Steve GT
12-17-2012, 06:54 PM
I bought my 2002 Corvette Z06 in March of 2011 as a daily driver. It was mostly stock except for a MGW shifter and an aggressive alignment that ate through the front tires in no time. I was pretty happy with the car stock, it felt almost as fast as my cammed and stalled G8.
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2240/5778216473_f400f65dab_b.jpg
I decided it was time for new tires quickly after buying the car as the inside of the fronts were almost showing cord. The wheels weren't in perfect shape, so I figured it was a good time to add some wheels and tires to the car. I ended up going with TSW Interlagos in an 18/19 combo with Hankook Ventus V12 tires. I decided to also lower it on stock bolts while I was at it, redo the brakes and get it realigned to a more suitable alignment for a daily driver. I was once again, happy with the car.
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6134/5971652075_a2b6ab6224_b.jpg
I ended up taking the car to the drag strip on drag radials a few months later and found out the clutch would stick to the floor and not come back up by the time I got to fourth gear. I tried the ranger method to clean the fluid but it didn't help so I ordered a Monster Stage 3 clutch that was rated somewhere in the 700 range. Why did I add this clutch? I had dreams of more power in the future and only wanted to do a clutch once.
Speaking of more power, I had also picked up a vararam intake and a Kooks x-pipe that I found for a deal. I ended up buying a set of XS Power headers and sold off the Kooks x pipe, as well as added a Lingenfelter fuel pump for my future power needs. With no tune, I managed to trap 117 mph in the 1/4 mile with just the vararam and the headers; already faster than my G8 with a basically stock car. I probably should have left good enough alone, but I couldn't help but wonder, what if I added a cam? I asked Patrick G this very question and before I knew it, I had a custom cam spec sheet in my hands. Shortly after this, I ended up buying a house and put the car on hold while I dealt with moving and recovering from that purchase. After a few months, I decided to go through with it and ordered the cam through Geoff at EPS. I also placed an order through sdparts.com for a new set of LS7 lifters, Melling oil pump, ARP bolts, all gaskets, and various other bits and pieces to make the cam swap happen. All of the parts came in and I put them on a shelf and stared at them for about a month. Then last Monday I pulled the car into the garage and placed it on jack stands.
This is what I saw:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5056.jpg
Before I knew it, I had the radiator pulled, as well as various other parts
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5065.jpg
Then the water pump, steering rack, and balancer disappeared.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5079.jpg
Did I really expect an engine with 109k miles to be clean?
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5108.jpg
My friend Adam came over on Friday night to help me with the project. Neither of us had ever went into an engine this far, but what's the worst that could have happened? Before we knew it, we could see the pistons:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5124.jpg
The heads were pretty dirty so we cleaned them up the best we could
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5128.jpg
We also cleaned up the pistons while we were at it.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5129.jpg
Adam pulling the old cam before I put the new one in the car
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5133.jpg
Switched out the valve springs to a set of Brian Tooley Dual Springs
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5141.jpg
Also changed out the valve seals while doing the springs
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5145.jpg
Heads ready to go back on the car the next morning
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5148.jpg
Reinstalled after cleaning everything up and torquing it to spec with ARP bolts
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5149.jpg
My buddy Daniel also came over to help and helped me get the steering rack back in, helped with the headers, as well as a ton of other little things. Before I knew it, the car was mostly back together.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5155.jpg
After topping the car off with fluids and turning it over by hand a few times, we were ready to start it up. We first turned the key without the coil packs connected and everything sounded good. We reconnected the coil packs, crossed our fingers, and turned the key.
This is what happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDBBk1yT8BQ
I drove the car around a little bit and was surprised that it ran "ok" without a tune. I changed the oil after a few miles were put on it and then called Late Model Racecraft for a tune. Turns out, they took me in the next day and did a street tune as well as a dyno tune on the car.
I was told it made 419 over the phone but the graph I was given when there was only 414/391. I'm sure they gave me the first two runs and not the third, but no big deal as I'm happy with anything over 400 rwhp.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5176.jpg
Post tune video showing the tame idle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixwnIjtwrcY
So there you have it. A car I bought to daily drive ended up being cammed because I have a sickness when it comes to cars and I can't leave anything alone.
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2240/5778216473_f400f65dab_b.jpg
I decided it was time for new tires quickly after buying the car as the inside of the fronts were almost showing cord. The wheels weren't in perfect shape, so I figured it was a good time to add some wheels and tires to the car. I ended up going with TSW Interlagos in an 18/19 combo with Hankook Ventus V12 tires. I decided to also lower it on stock bolts while I was at it, redo the brakes and get it realigned to a more suitable alignment for a daily driver. I was once again, happy with the car.
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6134/5971652075_a2b6ab6224_b.jpg
I ended up taking the car to the drag strip on drag radials a few months later and found out the clutch would stick to the floor and not come back up by the time I got to fourth gear. I tried the ranger method to clean the fluid but it didn't help so I ordered a Monster Stage 3 clutch that was rated somewhere in the 700 range. Why did I add this clutch? I had dreams of more power in the future and only wanted to do a clutch once.
Speaking of more power, I had also picked up a vararam intake and a Kooks x-pipe that I found for a deal. I ended up buying a set of XS Power headers and sold off the Kooks x pipe, as well as added a Lingenfelter fuel pump for my future power needs. With no tune, I managed to trap 117 mph in the 1/4 mile with just the vararam and the headers; already faster than my G8 with a basically stock car. I probably should have left good enough alone, but I couldn't help but wonder, what if I added a cam? I asked Patrick G this very question and before I knew it, I had a custom cam spec sheet in my hands. Shortly after this, I ended up buying a house and put the car on hold while I dealt with moving and recovering from that purchase. After a few months, I decided to go through with it and ordered the cam through Geoff at EPS. I also placed an order through sdparts.com for a new set of LS7 lifters, Melling oil pump, ARP bolts, all gaskets, and various other bits and pieces to make the cam swap happen. All of the parts came in and I put them on a shelf and stared at them for about a month. Then last Monday I pulled the car into the garage and placed it on jack stands.
This is what I saw:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5056.jpg
Before I knew it, I had the radiator pulled, as well as various other parts
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5065.jpg
Then the water pump, steering rack, and balancer disappeared.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5079.jpg
Did I really expect an engine with 109k miles to be clean?
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5108.jpg
My friend Adam came over on Friday night to help me with the project. Neither of us had ever went into an engine this far, but what's the worst that could have happened? Before we knew it, we could see the pistons:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5124.jpg
The heads were pretty dirty so we cleaned them up the best we could
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5128.jpg
We also cleaned up the pistons while we were at it.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5129.jpg
Adam pulling the old cam before I put the new one in the car
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5133.jpg
Switched out the valve springs to a set of Brian Tooley Dual Springs
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5141.jpg
Also changed out the valve seals while doing the springs
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5145.jpg
Heads ready to go back on the car the next morning
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5148.jpg
Reinstalled after cleaning everything up and torquing it to spec with ARP bolts
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5149.jpg
My buddy Daniel also came over to help and helped me get the steering rack back in, helped with the headers, as well as a ton of other little things. Before I knew it, the car was mostly back together.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5155.jpg
After topping the car off with fluids and turning it over by hand a few times, we were ready to start it up. We first turned the key without the coil packs connected and everything sounded good. We reconnected the coil packs, crossed our fingers, and turned the key.
This is what happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDBBk1yT8BQ
I drove the car around a little bit and was surprised that it ran "ok" without a tune. I changed the oil after a few miles were put on it and then called Late Model Racecraft for a tune. Turns out, they took me in the next day and did a street tune as well as a dyno tune on the car.
I was told it made 419 over the phone but the graph I was given when there was only 414/391. I'm sure they gave me the first two runs and not the third, but no big deal as I'm happy with anything over 400 rwhp.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh275/redpile/IMG_5176.jpg
Post tune video showing the tame idle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixwnIjtwrcY
So there you have it. A car I bought to daily drive ended up being cammed because I have a sickness when it comes to cars and I can't leave anything alone.