cobramatt

Mike, Seriously, for the money I can't ever remember spending so little and having more bang for the buck. I got this car for $19,500 fully caged, balanced and prepped. Totally stock motor and suspension. I have already started the transformation into the track car I want it to be. Details later, wrong forum. I just cant help myself...........(I know a good friend that has one for 21k that is a great example of a C5ZO6 track car thats perfectly sorted and ready to go do hot laps tomorrow.) I have been working on the Z and mounted a new diff cooler, trans cooler, hooked up my cool suit and cool suit helmet blower. Got the push to talk system installed. Got all the sensors installed and hooked up for the AIM data system. I had the Smarty Cam installed and integrated as well. I'm sure learning the data system will come in time, I've never had an AIM system and have always heard great things about it, so here we go. You remember us talking about the Go Pro and forgetting to turn it on or wrong mode. This system is soo cool that it is set up using a GPS system that if I leave the pits and hit the track the camera automatically turns on. If I enter the pits it shuts off. I love it already and dont even know how it works.

Made a little progress on the interior and screening off the grill and ducts at the G nose. Having some problems getting pictures uploaded.

I have been very pleased with the LS set up we did in the Z. I have found that I am busy working on the car in between the different races that I really miss getting out on track. I also dont like running it unless we are trying to test something. She just basically costs too much to have as a play toy. I figured that I needed to have a track car that I could get for cheap, be relativly maintenance free, cheap to fix, and fun to drive. I enjoy taking my friends to the track and riding them around. So, I purchaced a '02 ZO6 Corvette. It is a fully stripped, balanced and prepped track car. I drove to Charlotte NC on Thursday eve, picked it up Friday morning, drove back that night, went to the track Saturday morning and had a blast all day. Going back tomorrow as well. ...............and she's fast. Matt

I look forward to seeing you there. There are four levels of HPDE (high performance driving experience). If you are ever interested please just ask as I think you would have a great time on track. Its where anyone who ever desires to get on track and learn to eventually race or time trial there car begins. Matt

Yes, My dues are paid and I will be there. Running V1 in the Thunder group. You coming out??? Why don't you sign up for an HPDE? Matt

Hey Mike I just got the one touch "Blue Tooth" device for the go pro as well. Funny how we were just makin fun of how we forget to turn it on or cant reach it once were buckled in and if its in the right mode etc... This device should help matters. Were you aware that it has a downloadable piece of software that uses the blue tooth technology and you can send the footage instantly to your smartphone or wi fi device and watch the playback. Sorta cool....... I'm in the process of installing Trans and Diff coolers and hooking up all the AIM data stuff I hadn't done yet. I also got the smarty cam that integrates with the data and automatically overlays the video. Thats for those of us that are challenged in the editing dept.... Theres a Road Atlanta NASA event I'm doing in August. Why dont you come down??? If its 110 degrees today outside I wonder what the cockpit temp is gonna be in August? Matt

It is certainly a compliment when someone is at the track and they appraoch and say how they think my car is really neat or beautiful and do I mind them taking pictures or something. It is entirely different when my fellow Z lovers who share the same passion as I do, and have for many years, share their thoughts or excitement over how the car brings back a vintage picture they all have in their mind and somehow even motivates them even more so in wanting to work harder with their own build so they too can sit behind that wheel and feel the reward of their hard work in the seat of their pants. I would have done it either way, but I assure you that I owe a huge debt to this wonderful forum known as Hybrid Z. Its cheaper than a therapist........... I thank you for your comments and hope I can continue with this build and represent our love for the Z car. I will point out that it never gets old when after a race other drivers make it a point to come over to our camp and investigate a little closer. They all have the same line, "Damn, that cars fast as hell. How old is it?". Matt

I sincerley thank you for your comment. When I think of all the money I have put in to this build I often stop and think of all the cars that are more reliable, faster, easier to drive, cheaper and less money to maintain. Then I get the feedback from people like yourself and when I'm at the track and it makes it seem like its all worth it. Matt Plus I never was that smart...........

No.......Not a bad idea though. Thank you for the idea, I'll look in to it. Matt

That would be a safe bet............

I have recieved 100's of pictures of The Z at this last race. I thought I would post a few of them. It brings back memories of the car I remember in the same corners over 30 years ago. I would have never imagined that my dream of actually being behind the wheel would have ever come true. Matt

Where in Atlanta are you, I live in Marietta??? I have a 240 with a 427 in it and have done numerous things to the sub frame to handle the torque. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Matt

A friend that owns another performance shop, Forged Performance took this shot. Turn 5 Road Atlanta. Thanks Sharif. Matt

What a perfect weekend at Road Atlanta with NASA Southeast. We had a better than expected outing Saturday and Sunday and won both of our races. The weekend did however not go without some difficulties. I was having clutch issues a few weeks ago at VIR and we thought we had worked it out. NOT......... I was loosing the clutch after Saturday's morning warm up and after the qualifying session it was gone. I am very fortunate to have some guys there that were able to push me off at the start of the remaining races and sessions. We just had to rev match the entire time, which if you have ever been in that situation it actually makes you a better driver, can be hard on the tranny at lower speeds, but you really gotta focus. We are going to install a torque converter clutch (7 1/4 inch twin disc) and remove the (5 inch triple disk) and see if we can work this clutch thing out. I will say that the response at the track over the car is incredible. It had quite the following after the weekend. People I didn't know coming up and telling me stories of how it brought back memories of when they were younger and would watch the IMSA GTU cars. I met one guy, Eric, who has a perfectly restored documented Bob Sharp car. I had him pull his car up to mine and take a few pictures. It is something else. Matt I forgot.........The new rear end suspension is working fine for now. Haven't really gotten it up in the air yet to inspect up close, but all in all it did very well.

Here are a few other pics that show how we tied it all together. Note how the Mustache bar is now one with the lower control arm mounts. We had to actually re port the holes in the sway bar mount after we squared up the new rear end geometry. It is square to a 1000th. The sway bar mount, that we machined some 1/2 inch spacers that you can see in the pics, was off so my only conclusion is that the set up was not square from the beginning. If it was the holes would have lined up. The spacers correct the geometry of the sway bar that was offset by increasing the wheelbase. Next week we are going to take everything we learn at the track this weekend and go from there. I am excited beacause what I thought was a real downforce issue and was planning on scrapping the three piece IMSA tail for a wing could have been influenced by the fact that my cars rear end was moving all over the place due to the old set up design. I would love to be able to keep the three piece tail for period correctness. Its about the only thing thats actually vintage so I'm hangin on to it....... Matt

I have attached a few pictures of the re design and new chromoly thicker tubing used to brace the lower control arms. We have basically boxed the whole apparatus to create a square set up. This is far better than before and will not move around. We have also used spacers behind the sway bar mounts as the geometry of the sway bar was way off. We actually plan on going to a complete hiem joint set up and lose the old school type bushings. We are just trying to get her to the track tomorrow for the weekend races. One of the biggest things we did was make the mustach bar and the mounts as one. They were completely independent of each other before. My guess is that Dave at Arizona Z never intended for this set up to work with a car putting out anything over 400 HP, much less 640. We will try this set up and I will give feedback after this weekend. I feel like this is a huge step in the right direction. More info to come......... Matt

I have posted a few pictures of the damage incurred in the rear suspension during last track day. We are going to basically re engineer the set up. Actually we are going to re machine the lower control arm tubes that mount the arms out of a stronger material. Stainless is not the answer. I do not want to act like the set up is bad and that Arizona Z did a bad job in the design because this particular car calls for a different set up and the fault lies with me 100%. We needed a starting point. One that was an improvement from basic stock set up and thats what we got. This would be an incredible set up if you were upgrading a stock rear end. As you can see from the pictures the torque of this car has really bent and distorted the geometry of the control arms. We have a solution and will work towards that. I am cheating a little because I dont have tome to do all the work necessary to fix this 100% by this weekend as I have a Vintage event at Road Atlanta so we are going to repair this set up and just get her track worthy. I see this car actually getting better at a much more rapid pace now that we are actually on track and putting her thru the paces and retrieving the data. As we progress with the re design I will post all pictures and progress. Matt

Im laughing..........not at the car issues as I have my hands full as well. At the fact you couldn't turn the damn camera on after you were all strapped in. That happens to me at least once every outing. I'll one up you. I get strapped in and camera on, go to start and remember I haven't turned the battery shut off back to on. No one is around to help so I have to go through the entire process while dripping in sweat and cussing. Then after the session, I get back to the trailer to download my data and the camera and watch the event unfold again on the video. I now think its funny because I look like a complete idiot. I quickly delete it as I dont want anyone to see what a dumbass I really am. Matt

Jon, I will have pictures up tomorrow evening of the damage. When we took the torque/stress out of the diff the control arms seemed to relax which still means they are weak. They were just under a ton of bind when everything else shifted. We actually had already modified the Arizona Z setup in small ways. One main thing is we drilled up through the lower control arm support and put bolts through the mounts that kept the mounting bracket from turning and shifting under cornering g's. That worked but the lower control arm mounts/brackets are toast. They are bent badly. We are going to remove them and machine some new ones out of much stronger gauge steel, cromoly, or something. We haven't gotten that far yet so we shall see what works best. We will also need to fab some re inforcement brackets that will keep the rear end and the control arm brackets together. So under heavy torque the rear end doesn't put all the stress in one place on the mounting bracket. The other thing we have learned is that the stock pulley off a ZO6 is too small and is made of plastic, which melts in this set up. This is the second brand new alternator I have spent. We are going to increase the diameter of the pulley to slow its speed down and machine it out of billet. If that doesnt work we are going to have to change the pullyes and go with a tooth belt drive set up. Took a look at the Aero today while everyone was giving their opinion. I wanted to keep the appearance of the Vintage aero three piece tail for personal reasons. After a few highspeed sessions at VIR and AMP I have decided to go with a wing set up. Its the only way to actually make the car semi safe. The original three piece tail worked fine back in the day but this application is going to require a different approach. Someone mentioned that I need a new patch on my race suit that says "test pilot". I'm no Chuck Yager but it put things in perspective. We are going to fashion a full splitter up front, most likely out of CF. We are going to have to fashion some screening in the mouth of the G nose as the radiator box is working fantastic but is creating a ton a drag. We are also looking at creating some undertray panels. They would also extend out at the rocker panels and smooth the air flow to the flares. There is a NASA event at Road Atlanta the 15th -17th. Our goal is to have all the necessary items addressed and ready to to get her back out on track. We are going to order all the other items and address them as they come in. Thats a lot to do in a week. Lets get busy.............. Matt

Mark, As always your knowledge is appreciated. I am printing this post and taking it to the shop tomorrow and checking things myself. Thank you, Matt

I averaged 2:06. Lets not say 2:04's like I was peeling them off. I did (1) out of 100. I really feel with the right aero and seat time I could shave some time off that. The back straight at 158 feels like my world is coming apart. While in other cars that would feel quite safe and planted in this car it feels like death is eminant. I hope we can work out the details and get this car where it feels solid rather than a rocketship wrapped in cardboard. I just spoke with my chief tech at the shop and he said that he feels we might need to re engineer the rear control arms as the amount of torque and acceleration we have it has moved the diff and the rear is totally out of alighnment now and the control arms are bent and the front coil overs are loose where we did some turns. The alternator pulley as well is going to have to be changed. I'm thinking that it is too small and the engine is just wearing it out at high rev. It is melting the guts right out of it. There is melted plastic from the pulley all in my engine bay. We can machine a bigger pully to slow the spin rate down, but you see this little car is costing a fortune and were still developing things. I wonder if anyone that has used the "Track Pack" billet set up from Arizona Z Car has ever had these problems??? People at the track were all saying how incredible it was to see a vintage car like this out on track and how you just dont see them anymore. I look around and see all the GTR's and Porsche's and realize the reason for that is that there are very few foolish men like me that would rather have an old death machine instead of a reliable solid new racer. It's what I love and always wanted to build and thats what keeps me going. Crazy or not. There is a NASA event that I am supposed to be attending in a few weeks at Road Atlanta (6/15 - 6/17). I'd love for you to come down and join me in the Vintage division. Matt

Mike, After checking the data (Four 30 minute sessions), I was running around 2:06 average. I was actually faster in the early part of the day. Ran one 2:04 then as the day went by my times just got higher. Tires/brakes falling off and track heating up. All in all I was very pleased with the results. Our GTR set a new lap record for GTR's at 1:53 Lehman Keen at the wheel. Here is some footage I took in the run group just after lunch. I just can't get over how good she looks going around the track.

Thank you. Took her to VIR for a Track Day with mostly Nissan GTR's and Porsche. She did incredible, looked amazing and was the talk of the day. Here are a few pictures. When I get the video together I will post it as well.

Got her all wrapped up and I must say " She looks incredible". It brings back the memories of watching Paul Newman and Sam Posey at Road Atlanta in the Camel IMSA GTU series. When I was 16 years old I dreamed of what it would be like to drive one of those machines. Now 33 years later my dream has come to life. Matt

Like I said I will be at the track (VIR) with my Datsun on Monday. To bad you are busy. I got your message about wanting to come down to Road Atlanta. There are two NASA events that I am doing. One on June 15 - 17. The other is in August 4 - 5. Both are at Road Atlanta. Matt