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.

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.

The Donor Car - Part 2

The donor car is a cost effective method for acquiring the parts needed for the build. The donor is a cadaver that will never roar down a twisting country road again. So you have to ask yourself what happened. The car either was the victim of a flood, theft or crash. (Stay away from the fire damaged ones. The reasons become obvious, once you look.) The insurance company deemed it unrepairable, and that means there was in excess of $20,000 damage to the vehicle. This number is based on the current replacement cost for a low end Corvette C5.

The major subsystems provided by the donor are as follows:

• Front suspension
• Engine
• Rear suspension
• Rear CV joints
• Emergency Brake Assembly
• Fuel Delivery
• Cooling system
• A/C 
• Brakes
• Miscellaneous (basically everything else)

Factory Five says the donor needs to be a C5. This is the path of least resistance, but many of these subsystems are common across generations for years 2003 to 2009. There is a substantial financial argument to be made for donor with a working engine.

My perfect donor is as follows:

• 2008/2009
• Larger wheels (18 front / 19 rear) - I'd scavenge these for the Big Yellow Toy.
• Big brake upgrade
• LS3/LS7 engine
• Intact suspension
• Intact instrumentation

This poor thing has too much damage for the GTM project. My first clue was lack of wheels and anything to hold them along the driver's side. The love of my life has already indicated that I need to make sure the wheels stay on the car.

This car on the other hand got hit on the passenger side. There is a substantial mess inside, but the mechanicals look good.

As I said, there is a substantial cost savings going the donor car route. The opportunity to acquire a working LS3 or LS7 engine plus the majority of the parts needed for assembly needs to be considered. Copart and Ebay are the easiest places to look for salvage or unrepairable titled cars.