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The folks at G-Force admitted that this early GF-5R model trans had some wonky shift cam issues, and while they never admitted fault, they did have an upgrade kit of about $535 in parts ready to fix this issue. That was ordered in late April 2020 and arrived within days, and we didn't mark it up one penny. The upgrade parts they strongly suggested included the 1-2 and 3-4 shift cams (one of which is what broke), the 5th-Reverse shift cam, and an updated 5th-Reverse shift fork.
That meant that in May of 2020 we had to crack open a new transmission we didn't supply and completely tear it down to fix it. Luckily these straight cut gear race boxes are made to be serviced quickly and easily.
It kind of sucked to have to tear into a new transmission that had zero miles on it, but I get their point - at what time frame does an old part no longer have any "warranty period". In the case of most race parts, it is on day zero. While the revised shift cam is much thicker and should provide years of hard use, it should not have sheared off.
The upgraded 5-reverse shift fork was also visibly thicker, and stronger. After getting all of these shift cams and forks in place it was time to put the main and intermediate shaft and gear stacks back in.
Myles helped Evan get everything lined up and the stacks were reinstalled. Once everything checked out the split case was reassembled with the correct gasket sealant between them, then bolted up.
It took a little file fitting to make the shift arms fit the new, thicker shift cams' shafts, but that was worked out and the arms were clocked and bolted down.
Once the transmission was back in, fresh Motul 75W140 went back into this box and we were almost ready for test drives. Frustrating to have to fix something new that shouldn't have broken, but the revised parts have proven effective on the test drives I have made since.
WEIGHT CHECK MAY 2020
A quick weight check - and yes, these are almost meaningless. This was with a running car and all fluids, but no doors or door bars, no seats and much of the front aero removed. It kept gaining weight, but this was a "feel good" picture opportunity.
MCS SHOCKS DESIGNED AND ORDERED
It was apparent that the RideTech dampers ordered years before this car came to our shop, where we made major changes to the ride heights and mounting, that the dampers needed to be replaced with something of a special length and travel.
We convinced the customer to let us - a shock design shop - order a custom set of MCS remote triples made for this exact custom car. Jason took a bunch of measurements in April of 2020 and made two drawings for MCS to go by for body length and stroke as well as the end types already on the car. The rear is an "eye to eye" shock and the front is an "eye to T-bar", since the front suspension is all C6 Corvette.
TRUNK INSTALLATION AND "SLOTS"
This is one of my least favorite details of this entire build - the rear wing uprights. They are mounted at the rear frame rail, which makes them very sturdy, but there was an argument I lost on getting them through the trunk.
The customer provided a rare aluminum OEM style rear trunk lid, but it had not been installed since the rear wing uprights were installed. And it couldn't be, because those items occupied the same space.
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