Passed on the LS1/T56 Panoz and went with another Z06

[Cobra4B]

Seriously considered one of the immaculate LS1/T56 Penske Panoz's that Wirewheel has, but in the end I decided to go with a Z06.... I know these cars like the back fo my hand and this is my 4th C5 and the 6th when you count the two my parents used to have.

I've been scouring the web for the right car and found it on a South Carolina Craigslist page. Car is a Quicksilver 2001 over Mod-Red interior with 119k on the clock. The car is in astounding condition and much better than I was expecting when I arrived at the little indy dealer in North Augusta, SC.

I used to be an insurance adjuster and gave the car a serious look over... it's all original paint and has most definately lived in a garage and been cared for. It just happened to get driven vs. being a garage queen. Car was traded to a large dealer but had too many miles so straight to auction she went.

I got it for $14.5 and since GM dosn't make the red interior anymore I can get a whole bunch of money parting out what I don't need. I figure after parting it I'll have $11.5 in it give or take. Car will get a cage this winter.

Going to set it up to run TTA/PTA w/ NASA and be able to step up to TTS/ST2 when I feel like it. The nice thing about TTA w/ a C5Z is that it's darned near a spec class. You can only "spend" 19 points and you get 7 taken for it being a Z, then A6 Hoosiers in 275s are a 9 point tire so that leaves 3 left.... 2 for swaybars leaves 1 for either a CAI or a cat delete... that's the most common approach. Current VIR TTA record is in a C5Z... it's 2:06.X and Mark is convinced he can get low 2:05s

Some pics from today's road trip... spending the night at my parents place in Greensboro before heading home to Va Beach.

[Cobrafang]

Wow, very nice looking. Man, north augusta is just across the river from Augusta <- me home.

Good luck with the build and prep. Looks like a great starting platform. That interior looks perfect = good money for race parts.

[Panoz26]

Awesome!! Congrats.

[Cobra4B]

Started working on it a little last night removing some stuff under the hood, but put a good 4+ hours in tonight... got all of the interior out and wiring tidied up other than removing the glove box.
Battery surround removed, eventually all the AC and AIR pump stuff will be gone

Washer fluid reservoir and lines/pump all removed. I removed the hood liner and underhood light, but didn't take any pics.

Interior gutted






Lots of parts... going to sell it all

[Squerly]

Now that's nice, you're gonna have a good time with that one! Damn, those rims have to be worth a couple grand by themselves!

[Cobra4B]

Pulled the dash and center console structure and took out much of the HVAC system that I don't need. Prepping to pull the HVAC unit and remove the evaporator and heater core then put it back in to retain the defroster for early morning sessions when the glass wants to fog up. Also pulled the airbags, have to get a special wheel puller to get the wheel off.



Started on the motor pulling the coilpacks, deleting the AIR system, and got the intake off.... it's rather dirty, but I guess that's what nearly 10 years and 120k does to a motor.





Looks like one of the end tanks has a leak... time for a new radiator... the current radiator is very clogged with grass/debris and looks like it's never been cleaned. Since C5s are bottom breather it's a good idea to clean the radiator every couple of years.

[Cobra4B]

Cleaned up the engine, then removed the front bumper and deleted the horn and unneeded wiires, then yanked out the rest of the AIR pump assembly. Finished off by yanking the radiator, coolant tank, and fans.




Air pump assembly... in case anyone's wondering it injects air into the exhaust manifold at startup to allow the cats to fire off more quickly for cold start emissions. Worth about 15 lbs.

EBCM (Electric Brake Contrl Module) out and ready to be repaired... dealer wants $1200 for one of these.... but a guy online will fix them for $150... part of how I got the car so cheap... sellers thought they were looking at another $1500 or so to dump into the car.

Running out of space...


Some parts came in today... Sparco 353 wheel from OGRacing and 2 17x9.5 forged OEM Z06 wheels.


Oh... I need to get teh AC crap out of the car but I need to evac the system.. does anyone do this? Any mobil HVAC people or is there a kit I can buy at a general auto parts store?

[Cobra4B]

Goodbye AC... horray for way more room...

[Squerly]

Have you considered sending a link to the previous owner?

[Cobra4B]

I told the guys I bought it from I'd send them some pics once it's in racecar trim.... but I haven't tracked down the previous owner. I forgot to write his name down from the SC title before I registered it in VA.

[Cobra4B]

Mini update... waiting on my parts order from GM Parts House to come in tomorrow before I can do much else, plus I've been finishing house painting this week due to family coming in town for vacation tomorrow.

Stock cast manifolds w/ heat shields



Much better.... wire wheeled a little and sprayed with silver 2000 degree paint.


Parts pile is growing

[Squerly]

Nice Brian. This pic leads me to believe:

• A - Your not married, or
  B - Your married but she's on vacation somewhere far away, or
  C - You might be married, you might not be married, who the hell cares... but you have on hell of a nice man cave...

[Cobra4B]

Not married... GF of almost 4 years has lived with me for nearly 3, but I bought the house back in 2004 so she pays me rent

The house is a smaller ranch (only 1650ish sq/ft), but I'm still in my 20s with no kids so I don't need/want any more space. It has a full size 20x21 2 car garage and a very open floor plan that makes the most of all the space.

I re-did the garage when I first bought it b/c I have always wanted a car-stuff only garage. Luckily I have a small shed out back for the yard equipment.

This winter I totally remodeled the kitchen and am now going room by room re-paiting and updating outlets and light switches etc. etc.

Not to go too far off-topic, but I'm pretty proud of the kitchen work.... before



After refinishing the cabinets, new granite, new appliances, tearing out the old backsplash which required new drywall, new slate mosaic backsplash, new sink etc. etc. No grout was laid here, but this is the last pics I took about a month ago, it's all done now and the foyer is re-done w/ white trim and tan paint and as of last night the family room is all redone a nice shade of green called artichoke.





It's like having 3 jobs... the job job, the car, and the house remodeling

[eric1h]

Nice job brian! You to have a few kids, you have WAYYY to much free time! :-D

[Cobra4B]

Been on vacation all week, but worked on the car off/on and all day yesterday and today.

Pretty darned clean for 120k miles, car has obviously had regular oil changed with synthetic.


Borrowed a crane dual valve spring compressor to change the springs out.


Fresh 02-04 Z06 springs which are a little stiffer then the 01 spec springs. Also installed fresh rockers off a lower mileage car and lower mileage pushrods and rocker pedestals I had laying around.


Got a low mileage H-pipe from a 2004 Z06. The 02-04 piece has 2 cats vs. 4 on the 2001. Wrapped the area that passes under the bell housing and the section that passes under the trans. Keeping heat off the bellhousing keeps the clutch hydraulics cooler so the pedal works properly throughout a session and the rear part keeps the trans cooler.



Rear O2s plugged


Whole thing


LS2 timing chain, LS4 high-volume pump installed and crank drilled for ATI pin setup. Found a crack in the timing cover by the front main so will have to order a new one before getting it buttoned up and the new crank damper on.


AIR pump block-offs installed


Heat shields re-installed and manifolds back on the motor



DRM track oil cooler kit came in... uses a Setrab 625 cooler.... pretty large


Adapter block installed and lines run



Cut up the dash and removed all unneeded HVAC ducting. Its setup to blow air out the center vent and the defroster only. I pulled the HVAC unit and removed the evap core and heater core








Dash back in


Thats all... back to waiting on parts.