Ram Lift - Front end Clearance

Clearance is something that I have been puzzling over for almost a year. One of the first things I learned after I got my C5 for my 52nd birthday (I have a fabulous wife) is that the front frame scraped on the driveway. This was solved when I installed Elite Engineering's Frame Guards. These are basically a couple of training wheels drilled into the lowest point of the frame. They really work!

I want to make the GTM as stable as possible, but I don't want the stability to come at the price of ripping up the front end of the body. I am already adding the standard sway bars from my c5 to stiffen the suspension (I replaced the C5 sway bar set with a C6 Z51 set.), and I am thinking more and more seriously about the racing wing. However, I still need to address clearance issues for the GTM.

Next, I discovered that after I replaced the Boxster's front end with Fiberwerk's Dayton II kit, I faced similar problems. I am really careful about going up and down my driveway.

Now we come to the GTM and front end clearance. Both the Northern and Southern Man caves have these nasty driveway lips that are just waiting to nail my GTM (kind of like the tree that keeps gobbling Charlie Brown's kite). I approached Elite Engineering, but I'm not sure they want to leap into the GTM aftermarket. Then I found a series of posts on the Factory Five forums. There are two of them: ffcars.com and TheFactoryFiveForum.com. For any potential builders, use the forums. They are a gold mine of knowledge and experience.

The solution is to install a ram lift under the Koni shocks. A company called RamLiftPro manufactures these units. As you can see from the above videos, they really work. Since I am going with the carbon fiber splitter, I am going to install ram lift the system that raises the front end up to 5 inches. The kit includes the following:

• 12v. Pump
• 2 - Rams
• 10' Aeroquip TFE hydraulic hose
• 4 - 4AN Aeroquip hose ends
• Hydraulic fluid reservoir & hose
• 10' - 12 gage wire (red)
• 10' - 12 gage wire (black)
• 1 - Momentary (on) off (on) switch
• Wire connectors

More changes required to the ISIS wiring diagrams, but I gain peace of mind that I have a solution for all those nasty curbs and lousy parking lots. The budget also takes another hit. Oh well, I did save money on the donor parts!

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.