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Looking good man!
Sucks about the rear diff leak! |
Weight
That's a decent overall weight you have there. I am just over 3,500 on my 67 with an all metal body and my 180lbs inside. I would like to be around 3,300.
I am originally from the Charlottesville area and have had some great times at VA Beach, especially during my high school years. I have enjoyed your post! |
Update time! It's been a wild ride the last couple of weeks. Optima NJMP is now over and the car is tucked away back in the Beach Cave. I couldn't have been happier about how well the car ran, It ran away from the GTV field on the Road Course by a margin of 4 secs per lap to the Challanger that Leap Frogged me for a second place overall. I barely missed a first place finish in the Speed Stop and AutoX portions to take 2nd in both of those segments. The car ran flawlessly on the Rally to the Shore and back in a very dreary nasty rain. I even set up my on board tablet to Navigate me on the way. Pretty cool, every time I needed to turn, it would mute out my Pandora Radio feed and pipe out the directions through the Speakers! Where I failed miserably was the "being a street car" portion. I only took away 63 points in the Design and Engineering judging compared to the Challanger's 98 points. That's a lot to make up on the track, but I got within 2 points but it wasn't enough. I ended up 6 points short of taking the overall win for the event. I boils down to a failed Reverse light Circuit (it was pouring rain all weekend and something shorted) and the fact that the car has no carpet in it. If not for those two, I would have won the event pretty easily. Oh well, It is what it is, that's the rules. What I did take away from the event was a lot of Respect, and that is more important to me than the trophy.
Also, on the way to NJ I was fortunate enough to have the car on display in the QA1 booth at Cruisn' Ocean City. My car rides on all QA1 suspension and it was fun talking with customers about suspensions when they came through the booth. I even met several people that recognized the car and said they have read the whole build thread! wow, that's a lot! Thanks to Eric and the QA1 team for hosting me Thursday and Friday! Look for me in the QA1 booth in the fall at LSFest! http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pspubzltxf.jpg My Dad and I having a post race chat, I'm so glad he was able to come down and be my crew chief for the weekend! http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psbzflv9xv.jpg AutoX http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psykqtobj4.jpg Speed Stop http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psnerpep56.jpg Rally Cruise http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps1cwamohf.jpg Road Course Action http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pse4oxrshg.jpg I love these shots! http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psecnfqhd5.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psaeuzmvwk.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pskwokahzb.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pskecoxhpy.jpg |
Sounds like a successful weekend, that's what it is all about. Sucks about the D&E portion, tough when subjective scoring hurts you in a competitive environment. Been there, done that.
What Challenger were you up against? |
Wow! Very impressive finish! These events are TOUGH... and they hard on a car... Home built and home engineered.. good for you!
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Thanks Greg, yeah these events are really tough on the tires! especially the speed stop! Here are a couple of links about the weekend:
http://www.superchevy.com/events/160...orsports-park/ https://lateral-g.net/optima-ultimate...w-jersey-2016/ Here's a link to the shop that built the Challanger, it was the second fastest GTV car on the road course but it otherwise didn't hit the podium except for the D&E portion. It was very nicely done and very clean. http://bergmanautocraft.com/about.php |
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Mills, I never knew the whole process. I have to say I'm even more impressed now.
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That looks like the parade lap, no firesuit or HANS. I'm collecting all the pictures and links for a write up about Charlotte and the Corvette Museum events. More to come soon!
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Time for some updates! I completely dropped the ball on the updates from the Bowling Green Event at the National Corvette Museum. It wasn't a good weekend so maybe that's why. I decided to haul the car all the way to Bowling Green (14 hours) to get in a second event this year. I should have known that when I had a flat trailer tire before I even got out of town it was going to be a rough weekend. The speed stop was up first, It was setup on the road course with a blind downhill entry into the stop box. Pretty tricky. My car is setup for the road course more than the autox/speedstop events so It was good for me that it was on the Road Course. well, not so much. On my 4th Run I was right on point and stopped in the box, then Pop! a rear SS brake line burst! This caused me to ever so slowly roll into the exit cone and push it out of the way! DQ! Sucks, would have been a podium stop and of course I couldn't continue. Luckily I brought a spare because that's only one of a very few parts I can't buy at the local parts store. Fixed it over lunch. Now time for the AutoX
On my first run the marshal for NCM came to me and said my car was too loud and exceeded the noise limits for NCM (I prefer to say I broke the sound barrier!) Oh, but we have baffles you can buy in the pro shop he said. So for the next two and a half hours I ripped the exhaust off, inserted the baffles and went back out for a few more runs. Didn't do very well with only a couple of runs to work with. Next up was the cruise. We did an Advance Auto Parts drive through then ran around in circles in the middle of nowhere. Made it though, but my Wide band said I was running way beyond lean. Determined it was the baffles too close to the O2, so sunday morning they came out hoping that on the track the car wouldn't be as loud. Sunday, Road Course Day! the part where I'm the best! Well this time, not so much. The car just didn't feel right and wasn't planted like it usually is. I tried to figure it out but I didn't have much time during the day to inspect it like I wanted. It turned out to be a broken sway bar end link, didn't find it until I loaded up on the trailer. Optima asked me if I could instruct some of the Novices since I'm a certified instructor with NASA. So I was in and out of cars all day, I never had a chance to take my driving suit off in 100 deg heat! I did get awarded the prestigious cookie award! I was beat! In Summery, It was a bad weekend. The only highlight of the weekend was that my car beat Mark Stielow's JackAss in the Design and Engineering points! But it was my worst D&E score ever, Not that it's my strong event. There were some very impressive cars there and I guess I should be happy limping away with an 11th place finish in GTV. That's just how racing goes... http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psdd2kinuy.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psyifdcznz.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psnfdaw71a.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psbu0xqxsw.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psfsllatqv.jpg |
I can't imagine losing a brake line while on the course.I'm glad you and your car are safe. What caused the failure? Brand?
Ahmad |
It had rubbed the inside of the wheel at one point before I zip tied it back. It didn't look damaged but apparently it was. I was almost at a complete stop when it popped so no harm. I did lose the brakes at VIR one time at 120MPH! the seat is still brown!
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Here is a nice article that DrivingLine wrote about the car. More updates coming next!
http://www.drivingline.com/articles/...touring-champ/ |
Next up on the whirlwind Optima Tour for me was Charlotte in July. Even though Charlotte is 6 hours from Virginia Beach where I live, it's almost like my home track because my oldest son lives near the track. Charlotte ended up better than Bowling Green for me, there were still a full house of high level cars, and no the D&E portion was not kind to me again. I'm getting pretty used to that by now. I ended up with 359 points and did well in each event, and even ran third in the Hot Laps behind Kyle Tucker's 1st place. I was honored to say the least when they announced I had won the Participants Choice award! That means a tremendous amount to me because my fellow racers voted for my car! (I need them to talk to the D&E folks!) This was my third event and catapulted me into 2nd place in the points chase for a trip to Vegas. I knew it wouldn't last long, but at least I could brag for a couple of weeks to my buddies!
It was also a huge highlight to have both of my sons compete with me, my oldest in his LS383 Camaro, and my youngest with his Special Edition Honda Civic Si, Mugan edition (only 1000 made) Even better was that my Dad, Sister and Niece all flew in for the weekend, so the gang was all there. http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps0igmr1pj.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psaizce95e.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psyk4etarp.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psvkoa0esb.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps4iojmka8.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psehs5ojiy.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psm08p0syy.jpg |
You going to be on TV? Which episode?
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Yeah, they did a whole interview and highlight on the car for the NJ episode! The Bowling Green episode had my car in it a few times, and my name flashed up with the top five in GTV, Not sure about the Charlotte or Nola event, they haven't aired yet. I stood on the podium in both of those.
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Cool. Can I have your autograph? LOL
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Congrats on the nice finish and the family weekend.
I forgot you were in Va. I was there all last week . It would have been nice if you had time so I could check out the car. |
I'm in Virginia Beach, I saw your post about sitting the kids, where were you?
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Just a short distance away, in Suffolk Va.
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Congrats on the good finish and time with your boys. Hoping you are safe this weekend from the storm!
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Sorry I've been slacking! After Charlotte, I was done and out of money. After I posted that on my FB feed a local shop stepped up and said they would help me get to NOLA! So me and two buddies (and a Dog) all loaded up in a borrowed RV attached the trailer and headed 19 hours south to run the NOLA Optima event. It really wasn't as bad as I thought, we swapped out drivers every 6 hours and drove straight through. It was a wet weekend for sure! AutoX was first, and all the cars ran in the morning because of the coming rain. I was able to hang in there with the GTV class, but I was no match for Jake Rozelle or Mike Maire. Hey I'm 350hp down to those guys, who knew it would make a difference on the autox course. With the IRS in my car, I'm losing time at the launch and with short courses, there's just not enough time to reel them in. I managed a third place finish behind Mike and Jake, and standing on the podium with those two guys is a pretty cool deal.
The afternoon brought rain and the speed stop, which was on the track. Again this was a very short (11.8 secs) run and in the rain. The GTV class was very close, I managed a 5th place spot. I was only .500 tenths out of a podium, that's how close it was. D&E, throw that out the door, they hate my car for some reason. Maybe because it doesn't portray the aftermarket, maybe because it's just raw and has a little rust and a lot of dings? Who knows, the paint is 30 years old, but it still looks good in pictures and on TV! I even tried to add some bling to the engine bay to no avail, I finished last in GTV and 3rd from last overall with only 57 points. That's 34 points down from the 3rd place GTV car in D&E. That's mighty hard to make up on the track. Sunday was my day! Road Course day! But we didn't get a lot of track time. The first session everyone was going off because the track was green from all the rain and still damp in some spots. The first session got red flagged when Mike DuSold went for a wild ride. It was finally drying out when our group went out right before lunch, but on the forth lap it started raining pretty hard at one end of the track, we had warning and we all slowed down to about 35 mph. Well if you saw the show on tv last Friday, you'll see me go for a wild ride! into the gravel trap I went. good thing it was lunch and no one lost any track time because of it, because it took 30 minutes to get me out! and another 30 to clean all the rocks off the track that were falling out of my car like a sand spreader in a snow storm. During the break we cleaned the rocks out and inspected the car and made sure nothing was damaged, then the rains came again! We were sitting in 3rd behind Mike and Jake. It didn't look promising, so we started to pack up stuff and load the car, no way were they going to get the track dry and no one was going to get faster in the wet. We loaded up and went over to the gift shop to get a NOLA shirt and some stickers ect... As we were grabbing lunch we heard them on the track running again, so I pulled up my laps on my phone and saw James Shipka just ran .1 faster than my time! Oh **** we gotta go back! We unloaded and got the car ready just in time for our last session of the day and the track was pretty dry. James and I had a battle for third place back and forth and as I beat his lap, he would beat mine. In the end James came out on top with the third place spot. At this point I had enough points for the Vegas Invite, but there was one more event left to run in California and it would all come down to who did what and who won in and who didn't. http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psnyil2xgz.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pscy1ko2gn.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psmbbsbble.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pskvjgudxk.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps0gjxmeli.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psytickgpp.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psyvjxtokt.jpg and let's not forget about Racetrack Ralph, getting ready to load up for the Big Easy! http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psh5gwa81s.jpg |
I see your still killing it Mills :thumbsup:
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Update time! I didn't make Vegas. Oh well, maybe this year. I did run the car one more time in Nov and put it away for the winter and ready to go for this year. In the meantime I picked up a TrailBlazer SS for next to nothing that had a locked up motor. I hit the jackpot with this one! The guy didn't know much about it other than he wanted it out of his yard! I drove up to Jersey and bought it and drug it home. Pot of gold! this thing had a Manley 4" Forged bottom end in it with CNC ported heads and Comp cam! Plus headers and full exhaust, a stall and an RPM Stage VI trans in it! The motor is now rebuilt with a milder "tow" cam, some oiling goodies from Improved Racing, and I stole the CNC heads for the Camaro. Now it's time to focus on the new Camaro motor for this year. Anyone wanna buy a 4Runner?
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pssaa1t3ob.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pswqflrvlo.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps1oqzueks.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pskhzukxmb.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psluoftyjq.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pshaw4wlaz.jpg |
Trailblazer SS
Awesome find! Things like this are always something I hear about second hand. but never seem to find myself. Congrats!
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Nice find Mills! whats the new Camaro motor?
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Bigger, Better, Stronger... :-) not leaking any details until it's in the car and Kicking some butt! When you get back Stateside I'll fill you in. Let's just say there are people out there that want to see me in Vegas next year!
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Quote:
I wanted to buy the wife one of these but unfortunately about 38 of these came up missing last year within a 50 mile radius of my house. So they are on the black list for for now. |
Inbox
Mills, Your inbox is full
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Winter Update! First off, I took most of the winter off to save money and work on other "Domestic" projects and I took a little R&R to drive down to Dayton for the Rolex 24. But now the Camaro is back in the cross hairs. I picked up the rotating assembly for the new motor today from Va Speed and was talking brakes when they said I have this brand new take off set of C7 Calipers for an insane deal! I asked could I take them back to the house to see if they bolted to my Spindle. Well yes they do! Brake upgrade on the Horizon! I also scored a Dana 44 rear end this week! wow, Karma is being good to me for a change! More to come... Stay tuned!
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psamxvdogp.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...pszfidoe72.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps1hat3nu7.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psi2zfqjnt.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psavx17xnm.jpg |
Just an opinion, but it looks like the caliper is too far outward....?
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that's a c5 rotor and yes it's too small. the caliper does clear the wheel, not sure if I can make it work all the interwebs say that it's spaced out too far, still digging through all the info.
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Quote:
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Yup, you need the C6 Z51 rotors. I have a set brand new ACDelco if you want them. PM if interested.
Car will stop WAAAAY different with the new brakes. But pads is where it is at though. |
These are C7 Calipers bolted on to a C5 spindle, have you actually done the swap?
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So sorry, not enough coffee in the system yet. For some reason I read C6 Sport calipers! NO idea how. I have not done that swap on C7 caliper to C5 spindle, but I found this
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yeah, I read that too, not very encouraging
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C6 Grandsport Rotor seems to be legit. Caliper fits, wheel fits, looks like pads will work. hmmm... I may be on to a retrofit kit for all the C5/C6 guys!
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psk3ocabje.jpg |
Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been really busy on the car since race season started. I took the car to the track the first weekend in March and had a little issue with the Hub. This is before I did any brake swapping, the car was in it's old form with the C5 Brakes. First let me say the car was an absolute beast on the track! Fastest its ever been. According to my GPS and backed up with an RPM calculator I was topping out around 168 mph on the front and back stretches of VIR! That's rolling! The new gear is just a tad steep for VIR as I'm on the rev limiter just before the brake zones on both straights. A 3:33 or similar may be in the works later this summer.
Later in the day I went out for a ridealong and on the 1st lap going into a hard left hander, boom! then I lost steering and brakes and was headed off the track! Thank god it was only about a 45 mph corner! I'll let the pictures tell the story! I'll post up the fix in another update. Spoiler the car is all back together bigger better stronger and I'll be headed to NOLA next weekend for an Optima event. http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psqvlkehnf.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psl7u1b1kg.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psmlsfli5h.jpg http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/f...psobyf7btk.jpg |
:goggles:
WOW! Glad you and the passenger were ok though. I bet a bit of poo came out as well, lol. Amazing how things break in the most weird locations, yet I bet a lot of stress has been applied on that section of the hub. Cannot wait for the updates! |
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