Ashen 6.2 2014 Z/SS

[Ashen 6.2]

While waiting on the cable to arrive I found a decent used ZL1 manual cradle to get a 3.73 diff out of. It arrived and started working on tearing it apart.











Got the old diff bushings out and replaced with Hendrix's offset bushings.





Pulled the cover and took a look around.






3.23 diff and also removed the eval canister while the diff was out.

[SlowLS1]

Wow, that's crazy. Glad you caught that! Fusible link still in good shape?

[Ashen 6.2]

Originally Posted by SlowLS1

Wow, that's crazy. Glad you caught that! Fusible link still in good shape?

Yes it was!

[hesster]

Love following the build! Especially when it is sub zero degrees here in MI and my cars are certainly going nowhere, and have nothing to post about. That burnt cable is scary. Shows you should run the largest gage possible, have good clean connections. And can never have too many grounds.

[1JEWLDSSRS]

Originally Posted by SlowLS1

Wow, that's crazy. Glad you caught that! Fusible link still in good shape?

Really right?? Just makes you wonder about this issue.. Another GM screw up?

[Ashen 6.2]

Originally Posted by hesster

Love following the build! Especially when it is sub zero degrees here in MI and my cars are certainly going nowhere, and have nothing to post about. That burnt cable is scary. Shows you should run the largest gage possible, have good clean connections. And can never have too many grounds.

Thank you sir & agree! Y'all are getting clobbered with snow from what I have seen..

[Ashen 6.2]

Originally Posted by 1JEWLDSSRS

Really right?? Just makes you wonder about this issue.. Another GM screw up?

Yes it does! But it's fixed now! lol

[Ashen 6.2]

Next up in getting ready for Sick Week is creating a bulkhead and sealing the trunk area off from the cabin. This is a NHRA requirement since I have methanol tank in the trunk and technically the battery has been relocated. Calls for a minimum .032 aluminum or ..024 steel. My local steel supplier had .040 aluminum so I used that.

It's been a very long time since doing any sheet metal work and haven't done much of it. So there's that.. lol

So got started by digging out my CAD stuff to help aid in designing this.


Just for clarification, CAD is Cardboard Assisted Design..








Got the aluminum trimmed, bulkhead seals for the wiring put in and ready to screw it in.





Under side of rear deck lid is screwed in





Next up was checking out these new wheels I ordered. They are Keizer Aluminum forged wheels and look amazing. They are SFI approved and very light.








The current VMS front / Weld rear drag pack weights:
Front - 48lbs each / 96lbs total
Rear - 53lbs each / 106lbs total

Keizer weights:
Front - 21lbs / 42lbs total
Rear - 46lbs / 92 lbs total

68lbs lighter with 54lbs coming off the front of the car. This should be fun!!

[Ashen 6.2]

While getting things lined out for the trip the next thing to tackle was seeing how the car and little trailer fit on my car trailer. The car trailer is a 24' split dovetail Maxx-D car trailer. The actual useful length of the deck is 23'. Problem is that the car and little trailer are 26' in length.

So my buddy & I took them up to the community college just up the road to test fit all of this. The road I live in is a bit narrow and also is slightly up hill where we typically load. So figured we could use some space to evaluate things and not worry about people needing to get by at the house.

We just ended up loading the car on pulling the little trailer as far as we could. Then attached the winch cable to the little trailer and pulled the tongue up underneath the rear of the car. worked out well.

[Ashen 6.2]

I decided to replace the 305/45/17 Mickey Thompson ET Street R's that I used to run around on with some taller tires to help with the drive portion of Sick Week. I ordered some BF Goodrich Elite Force T/A 265/60R17's which are designed for police vehicles. They are quite a bit taller, right at 30" tall and will help reduce RPM's on the highways, which will be higher now since going from 3.23 to 3.73 gear ratios.

They are a very tight fit like I figured and the only way to put them on is by jacking the car up under the lower control arm. They will not fit by letting the suspension extend at all.

You can see here in this pic with the 275/60/15's radials on and the suspension extended, that the inside of the rocker panel angles towards the tire. This is where the BFG's hit when the suspension is extended all the way.





On the car






Here is how close they are to the rocker when on the ground.





I have debated trimming the inside of the rocker to make some clearance. If I have time I might give it a try.

[1JEWLDSSRS]

Awesome progress sir!! Have fun with it all. I'm sure you will!!

[Ashen 6.2]

Originally Posted by 1JEWLDSSRS

Awesome progress sir!! Have fun with it all. I'm sure you will!!

Thank you sir!