My 90' vette

B

bvlahov

Member
Since then, I've done a lot of mods:

Engine:
- 5.7 V8 L-98
- stock "short block"
- Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) 74219 cam
- LPE double valve springs
- LPE titanium retainers
- ported #113 heads
- Competition Cams Pro magnum 1.6 roller rockers
- CC hardened pushrods
- CC lifters
- CC true roller double timing chain
- Accell/LPE Superram
- FMS #24 injectors
- Hooker Competition headers

Transmission:
- auto 4L60 (700r4)
- full manual operation
- "Red Alto" Hi-Perf clutches
- "Kolene" steels
- Trans_go reprograming kit
- 2800 rpm "stall speed" converter
- aditional cooler
- B&M modified ratchet shifter

Suspension:
- front: Strange Engineering custom coilovers
- rear: adjustable KONI's

Brakes:
- C5 Z06 front brakes
- stock rear

Here are a few pics of work progress. Unfortunatelly, I've lost oldest photos.
By this point I've allready installed cam and all other LPE goodies and
headers.. Also, by then, I have ported stock #113 alu heads.
After that, I've opened up the engine again and installed some new parts
(rr's, lifters, pushrods......)

Here are a few pics:

engine in pieces


new parts


headers


pushrods and guides


lifters

CompCams Pro Magnum Roller Rockers vs stock rockers


During first build, I didn't install valve springs to correct height.
this was a perfect time to correct that.

tool I've had made for cutting spring seats




- a few more pics



result after these mods:

- 338PS i 525Nm (crank)



I was satisfied considering that was still with stock TPI intake.

Around a year later.........


-new vs stck intake



-injectors



-ready for action


...... more to come.....
 
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thanks for posting,
thats a really nice car and the pictures show youve put alot of thought and work into the corvette!
 
Thanks!

................

From day one, I was'n happy with brakes. Poor braking, overheating,
poor pedal feling........ So, after some research, I came to conclusion
That best that I could get for my budget would be front upgrade to
C5 brakes and brake bias spring. I found brand new calipers from
C5 Z06 for a great price, so it was the time to go ahead as planned.


Stock brake calipers and cracked rotors


New calipers


Adapters for new calipers


Result





So far, the result is good, but not as good as I expected.
Probably because I still didn't install brake bias spring.
Car stops good, but there is too much nose diving, and
it feels like front brakes are doing all the work.
I should install bias spring soon, but I think that I'll put it into new
master cylinder. This one is pouring fluid from one container to another
and I think it's time to get a new one.
 
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Thanks, a lot of good infos!

As for mods that I've done so far, I must say that I was allways satisfied
in the end. Brakes are only thing that still isn't working as I'd like them
to, but I haven't finished them yet (bias spring), so I'll post when
I have them finished.
 
Tranny worked fine with stock engine, but after all mods
and as I started to rev the engine to almost 6500 rpm,
problems started. Slipping, too early shifts,
delayed shifts........

First option was to convert to manual trans but unfortunately it
was too expensive option. So I decided to do full
rebuild/upgrade of 700r4 tranny with many upgraded parts
and to convert it to full manual operation.

Here is the list of the parts and some pics of work:

Alto red clutch kit
Beast reaction shell
Kevlar band
Clevite bushing kit
govenor gear
govenor retaining clip
thrust washer and selective endplay washer kit
front seal retainer
reverse piston orifice
3 accu pistons
lock up solenoid
29 element sprag
low roller clutch
accu springs
new pump vanes
hardened pump rings and slide spring kit
lock up connector
filter
transgo 700 2&3 shift kit
transgo separator plate
.471 boost valve
oring style lo/rev boost valve
vette servo kit
4th wot upshift valve

Also, at that time, I installed aditional tranny cooler and
9,5" 2800 "stall speed" converter.



-tranny and converter are off
skinuta_getriba.jpg


-a few hours later
getriba_u_dijelovima.jpg


-trans case all cleaned
ocisceno_kuciste.jpg


-DIY compressor tool
alat.jpg



-ready for rock&roll
getribagore.jpg


This was definately one of the best mods that I made to my vette.
Shifts are really hard and quick now, I think it's the best that you
can get from an auto.
 
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With tranny reworked to stick-shift operation, next logical move was to
install ratchet shifter. Unfortunatelly there is no plug and play
ratchet shifter for C4 vette, so I've decided to buy used B&M
Megashifter for Th700r4 tranny.

I've bought used shifter with cable on e-bay, but it came with broken
thread for T-handle. (I later found out that this is common problem with
Megashifters).
Here is one video of ratchet shifter operation:

And here are two pics with new shift knob


Just as a note, I tried to use stock shifter to tranny cable,
and stock shift lever on tranny, but it's imposible to get correct
alignment with it. I ended up either with wrong parking position
or with wrong 1-st gear position.

To get correct alignment, B&M cable and lever must be used, or custom
lever could be made.
Pic of stock cable (black) and B&M cable with bracket


And here is B&M bracket and lever kit
 
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I didn't install bias spring yet. I need to get a new master cylinder,
and I'm thinking about geting some aftermarket MC and install
brake bias proportioning valve. I'm not sure yet what I'll do.

In future plans I have 2 engine builds. First, in near future,
refreshing my current engine.
But I'll get into more details as I start with it.

I have done some other mods earlier however. Road race is what I'm
mostly interested in, and driving fast through a lot of curves isn't very
easy in stock seats. So I decided to put a racing seats into the car.

I've bought two Sparco Rev seats:


As you can see on last pictures, I've put Z06 black wheels on the car
meanwhile. I'll use stock wheels for track days, with some good tires,
and this should be my street setup (at least I thought so).
 
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Thank you!

Since I want this car to handle as good as possible, weight reduction
is very important factor. That's why I decided to toss out those
heavy seat rails and fab some aluminum rails.

First I measured old rails and did some drawing in Solidworks:

I didn't install passenger seat yet, but I saved 9.5kg (20.9lbs) on
driver side. So it should be total of ~42lbs less with both seats.
 
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I had constant problems with stock CS-130 alternator, since I
started to rev the engine past 6k. When engine was stock,
all was fine, but with extra revs, alt just couldn't last.

So I installed a new CS-144 alt

New vs old:


CS-144 is quite larger so some modifications had to be done:


Also, since CS-144 has more Amps capability, I installed new
(thicker) wiring:


Ready to run:
 
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Wow, this is all fantastic! thank you so much for your time in taking the pics and writing it all up. Beautiful car too ;) I hope to do tires and brakes this next winter. I am going with the same setup you have chosen. I am excited to see how it turns out as the fluid when I bought the car was nasty and black. I bled the entire system, but like you, I dont feel it is up to par. I look forward to your bias spring review. For the price, it seems like a no brainer if it improves the system performance.
 
It's been a while since my last update, so here it goes.

I'm getting more and more interested into road racing and to
have a car that is good for it, one of the most important
things is good suspension. I decided to go with coilover
shocks on the front. I'm not one of those that believe that
Corvette composite spring is bad. Quite the oposite. It's very light
and has a low center of gravity, but unfortunatelly, it's very expensive
and there are only a few opsions (spring rate wise).
With coilovers, adjustability is much easier, and springs can be made
to exact specifications for a few $$.

Anyway, here are a few pics:


First I disassembled front suspension


Coilovers, ready to go in. I bought those used, but in great condition.
The shocks are also damping adjustable in 9 settings.


I've recieved upper shock mounts with coilovers but I wasn't very happy
with their quality. So I created my own mounts. Some measuring,
CAD drawing and a very good friend who works on a CNC machines
and this is the result.







Anodized:



I had to remove swaybar because it wouldn't clear the springs, but
I'm working on a custom mount to return the swaybar to its place.
 
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its always nice to see both decent mechanical skills and some careful well thought thru planning, coming together, that results in a few custom components being designed and fabricated
hot rodding used to be far more about custom built parts and enginuity than just a thick wallet and a stack of catalogs. personally Ive always felt a well thought thru and carefully assembled car built mostly from one of a kind components has far more real value to the hobby than a large collection of bolt together parts from a catalog.
 
Bvlahov,

First off, let me say what a great car. As a fellow C4 owner ('88) I'm really impressed with your modifications and especially your fabrication skills.

If I can make some suggestions on your brakes.

1. It appears you've got your front rotors installed on the wrong sides. I noticed they have the curved vanes. I believe the curvature is supposed to point towards the front of the car. This allows them to scoop in air to aid in cooling. I've seen internet debates on this topic with differences of opinion, but I believe the manufacturers recommend the vanes curve to the front.

2. Consider getting some flex. stainless steel brake hoses to the calipers. The stainless hoses won't expand like the rubber ones will and provide a better pedal feel.

Looks great!!
 
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Hello an thanks for the compliments. I'm really not sure about the rotors, since they came
marked with L and R for sides on which they should be used. Also, if I would change the sides,
then slots (they are slotted and drilled) would be incorrect.


Anyway, here are some news. A few days ago, I broke left halfshaft and damegaed (bent)
some suspension parts. I started the cae really hard and when going sideways I hit some
pot hole on the road. That caused too much side load and here are the results:

But as allways when something is broken, it'0s good time for upgrades! :D
This is what I ordered:

bms_trailing_arm_kit.jpg


Link:
http://www.banskimotorsports.com/trailingarms.html
 
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I've fixed the suspension and drivetrain and got the vette back on the road but not for very long.

A few days ago my engine blew up. I was getting ready to do
a full rebuild anyway, but that doesn't make me feel much better.

Here are a few pics:


I still didn't open oil pan to check other damage, I'll do it in a next few
days. What worries me is the reason why this happened.
It looks like intake valve on cylinder nr. 8 broke and distroyed the piston.
I revved the engine high when it happened (6500+) but I would expect
something to brake in the short block (it still stock) way sooner
than anything in the valvetrain. I have LPE valves prings with
titanium retainers, so 6500 rpm shouldn't be a problem.
 
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