I was going to be living in California, and it all began with a simple question:
"What is the fastest car I can possibly buy for my money?"
Being an import guy, another Subaru STI (my last one was totalled by a woman running a stop sign) with a big turbo and all supporting goodies was the first thing that came to mind, along with other imports like the EVO. Unfortunately between terrible 91 octane and draconian emissions and inspections laws, even the local tuners told me it wasn't a good idea.
I thought about an SVT Mustang, but wasn't too impressed by the weight and handling. Nah, I wanted a real sportscar, not a muscle car...
So I got this:



My Corvette was bought on Ebay, on a Thursday. Friday night I touched down in Tampa, Florida and drove it to a hotel. Over the weekend I made the 2600 mile drive.
I had owned a C5 Z06 before, so the first thing I was concerned with was the fact that the C6 wasn't quite as quick... Thus I began to mod...
First a set of Kooks 1 3/4" Headers, JetHot Coated, with a catted X-Pipe and a GHL Exhaust:


That, together with a VaraRam Cold Air Intake, and a Dyno Tune by Charlie Williams of RPM Motors in Valencia, CA (Arguably the BEST Corvette tuner in this country), netted:


Now I had a car that was decidedly faster than the C5Z I used to have, and could also run with the new LS3 Corvettes and win. It was fast enough... For a little while.

The 395rear wheel horsepower bolt on C6 kept me happy for a while: I got a job in New Jersey, and drove the car from LA to Jersey, 3100 miles in all. I also drove it to a first place finish at the Corvettes at Carlisle autocross event in 2008, and put over 25000 miles on the setup in just a few months.
But like anything else you drive for long enough, I got used to it... And while it took a good while, I found that there were faster cars out there.
Having had good success with the bolt on route, I figured the next logical step would be a set of ported engine heads and a cam; pricing that combo out to about $5,000 made me reconsider my options... I had never considered forced induction on an engine this big; I always figured the resultant horsepower would be useless on the street... But after doing some research and making some calls I was convinced otherwise. I began my preparations by installing a ported intake manifold and throttle body and removing the 3 x 2.5" crosspipe and GHL exhaust, and installing a 3x3 inch crosspipe and a C6 Z06 Exhaust.
With exactly 36,000 miles on the clock, and my factory warantee expired, I pulled my car into a rented garage in Trenton. It was the first weekend of September, and a Hurricane was approaching.

I put all the tools and chemicals in the trunk:


And the kit fit on the passenger seat!


HORRIBLE working conditions:


Oil return line. The feed line can be seen to the right of it:


Your crank is pinned, sir. This was actually not that difficult:

Assembling the blower bracket:


Reconnecting the power steering lines. That nut needs to be tightened. Somehow. It was a bitch!


Here is how we did it; a wrench on a breaker bar. It took a good 10 minutes turning it 1/8th of a turn at a time.


Wrestling the blower into place. The radiator is pulled back as far as possible with Zip Ties. You have to squeeze a hose past a bunch of hard lines, get the oil return line in the right place AND begin routing the belt. This was tough! I hope that belt never breaks!



Notching the radiator: This is NOT a job for a Dremel tool, specially a battery powered one. The battery ran down multiple times. An air grinder would have been a much better option.



The highlight of A&A's kit is their Intercooler. This is the nicest unit I have ever seen. Way to go Andy!



I'm looking at the fender well with the BOV assembling and thinking: This goes WHERE?

The BOV goes here: I am getting some clunking from that area though, so it will have to be zip tied.


Head unit in place:



The intercooler seal was not perfect in this install. It will need a small amount of garage door sealer: It is only 1/4" off so this is non critical.



And so it was done. I started it up and drove it home.

Now its time to install the Kenne Bell Boost-A-Pump. Of course, it had to rain. I got a tent:



Working in the rain:





But still doing excellent work! Everything I do is double checked, bolted on and taped. I normally solder all electrical connections, but since I had no power here I used a crimp on butt-connector that has heat shrink built into it. It makes a perfect water tight connection. Then I tape everything.



Ready to go:


The radiator cover is VERY important! Without it I was seeing temperatures as high as 217F for the oil whilst in 6th gear at 65mph. Putting it on dropped oil temps down by 17degrees.



The money shot:

Here is a video of the complete install:

With the blower all installed, and a set of 60lbs/hr injectors (that's about 600cc/min), the car went on the dyno:




NOW it was fast... Also, because it was boosted, I could use intake manifold pressure to automatically actuate the Z06 muffler bypss butterflies every time I got on the gas:

Of course... With great horsepower, come great traction problems... I now had a car that could light up the rears at 80 miles an hour... This was neither fun nor safe.
I got another set of front 18" wheels and had them widened:


Now I could run some SERIOUS R-Compound tires:


Which I did, of course, on all 4 corners:


Now I had a car that could hook up, and put down 600 rear wheel horsepower to the ground, in 1st gear, and then stop and turn just as fast:

(Left hand graph = Acceleration and Braking, right hand side is Left/Right Acceleration. Units in "G")
And BOY was it fast!

Over the next few weeks:
Bilstein Sport Shock Absorbers
27.5mm C6 Z06 Rear Swaybar
Heavy Duty Clutch with Cro-Moly flywheel (-16lbs lighter than stock)
Lighter battery, relocated into the trunk (-17lbs from stock)
Two Piece Brake Rotors
Carbotech brake pads

With the battery and the clutch, the car should weight in under 3100lbs.
Supercharger and all... That is about 4.4lbs/hp

Nice! Thanks for keeping this up to date.

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SHU188mph

Love it!

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Shot you a PM there about who widened your wheels....

Thanks in advance.

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Weldcraft Wheels in Michigan.
I paid $200 per wheel and they do any wheel (forged or cast), widened to any size. Lead time is usually 2 - 4 weeks.
On my car running the widened 18s on the back instead of the factory 19s and having those R compound tires removed 16 pounds of rotating mass, even though the tires are 2 sizes wider than stock!

hell of a thread

glad someone turned a vette into a sports car.
nice job!

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“A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.”
-Jeremy Clarkson

Very cool build there buddy!

You gotta come back out to a meet!

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Thank you for the compliments

I'll be at this Thursday's Applebees meet I was going to the last one but I hit some road construction that destroyed my radiator support, so I needed that fixed.

Very cool. Nice job!