DRB #5

[Dave S]

Email sent Bill.

[Bill Musarra]

Waiting gor the front uprights and associated parts to come in. Seems to take forever. Supposed to have been sent in March, then May 3rd or 4th. Still not here,who knows when they will arrive.
Have been making some progress in other areas. Sent the dash out to be covered. should be back this week. then I get to play with the wiring AGAIN. Recieved the rear clip hold downs. they are really nice. Locking mechanism that CAN"T be missed to give you a parachute experience. The main flap is spring loaded and will remain up until closed. The closing mechanism is a two hand operation, and there is a key to keep prying eyes from openimg the rear hatch. Will have to alter the fiberglass, but my car originlly had the hold downs, so the under panel is already drilled out. Redrilling the outer body will be fairly easy. The aligning will be a bit tricky but not that difficult.

Bill

[Ryan L]

Thoes side indicator repeaters, were later made with a clear cover if you dont want the orange/amber ones. should still clip in and out of the same hole. the early er version from the VS and VR commodore are square in nature and should also fit. A friend of mine replaced his for the later model ones, oval witrh clear cover in his VS HSV Sennator

[Dave S]

Bill
Got your plugs, PM sent.

[Bill Musarra]

While waiting for the brakes to be sorted out, I have made some good inroads with DRB#5. The dash was sent to Jeff Henderson who does most of the upholstery work for Year One. Jeff does exceptional work, and doesn't stop til he is satisfied. With this at home finally, the electrics can be hooked up and tested before the car gets sent to the engine shop for finalizing and a lot of touchup welding. The headers will be fabed at that time also. Supposed to go to the shop in about a week to a week and a half.
I stole an idea of Bill D. I believe it is. I wasn't pleased with the way the electric relays were working out. So I got two project boxes from Radio Shack. One is the full size, the other is the smaller. My fuse panel was a tad large for the big box, so some trimming was done. The base plate was removed and placed in behind the back of the box for support. The smaller box holds the extra panels for the relays and the relays themselves. It was a tight fit, but they went in nicely. Everything is labeled so I can find it. Now to hook it all up and put the power source to it to test the circuits. The boxes will be mounted on either side of the engine bay. I will use the aluminum panels that came with the boxes to form mounting brackets and hide the few holes in the panels. Did a test fit of the boxes and the dash just to see how they will look. Really neatens up the look. It is sloooowly beginning to look like it should.

Bill

[Bill Musarra]

Well, It’s time for another update with a little “splainin” to go along with it all. Way back about 9 months ago I started looking for some aftermarket brakes for the early C4 corvette suspension. Never having ventured much into this area of car workings other than to change the pads on all my cars in the past, I had no idea what was available out there. All my searches led to nothing. About the time I discovered a local Corvette race team, I stumbled onto one Chevy dealership that raced corvettes that offered a Wilwood setup. I was not familiar with what was needed to do setups like AP and the like. Since I was getting my seats from the local race shop, and they were going to set up my suspension, I asked them if they could acquire the brakes as well. He informed me that he could fab up whatever I needed. About that time I received a message from Fran Hall that he had all that I needed for the brakes. Well since the local shop was only a 2 man operation, and Fran’s standing with me is very high, as he had offered some equipment out of the blue once before for me to try out and see if I could make it work (steering rack). I also was impressed with the caliber of work his shop was turning out at the time. So I opted for him to do the brakes as he could furnish many other suspension pieces that I was in need of, not to mention other GT 40 equipment that I was in search of(axel stubs, CVs etc.). So off went a front and rear upright for him to work his magic. Over 6 months time Fran tried several approaches to solve the upright issues that the C-4s presented. Some of my equipment was rather worn and several pieces were replaced.
When all was done, Fran was ready to ship the parts, new pieces and several other parts, which I had requested. With his commitments (unbeknownst by me) to prepare 4 cars for Carlisle, some delays occurred and then there were some mix-ups with the individuals in shipping, and after many weeks, only part of the parts came in. There were then several miscommunications between us. I later learned Fran’s server was down and he didn’t know I had tried several times to contact him.
Well, that’s all been straightened out and is water under the bridge. All is back on track, and Fran has sent almost all of the remaining parts (some he didn’t know I wanted, and some shipped to who knows where). I did get the brackets and spacers, and bolts and taps needed to get the brake parts together. Now outside of some minor alignment issues the calipers are in place.
I discovered while installing the pieces that the bells, due to the replacement of the parking brake with Fran’s spacer, are now reversed. The deep bell on the stock setup is on the rear, and the front is shallow. With Fran’s setup the deep is on the front and the narrow is on the rear. Really threw me a curve when I first started to install them. There is a parking brake option, which I will probably add later on.
There are a few areas that need notching. The fronts need the steering arm and the mounting for the old dust shields to be slightly notched. The rears have a section of the upright that needs slight reliving.
I think Fran has a business plan that is really quite unbelievable, in that he has things that he can adapt to other brands, or supply to the other brands. He isn’t afraid to step out there and give a lending hand. It could lead to other business/sales/ market share. In my case, the steering unit he offered was just out of the blue. May have been to adapt to other brands or scratch builders, as that is just about what mine was, or is. The brakes are basically from his own design of front end, which was modeled after the corvette. We even tried to adapt his upright to my unit, but it just wouldn’t work engineering wise. The brakes he has supplied will give him a product that will work for those units like the DRBs, which don’t have many options if they still supply the older units. Could be wrong on this, as they may have upgraded by now to the C-5. Several of the C-4 aftermarket parts, like the wheel bearing and hub assembly have been dropped. Fortunately some of the C-5 stuff is adaptable.
I do remember the thread on the test that Peter Delaney had to go through for rego. They showed the lasting ability of the stock brakes. Before that time I had read on several Corvette forums how the stock setups would not last on the track, and suffered badly from fade. I was always impressed with the suspension on the Corvettes and always thought I could get something aftermarket to work with it. I will admit that I was after a little bling as well. When I couldn’t find anything I thought I was going to be stuck with the stock setups. After having the parts in hand, I can see how the other stuff that wasn’t widely circulated (Aps etc.) would work. It is geometry and aligning.
Since getting the parts, I have discovered one rear bearing to have too much play and will be replaced. The trans is out for the spray bar fitment along with the slave cylinder placement, pilot bearing, etc. I believe it will be a 993 setup. Could be wrong on that. The Porsche shop foreman at Jim Ellis is doing this one for me. One of those areas I have no experience in, much less what is required.
I have also discovered that I may have to alter my gauge arrangement in that I opted for manual gauges for the water, oil temp and trans temp. They all may be too short without them being a little unsightly leaving the dash, so I may have to go to electrics instead. That may work to my advantage, as I have to have several functions that have to be linked. There is the low oil pressure (7psi) linked to the fail-safe inertia switch for the fuel pumps, oil temp and pressure warning lights along with the gauges. There also has to be another oil pressure valve (20 psi) for the accusump.
The really good news is that the car is now able to come down off its stand after 3 years and get to the shops that are going to do the finish work, that being the welding that I could not do, or get to, and final engine assembly and fire up (which I feel should be done by the experts). I have put too much money into the setup to screw things up. This has to be done around the shops other commitments so it may be a week or two.
The LineX shop is ready to do the undercoating and probably will see the car first if the weather will break long enough to get it over there. With that done, all the finish work including carpets, interior bulkhead and door upholstery, can be done. Lots of little things like regrinding the mounts for the shocks, as they are too tall for the QA-1 shocks. This means they will have to be re ceramic coated. I also found that with adding the stainless to the bulkheads, the trailing arms are now too long and will have to be cut and new appropriate end adjustments added.
What this all means is that things will move much more quickly (finally), and the end of the tunnel can’t be that much further ahead.

Bill

[Bill Musarra]

It is hard to believe that it has been so long since an update. I have come to the realization that those who can do all the work themselves, are able to get things done on their own schedule, more than those of us that have to get a few shops involved to finish the project. You work on their time and not on yours. As a result, a job that would have taken a day or two, can be stretched out to fill three weeks because of delays, holdups, and other projects getting in the way.

It will be a while before I post more on the car as I go in for some minor surgery on my knee which has torn a cartilage for the second time. Nothing major, just time to fix it. Kneeled down on the carpeted floor for 5 minutes and tried to stand up, and couldn’t. Then the pain hit.
I have made some of progress even though things look like there are miles to go. I had the underside of the car coated with Linex. Had it extended into the front clip area as well since the stainless facing that side was a little worse for wair. Preping the car for the undercoater means taking not only the engine and trans out, but a lot of the wiring as well.All bolts and washers have to have aluminum tape coverings. All holes have to be plugged unless you want to hunt for them afterwards. Otherwise they are covered for good.
This gave me the opportunity to take the trans to my good friend and shop foreman at the local Porsche dealer. He added the 996 slave cylinder and actuator for the clutch. Moving the motor forward makes the front of the trans a lot closer to the cross bar. It is so close to the trans that the mount had to be fabricated and the cross bar notched. He also added the spay units to the trans for the ring gear, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears. Now all I have to do is complete the hosing to the pump, cooler, and return lines. All that is sitting in a box to be done.
The trans oil drain lines come off a T where the oil fill hole was. The T will allow a temp sending unit to be mounted there as well. That work being finished, Atlanta Chassis Dyno did some finish welding and the final torqueing of the engine. They did some extra things for me like a new set of engine mounts as well. The old ones were soild mounted to the frame and had to be altered to clear the oil pan. The new one at least has one bush to try and not rattle the teeth.
The race shop next door(Sheppard Race Cars) redid the trailing arms in a much better fashion. The new arms allow for adjustment on the car. Now all we need is the new rear clevis set from DRB and that will be done. The old clevis were less than satisfactory. The rod/bush angle on more than one did not lineup very well and quite frankly had a bind on bounce. Not a good thing.
They also have started on the exhaust work, and should be finished soon. For those of you talented enough to Tig a set up, my hat is off to you. I can tig O K, but not good enough to do a set of pipes up right. Would have had many stalgtites!! Sheppard will back purge the pipes and do it up right. They do many dual turbo drag cars that need every ounce of power. When finished the car will come back to the house to finish up on some detail stuff, and then back to Atlanta Chassis Dyno for the ignition, FI harness and fireup. Hopefully then home for the final interior work to be finished. During the slack time I have added insulation(Dynamat) and foam to the door interiors, Dynamat and Dynapad to the firewall, front clip divider, and rear portion of the wheel wells. Depending on the upholsterers requirements, will add there as well. Here are some of the pics of the work so far.

Bill

[Bill Musarra]

I had hoped to have the motor fired up by now, but the engine builder and the exhaust shops have held me up a bit. The exhaust is half done at this time and I am hoping to get the car back to the house on Friday or Monday depending on their progress.

Bill

[Pat Buckley]

Thanks for the pictures - your car looks geat.

How is the knee doing?

[Bill Musarra]

Have been a little slow on the build progress. Had the car in two shops to do some welding and redo the trailing arms/clevis and have the exhaust done. I thought it was going to be done on my schedule(HA!). That took more than 2 months. While in the shops I tore a meniscus in my left knee, actually retore it is more like it, and decided to go ahead and get it fixed. Well I found out that you don't heal like you did 15 years ago. Much slower.
I am out and about now without any hindrance.
I decided to pick the car up on Thursday. There were rumors of snow, but I figured if it did, I could make the 30 mile trip and be home before the first flakes. Well we got caught in a blinding snow storm(for Atlanta), but managed to get the car home safely. Even with a cover on the car while at the shop, it was filthy. So I have started the tear down and final rebuild. The trailing arms look great and are quite beefer than the original pieces. The clevis were pitiful and were replace with GT40 Australia pieces. Had to alter two of them. Seems that they changed the bolt diameter on two or them from 5/8 to I believe 1/2. At first we thought it was a mistake and would order new ones. Then we saw the angle was a little different and knew it was correct. So we drilled and tapped it to suit. Now the rear suspension can be changed without having to disconnect, change the rod ends, reconnect and measure.
The exhaust was 304 stainless. These guys are truely experts when it comes to exhaust work. It took between 20 and 30 bends to complete the build. Considering they were doing it from only a pic or two, the results are fantastic. I thought the exhaust was going to cost a bunch. Wound up that all the work, trailing arms and exhaust came in at less than I thought the exhaust alone was going to be. I consider that a deal. My alternative was to ship the car up to Fran, have his guys do it, and ship it back. With Frans pricing and the shipping fees, it was back up to the high figure. So alls well that ends well. I finally got my wheels as well. Now all I have to do is decide on the tires I want. Since my wife is starting to clamp down on the budget a little, I will post phone the gulf flares and wide wheels for now. So I will catalogue the disassembly and rebuild after the ignition is added and fired up. The guys forgot to add the retainer clips on the collector/pipes so that will be added later.
Lynn Miner has a post on Jiffy Tite AN quick connects(reference article that can't be posted on). They are expensive to say the least. I am adding Aeroquip quick connects to my oil, fuel, trans cooler, and water lines for easily removing the engine/trans without making a mess. The sizes run from AN-3 to AN-20 and are self sealing. I find them on ebay from time to time and won't buy them unless the price is around $20. The larger ones will cost a little more. I got lucky and there was an Aeroquip executive who passed away and had many parts, tools, machines and equipment that was being disposed of. Got a lot of them there. There are many sources of these quick connects. One I have is from Eastern Aeromotive(Ibelieve). They come in a free setup or a hard mount to a firewall/bulkhead as it passes through. I have included some of them.


Bill

[Peter D]

Hi Bill, things are looking sweet - not to long now before you hear some serious noise !!

The exhaust system looks so neat - I wish that we could get away with no CATS here in Oz !!

Quick question - how are you going to do retainers on the collectors ? Like yours, mine are quite close together, so I was only able to add the retainer tags on the sides of the outer 2 pipes on each side (no way to get at the inner/lower pipes, & tags on the inner/top ones would have fouled the sway-bar). Even without tags on the inner pipes, it all stays together just fine.

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

[Bill Musarra]

Peter,
That is my feelings as well. I am not planning a sway bar at this time. If I do add one it will be the cockpit adjustable type. Just got to convince the wife that I "need" it.

Bill

[Bill Musarra]

It seems like I have been waiting forever for someone to comeup with some tires for the 15" guys. Thanks to Egiltom and some of the others, some good choices have been ferreted out. I would like to get some of the historic tires like Bill D., but my body would not take the steamrollers he has. So I have been limited in choices(read, wife wants it finished and the budget is getting smaller every day). I want something that will handle the power, but I want something I can drive on the street/track, and not worry about getting ticketed. So I have opted for the Nittos. The 15" rear is their Drag Radial. The guys at Nitto, and one of the forum members have convinced me it is the tire to get and will hold up to road courses. Its only draw back is it is only 6/32 of tread(9 is normal for a street tire). It is 13" across with the 10" BRMs. This is Nittos 555R tire. For those of you with 17" tires, Nitto makes the 55RII which is a true road course tire, and is advertised as such, but you can only get the 275 40zr 17.

For the fronts you have to make some compromises as well. The 555R has a 275 50 15 or a 60 15. Personnaly I think the 275s are too wide. They have another style NTO1. It is for dry competition. Their choices for the front are 205 50zr 15 and 55zr(this tire is actually listed at a smaller diameter,22.85" than the 50). Their other choice is a 225 45zr 15 which has the same diameter as the 50 aspect tire.

To get the true225 50 15, you have to go to high performance street tires. The Neo Gen at 205 50 15 and the NT450 which I chose because it has the 225 50 15 tire. It has the full 9/32 tread and is warranted for 40K miles. It has the largest diameter tire for the 205s or 225 15s at 23.85" and is 9" wide o the 8" rims.You need as much as you can get considering the 325s on the rear are 27".

The car is at the upholstery shop and should be home tomorrow so all the hardware can be installed for the final time. I have settled on Heacock Classic for insurance. They quoted 565 for my car. I feel it is in the ball park for what I have been told. as soon as they issue the policy, I can visit the tag office again. Wheels and mirrors have to go to the painters soon. Will have the spokes painted to match the stripes.

Bill