Out with the 87, in with the 98

Just noticed I suck and didn’t post that I sold the 87 corvette but I think that’s old news now.  I purchased a 1998 Corvette that has 195K miles on it.  It’s in great condition.  I got it in Sept 09 and it’s kept me pretty busy.  Not that there was anything wrong with it, I just decided to start "fixing things" right away.  In other words, upgrade some things.  The car is white so right away I knew it had to be a decepticon tribute.  I saw this one dude’s white vette with a punisher sticker on the back and it was all blacked out.  I was pretty impressed by how that looked and I’m not even one to like white cars.  I knew that’s what I had to do if I ever got a white car so here we go! 

 

So far, here’s what I’ve done:

 

1. Replaced Automatic shifter – Old one was pretty worn out.  The previous owner had one and gave it to me with the car so I installed this first.
2. Installed a Viper alarm system with voice module.  This taught me more about the car’s electronic system than I cared to know heh.  Plus, I now can take apart the entire interior and put it back together.  The voice module also has a PA system so I use that for a good laugh from time to time.  I also installed a proximity sensor so if someone looks in the window or puts their hand in the car when the windows are down it says "Warning, self destruct system is now active".  Classic. 
3. Decepticon Sticker on the back window, decepticon oil cap.
4. 15 Purple LEDs on a rocker switch.  These are pretty cool and very subtle and add to the decepticon theme.
5. Blacked out all lights except for headlights and side markers.  I plan to do the side markers just haven’t gotten to it yet.
6. Replaced the rotors (fronts were warped) and repainted the calipers from red to black, again going with that black/white combo color.  This was brutal and took weeks as I had many challenges.  Stripping the calipers was a bigger pain than I ever imagined.  Painting them wasn’t too fun either but they look a lot better.  I hand painted the white corvette lettering on the front calipers.  One came out great, the other, meh not perfect.  When this paint goes, I will definitely do powdercoat as I am never doing a manual paint on calipers again.  I also broke a brake banjo bolt and let me tell you how hard that was to find to replace, it sucked.
7. New parking brake shoes.  The old ones fused to the old rotors which indicates either someone was having fun with the ebrake when driving or flat out forgot to disengage it and drove a ways with it on.  Who knows.  This was another pain as there was this little clip, ah never mind, I’m having flashbacks now.

Currently, I am installing LG long tube headers, high flow cats and a new x pipe (also LG motorsports).  I have the driver side one in and I also replaced the tunnel plate.  The new tunnel plate is 1/4" thich aluminum.  Essentially it keep the body from flexing and also protects the drivetrain and keeps exhaust heat out of the cockpit.  The stock one is pretty crappy.  I took pictures so as soon as the exhaust is done, I’ll dump them all up there.  While doing this exhaust I also noticed that the Corsa titanium mufflers are not secured to anything, they are just hanging over the rear axle.  I have to figure that out to as I knew I heard something rattling back there just couldn’t tell what it was, now I do!  I am also replacing the spark plugs and wires since they look OEM.  I’m using Taylor wires with AC Delco Irridium plugs with stock gap.

Next, I have these parts that I plan to install.  They are sitting in my garage as of right now but I’m anxious to get them installed:

1. FAST LSX 102mm intake.
2. Nick Williams 90mm Throttle body
3. Torrent fuel rails, new fuel lines and a pressure regulator – Hinson Super Cars is fabricating this for me now as this is required for the new intake (http://hinsonsupercars.com/)
4. 160 deg thermostat
5. Vararam cold air intake – this system is pretty cool, it draws air from the fog light bays in the front.  Brilliant design.

Once all this is done I’m going to get a tune (have to with all the mods, sheesh) and have it dyno’d.  It will be interesting to see what numbers I put down with these upgrades.  Best guess is probably +35 hp at the rear wheels, the tune alone with the headers will probably get that so it’s a modest guess.

One thing that is eating away at me is the oil leak that I think is coming from the rear main seal.  I don’t think I can get to this without pulling the motor so I’ll probably not worry about this just yet.  The only thing that sucks is that the oil is dripping onto the cats so it smells like burning oil on my car all the time.  Boo.

Anyway, I’ll post pics as soon as I get to a stopping point and get the car back on the ground again!

Jake

2010

04/13

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Corvette

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