Chithead's 2003 Corvette Z06

[chithead]

For anyone doing the LED bulb swap and wondering where that flasher relay goes, it's down here, under the steering column/knee bolster, next to the HVAC controls:



And how about a little teaser of the wiring:

[chithead]

Decided to swap out the front signal markers since I am not a personal fan of amber lenses. What I've learned... a Corvette, is not impossible to work on. But it is definitely not easy. At least all the fasteners and such are not representative of other 20 year old cars I've had the displeasure of working on. Everything comes apart nice and easy, no rusted screws or bolts, anything. Just an interesting puzzle to as how everything fits in place.

The stock marker lights:



The replacement housings:



After trying unsuccessfully to remove them from the headlight openings up top, ended up having to pull them out from the bottom. This necessitated raising the car up to access everything. What a joy that was:



All that, to remove this:



So they can slide out here, and new ones slide back in:



Had to remove this bracket and attach to the new housings:



And the replacements installed:



Oooooh... pretty:

[chithead]

Started on the subwoofer enclosure last night. Had a general idea that I wanted the front baffle to be 15" high around the subwoofer, but that was about it far as a definitive with this. Used the template Kicker provides to mark and cut an opening:



Ohhhhhh... that's a good fit:



To be beastly built, it still has a pretty shallow mounting depth:



Started to get fancy with some curves and cuts:



Thinking I'll follow that same gradual slope to the corners, then do a nice curve left to right on the top. This should allow the enclosure to slide under the rear window trim perfectly. Also made some braces, but ended up goofing on those. The cutouts didn't look as hoped, and they were a half inch too wide, which threw everything off. Tossed those in the trash, will try a new set later.

Also threw some paint on the amp rack:



Just a first coat for now. Ordered some decals to try something, "different" on this. Think I said the crossovers inspired an idea? If not, they did.

[chithead]

Also collecting parts for fixing an oil leak. Looks to be coming from the rear main seal plate. Seems to be a very common spot on these LS engines. Ordered a better rear plate that also has the rear main seal included, and an aluminum barbell to replace the factory plastic one near the oil filter. Might as well take care of the clutch and a few other wear items while it's all apart too. Found this slightly used RAM HDX clutch and pressure plate along with their aluminum flywheel. They still have the machining/milling marks on the surfaces, clutch disc still has 7.6mm of material. Also snagged ARP bolts to clamp everything together:









The car already has a Tick Performance Tilton clutch master cylinder, soooo thinking about getting the RAM hydraulic bearing to pair with it instead of a factory GM piece.

[chithead]

More work done tonight. Second layer to the front baffle cut out. Using Titebond and brad nails to secure the enclosure together:



And stuck to the back - it is shorter to accommodate the top portion when I figure that part out eventually:



And this is what I fugged up last night, but figured out tonight. Kicker logo braces for the enclosure:







Will be sanding those and adding a round over later, but they're in there now. Subwoofer fits in so good:



Almost like I planned on having the perfect amount of space there:



Minor hiccup though - the motor does stick up further than the top I had planned to use for this. Still rethinking, gonna sleep on it and see what ideas transpire tomorrow:



And lessons learned from before, make sure it fits:



Yup yup, tucks up so nicely to the rear window trim:



Will be adding an additional layer to the rear wall, and of course adding corner pieces to fill in all the gaps between each panel. Leaning towards adding an entire other layer on top and the sides as well to trim it out nicely. We shall see on that part.

[chithead]

Ok. Got a top on the enclosure. I know everyone is tired of seeing this crappy built enclosure, but I promise it will look much better when finished.

Being stubborn - decided to double up two layers of 1/4" plyboard so as to make it bend not just left to right, but also curve front to back to allow subwoofer motor clearance. Ended up having to cut it in four pieces, and overlap them:



Layer number two, with two tubes of liquid nails between them, five strips of 1" brad nails and one strip of 2" brad nails holding everything together:





It worked though. I think the top is more solid than the other sides, and they are pretty strong already with those braces in there. Some other views to show the curves:





Also decided to use threaded inserts to hold the subwoofer in. These went in fairly well, was quite surprised. Should work out nicely:

[chithead]

Alright, back to the amp rack. Cue the red queen!!!



That's right, we painted the amp rack red. Now, remember what I kept saying about the crossovers being an inspiration for this? Well, here is what I was talking about:



So, ordered 60 Kicker stickers:



And started sticking the stickers:



Guess what... ran out of stickers:



Need to order about 12 more to finish it up. But, as they say in the industry... here's the money shot:

[BigAl205]

Very VanHalen-ish...me likes

[chithead]

[chithead]

Not much progress, unfortunately. The harmonic balancer has decided to start wobbling - need to address that quickly before it gets worse. Ordered one of those, an oil pump, timing gear set, camshaft retainer plate, and ARP bolts. Figure while it's all apart, might as well take care of those other wear items.

Anywho, did set the enclosure and amp rack into the car to make sure everything fits well. Love the way it contours with the shape of rear glass and roof lines:





Need to get going on that enclosure again to make it not so fugly. Then order materials to wrap her up. Here is the amp rack set down in it's spot:



Undecided whether to build a cover or not. I kinda like the way it looks just like that. Removed the BOSE logos from the door panels:



And also removed these little Kicker logos from the speaker grilles included in the component set:



And, bam! Epoxied them to the door panels: