'05 Vette build thread

[bonecrrusher]

Well I havent fallen off the planet - just been busy with life and what not.

I finally have a few minutes to throw some pics up on showing the updates around here.

First - the Corvette is currently at the body shop getting the rear end and the doors painted - so no more 2 tone rolling bruise for me!

In preperations of sending the Vette off to paint jail - I removed the rear GM 'chicklet' badges that the black z06 fenders had on them - they are not going back on the car.

Obligatory pics:





Second - since the Vette is in paint jail - I have one open bay in the shop and figured it would be a good time to start to fix up the ceiling in the shop without having to deal with 2 cars.

I bought 4 48" T8 recessed lighting from Home Depot well over a year ago. They've been sitting on the shop floor taking up space and collecting dust.

The only lights I had in the garage where two CFL bulbs - needless to say the lighting was pretty piss poor.

Since its been 10 years since I last worked on any house electrical - I took this very slowly and had to figure it out on the fly as I was not familiar with how the builders ran the electrical wires in the ceiling above my garage. So I cut out the drywall around the socket - turned off the breaker of course - and eventually cut a 4' x 12" hole in the cieling to hang the light in.

What I didn't know at the time - was that the studs above the garage where 22.5" on center - so the plan to hang the lights using the legs that kick out went out the door and I had to re-engineer how I was going to mount the lights.

So I bought some 2x1 in 8' lengths from Lowes and cut them to fit between the studs. I then screwed them into the studs and used these as the mounting points for the lights.

I put in a junction box for the lights on each side and ran new electrical cable to the other end of the garage for the second set of lights to work.

After I got the first light done - the overall time to hang the lights dropped dramatically.

I have hung the lights, patched the drywall - and I am currently doing the mud and sanding.

I have patched up all the holes in the cieling and where they used drywall screws and finished the sanding up for that.

I am currently working on the seams - the builders did a rushed/piss poor job on the seams so its going to be a lot of work - but my plan is to get those smooth and eventually paint the ceiling white.

Now for the pics:

Before:








Third - my Girlfriends father bought a new air compressor so he ended up selling me his old one - now since I do not own a truck I ended borrowing a co-workers '99 7.4L Big Block dualie and trailer to get it home. I'm lucky if I got 10 mpg in this beast.

So now I've got a 80 gallon 5 hp air compressor - I need to run the 220 wire for it - but thats a project for a later date.

[aussiebj]

Gday after reading through the whole post I have to say my fav pic is of the Holden Special Vehicle poster....love the vette also

[bonecrrusher]

Haha - special order from a guy on one of the G8 boards.

I got his info from these guys:



3 HSV Maloo's where imported to the US for the Hot Rod Power Tour back in 2010 - 2 of them where supercharged - nice group of guys too.

[tones2SS]

Great job on the garage.
I'll take one of those supercharged HSV's please! lol

[bonecrrusher]

An update!

I finally finished up sanding all of the seams in the garage.

I am very close to finishing this project - I can almost taste it!

I picked up a 5 gallon bucket of Drywall primer/sealer - and got one full coat on.

I will finish up the spots I couldnt get with a roller, and put one more coat on - then I will decide to paint it or not.

Pics:



Also - I picked this up today - it was gone for just over a month. I guess thats what I get for saying no rush.

I am glad that it took that long - it gave me time to get motivated and do this ceiling project. I look forward to not working on the ceiling for 3-4 hrs every night after I work a 10 our day. Seriously - the ceiling project felt like a part time job that I wasn't getting paid for.

My painter did an awesome job on the car like always - it is very weird having a single color car. The Vette was 2 colors for damn near 10 months. Seeing it all blue really changed the car - for the better I think.

I'll probably do the front end next winter - its car show/autocross season!

Pics:

[bonecrrusher]

I've had the Corvette back for a week - and on to the next project...

I've had a set or Michelin Pilot Sport Cup rear tires sitting in storage for a long time - so I finally got those mounted today.

It's nice having tires that dont howl and suck anymore! Those Runflats where terrible!

[Juggernaut]

I read through this whole thread today for the first time and really enjoyed seeing everything you've done to and with your car. Were I in any position to do so, I'd probably follow in your footsteps.

Thanks for posting and I look forward to more great pictures and info (on both cars; would love to have a G8 GT/GXP as well)!