Corvette Progess

I have been making some good progress on the Corvette. I found a complete take out for a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado, this one was a smaller 4.8 (294 cubic inches) with an NV3500 5 speed manual transmission. For this combination I decided to try and make it a more street friendly combination, something that will deliver full boost at 2000-2500 rpm. To that end, I am using a slightly smaller Magnum T72 turbo, it has a much smaller turbine side with a relatively large compressor side. It is also features ceramic ball bearings and water cooling. THe motor will have the same valve springs as the Studebaker but I am using a different camshaft this time, a factory cam from a ZR1 Corvette with the supercharged LS9. This cam will build cylinder pressure very quickly and should help spool time greatly. The only thing I am uncertain about is the transmission, not too many people have used them for this type of application.

 The car is also using an 8.8 disc brake rear end out of a Ford Explorer and I have decided to run a Wilwood disc brake setup on the front with 12" rotors and six piston calipers. Since I had such an issue with tires on the Studebaker, I really did my homework this time. I want the period look but they must be able to handle high horsepower levels on the street and on the dyno. I found that Dunlop makes some bitchin' bias ply tires for vintage road racing which will handle very high horsepower and have the perfect look. Only problem is that the are $500 a tire (!). However, I managed to find a dealer who sells take offs for about .10 on the dollar! These are tires which have maybe one or two laps on them, or even tires which were mounted and never run. I bought extra rears....

Here's the car mocked up with the Dunlop Vintage race tires at ride height. Stance is perfect. I am not using the hardtop in these pictures, it just looked too goofy for me. I am building a custom removeable soft top that will be the dogs balls.

The motor is a 4.8 truck motor with a 1999 Camaro intake manifold. Everything fits under the hood nice, but I will have to hinge it from the rear.

I built the alternator bracket from .625 DOM and some .250 cold rolled strap. It's kind of artsy? What.

The giant air to air intercooler will hide our behind the stock grill, but we need to fix the valence first.

Just look at that stance. The tires are beyond perfect!

The car will have a single 3.5" exhaust, I have a Magnaflow race muffler on it but it might be too big for the car. We'll see.

I built the hotside using a stock truck manifold on the driver's side and a 2.5" crossover under the front of the pan to allow for unlimited ground clearance. This mates to a custom made log manifold on the passenger side. I made it from schedule 10 stainless, the material is very thick and supports the turbo perfectly.

The downpipe is 3.5" and there was plenty of room to route it.