Bumble Bee Racecar

[Dexman1349]

What I am thinking is that the boot is torn/cut from when I was beating on the diff trying to replace the bushings. I've just lost any sense of optimism when it comes to this car and end up expecting the worst.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by Dexman1349

What I am thinking is that the boot is torn/cut from when I was beating on the diff trying to replace the bushings. I've just lost any sense of optimism when it comes to this car and end up expecting the worst.

That is a real possibility.

[Dexman1349]

Plans are made, I'll be taking Bee to JDP Motorsports next week. List of things to be done:
Review/inspect suspension
CTS-V big-brake upgrade
Steel brake lines
Motul RBF600 brake fluid flush
Replace OEM passenger axle
Install Z28 upper control arms
ZL1 fuel pump

Hopefully this will fix the leaky axle, squealing brakes, and clunky suspension.

I will drive out there Wednesday afternoon, let them work on it Thursday & Friday, and hopefully drive home Friday with a car that's working the way it's supposed to.

Edit: added the fuel pump to the to-do list.

[Dexman1349]

As expected, JDP delivered. Everything went smoothly. Figured out the main problem with the suspension was that the Pfadt endlinks were failing. My right rear was jacked pretty good and both fronts were starting to go. Looks like I'll be adding the FE4/5 upgrade to the to do list before more power is added. In the meantime I am back to the stock endlinks which unfortunately are a little creaky due to their lack of use over the last several months. They were re-greased and it will only be a matter of time before the grease fully penetrates everything again.

They also figured out the issues with the Spohn trailing arms and they are back on the car again. The del-sphere ends are adjustable and the previous shop didn't how how to properly adjust them. JDP did, and now they work the way they are supposed to.

Big brake kit, stainless lines and DOT 4 fluid was installed. Only thing that really threw us off was the black coating the rotors came with sounded absolutely horrible for the first hundred miles or so while it wore off. I like how they look and how well they stop.

Upper control arms were installed as was the ZL1 fuel pump and new OEM passenger axle. Nothing really to report there.

If you guys are ever looking for a quality shop, JDP is definitely worth the drive. Some of the builds they have there are amazing (including Frankie who is getting ready to be shown at SEMA).

And now a little car-porn (please excuse the dirtyness of the car, it was an 8 hour drive to the shop and I didn't wash it before wrenching began):

Before we started:


Completed:


In progress:


Note, this was only a third of their shop. They had 3 more lifts and space for 3 more cars on the other side of the door to the right)

[JDP Sales]

Right on, glad we could get you taken care of! Thank you for coming down and it was great to finally meet you face to face.

Best regards,

Tyler
888-308-6007

[Snidely Whiplash]

You used an SS riding on Summer Pirellis as a DD and left it in the snow - even tried DRIVING in the snow? You understand you put people in danger by damaging your tires 'cause you didn't read the owner's manual?

[Dexman1349]

Originally Posted by Snidely Whiplash

You used an SS riding on Summer Pirellis as a DD and left it in the snow - even tried DRIVING in the snow? You understand you put people in danger by damaging your tires 'cause you didn't read the owner's manual?

I understand the point you are trying to make but I don't think you have all the information. Stock Pirellis are not prone to the same damage issues the Goodyears are from the 1LE/ZL1 in cold weather. They lose grip and don't perform very well in even wet conditions, but they won't blow up on you.

Also, I was only in the snow a couple of times with them. The first time, I made it a block down the street before parking the car and ultimately leaving it there for 3 days until the snow melted. Each time after that I was at work when weather blew in and I drove it most of the way home on relatively clear highways, then would park at the store down the hill from my house and have my wife pick me up.

I had the stock Pirellis on for two winters and they were just fine. The owner's manual for the 2010 did not warn against premature failure like the newer models with Goodyears do. The tires had very poor traction in cold weather, so on any days that had snow/ice I used either my company vehicle or my 1995 Bronco until I was able to get new tires. I am going on my 3rd year with Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires, which are an all-season tire and actually handle very well in up to 4" of snow.

And just for the record, I drove to work today with 1" of snow. I saw 6 destroyed vehicles on the side of the road, and you guessed it, 5 of them were 4x4's (5th was a minivan)...

[Dexman1349]

Sorry for neglecting this thread for so long, but nothing has really happened since then besides just logging miles. No track time, no real car shows, and no budget for mods has left the car unchanged with nothing really to report. Thread picture links fixed (stupid Facebook). We did have another Poker Run in 2015. Here's a pic as we were coming into Estes Park:



Update on Bee: I am approaching 73k miles and will be looking to finish chasing the rear suspension gremlins over the next month or so. The clunk returned a few months after returning from the JDP shop and has gotten progressively worse since. I have narrowed it down to the left rear suspension and at this point I suspect that it's in the coil/damper assembly, which would make sense considering the mileage. With the help from Jordan at JDP, we've put together a good package to attempt this fix and make some necessary upgrades at the same time.

Current plan is to install 1LE dampers with the ZL1 springs I already have. While I have everything taken apart, I will upgrade the rear sway bar to the better FE4 "outboard" configuration (new lower control arms, sway bar, mounts, and end links) and also replace the front endlinks with the larger 12mm versions while keeping the Pfadt front bar.

I'll be going with the Detroit Speed rear sway bar, and because of the stiffer configuration I will have to play with the settings on it so I don't add too much over-steer. I currently have the Pfadt Sport bar set at the stiffest, which means I'll probably start with the DS bar at the softest and adjust up from there.



Another thing worth noting is the fact that Mrs Dex and I will be moving to New Zealand within the next 3 months, so I really don't want to spend too much money on Bee until I figure out what I am going to do with him. Short term plan is to send him off to a cousin's place (he's a huge Camaro guy and knows how to take care of them) so Bee is taken care of, but after 6months to a year we'll be looking at our options to what we will do from there. If we stay in NZ, Bee will be shipped out to us, or we will simply have a car waiting for us when we return. We'll see what happens from there.

That being said, this build thread will also include snippets on our adventures overseas and how things go with the import/export side of things with cars. It will be fun for sure.

[Dexman1349]

Took Bee in to get the last of the stereo upgrades done (basically just install the speakers previously ordered and get the amp properly installed). While there I had them wrap the mirrors with a satin black vinyl to replace the pitted/stained plasti-dip. Overall very happy with the guys there, very good work, good prices, and I would highly recommend them. If you are near the Colorado Springs area, you should check them out:
https://www.facebook.com/ArchitectsOfFidelity/

With the speaker install, here is a list of things they did:

• Soldiered all connections
• installed Dynamat in the doors and around the speakers
• wrapped all wiring with the "factory" tape to match existing
• tuned the amp, sub, and speakers to optimize sound
• provide a lifetime warranty on the entire install

Music sounds 100x better and will make those mountain cruises that much more enjoyable.

The Vinyl job looks top-notch and would recommend them for this as well. I know they didn't do much for my car, but they had a couple other vehicles in the shop at the same time that were getting full wraps that looked amazing.

Suspension parts are sitting in the garage (thanks JDP!) and should be installed this weekend. Still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the front sway bar. It has the older 10mm holes in it, but the new 1LE struts have the 12mm holes. I have a set of the factory 10mm endlinks now, but also a set of the newer 12mm endlinks from the FE4 conversion kit. Do I drill out the sway bar for the bigger 12mm bolt or install some sort of spacer to keep the 10mm endlinks already installed? Third option is to get a new front swaybar, but I really don't want to dump more $ into something that works just fine.