Grassroots Motorsports: The Hardcore Sports Car Magazine

Since the Group 1 prep for our C5 Corvette was essentially done, there hasn’t been much wrenching on the car lately, just driving. Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s very good, as a matter of fact. The Vette has been mostly bulletproof, and always seems to content for a top-three spot overall at our local NCCC autocrosses, and is always at the top of the Group 1 heap.
Our last event, however, was a bit frustrating. Upon plopping into the car to make our fifth run of the day, we found the steering wheel lock did not want to disengage. We could go any direction we wanted, as long as it was straight. Luckily, there were a lot of Corvette guys standing around, and the word that came back was that this fell under the heading of “known issue.” Great, but how do we fix it?
Well, there are a few ways, apparently. If this ever happens to your C5, the first problem you’ll have is getting the car home. Disconnecting the battery and pulling fuse #24 for a about ten minutes (that’s the fuse that powers the body control module) sometimes releases the lock, but it didn’t work in our case. What did work was violently shaking the wheel back and forth against the lock while we turned the key on. Apparently the shock of slamming the wheel was enough to unjam the servo on the lock mechanism and allow it to release.
There was a recall on the Corvette steering column locks, and apparently mine was even fixed at one point. But, according to some other owners, it doesn’t always really “fix” the problem.
If this happens to you, you can either take your chances that it won’t happen again, or you can do what we did and buy a “bypass module” for the lock. This little pirate device plugs into your wiring harness under the dash and fools the lock into never engaging. If it never engages, it can never get stuck, which is good. They’re available from a variety of sources for under $50 and install in less than an hour.
Now, once this is installed, you don’t have to worry about having your steering locked in pace again, but you may want to take some extra security measures, like a Club-style steering lock, just to be safe.
We got our lock bypass here.

Here’s some highlights of Day 3 at the Spring Mountain Advanced Driving school.

Want to make your Vette faster without ever turning a wrench? Sure, we all do. Well before you start throwing parts and money at the car, why not tighten up the nut that holds the steering wheel?

I’m currently attending the Spring Mountain high performance driving school in Pahrump, Nevada, about 50 miles West of Vegas. In addition to being the home of radio legend Art Bell and the closest legel brothels to Las Vegas (or so I’ve heard), Pahrump also contains the Spring Mountain Motorsports Park and its multiple configuration road course. The portion used for the school is a 2.2 mile, 10-turn loop that feels far mre complicated than 10 turns have any right to. That’s probably because it was designed as a training facility from a clean slate, and it shows.

Oh, did I mention that Spring Mountain uses a fleet of a couple dozen C5 Z06, C6 and C6 Zo6 Corvettes as training tools? If you want to know how to wring every it of performance out of a Vette, this is a good place to learn it.

We’ll be doing a full review in the magazine later this year, but for now, you can check out my daily video diaries that I’ll be posting on YouTube.

Here’s the first one.

I hear a lot of tall folk complaining that they don’t have a plethora of headroom in the C5 with a helmet on. Even li’l ol’ 5′6″ me likes to sit a little lower than the stock Corvette affords. This simple mod lowers the bottom cushion of the seat and provides additional headroom, as well as a feeling of sitting ‘in’ rather than ‘on’ the seat. Since our site ie up against a bandwidth wall currently, here’s a link to the video on YouTube. Sorry for the iffy quality, but, geez, it’s a seat mod video. Lighten up.

Video here.

We spent the New Year’s weekend redoing the leather in our 1999 Corvette. “Why?” you ask. Well, at 36,000 miles, the factory leather (which is notoriously fragile and cheap) had already started to show serious signs of wear and tear. We got a seat rebuild kit from Mid America and were really impressed with not only the excellent quality of the leather, but the relative ease with which the whole package comes together. It’s not a quickie project, but anyone with some decent DIY abilities and patience can recover the stock seats, whether or not you have any previous upholstery ability.

Of course, words don’t do nearly as good a job as video, so this project is the latest in our series of video-project car updates. It’s a long one at almost 28 minutes, but it goes step by step through the entire process of restoring the seats.

Also highlighted in the video is the ultra-cool setup from Hardbar, which allowed us to finally bolt in a trye race harness to deal with the extreme g forces we experience during autocross runs.

One tech note, due to the length of the video, we encoded it as an mp4 file for easier download. If this gives you fits, let us know and we’ll try something else.

If you’d like more information on the products we used, please visit the websites of the companies involved:

Mid America Corvette (Seat rebuild kits)

Hardbar USA (Hardbar harness bar)

And here’s the video
Because of its size (approx 20mb) you’ll have to download it before viewing.
EDIT: For some reason when I just tried to download the video, it added a .txt suffix in addition to the .mp4 suffix. I’ll look into it ad see what’s up. In the meantime, just change the filename to have only the .mp4 suffix and you should be fine.
UPDATE: Here’s a link to a low-res Quicktime file. Hi res should be up tomorrow.

Make some popcorn and plop down in your favorite easy chair and check out the latest video featuring our C5 Corvette project. This time we visit Diablosport for some dyno testing and digital tuning with their Predator performance tuner. We also stop by Redline BMW and install a Magnaflow exhaust before heading back to Diablosport for the final round of dyno testing.

This one’s a little big: It’s about 30MB and 13 minutes long, but everyone’s got high-speed these days, so download away!

Here’s a link to the Quicktime file. Enjoy.

We get a lot of our info from corvetteforum.com, and you should, too. It’s an exceptional Vette knowledge base.

After a furious week of wrenchng and running around, the C5 Corvette took its first trip to competition land as we made a short jaunt up I-95 to participate in the Florida Region of the National Council of Corvette Club’s autocros series. This was the first event not only for the Vette, but for a brand new site for the NCCC, at a former TRW test facility in Green Cove Springs, Fla., just west of St. Augustine.

For the club and the site, we have nothing but good things to say. If you’re within driving distance, we suggest you check out ncccsouth.com and get to one of their events. Non-Vettes are welcome, and the format and price is awesome. This Saturday event was actually five separate two-run events, plus an untimed practice run for a total of 11 runs. And we were done by 4pm. Like I said, between the friendly folks, good organization and abundant wheel time, you’ll probably be seeing more GRM staffers become regulars there.

As for the on-track portion, well, I guess I have to start by saying that I’ve spent a lot of time in low-power font-wheel-drive cars the past couple of years. While I was able to get the Vette around in a respectable fashion, I was continually hitting cones with the inside rear wheel, not being used to a car that actually turns when you yank the wheel.

And boy does it ever turn. Between the obscenely wide Kumho 710s and the alignment we got from Granada Goodyear, the Vette feels absolutely stuck to the ground. I’ll be posting videos of the corner weighting process soon as well, so you can see a little more about how we fine-tuned the suspension.

Overall, after I knocked some of the rust off, I managed to do alright. I was the fastest car in Group 1, and was third fastest overall for the event (of about 50 entrants), bested only by a pair of Z06s—one prepped to full SCCA Super Stock specs and one built somewhat beyond that. Respectable, certainly, but once I get a couple more events to dial myself to the car, I think I’ll be finding some time I know I left on the course.

I’ve included a couple of pictures, and an in-car video from one of my runs. Yes, I know I flail around a lot. My harness is still in the hands of the shipping gods. The Vette generates so much more grip than what I’m used to, in fact, that one one run I got a cramp in my abdomen fromholding myself upright against the g forces. That makes you feel like a bit of a dork.

For the record, the car is currently prepped for NCCC Group 1H, which allows cat-back exhausts, providing they are of stock configuration and diameter; any DOT tire on stock wheels; any non-adjustable shock absorber (I’m still on factory shocks, Koni FSDs in the works); and any alignment setting you can get with factory adjustments. Right now I’m at 1.5º negative camber in front, 1º negative in rear, 1/16″ toe out in front and straight ahead in the rear. These setting will undoubtedly get tweaked eventually, but there’s no use messing with them too much until I can wrap my head around just how much faster this car is than what I’m used to.

And here’s the on-course video… witness my flying shoulders and tremble!

Well, actually changing the oil isn’t too tough at all, once yu get the handy pieces built that make it easier. After all, it is a Corvette. If it was easy it wouldn’t be any fun now, would it?

Anyway, I was getting ready to change the oil in the Vette when I found out that simply jacking the car up is a little more complicated than ramming a jack underneath and pumping away. The factory service manual lists a few preferred jack points which aren’t all that easy to reach, and are also aluminum, meaning that they could crack if too much direct force is applied. For this reason, we built some simple lift saddles that not only aid in jacking the car, but make great places to put jackstands.

Yes, the Corvette also has the rail-located “puck holes” where you can insert jacking pucks and lift away. We have a set of these pucks, but remember that this is NOT a factory authorized lifting method with a floor jack. The puck location are only specified to be used when raising the car on a four-point lift. Take that into considering when doing your own jacking.

Anyway, here’s a little video explaining the building of the ramps and lift saddles and where to put them. Hopefully it makes your DIY maintenance a little easier. Heck, if I can do it, anyone can.

I’d certainly also like to give a lot of credit to the knowledge base at http://www.corvetteforum.com If you own a Corvette, join the forum there, it’s a huge help.

Here’s the movie

See as with all project cars, we have to come up with a catchy name for it. Seeing as how the Corvette magazines have taken all the snazzy “Vette” based puns, we’re stuck with the dregs. Oh well, we’ll think of something flashy before stories start running.

Anyway, you may have read my blog here about buying a 1999 Fixed Roof Coupe Corvette. If not, take the time to do so now. I’ll wait.

Back? Okay, here’s a little more info on the car. Apparently GM first envisioned FRCs as a low-buck, entry-level Corvette. They were to be powered by a de-tuned 5.7 liter, or even a 5.0-liter V8 and come with cloth seats, bare bones interiors, and few options. Corvetterati quickly coined the term “Billy Bob” for this particular model as spy shots began appearing in magazines. Luckily, the product that was brought to the market place took a turn in the right direction from those prototypes. It’s hard to determine exactly when or why, but it seems that the Corvette development team wanted to capatilize on the fact that removing the hatch, putting on a fixed roof and some of the substructure stiffening enhancements of the convertible resulted in a Corvette that was nearly 100 lbs lighter and 12% stiffer than the hatchback coupe with the targa roof in place.

The resulting Fixed Roof Coupe became the top performing Corvette for 1999 and 2000, and would eventually evolve into the Z06 for 2001. Aimed at “hardcores” rather than the budget crowd, the FRC was decontented, but by no means stripped. For 1999, there were only a few options including Bose speakers, body side moldings, active handling and heads up display. Dual zone climate control was added as anoption for 2000. The interior was available in several colors, all of them black, and although the seats were leather, only the driver’s seat had power adjustmens, and they were rudimentary for and aft and up and down. All FRCs were equipped with the Z51 performance suspension, six-speed manual trans and performance axle ratio.

Our pewter FRC was previoulsy owned by a retired Auburn University Professor who had owned a few Vettes in his time. It had been meticulously maintained, and hadn’t even seen 35,000 miles pass under its hydroformed chassis. As a result, it looked practically new, save for a few typical paint nicks, and a very minor scuff on the driver’s side outside seat bolster (which was easily repaired with a black Sharpie).

So far, our main focus has been driving and enjoyng it—especially the nearly 28 mpg average we’ve been seeing thanks to the monstrously overdriven sixth gear. Our only additions so far have been window tint, which is a near requirement in Florida for both comfort and longevity of the interior, and a neat gizmo called iPod2Car by Perpiheral Electronics. This box plugs in in place of the factory CD changer, and connects via cable directly to your dock connector-equipped iPod. It provides a line-level input to your factory stereo, and also lets your factory head control many of the iPod functions, as well as charging the iPod. It’s really an awesome solution for those that want to stick with their factoy head unit, but don’t like the floakness of FM modulators. The iPod2Car is available for many late model cars with factory CD changers. Retail price is around $200, but we found street prices from various dealers as low as $120 and change, including the proper cable adapter.

We do plan some performance mods to the Vette, as well as trips to local autocrosses and track days. Looks for stories to start appearing in the magazine early in 2007, but look for web updates regularly until then.

So, my wife and I recently sold some investment property and did pretty well on the deal. As a result of the profits, she got her student loans paid for, I got an early start on my midlife crisis. Yep, that’s right, I’m currently holed up in a Holiday Inn in Columbus, GA, on my way home from Auburn, AL with my newest car: A 1999 Corvette Fixed Roof Coupe. I always knew when we sold the rental I’d buy a “dream car” type vehicle. I wanted something cool, and also something with some editorial value, since it’s fun to write about what you’re driving. There were a few cars on my short list, but basically I always sort of knew a Vette would find it’s way into may driveway. Essentially it boils down to three reasons:

1. I’ve alwys wanted one
2. Corvettes rule
3. I have a little weiner.

You know, you can certainly nitpick Corvettes, even C5s and C6s, but at the end of the day, a screaming V8 and a waving American flag are just plain cool.

This particular one comes to me by way of the Autotrader online edition. I had originally been looking for a late C4—and LT4 powered car preferrably—but when I started realizing I could get a C5 for the same money I set my sights there. My target car was a pewter, silver, blue or red FRC (in that preferrential order), with under 50,000 miles, unmodified and near a major airport. Of course, I started looking weeks before the closing on the house, and found what appeared to be my dream car in Alabama. Pewter FRC, 36,500 miles, no mods and a $22,000 asking price. I waited as long as I could to call, knowing that the car would probably disappear before I got my money in my hands.

Finally, a couple of Fridays ago, I couldn’t stand it anymore. We were due to close the following Tuesday. It was 4:45pm Friday. I called the title company and the buyer’s mortgage company. Everything checked out. The closing would go Tuesday as scheduled, no problems. I called the number in the ad, and to my delight, the car was still available, and between the extensive pictures in the advertisement, and the conversation with the only owner the car had ever had, I figured this was the right one. We settled on $21,000, and I dropped a $500 deposit check in the mail with the intent of flying to Alabama the following weekend to pick up my prize.

When I returned from the mailbox, my cell phone rang. It was now 5:05 pm. It was the mortgage broker informing me that there was an unforseen problem with the paperwork and we wouldn’t be closing Tuesday. In fact we’d be closing the following Tuesday. My hubris and impatience had now bitten me square on the ass, and a plate of crow awaited on the other end of the phone in Alabama.

But luck smiled when the phone rang again a few minutes later. It was the seller informing me that he had forgotten he’d be out of town the following weekend,and wouldn’t be available to complete the transaction. “No problem” I assured him. “You know, the following weekend may be better for me, too.” Crisis averted.

Of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy. Cashier’s Check in hand, I arrived in Birmingham at 3:30pm today—almost 2 hours after my scheduled arival due to a flight delay. I had arranged for a one-way rental to Auburn, where the Enterprise rental car office closed at 6pm. For those of you not familiar with Alabama geography, Birmingham and Auburn are about 3 hours apart on a good day. It all worked out okay, though, after pushing a Suzuki Forenza far beyond its typical cruising speed, I was able to convince the Enterprise office to stay open an extra 20 minutes so I could turn in my car and be able to get onthe road with my new toy. Of couse, the case of beer I offered the Enterprise guy went a long way in my favor.

The Vette owner—a retired Auburn U professor—met me at the Enterprise office and we went back to his house to settle up. On the way I heard about his prior Corvettes, and we shared some stories aboout our other hobbies, notably firearms. He builds custom works of art that can barely be called “guns” since thay’re just so damn pretty, and I shoot holes in cardboard and steel against the clock (I also stay up ’til all hours playing World of Warcraft, but I wasn’t about to tell him that). But whatever end of the hobby you’re in, though, stuff that goes bang is cool.

Anyway, maybe he just liked me, or maybe he actually felt bad about the three tiny, almost imperceptible scratches in the car, but he insisted on handing back my deposit check. A few minutes later we shook hands and I drove away in my new 1999 FRC—which, in all honesty, was in far nicer condition than I expected it to be in—only $20,500 lighter for my troubles.

So, look for some C5 stuff in the magazine before long. Not right away—probably into the 2007 schedule as my plate is still pretty full of MR2 right now—but I’m certainly open to any correspondence regarding the car in the meantime.

One more thing. If you ever happen to be driving through Opelika, Alabama—new Corvette or not—do yourself a favor and stop at Papa Joe’s Pit BBQ. Get a variety plate with hot sauce. It really isn’t “hot” as such, just very peppery. You’ll thank me.

Here’s some quick snapshots: