Wheels!

One of the things I set up was an Ebay alert for 2 phrases: Factory Five and GTM. I receive an email anytime something new is listed for sale on Ebay. Many of these are listings for some really great cars people have built. The car listings are great for build ideas. There are usually enough pics so you can see if you like or dislike how something looks. Occasionally, something else comes up.

Wheel caps included.

I have already purchased the Big Brake Kit. These huge six piston brakes come with larger rotors and it is clearly explained that you need 18 inch or larger wheels to accommodate this upgrade. Factory Five sells a larger set of wheels in a bright silver finish. These wheels are Forgestar F14 and they are available in 9 different finishes. These wheels cost a little bit more than the Factory Five listing, but they came with free shipping, so there was a net savings of $100.

This is the rear wheel 18 x 12 in high gloss black (Forgestar calls this a Piano Black). This is a very big rim that is surprising lightweight (only 22 lbs). I left the protective plastic wrapping on the wheel. These will not be mounted until sometime next summer.

I conducted an informal poll on Facebook, text messages and people at the karate studio I where I work out. I explained the car was going to be red (Corsa red - Ferrari Racing Red) and the calipers are red. So did they like silver wheels or high gloss black wheels. There was an interesting split here. All the guys said high gloss black. All the women said silver. Although, the love of my life said I should do what I wanted. Once it was explained that I was planning a bright red car and not a cranberry red, the other women said black would be okay.

This is our Yorkie-in-charge checking out the Forgestar wheel.

The rear wheels are truly astounding. One of the things I discovered about the GTM is that I can go with different rear tire sizes for the larger wheels:

• 335/30 - 18
• 295/35 - 18
• 275/40 - 18

This is attractive, because it opens up the tire selection. Except once I saw the rear wheel, I knew I could only go with 335/30 -18 size tires. If I had decided to go with the donor car brakes, rotors and wheels, then I would be looking at the standard Corvette C5 of 245/45 - 17 (front) and 275/40 -18 (rear) configuration. Factory Five recommends Toyo tires. I prefer something other than a street legal racing slick, so I am probably going to put Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires on the car.

Big Brake Upgrade - October 2011

The big brake upgrade requires that you go with 18 inch wheels or larger. This means you are making commitment to a larger wheel size (and the incumbent costs). According to Factory Five Tech Support, this is the same brake package they installed on their LS7 powered test mule that did 0 to 60 in 3.0 seconds.

Z06 C5/C6 Big Brake Upgrade Kit

The stock C5 Corvette front/rear set up is 17 and 18 inches respectively. This is not large enough to accommodate this package. This package requires 18 inch wheels (minimum). Some vendors will warn you about this on their websites. West Cost Corvette had the best price. As I have purchased other major systems for the my Corvette from them, I felt comfortable making this purchase. The Big Brake Upgrade includes the following:

• (2) 6 piston front calipers
• (2) 4 piston rear calipers
• (2) drilled and slotted 14 inch front rotors
• (2) drilled and slotted 13.4 inch rear rotors
• (1) set HAWK Z06 front and rear HPS brake pads
• (4) DOT steel braided brake lines   
• (4) pints Motul Racing Brake Fluid

In the overall budget, I allocated a separate line item for this package.

Left side front/rear suspension

This is an enhancement to the overall build, and I can complete it prior to ordering the GTM chassis. The suspension is no longer connected to the rest of the car, so you need to brace it.

These 22mm bolts turned very stiffly. They were the biggest problem I encountered.

The first thing you need to do is loosen the 22mm bolts that attach the caliper pistons to the knuckle. Warning: These bolts haven't been turned since the donor car left the factory, and the rear suspension ones seemed to have been tightened down by Godzilla. I was using an old torque wrench as a breaker bar. It went past 150 foot pounds (end of the scale), and I only got tired. 

I clamped down the suspension, sprayed the bolts with penetrating oil, tapped them lightly with a hammer, and used a 20 inch breaker bar. You may have to repeat this a couple of times. Give the oil some time to work (at least 15 minutes). There were some comments from the management that the oil stinks. You can't keep everyone happy.

Crush washer.

Second, you will find crush washers on the front rotors. Use a small screw driver and needle nose pliers to get the free. You don't really need them. There are none on the rear rotors.

The new rotor is on top. You can see it is a larger diameter and it is drilled. 

Third, slide the caliper off and pull the rotor off. For the most part these just slide right off, but a couple of them required some persuasion. While the rotor is off, I took some Rem Oil and steel wool to clean up the surface rust on the hub.

Thread the 22mm bolts back on.

 Fourth, slide the new rotor and caliper on the hub. Insert the 22mm bolts back into the caliper. I plan to wait until the suspension is mounted on the chassis before torquing to spec (125 ft-lbs).

There is a pad for each piston. Six pads for each front caliper and 4 pads for each rear caliper.
The penny is there to give you an idea on large these are.

Fifth, insert pads right through the top of the caliper. The pads are head in place by bolts that slide into the half moon notch on the side of the pads. The bolts are stainless steel that screw in using an Allen wrench.

Top down view on caliper. There is a pad installed on the right side, and the left side is still open. You can see the stainless steel bolt and piston on the left hand side.

It takes about 5 minutes to put these pads in. Probably a little longer, once the suspension is mounted on the chassis. This is easier than playing around with two wrenches and swinging the caliper up to replace the  pads.

Remove the plug and install the braided steel brake lines.

Sixth, we need to attach the braided brakes lines. This is very easy. This connect to the reservoir on the back of the caliper using a banjo bolt.

Banjo bolt and end of the braided brake line.

This was pretty easy to do. Once I figured out how everything fit together, the second brake/rotor went very fast.

Finished product.

Suspension Clean Up

In preparation for building the GTM, I scour GTM build blogs and logs. (This is one of the reasons I am writing this blog, to help illustrate the path toward a successful GTM build.) Anyway, one thing I liked was the idea of cleaning up the suspension control arms. Fparts degreased the suspension before they shipped. I know the parts came from a minimum of 2 cars (yellow and grey). Based on different coloration between the from and rear suspension members, I think they may have come from different vehicles as well.

 One thing I learned from other build logs is the idea of repainting the suspension pieces to give them a "new" and "uniform" look. I took a quick trip down to Loews and picked up a couple cans Rustoleum metallic paint, set up a paint booth in the corner of the garage and masked off the rubber gaskets. This went pretty quick.

The other improvement is the replacement of the rotors, brake lines, and calipers with the Z06 Big Brake Upgrade. That's a late fall, early winter project.

Donor Parts Kit (Purchased)

Over the weekend the GTM Donor Parts kit offered by FPARTS, went on sale at 10% off on Ebay. I've been watching this auction since May. It has been relisted a couple of times, and according to FPARTS, there were 3 kits available.

The economics for the donor parts work out like this:

• A new parts kit from SMC Performance is starting to push $12,000. 
• The GM Performance Parts kit never really materialized. This was something announced over a year ago.
• A salvage title C5 is running around $10,000
• The FPARTS kit dropped down to $4409 for 2 days over the weekend.

The items not included are the following:

• Brake lines
• Radiator
• Alternator
• Brake pads (Duh)
• A/C compressor and clutch

I am still planning to get the Big Brake Kit upgrade for Z06 Corvettes. This covers rotors, calipers, pads, fluids and brake lines. I have verified that the Factory Five 18 inch wheel upgrade accommodates this brake kit.

I plan to go with a bigger radiator (probably a DeWitts) anyway.

The alternator and A/C compressor need to matched to the engine accessory kit. Again, I am going with a bigger engine than you could find in a salvage C5 (i.e. LS376).

FPARTS does ask for a little patience. They need to put the donor kit together, and that includes pulling parts off a couple C5s in their salvage yard. I hope to see everything in the next 10 days.

It feels good to take a step forward on this project.

After Market Goodies

The GTM has been around long enough to spur an after market. Rather than wait for the car to be fully finished before deciding on enhancements, I intend to add enhancements into the initial build.

Sway Bars:
Quick Racing Products makes a sway bar kit for the front suspension.

LED Lighting:
Quick racing Products makes some interior LED lighting strips ready to plug into the electrical system.

Big Brakes:
West Coast Corvettes sells the big brake upgrade for C5/C6. This does require the 18 inch wheels.

Instrument Panel:
I'm still thinking about this one. The kit currently comes with these Auto Meter gauges. They look kind of ugly. The gauge set sits on a beautiful carbon fiber panel, and white clunky looking gauges just don't make the grade. One problem I have run across is that many gauge sets have speedometers that only go 160 mph. The Revenge Design folks produce a luxury GTM starting at $145K, and they appear to be using a Dakota Digital display.

Exhaust System:

Vraptor Speed Works offers a stainless steel cross over pipe exhaust system that looks way better than the H pipe supplied in the kit. All I can say is, "Now that's an X pipe!" Regardless, which exhaust makes into the initial build, I am going to have a ceramic heat coating applied to the pipes.

LED Exterior Lights:
There are a couple of places that do a great job with Corvette replacement of bulb with LEDs. I am considering contacting them about a core replacement on the kit supplied lights.

Fuzz Buster:
The Passport 9500ci is an integrated system built into the car. The build seems like the perfect time to get this installed.

GPS/BT/Backup Camera:
Escort also makes a product called Smart Mirror. This replaces the donor rear view mirror with a unit that has GPS, Blue Tooth and an integrated backup camera. I am pretty sure the GTM does not offer the best sight picture. It will definitely need a backup camera, especially since all of my sports cars are backed into their parking spots.

HUD Display and Home-Link:
I really like the HUD in my Corvette. The after market HUDs that I have looked at to date are very primitive in execution. Although, Pioneer and Microvision are working on some things due out in 2012 that look quite interesting. For Home-Link, I think the easiest thing is to have it integrated into the driver's side sun visor.

Powder Coating:
As I understand it, there 34 sheet metal pieces that are visible on the GTM. Several builders have powder coated these black. This is mostly for aesthetics. Powder Coating Technologies is just down the road. I'll probably use them for the ceramic heating coating on the exhausts as well.

AM/FM/XM/MP3 Player:
I though that I would need something that integrated all the functionality of the smart mirror into this unit. Now I have the option to simplify this aspect of the build. I think I'll still go with some 2 DIN unit just so I have allocated space for a 7 inch screen. Who knows my passenger might want to watch a movie or something.