Corvette

The American Icon, the childhood dream of every boy, the want that's been burning inside me for years, finally realized. On May 3, 2006 I took possession of this 1 of 584 1999 Nassau Blue C5 Coupes. After a very short search beginning in late April with the realization that I was being promoted soon and that my wife and I were in the perfect position to purchase a Corvette, I scratched my itch and found the car of my dreams. I'll never look back either. This car has captivated me like none other, and the community of enthusiasts involved with this icon is nothing short of amazing. I now know what all the hype is about.

September 15, 2008 -- Ummm.......whoops?? Doing some "spirited" driving in Ft. Wayne Indiana with one of my best friends, got a little too spirited. Ended up ripping the cam gear off the camshaft, tearing out two bolts, breaking one and making the dowel pin MIA. One horrendously bent pushrod, five valves bent so bad that they're stuck open. There are some marks from PTV on each piston, but nothing major. However, it's enough to say enough is enough for that short block. On the hunt for a forged LS2 stock cube short block, and am going to use my standby heads and cam, the Patriot 317 CNC'd heads and Lingenfelter GT2-3 camshaft I bought last fall. Lonnies double pumper fuel pump assembly will supply the fuel to a retro-fitted 97-98 fuel rail and line assembly. Finding a tuner however........going to be on the hunt still. More to come.

July 12, 2008 -- Nothing new to report. The Vette is as rock solid as ever, I've been driving it a lot more now. Decided she doesn't deserve to sit in the garage as much. I do have some "extra's" in store for her this winter, to the tune of a set of Patriot CNC'd 317 heads and a Lingenfelter GT2-3 camshaft. This should be good enough for around 620-650 RWHP on the stock shortblock at around 8 LBS of boost, maybe 10, depends on the tune and how comfortable I am with it. This is all coming AFTER the T/A gets finished up though. One project at a time anymore.

September 13, 2007 -- My first time to the track. Three runs were made. The first was a horrible launch at 2.56 resulting in a 13.37@118. The second run had a better launch, 2.24 short time, resulting in a 12.28@125. The third run, well......I owned myself by forgetting to turn off the traction control. This resulted in no burnout, cold tires, and loss of traction at the top of first and all of second on the best short time of the night, a 1.907. Still got a 12.31@124. The car obviously has some MUCH better times in it, deep 11's for sure. I've uploaded a video and the time slips will follow shortly.

August 16, 2007 -- Been driving and loving the car. Only one problem.........not enough traction. The 295/35-18 GSD3's just weren't holding traction too well. So, after a VERY quick advertisement and sale, some new traction enhancing tires came in today: Nitto NT555R Drag Radials in a nice and wide 305/35-18. How wide you ask? This picture should show it. I'm 6'3" and can palm a basketball, and with my hand extended there's still tire spilling over both sides. These are for the street, not for the track, although they'll probably see a run or two until I can get some E.T. Street Radials for the serious track duty. Times to come soon hopefully!

July 29 2007 -- Let's see.......Picked up the car Friday June 29th. Spent almost 24 hours straight in the car, and it was heaven. The drive is amazing, the ride with the bilsteins is incredible, and the power is just nuts. But the best part of all is that the car is a 100% sleeper. Silent and deadly. Quiet, you have to be listening VERY hard to hear the turbo's or BOV's. Anyway, got the car home, and immediately went to work to correct 5 months of TLC neglect. Poor baby was filthy. Had to pull the nose to reinstall the fog lights, horns, and readjust some minor things. Got her all patched up good as new though. Ordered a Porter Cable 7424 and some Menzerna for the paint care, but haven't used it yet. I've driven the car a couple times now and the first day I took it out I got followed to my part time job by a couple guys in an SRT-4 Neon, just to check out the car. Have to hit some local spots now. Needless to say, I am completely enamored with the car now, and I'll never let it go.

June 26, 2007 -- IT'S DONE!!!!! Finally my TT Saga is over. Lots of information will be set forth about the process of this project since February soon, once I get the car back and check everything out. Don has been nothing but outstanding to work with in this last phase. Final dyno numbers were 500 RWHP and 521 RWTQ, but remember this is a minimally modded 99 Coupe and not a ZO6. But, that doesn't tell the story. Take a look at the powerband on the dyno chart and tell me it's not going to be a BLAST to drive.

May 11, 2007 -- Finally, my baby is with Don Kinder (a.k.a. Slowhawk on the boards) who is doing the tuning. We've got some minor installation issues to work out but other than that the car should be good to go. Estimation of being completed sometime next week......we'll see. One VERY noteworthy thing is that with the APS TT kit, there seems to be an issue with oil pressure on all of the cars with the kit. The cars have been registering about 20 PSI hot idle and 40-45 PSI at the top end, which is WELL BELOW what they should be. This is being investigated by more than one party and hopefully a positive conclusion will come to light soon. More to follow on that because a major flaw in the system may have come to light.

April 14, 2007 -- Update on the Turbo Kit -- Through the course of the past few weeks, a laundry list of extra's has gone into my car along with the turbo kit. This includes a Textralia OZ-700 Clutch, 03+ ZO6 clutch hydraulics, Mototron 60# fuel injectors, Comp 918 Springs, Lingenfelter in-tank fuel pump, ECS Akly Control kit, PIAA 1100x Fog Lamps (due to clearance issues with turbo piping), HUD retrofit wiht painted bezels on the cluster, triple pillar gauge pod, and a compliment of Autometer Nexus gauges to include Boost/Vac, Fuel Pressure, and one of the first Nexus Wide Band gauges released to the public. The car has been together and running for approximately 4 weeks now, but we've been waiting on a tuning slot with Don Kinder a.k.a. Slowhawk and moreso, weather to open up to get the car to him. We're going to try to run about 10# of boost and make in the area of 550-600 RWHP. I figure that should suffice.

February 2, 2007 -- After a few weeks of anticipation, Katie sent me a text message saying there's three very big boxes from Australia that just got delivered. Unofficially, I'm the very first person to have received an APS C5 Twin Turbo kit. Go me. Now to get it put in.

December 26, 2006 -- This APS TT kit deal has really generated some excitement in the C5 Corvette world. I just got a PM from Steve @ CT Corvette offering me an absolutely SMOKING deal on the TT kit installation because he wants to familiarize himself with the kit in anticipation of more installs. Of course I took it. Just have to get the kit in hand and get him the kit and car.

December 15, 2006 -- Uh oh.........So this company called APS has started production on a C5 Twin Turbo kit. Here I am staring at a rather large re-enlistment bonus coming my way in the near future. Conveniently, it's enough to cover said Twin Turbo kit. Guess what I did?? So long headers, hello hair dryers. Sadly, to facilitate this endeavour, another has to end. As difficult of a decision as it is, I will be parting with my black Trans Am.

October 10, 2006 -- Blackouts from Richard @ Corvette Enhancements. These are gel-coated factory pieces, and EXTREMELY nice!!!! Plus, his customer service can't be beat!

September 18, 2006 -- Well.....it just continues to get worse. I took the car to Phoenix Performance today in Phoenixville PA for an alignment, and Mike of Rapid Motorsports was there. And guess what, he had a dyno opening. So the lack of tuning didn't last very long. With just the mods that I had finished on the previous day, the car put down 323 RWHP 336 RWTQ with some knock retard up top. After Mike was finished tuning the car, it made 339 RWHP and 345 RWTQ but with a funny dip at about 5200 RPM. One thing that I was disconcerted about was that instead of working around the knock up high, the fix was to simply pull back the timing to keep it from knocking. I didn't like that at all, but didn't have the time to explore what was causing the knock. The car still moves though!!!

September 17, 2006 -- Well, after two weeks worth of work, the car is running again with the following: LG Pro Headers (no cats), Corsa Indy exhaust with Daytona Tips, Callaway Honker Intake, lLS6 itnake manifold and coolant lines, LS6 lifter valley cover and PCV, Hypertech 160* Thermostat, Powerbond Underdrive Pulley, Elite Engineering "Thermal Abs" tunnel plate, NGK TR55 Spark Plugs, Magnacore Spark Plug Wires, and new O2's with the rears Deleted. Can you say full speed ahead??

September 1, 2006 -- Baseline Dyno today!!! Car made a very consistant 299 RWHP 310 RWTQ. I'm sure the heavy rear wheels aren't helping things just as much as stock 60K mile plugs, wires, O2's, and air filter aren't helping things.

August 31, 2006 -- Modification preparation in full swing. Ordered a LS6 manifold kit, Callaway Honker intake, Elite Engineering tunnel plate w/heat shielding, Powerbond Underdrive Pulley w/belts, ARP crank pulley bolt, TR55 plugs and Magnacore plug wires. Still need to order the LS6 valley plate conversion setup and a couple of new rear O2's and it's installation time!

August 26, 2006 -- Yep, things not looking good. Corvette's at Carlisle was this weekend, and I took the plunge and ordered some LG Pro long tube headers. This is going to get bad fast.

August 21, 2006 -- Window tint. Fifteen percent all around, much nicer. Things are good.

August 20, 2006 -- Uh oh.......it begins. Bought a Corsa Cat-Back exhaust with Daytona Tips last week and picked it up today. Not a good sign.

August 19, 2006 -- Finally, wheels and tires are ON!!!!!! I decided to lower the car on the stock bolts today too, what a difference in personality that made. Completely changed the look of the car.

August 17, 2006 -- Society is pissing me off. Nobody wants to take responsibility for anything anymore. I went to every local tire shop to me and was summarily denied having my wheels and tires mounted by EVERY last one of them for reasons ranging from too short sidewall (general buffoonery) to "we just don't want to take the chance, but if we do it you'll have to sign a liability release." I don't think so. Fortunately, in Mt. Holly NJ, right near the base, is a little shop called the Corvette Paramedics. They took care of me, and even had an elusive MBA shift knob that I had been searching for. Wheels and tires mounted, just gotta find the time to reinstall.

July 17, 2006 -- After much deliberation, the decision was made to purchase new wheels and tires for a couple of reasons. I hate the wagon wheels, and I hate the run flats even more. A call was made to Bob's House of Wheels for a set of Machined Face ZO6 wheels, 18x9.5 fronts and 18x10.5 rears. Next up was a call to Tire Rack for some 275/35-18 and 295/35-18 Goodyear Eagle GSD3's. A call to Fred Beans a couple of days later for some new tire pressure sensors and it looks like I'll be back in business.

July 5, 2006 -- Changed the oil today, and found a problem!!!! Front passenger side tire was trashed on the inside edge. Got a camber problem in the alignment. New tire found via ebay, but had a bubble in the sidewall which went two days later. Car DOA right now.

May 17, 2006 -- Well, stock didn't last long. Snagged a Hurst shifter on eBay for a mere $100. General impressions: Short throws, VERY stiff and notchy, but nicer and much more positive than the stocker.

May 3, 2006 -- Home at last. Final sale price on the car was $21,700 due to some interest from other prospective buyers, so I bit the bullet and made it worth the sellers time. I drove out of the sellers driveway with 53,115 miles on the odometer. Had a fun drive home with no plates and the threat of impoundment from a couple of NJ staties (aparrently there's no 'one time transport' leniency like in PA), but after a night sleeping in a Lincoln LS and a frustrating couple of morning hours at a DMV, we got her home, sans tags if you can believe that.

April, 2006 -- I got an itch. An itch that has plagued me for a long time. Every auto enthusiast knows about it, it's the itch that can only be scratched by that elusive "Eleanor," whatever yours may be. Mine just happened to be a Corvette, specifically a C5. I had an impending 1 May promotion to TSgt in the Air Force, my wife and I were doing well with no kids and none on the way, a DINK (Dual Income No Kids) family. In mid-April the itch presented itself again and for some reason, I scratched back. Suddenly I found myself in a rather euphoric state suddenly realizing that it's actually going to happen. The hunt was on. The prey, a Fifth Generation Corvette. After an amazingly brief search, I happened upon near perfection a mere two hours away from our home. Located in NY State just above NYC was a seller who had a 1999 Coupe up for $20K. Where it gets better is that this coupe was a somewhat rare and highly desireable color called Nassau Blue. Of the 33,270 Corvette's produced in 1999, a mere 1034 were Nassau Blue, with 584 of those being Coupes. Add in the fact that of the 33,270 produced, only 3128 had the Light Grey interior, of which my car is equipped. Sadly, there's no complete breakdown, but if you take percentages into account, 9.4% of all corvettes produced in 1999 had the light grey interior. Applying that to the Nassau Blue Production and you'll see that my Light Grey Interior Coupe is an approximate 1 of 55 cars. Rare??? Who knows?? Nice? You bet. I couldn't wait to get the car.