Looking for a shop or project help

[BADDASSC6]

Well, I finally am a home owner so it's time to re adjust my priorities back to the corvette. For those you you that weren't around I ran my car pretty fucking hard for three years until last October when the motor let go and the car caught on fire at Buttonwillow international raceway. Since then I have installed a new motor and clutch and fixed the fire damage (not really). The long term goal is to race ST1/TTU with NASA pro-racing in 2013. I have a truck and a nice race car trailer. This means aero, weight reduction, cooling, brakes, and tires in the next 24 months.

-I want to delay tear down as long as possible so the weight reduction and cage will be last. Weight reduction will consist of removal of Stereo, AC, airbags, stock seats, factory glass and side impact supports. Plus on shore duty I'm about 30 lbms lighter. The cage will be a chromoly cage that I'm going to peer pressure Ron and Ben into helping me make. Fuel cell and fire suppression will go in last too.

-Aero will start now and will consist of LG motor sports WTC wing, GT3 hood, WTC front Splinter.

-Tires will be hoosier r6s and r80s. I will be running 18x275 front and 19x295 rears. May downsize to 18's all the way around to save on tires and option up different tire options.

-brakes will be a nice to have (unfortunately) and will weight after I figure out my operating cost. At 3447 lbms driver and car (wet) I was going through pads and rotors so fast that anything really nice is cost prohibitive. I'm hoping with weight down and the new cooling ducts that they will last long enough to make a larger set-up a viable option.

-Finally, I'm debating pushing for the rear zo6/zr1 fenders which will let me run 345 series tires. This will require paint, but the car need paint now anyways. Stand bye for PM Adam.

Anyways, I will keep you guys posted and if anyone want to get some experience turning wrenched or selling old vette parts on ebay let me know.
SOme of the LG stuff is in the mail and I intend to have it with a new set of Hoosiers on the car for a Speed Ventures Corvette Challenge on the 15th and 16th of January. I could use a hand fabricating a oil cooler since everything I find online is well north of fucking $600 for a corvette.:bang:

Happy Holidays,
Carlos

[Vettezuki]

. . The cage will be a chromoly cage that I'm going to peer pressure Ron and Ben into helping me make.

Ron fabbed the cage, with the help of a friend for the Snake. It was mild steel . Fabbing in chromoly requires annealing the welds AIR. I'm interested in getting a pipe bender, and other related stuff, but I'm also interestd in eating regularly which is a bit sketchy at the moment. :smack: Depedning on timeline, we could work something out as a project and it'd be a hoot. If your timeline pushes up, Sean has an old neibhor friend who is (was) a full time full cage fabricator who can do anything.


-brakes will be a nice to have (unfortunately) and will weight after I figure out my operating cost. At 3447 lbms driver and car (wet) I was going through pads and rotors so fast that anything really nice is cost prohibitive. I'm hoping with weight down and the new cooling ducts that they will last long enough to make a larger set-up a viable option.

But wouldn't a larger more thermodynamically brake setup also not wear nearly as fast?

-Finally, I'm debating pushing for the rear zo6/zr1 fenders which will let me run 345 series tires. This will require paint, but the car need paint now anyways. Stand bye for PM Adam.

Giving props where they are do, Adam is very good with paint. What he managed to do as a first run at his Vette is impressive as hell. Obviuosly, flares and wheels increases the badassness of the Badass c6.

I could use a hand fabricating a oil cooler since everything I find online is well north of fucking $600 for a corvette.:bang:

At least it's not a Ferrari. Lol. Mmm, I wonder if you could adapt the oil cooler from an FC? They had them standard, probably the other generations too. :huh:

[BADDASSC6]

Ron fabbed the cage, with the help of a friend for the Snake. It was mild steel . Fabbing in chromoly requires annealing the welds AIR. I'm interested in getting a pipe bender, and other related stuff, but I'm also interestd in eating regularly which is a bit sketchy at the moment. :smack: Depedning on timeline, we could work something out as a project and it'd be a hoot. If your timeline pushes up, Sean has an old neibhor friend who is (was) a full time full cage fabricator who can do anything.




But wouldn't a larger more thermodynamically brake setup also not wear nearly as fast?



Giving props where they are do, Adam is very good with paint. What he managed to do as a first run at his Vette is impressive as hell. Obviuosly, flares and wheels increases the badassness of the Badass c6.



At least it's not a Ferrari. Lol. Mmm, I wonder if you could adapt the oil cooler from an FC? They had them standard, probably the other generations too. :huh:

Cage: Appropriate PMs will be sent as I get closer. I have decent funds, but to have a shop do the work would mean paying a huge premium. Tools I can afford, 100/hour no good.

Big aftermarket brakes do last longer, but any savings is offset in the high rotor and pad cost.

Oil cooler: I will be fabricating something. I was hoping someone has done this on a c6 already?

Paint: I haven't seen Adam's car in real life, but I have heard that it nice. I'm going from black to flat black so it shouldn't be much of a challenge for anyone (but me).

[Vettezuki]

Cage: Appropriate PMs will be sent as I get closer. I have decent funds, but to have a shop do the work would mean paying a huge premium. Tools I can afford, 100/hour no good.

Big aftermarket brakes do last longer, but any savings is offset in the high rotor and pad cost.

Oil cooler: I will be fabricating something. I was hoping someone has done this on a c6 already?

Paint: I haven't seen Adam's car in real life, but I have heard that it nice. I'm going from black to flat black so it shouldn't be much of a challenge for anyone (but me).


How many points were you thinking on the cage: 4, 6, 8? It's definitely beau coup thousands for a custom full cage. My brother will be working on his either 240 or 510 starting from this summer, and cageification will be in the works, so we may actually develop something approximating marginal skills in that domain.

[BADDASSC6]

6 point Really Auto Power has a nice four point roll bar with cross bar and harness bar. I just don't like the rest of there setup. I was planning on buying that and then building the front end off of it. I helped make a full tube frame out of chromoly in college for formula SAE. It was very very time consuming, but we used very thin walled tubing and had very complicated joints (five bars in one joint) and required a .060 maximum gap in make the weld feasible. I'm not getting that fancy. But since my car is the base model and not the Z06 I was going to fabricate up mounting plates to connect the factory roll hoop and A pillars to the cage.

[enkeivette]

Flare it, make it wider than a Z06.

[94cobra69ss396]

My buddy Joe bent up the main bar for RxSnake. I just did the rest but like Ben stated it was all .120 wall mild. I know Joe has done chromoly because he mentioned it to me before. When you're ready to do it let me know and I'll talk to Joe. You'll need to find out what the requirements (tubing O.D., thickness, number of points, etc.) are for the cage though and let us know.

I don't know anything about an oil cooler for a C6 but I added one to the Cobra to help with keeping the Vortech cool. I already had a T and line running from the block to the supercharger so I just had to make two new lines to run from the T to the oil cooler I bought and the back to the supercharger. I think I spent about $200 for everything including the cooler.

[BADDASSC6]

Canton has some universal kits for oil coolers. I will be calling them today. With all different applications that use the LS series I would think there would be a lot of options.

Thanks for the help Ron. I expect to tear the car down between September and December of next year to have the cage installed in Spring of 2012.

[Shaolin Crane]

My buddy Joe bent up the main bar for RxSnake. I just did the rest but like Ben stated it was all .120 wall mild. I know Joe has done chromoly because he mentioned it to me before. When you're ready to do it let me know and I'll talk to Joe. You'll need to find out what the requirements (tubing O.D., thickness, number of points, etc.) are for the cage though and let us know.

I don't know anything about an oil cooler for a C6 but I added one to the Cobra to help with keeping the Vortech cool. I already had a T and line running from the block to the supercharger so I just had to make two new lines to run from the T to the oil cooler I bought and the back to the supercharger. I think I spent about $200 for everything including the cooler.

I need a 6 point with swing outs :drool2: Ive actually been looking into it for over a year now, i have that POS harness bar that provides no roll over protection.

[Shaolin Crane]

Canton has some universal kits for oil coolers. I will be calling them today. With all different applications that use the LS series I would think there would be a lot of options.

Thanks for the help Ron. I expect to tear the car down between September and December of next year to have the cage installed in Spring of 2012.

How large a cooler were you looking at?

[BADDASSC6]

a thirty row core. I think I just figured out the oil cooler.

[94cobra69ss396]

a thirty row core. I think I just figured out the oil cooler.

Where are the links or pictures? Oh, by the way welcome back.

[BADDASSC6]

http://www.cantonracingproducts.com/getimage.php?id=22-729

Here is an image. Canton makes a sandwich fitting that fits between the FIlter and block that allows you to fit in lines for the cooler. I will route the hose and mount the cooler myself, but that will not be very difficult. On a hot summer track day my coolant temps would be around 215 and oil would get up 255-280+. I changed the thermostat on the vette which brought the day to day coolant temps down ~180. I'm hoping this will drop the oil temps down to ~200-220.

[jedhead]

Does the kit include a thermostat for the oil cooler?

Bob

[Vettezuki]

Does the kit include a thermostat for the oil cooler?

Bob

THat shows how much I don't know about oil coolers. They have Tstats? I thought they would just be open all the time.

[Shaolin Crane]

I've never used a t-stat for an oil cooler.

[jedhead]

The factory oil cooler in my Jensen-Healey had one so the oil would not get too cool during the winter. The SHO engine also has an oil cooler, but it uses a heat exchanger in the block with the coolant to keep the oil temp within operating conditions. If the oil is too cool it does not lube as well. When I installed automatic transmission oil coolers, I run it in line with the stock cooler in the radiator so the oil won't get too cool, but also provide the extra cooling capacity when needed. Since it doesn't get too cool here in the winter, I am not too sure if it is necessary.

Bob

[Vettezuki]

The factory oil cooler in my Jensen-Healey had one so the oil would not get too cool during the winter. The SHO engine also has an oil cooler, but it uses a heat exchanger in the block with the coolant to keep the oil temp within operating conditions. If the oil is too cool it does not lube as well. When I installed automatic transmission oil coolers, I run it in line with the stock cooler in the radiator so the oil won't get too cool, but also provide the extra cooling capacity when needed. Since it doesn't get too cool here in the winter, I am not too sure if it is necessary.

Bob

I was just figuring in Carlos's basically racing application, cooling would always be the requirement. In a road going car in a colder climate, I see the point.

[Shaolin Crane]

The factory oil cooler in my Jensen-Healey had one so the oil would not get too cool during the winter. The SHO engine also has an oil cooler, but it uses a heat exchanger in the block with the coolant to keep the oil temp within operating conditions. If the oil is too cool it does not lube as well. When I installed automatic transmission oil coolers, I run it in line with the stock cooler in the radiator so the oil won't get too cool, but also provide the extra cooling capacity when needed. Since it doesn't get too cool here in the winter, I am not too sure if it is necessary.

Bob

My bad, I didnt mean to imply you were wrong, just my experiences that i've never used a t-stat with an oil cooler, especially since most times we run oil its not a single weight oil, most often times its a 5w-30 15w-40 etc. Especially in socal, and even more so with heavily modified engines where high compression gets temps up fast, like im sure BADASSC6 has, like my 347 and so on. Maybe if the engine was stock and back east it would need one but around here i doubt it.

[jedhead]

The weight of the oil, ie: 5W30 indicates the viscosity (ability to flow) at low and high temperatures and don't have to do with its lubricating properties. Oil needs to be heated to ~170F IIRC to work best at lubricating. Since the majority of engine wear happens at startup, its best to get the oil up to its operating temperature quickly. I just wanted to point out not to overlook the importance of the engine oil to be warm enough to work well.

http://xse.com/leres/ss/oilcooler.html

This links shows an oil cooler installation on a Camaro SS. I should think the same could be applied to a Corvette. He installed a thermostat in his system.

Bob

[Vettezuki]

The weight of the oil, ie: 5W30 indicates the viscosity (ability to flow) at low and high temperatures and don't have to do with its lubricating properties. Oil needs to be heated to ~170F IIRC to work best at lubricating. Since the majority of engine wear happens at startup, its best to get the oil up to its operating temperature quickly. I just wanted to point out not to overlook the importance of the engine oil to be warm enough to work well.

http://xse.com/leres/ss/oilcooler.html

This links shows an oil cooler installation on a Camaro SS. I should think the same could be applied to a Corvette. He installed a thermostat in his system.

Bob

Kinda of a different level, but I know the F1 guys actually fully preheat and run oil through engine system and trans before firing it up. Apparently the damn thing would seize on startupif they didn't.

[Shaolin Crane]

The weight of the oil, ie: 5W30 indicates the viscosity (ability to flow) at low and high temperatures and don't have to do with its lubricating properties. Oil needs to be heated to ~170F IIRC to work best at lubricating. Since the majority of engine wear happens at startup, its best to get the oil up to its operating temperature quickly. I just wanted to point out not to overlook the importance of the engine oil to be warm enough to work well.

http://xse.com/leres/ss/oilcooler.html

This links shows an oil cooler installation on a Camaro SS. I should think the same could be applied to a Corvette. He installed a thermostat in his system.

Bob

I know its lubricating ability wont change because of the weight, only its flow characteristics, as you stated, which would decrease the time it would take for the oil to get up to temp since its going to move faster, or so ive been taught. Especially if you're not driving the car. I know any time i take mine out i let it warm up, but thats me.

[BADDASSC6]

No Thermostat it is just a billet plate that diverts oil from the filter to the cooler and then back to the filter. It just serves as a place to tap into the oil system with out having to drill or get a second pump. My oil temps get very high very fast to I'm concerned about the high temp break down more than the start-up. The majority of the wear at startup isn't because the oil isn't up to speed it's because there is no oil pressure at start-up. No oil pressure means no hydraulic wedge to keep from having metal on metal contact. That is why the accusumps are nice. They are just a accumulator large enough to handle small transients and provide pressure for start-ups. My car will be making the transition to race-car so I'm working on the items that will maximize the longevity of the components. So less weight and less heat.