Corvette Z06 Upgrade Thread

[ZohsixGT5]

I just purchased quite a few parts for my car, so I decided to share the progress and installation with anyone on here who might be interested. I've had the car for 4 years, but have not added many serious parts up until recently. I will be posting pictures over the next two weeks with the before, during, and after process. I've done all the maintenance on this car myself, so those of you who might not be the most confident mechanics out there can see how easy these things can be with a standard set of tools and some instructions.

Current state:



Parts already on the car: Breathless CF Cold Air Intake, EBC Slotted Rotors, Biltstein sport shocks.

Parts arriving this week:

Hawk Ceramic Pads - Installed

Stainless Steel Brake Hoses - Installed

Borla Stinger Exhaust (will post before and after sound vid)


B&M Short Shifter - INSTALLED (Post # 11)


This is all in preparation for a mountain run in 2 weeks with some friends of mine who are motorcycle riders. It will be the first time I will properly use my GoPro camera with this car. That will be the grand finale sort of, and I will post that vid here sometime in March. Updates to follow.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Painted hub covers?

 

[V8 Rumble]

Nice mods list. The difference in braking is huge with the stainless lines. It seems anytime new parts are installed it makes you fall in love with the car all over again. Or at least for me it does.

Seeing people work on their rides motivates me to finish mine.

Good Luck with your future mods because I'm sure there will be more.

 

[ZohsixGT5]

Painted hub covers?

Well if you saw the rust on the rear rotors, you would see why. I just replaced them 3 months ago, so I don't want to get new ones just yet. I'm going to see what the covers look like, and if they are tacky, I will return them and buy slotted rotors for the rear.

 

[CodeRedR51]

You could still use them, but if it were me I'd paint them black.

Also, did the rotors you bought not have a rust-free coating on them?

 

[Hammrshell]

Looking forward to some updates. Take lots of pics!!

 

[OwensRacing]

Headers would really round out that exhaust set up.


Any other power mods in the plans?


Who does your tuning?

Also what part of the Z06 exhaust was factory titanium?


Edit: I'd be willing to say those caps will be a problem. Trapping dirt and moisture being the biggest concerns I'd have.

 

[ZohsixGT5]

You could still use them, but if it were me I'd paint them black.

Also, did the rotors you bought not have a rust-free coating on them?

Good idea. I assumed they would have the coating as I bought them off of a Corvette Performance site, but turns out they were pretty cheap quality. I might just return the covers and get proper rotors, didn't really think about it until now. They're only $100 more for both.

Headers would really round out that exhaust set up.

Any other power mods in the plans?

Who does your tuning?

Also what part of the Z06 exhaust was factory titanium?

I'm not springing for headers just yet. I want to see what the cat-back sounds like by itself, I don't want it to be crazy loud. From videos I've watched and reviews read, the Bullets seem to be pretty loud by themselves. Headers will come eventually however.

It has enough power as it is right now for me. Only thing I can really do next besides headers is Intake Manifold or Cams.

Tuning will be done by MTI Racing in Marietta, GA.

To my knowledge the H pipe and cat back w/ mufflers are titanium, it's engraved on the actual metal.

 

[Thatman]

Yeah, I would definitely say go with some headers too, make it sound Schweet!

What do they look like now?

Edit:
Oh sorry didn't see your post right before, but they sound better than stock. Stock was way too quite.
My buddy put Borlas on his '98.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Good idea. I assumed they would have the coating as I bought them off of a Corvette Performance site, but turns out they were pretty cheap quality. I might just return the covers and get proper rotors, didn't really think about it until now. They're only $100 more for both.

I had the rust-free brembo slotted rotors on one of my cars. They were fantastic. 👍

 

[ZohsixGT5]

The shifter is installed. Took about an hour to do, really straight forward.

I love the feel of it. The height of the knob is about the same but the movements take much less effort, it's like driving a new car.

Original shifter:


In the box:


Just opened:


New shifter installed:



As always on any car repair I do, I drop a bolt somewhere impossible to retrieve it from. This time I dropped one right next to that blue plate. Right below that is a tunnel that the driveshaft passes through from the clutch to the transmission. As you can see theres no room to get a hand in there, so I had a lot of fun finding the bolt and getting it out. It took a mirror, two different magnets, and a 2ft long zip tie. I will spare you the details of how that worked out, but eventually I found it and the shifter is now installed. Next will be the brakes.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Looks good. I've had a B&M short shifter in one of my cars before. Loved it.

 

[ZohsixGT5]

Update: Washed her last night, new picture in the OP.

Stainless Steel Lines and Hawk pads have been installed. I did this in a rush on Sunday so sorry, I don't have any pictures. The new lines are awesome. It feels like I have 50% more braking power.



The exhaust is arriving today, and a friend and I will be doing the install tomorrow night. I'll post before/after sound vids this weekend.

I ended up going with the Borla Exhaust over the B&B, it was only $10 more.

 

[Organ-Donor]

Update: Washed her last night, new picture in the OP.

Stainless Steel Lines and Hawk pads have been installed. I did this in a rush on Sunday so sorry, I don't have any pictures. The new lines are awesome. It feels like I have 50% more braking power.



The exhaust is arriving today, and a friend and I will be doing the install tomorrow night. I'll post before/after sound vids this weekend.

I ended up going with the Borla Exhaust over the B&B, it was only $10 more.

Looking forward to it 👍