixed up and working the weekend before I left on the HRPT.

Here are some pics - I didn't take many as I was diagnosing the stupid grinding noise. I have wayyy too many hours into this project then I want to admit that I have in it...








As I mentioned that I was on the HRPT - I did not long haul this one. There is no way in hell I am driving back from Texas to NC - and then go back to work on Monday. So I did the Detroit, Muskegon, and Champaign IL stops. Since I was only 3 hrs from my parents house - I drove up to Chicago and spent the night and saw the family.

Here is my video from the Milford Road Course where they tested out the ZL1 - sorry there is no sound GoPro didn't record any (damnit):



A select few pics below:






Here are my ALL of pics from the HRPT.

http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/n...20Tour%202012/

Last but not least: Time for a G8 update...

The front brakes have been squeaking on the G8 for awhile now - and I know the pads are shot, and the front rotors are bedded in pretty deeply.

I have been mulling over what to do about these for a few weeks - I priced out upgrading the pads, and getting some DBA rotors - vs getting some upgraded GM rotors.

The pads are about the same cost - but the GM rotors are cheaper.

Now this is where this brake job cost jumps:



This is a Brembo 2009+ CTS-V 6 piston front brake caliper.

I already have the V-wheels on the car so I know that they will fit. I said to hell with it - I found everything on line and saved myself $400 over what I had priced out earlier this year.

So I'll be upgrading the G8 to these:
2009+ CTS-V Brembo 6 piston calipers
2009+ CTS-V dual cast 15" front rotors
Hawk HPS pads

So I got that project to finish up in a few weeks.

[Simmo]

Cool brakes Really want to see someone throw some on an A body to see whats involved.

I havnt heard if the Commodore guys over here have caught onto these yet...if you dont mind me asking, what was the total cost in USD? Could always buy them and if it proves to be a PITA flog'm off to the Holden crowd.

[bonecrrusher]

Total cost was $1200 and change for everything.

I got the rotors and calipers on Ebay.

The pads I ordered off the internet - used google.com/shopping - typed in the part number and bought it off the cheapest internet vendor I found on there.

Last time I had priced out this swap - it was going to be $1600+ - I think prices have dropped a bit now.

If you need instructions on how to install them - I have some links bookmarked.

Also - I found out about this swap from Hot Rod Magazine where they did a Mustang vs Camaro test and the Camaro had this swap done.

Did some searching - found it on the net - then found more people had done this on the G8 considering both cars are Zeta chassis.

[ryeguy2006a]

That is a great looking Vette! I like all of the work that you have done to it.

[bonecrrusher]

Found this on Hot Rod Magazine's website - guess thats the closest thing I'll ever get into being in that mag, haha:

[bonecrrusher]

Not really a project update - but some new video footage!

I just got back from vacation up in Somerset Kentucky - its a pretty nice area and has a lot to offer. I previously had been through there on the Power Tour a few years ago. Plus its pretty close to Bowling Green - so one day we went over to Mammoth Caves and stopped by the Corvette Museum.

On the way home - Interstate 75 southbound is down to 1 lane just over the TN border - since we drove up this way and saw that traffic was backed up for an hour - we took the back roads to head home.

So I looked at the map - found out the Cumberland Gap tunnel was on the way - so I pulled over, strapped the GoPro onto the car - and let her rip.

On to the vid:

[bonecrrusher]

Here is another Pontiac update...

I finally got around to putting the 2009+ CTS-V front brakes on the car.

I swear - every time I work on one of my cars - the installs never go smoothly! I ended up running to the parts store a few times, and Lowes a couple times too.

I managed to kill my drill half way though the install - I had to enlarge the holes in the spindles to 9/16's so that the V caliper bolts would fit. My old drill that I was used when I got it from my dad bit the dust. The internal gears got all screwed up - so I added a new 7 amp power drill to my tool box. The new drill had a handle attachment for it - I'm like yeah I won't need that. I started drilling the spindle again - and about half way through the bit got caught and the drill spun and smacked me right in the jaw - that hurt like a SOB. Luckily it didn't break anything - and then I proceeded to put the handle on.

This quick swap took something like 13 hrs to complete - I really don't want to think how many hours it took, plus having to bleed all the brakes - it took WAYYYY longer then it should have.

In the end - the upgrade was well worth it. The car stops awesome now. Is it sad that my DD has bigger brakes on it then my sports car?

Time for the pics:

[nvmyss]

Nice.
I like the steering wheel upgrade, its the little things that make a car enjoyable.

[woody80z28]

Looks good. Amanda was probably controlling the drill with some voodoo. haha

[bonecrrusher]

Another shop update...

So I've had my eyes on a new toolbox for a while now. My old Craftsman unit was a good starter unit, but I've filled it up with a bunch of different tool's that I've collected over the years.

Also I noticed when I was opening and closing my Craftsman unit - it was top heavy and well not exactly trying to tip over - it wasn't cool closing that and have to worry about it moving around.

I wanted something a bit larger, and well - I sprung for the bells and whistles on it too.

I was walking past my local Lowes - and noticed that there big bad ass Kobalt toolbox was on Clearance.

The one with the fridge, the radio, and built in stereo. While I don't really need the fridge - the built in speakers take care of my lack of sound system in the garage.

Plus the fact that I it was clearance, they took my 10% off coupon from the moving form you get from the post office, and another 5% for using a Lowe's card - I got the box for almost half off what the original price was.

I have also sold my old toolbox - and offset the cost even more.

Lowe's also had some of the Gladiator Garage Works items on clearance - there castors for my toolchest where $9 vs the $39 they were originally, and there towel holder got knocked down to 11 bucks!

Now for the pics.

I know the other side of the garage has a bunch of plastic - I am still cleaning up from doing the cieling project and have since tossed those out.

[woody80z28]

It's starting to look like a shop now! You need a bigger work bench though...