Thanks for the compliment on the Sig. Yes, I do 3D animation stuff as a side-business to my primary line, which is managing an engineering group at a company that makes Disk Drives. I've done a nice set of 3D animation Z06 screensavers for the Z06Vette conference. Perhaps I'll do a Coupe version for this conference as well... I have the artwork prepped, the car before I owned the Z was a 98 Coupe and I had intended to do a Screensaver for that but never got around to it.
Regarding the Vortech, there's not a whole lot to say. I did the install myself, sort of. I have a friend who's a Chevy Service mechanic and also works on a Funny Car race team. We did the install together, at the speed shop where he works. Marathon session, dropped the car off on a Friday evening and got it on the lift to let it cool overnight. Started the job at 8:00am Saturday, drove the car home at 5:00pm Sunday. With a Lift, and acess to good tools, it's a fairly straightforward job. I know some guys who've done a Vortech lying on their Backs in their garage. Crazy. In any event, it's been mostly trouble-free for a bit more than 30K miles now. The car still gets about 30MPG on the highway. But as fast as the Z was in Stock trim, it's even more amazing now. Step on the gas hard and it'll push your eyeballs right back in to your skull and leave 'em bloody, besides!
The only issues I've had are the occassional thrown belt and it doesn't run as cool as I'd like.
The belt problem is due to an issue called "reflected inertia". Each time I've popped it off, it's been on a bad speed-shift. When you wind it out, the blower gets going mighty fast. If you don't do a good job of matching RPM on the shift, the driveline can suddenly slow the engine. But the Blower wants to keep coasting at speed. That pushes the belt "away" from the tensioner and lets the belt go slack. It's fixable, but I haven't gotten around to it, I just work harder at not screwing up when driving it hard.
The cooling problem is caused by the Intercool, which blocks about 1/3rd of one of the radiator fans (the Intercooler is located in the gap between the back of the Radiator and front of the engine). I put a high-capacity DeWitts radiator in, with a 160º T-Stat, and reprogrammed the fans for 185/182 and 190/185 (fan-on/fan-off, for Fan1 and Fan2 respectively). Now it mostly stays below 220 even in the hottest weather with the AC on, and otherwise runs between 178 and 190 which is pretty much what I wanted.
I highly recommend Supercharging for the C5. It's relatively inexpensive so you get good bang/buck. It's not a particularly difficult job to install one. And it adds an entirely new dimension to the car.
If you click on my Sig, it'll take you to my "Homage to my Z06" webpage and you can a list of all, and pics of most of all the Mods I've made.
Glad to be aboard!
Have any of you guys been to the Big Daddy dragracing museum off of 75 just south of Ocala (I have no idea what town it's actually in, though)?
-R
