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Removing the differential, gearbox and torque tube was not as difficult as I expected. I removed the parts as one assembly. I used a jack for the engine, a jack for the torque tube and a transmission jack for the rear subframe and differential. The torque tube slid out of the bellhousing easily, and I adjusted the rear transmission jack so that it kept the whole assembly in balance as I removed it from under the car. I forgot the fact that the rear subframe is attached to this assembly only by one single point - the differential mount. It is not designed to take this kind of load and was damaged, fortunately I had a new one ready. I disconnected the rear brake lines and removed them, as I found it stupid to bend brake lines this much to get past the drive shafts. I will reroute the brake lines before reassembly. I see no logical reason for the brake lines to run down and behind the rear differential, when they can simply be routed directly to the pickup points in the wheel wells. The m

Guess what happens when a flywheel, a pressure plate and a clutch disk are free bounce around in a box across the Atlantic Ocean? I purchased a new LUK OEM clutch kit from Summit Racing. The clutch kits from LUK are sent in a cardboard box without any protection and everything inside is free to bounce around. Across the Atlantic Ocean, this is bound to go wrong. Nobody would cover the damage, as I used a forwarding courier to send the kit from the USA to Norway. Summit Racing also refused to send or sell me a new clutch disk. Sold separately it has the same price as a complete kit. Not the best customer service by Summit Racing, I have to say. So, to get my Corvette on the road again - I have to purchase a second clutch kit! "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results", so I did not order another clutch kit from Summit Racing.  I was lucky to source a lightly used Spec stage 2 clutch kit from a nice fellow in Alabama, who sent the par

Late April, and the spring finally arrived with temperatures making it possible to start on the pending repairs.  I started by draining the oil from the noisy rear differential. This is what the T-1000 Terminator is made of; liquid metal drained from a Getrag differential. A magnet picked up a lot of metal shavings.  The output shafts have significant play, which is an indication of worn clutch packs and belleville washers, and possibly broken output shaft stubs (I will find out when I disassemble the differential later). With all these issues, this differential needs a complete rebuild. It is hard to find specialists with the knowledge and the tools required to perform this work in Norway. The cost of shipping the differential to the USA and back for a rebuild is also excessive, due to the weight. So, the conclusion was to purchase a built 4.10 differential, which obviosly also gave the opportunity to change to a different gear ratio. Built 4.10 differential C6 Z06 output stub shafts

Don't drive with your nannies on! With active handling in competitive driving mode, yaw control is still active and using the rear brakes to correct excessive yaw on corner entry/exit. This is not an issue on regular street driving, but on a racing circuit this continuous correction causes the rear brakes to overheat. In my case one of the rotors cracked as the car cooled down in the pit. I even heard the *PING* as it happened. 305 to 330 mm brake rotor After some research, I found that the C6 with the Z51 option code uses a larger 330 mm brake rotor, but still share the same caliper and parking brake dimensions! Plus Increased thermal capacity. The EBC Z51 rotors are ventilated on both sides, have a higher mass and increase the swept diameter of the brake pad Better looks, the brakes fill the 18" wheel and looks more in balance with the front big brake kit. Reuse of stock brake calipers and parking brakes Minus Change of brake brake bias. The increased rotor diameter causes a

High up in the mountains in Norway, close to freezing temperatures, the driver side window regulator broke down. Perfect timing. Fortunately, I managed to pull the window up by assisting the motor. A broken piece of plastic was all it took I had to twist my brain to get the parts back in the correct orientation. Notice that as pictured, it will not work. The wire coming from left (door B pillar) needs to pass below the right wire, otherwise it will conflict with the window. Mounted incorrectly here: I also noticed that the regulator power cable and the door latch switch cables interfered with the mechanism as it moved up and down. so I used some high strength duct tape to move them out of the way. New window regulator in place. I ran the window all the way down so that there wasn't any tension on the mechanism before tightening the bottom nuts. I followed Chris Askew's guide to replace the regulator:  https://www.chrisaskew.net/blog/2020/12/8/how-to-replace-window-regulator-200

With a large oil cooler in front of the radiator, I noticed that the water temperature exceeded 115 °C. At such temperatures, the ECU starts to pull timing to reduce engine power output. I resealed the radiator shroud, cleaned out debris, installed a 160  thermostat (71 °C) and lowered the fan settings with HP tuners, but this was still an issue. The stock radiator had developed a hairline crack in the plastic end tank, which I discovered by luck when running the engine without the radiator and the fan shroud removed. A DeWitts or Ron Davis radiator was my preferred solution, but after adding shipment costs and import taxes the total was above $1000, so I decided to go for the less expensive Engineering Cooling Products (ECP) radiator for the C5. The ECP radiator arrived without any visible damage, which is always a risk when having fragile parts transported long distance. I bought it with a consumable electrode, to replace the flimsy petcock supplied.  The radiator installed nicely an

On the first track day with the Z06, the clutch pedal stuck to the floor as I shifted at high RPM. Imagine my surprise and disappointment. I could pull the clutch pedal up and continue, but it would repeat itself at intervals. I tried the "ranger method" numerous times to bleed the slave cylinder, but it didn't help.  I was about to start pulling down the exhaust etc. to access the bleed screw and purchase a Tick Master Cylinder, but then I found this thread: Clutch bleeding from the mc I figured I should give it a try: I drained and cleaned the reservoir and refilled it with new high temp brake fluid (Castrol React Performance DOT 4). I then applied vacuum to the master cylinder port using a Mityvac. As can be seen, a lot of air pockets and old fluid was released. The vacuum makes the slave cylinder collapse, which squeeze out more of the old fluid than when using the ranger method. New fluid is sucked in by the reminding vacuum when the MityVac hose is removed. I repeat

The boot lid clicks open with a button, but annoyingly enough it does not raise high enough to slide a in a hand. Eventually, the paint wears away as you grab one of the corners to raise it. I installed a spring from an old welding cable, which helps to push the lid further up when opened. Problem solved! Cost $0.

The GM key fob has no tactile feedback, it reacts slowly and the rubber caps wear out. Fortunately, someone has reprogrammed VW key fobs to work with GM cars - and the Corvette C5. You have to cut the stock key in half. Make sure that you don't cut too far down, otherwise the key will not fully enter the ignition lock - making it impossible to turn the key (BTDT). More information and links to e-bay on the  Corvette Forums

Oily bottom end With an oil pan soaked in oil, it was time for repairs.  I had planned to replace the harmonic balancer with an ATI underdrive unit, but it was simply too expensive after adding shipping costs and 25% VAT. I decided on an OEM PB1117N Dayco balancer. Ouch, what a mess I found non-factory sealant between the front cover edge and the oil pan, so someone has previously serviced the engine. They obviously didn't care about centering the front cover and seal, which resulted in uneven wear of the seal, which again wore down the sealing surfaces of the harmonic balancer. To avoid a revisit later on, I decided to change all other parts that could be causing an oil or water leak in this area. Front cover gasket, water pump gaskets, front end seal. The lower oil pan gasket was changed last year. Removing and reinstalling harmonic balancer The first attempt at removing the balancer failed. I retried with a stronger puller with a sharp end tip, which would secure itself securely

I came across a spreadsheet on corvetteforum.com with reported valve spring failures linked to the car build date. My 2003 with yellow valve springs was right in the sweet spot for a failure, which is not a good mix with track day usage and high RPMs. I decided to use the blue GM Performance valve springs, as I don't have any immediate plans for a cam upgrade. To prevent valves from dropping after removing the retainers, I coiled up a rope through the plug holes and then rotated each cylinder towards TDC. When the breaker bar resists rotation, I know that the rope is pushing on the valves. I removed the retainers using a magnetic tool and a light tap with a plastic hammer.  While the valve springs are out, it would be dumb not to change the valve stem seals as well. The seals are easily removed using a plier, and I simply pushed the new seals on using a valve spring. I checked the valve gear for wear. The tappets looked almost like new, and I couldn't find any valve guide wear/

While disassembling parts of the dash and center console to repair the HVAC display, large pieces of brittle plastic disintegrated. To assemble the parts again, the plastic would need repairs.  Using a soldering iron, a Dremel tool and some leftover ABS plastic and zip ties as additional material, the cracked pieces were rebuilt.  The piece above the thermistor/air temperature sensor was broken off and missing, and was rebuilt by cutting out a similar profile from a piece of plastic. By melting deep into the original plastic piece, the new plastic bonds nicely.  Dremel tool and soldering iron used to repair the broken plastic pieces Repairs finished