New to me but out of the LTx game

For those that don't know, my 93 Z28 was taken apart over 10 years ago in efforts of a forged 355 and turbo setup. Unfortunately, due to some misplaced trust, this build was never finished, that car will never be back together and has been rotting in storage for 8-9 years now.

After driving around a solid daily replacement for the past 10 years I was finally in the position to get one of my dream cars in June 2020. I picked up a 2008 Atomic Orange C6 Z06 with about 32K miles on it. Within a month or two I decided the unknown history of the heads and the car being 12 years old that I would throw some money at her.

PRC 285 CC heads, TSP 3.2 cam, ARH 2" Longtubes and midpipe, AMT motormounts and diff mounts, Monster LT1-S Twin Disk, Old School Mild2Wild and some other supporting parts. Car put down 603whp/484tq on a Mainline Dyno tuned by Ajay with Anonymous Calibrations here in Jacksonville back in early December.

I just got the car back yesterday from an old friend who starter a new ceramic coating business called 5% Coatings and he did a phenomenal job. My stock chrome wheels are pitted so I'm going to eventually get them stripped and powder coated until I can save up for some BC Forged rims.

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I have some videos but I can't get them to upload.

You know my thoughts. But I'll profess my love for it here too!

Thank Fastbird, I love love love this car. Clutch is a little tricky as it grabs really high (the stock clutch did too) so I either need to get a C5 assist spring and/or an adjustable clutch stop. Outside of that, it's crazy the power this makes with just heads/cam. I'll be putting on an intake manifold, TB and some injectors as I was at 95% duty cycle on the stockers.

Even with an absurdly larger cam than the CC306 I had in the LT1, the street manners of this are night and day versus the Z28. I have some surge at very low throttle/rpm in first and second but my Z28 was way worse. Bad part about this car is I'm actually scared to break it whereas I never had that feeling with the Z28. I think it's more of a money thing in terms of how much the parts cost but eventually I will track it to see what I can trap on street tires. When I can gather the money for built diff/trans/axles/torque tube, I'll throw some stickies on it and shoot for 9s.

Any clue how to attach a video off my harddrive? I only see where I can link a video to a URL

Love the car! As you may have seen in my build thread, I also joined the C6Z bandwagon and can 100% relate on the fbody build issue with distrust. *sigh* Fortunately, I've had toys over the years that haven't made getting the bird on the road a priority.

Breaking parts on the Z06 can be costly, but it's well built. Make sure there's oil in it and it has a solid tune and you'll be fine for many years to come.

As for as posting video, just upload to Youtube and post the YT link.

Quality sucks a bit on some of these. Couple dyno vids and two idle vids. I need to take some better ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuGA4qFMNgs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzQTcuTKn9k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAz3WnjqqiQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFwpuKEZesE

@Z28pr0jekt Ryan I wouldn't worry about breaking the rear or axles unless you're on seriously sticky tires and trying to cut nasty short times. Or wheel hopping. Mainly wheel hopping. Control that and you'll be fine (that typically just nukes the output shafts anyway). I say this because even in my car at 800-900+ RWHP and my heavy foot and NT05R's......the stock 08 C6Z trans and rear in my car are holding up FINE.

I still can't believe they make that kind of power N/A with just heads and cam. 600+ RWHP N/A is nuts. Your car sounds SOOOOOOO awesome too.

Sounds awesome! I also spot a CETA in those idle videos.

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Originally Posted by harner

Sounds awesome! I also spot a CETA in those idle videos.

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Funny story about that. The guy, Mark, that works on my car I met back in 05 or 06 at the old 1/8th mile track in Jacksonville where him and his wife (LS Trans Am also) used to race. It's an LS6 based motor with a good amount of nitrous and a good driver. He used to help me with my Z28 (GM Mastertech for years and years). When my Z28 went down, I fell out of the whole scene. That picture is the first time I saw that car in over a decade and I was like a kid again seeing it haha.

Fastbird would remember an old user of speeddensity.org ChrisHarvick or HarvickGM something like that used to date or be married to Mark's daughter.

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Originally Posted by Fastbird

@Z28pr0jekt Ryan I wouldn't worry about breaking the rear or axles unless you're on seriously sticky tires and trying to cut nasty short times. Or wheel hopping. Mainly wheel hopping. Control that and you'll be fine (that typically just nukes the output shafts anyway). I say this because even in my car at 800-900+ RWHP and my heavy foot and NT05R's......the stock 08 C6Z trans and rear in my car are holding up FINE.

I still can't believe they make that kind of power N/A with just heads and cam. 600+ RWHP N/A is nuts. Your car sounds SOOOOOOO awesome too.

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Good to know, I think it was 09+ got a slightly better diff and axles. Initially, it'll just be street tires so I can learn the launch, see what I trap and honestly get some seat time in that environment again as it's been over a decade since I've raced.

I need to throw the car on a Dynojet just to see what it puts down. Power came in right where I expected but torque was 20-40 lower than I expected. I've read a bunch about mainline dynos and one consensus is they read 15-20% low but there's no way I'm making 15% more power. My buddy has been tuned on that dyno before and he thinks it reads a little high considering what one of his cars put down and the mods it has. I think my research may have been talking about a mainline hub dyno versus the roller I was on. I just need to catch a dyno day at one of the shops down here with a Dynojet. I wanted 580+ and knew 600 was capable with that setup. The intake manifold and TB with injectors should be worth another 20-30whp.

I DO remember the "HarvickGM" username from SD.org! Wow.....blast from the past.
@Z28pr0jekt Ryan I actually have a couple of the SD.org guys (besides you) on my FB list and every now and then I'll chat up Dean (KnightFire) over on GarageJournal.

Haha I still have the link in my sig on here to my old mod list from SD. Website may be down but I'll keep the memory going :)

LS7 FTW!!!!!

Love that color on the Z06. Did you see what condition the stock heads were in when you replaced them?

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Originally Posted by joelster

LS7 FTW!!!!!

Love that color on the Z06. Did you see what condition the stock heads were in when you replaced them?

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I still have them in my garage to sell but I haven't checked them out. The car was running great but I couldn't risk that chance of the valve issue occurring.

Took some better pictures today.

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Take the springs off and do the "wiggle" test.

I love that color in the sunlight.

Not a fan of the color but it still looks absolutely stunning.

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Originally Posted by purnel017

Not a fan of the color but it still looks absolutely stunning.

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It's definitely a love it or hate it color. I would have loved to have found one of the couple different blues they made (Jetstream blue especially) but they just weren't out there when I was looking. I always loved the SOM 4th gen Fbody so Atomic Orange is wasn't a detractor for me. From everything I've researched mine is one of less than 300 for the options it has that year (I think it's less than 150 but it's difficult to get the specifics). I love this ceramic coating that my friend did, I simply wash it off with water and lightly wipe with a microfiber then air dry it.

Once I need new tires, I'll get the wheels powder coated as chrome is not my thing and these are pretty pitted especially on the front. You can see it on the last set of pictures.

Well, I fucked up bad. I haven't posted anywhere else because frankly, I'm embarrassed and pissed at myself.

My friend had been wanting a ride for a couple months (he has a base c6 with a couple mods). I was at a pool tournament and had time between rounds. Took it out on the highway and planned to do one 2-3 shift and maybe a 3-4 depending on traffic. Hit the top of 2nd and apparently wasn't focused enough and fucking money shifted into first. By the time I realized it was in 1st it was too late.

Limped the car home. I definitely fucked the trans and I think I cracked the differential as it's leaking gear oil all over. I'm hoping I didn't hurt the motor but won't find out for a couple weeks.

Luckily nobody was injured except my ego and my wallet.

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Originally Posted by Z28pr0jekt

Well, I fucked up bad. I haven't posted anywhere else because frankly, I'm embarrassed and pissed at myself.

My friend had been wanting a ride for a couple months (he has a base c6 with a couple mods). I was at a pool tournament and had time between rounds. Took it out on the highway and planned to do one 2-3 shift and maybe a 3-4 depending on traffic. Hit the top of 2nd and apparently wasn't focused enough and fucking money shifted into first. By the time I realized it was in 1st it was too late.

Limped the car home. I definitely fucked the trans and I think I cracked the differential as it's leaking gear oil all over. I'm hoping I didn't hurt the motor but won't find out for a couple weeks.

Luckily nobody was injured except my ego and my wallet.

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Ah holy crap man. That's a sucky thing to have happen. How high did the Rev's get or did it just get violent to the trans/diff until you caught it?

Revs sat at the limiter from an ignition standpoint (7K) but technically from a mechanical standpoint the motor was trying to spin >10K. 90mph in 1st when 1st only goes to 60mph.

I didn't realize what was happening for a few seconds, I thought it was trying to spin in 3rd but it has never spun in third, then when I realized it was actually slowing down while staying on the limiter, I ripped it out of gear. Didn't want to go in any gear after that until my speed came down and I had to pump the clutch several times to find an open gear. Found 4th, pulled it off the highway and managed to get it home which was less than a mile away. It was extremely notchy going into gear and making terrible noises.

Oof sorry to hear, man! Hopefully it's not too bad.

Appreciate it. It's my own fault so is what it is. Hopefully my buddy can load it on the trailer this weekend.

And 4 years later I got her back haha bunch of new stuff added:
- RPM Level VII TR 6060
- RPM Level IV ZR1 differential housing with wavetrac diff
- DSS carbon driveshaft with solid couplers
- ECS Trans brace/torque tamer
- Improved racing oil thermostat
- ECS Clutch Stop
- DRM Valved Bilsteins
- Continental Extreme Contact Force Tires

Been driving her every day for the last week, went full throttle in first gear yesterday and she's an animal but the new shocks/tires feel so much more planted than before. Getting in touch with my tuner to work on the under 2500 rpm cam surge to make it more comfortable to cruise. I do have solid motor/trans/diff mounts and solid couplers on the carbon driveshaft so it has a lot of NVH but I expected this.

Most of the ceramic coat is gone over the years so I'll be getting with my friend for another full detail and re-coat. The rims were powdercoated midnight metallic which is actually blue but in most lights it looks black.

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Installed a reduced tension clutch spring this past weekend and it significantly helped have a more linear clutch pedal feel. FL put in a new law recently where if you're caught going over 100mph, it's instant jail so I haven't really gotten into the throttle much haha, I don't need that nightmare.

New rims, all control arm bushings replaced with delrin, rear bump steer kit and new ball joints. Now sitting on Continental Extreme Contact Sport 02s versus the Forces. Stock rims sizes with some slight offset differences, 19x12 out back and 18x9.5 up front BC Forged RZ23s in brush bronze.

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lawwwwd

Great color combo!

That instant jail for 100+ is scary. AND, them Florida State Troopers don't play well. Years ago when the speed limit across the country was 55mph, one of them Florida Boys pulled my wife over and wrote her a warning ticket for 56 in a 55 zone. No shitting. LOL
Nolan