Blue Bullet Blog-The C6 Ownership Experience

[catbert]

When I drag raced my C6s I emptied/refilled the reservoir with a turkey baster every weekend, as did most all C6 drag racers. It doesn't replaced all the fluid, but keeps replenishing the system with fresh fluid. The technique was originated by "Ranger," (forum name) the best C5 and C6 drag racer in the country. As hard as I beat on the Z, I never had clutch problems.

 

[Toms007]

I got the same letter. I, too, do the "Ranger" method on a fairly regular basis. Doing everything I can to not have clutch problems.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Oh, I've heard all about the "Ranger" method. But, the "Clutch Letter" doesn't cover problems with bleeding or air in the system, it deals with "unapproved" fluids along with pressure spikes that may occur when the clutch's self-adjustment feature is working causing the clutch master to fail. The fix is that new, more robust cylinder

One problme is the letter is not specific as to what an "unapproved fluid" might be.

Do they mean a case were some dumb-ass puts ATF or hydraulic fluid in there? Is GM Clutch Fluid no longer an approved fluid with only DOT 3 brake fluid being "approved"? What happens if you race and the exhaust causes the DOT3 clutch fluid to boil so, to hedge against that, you use a DOT 5.1 fluid?

Also, who says this guy "Ranger" is the "best" C5 C6 drag racer in the country? I'd think, if he was really such a good drag racer running National Events, we know his real name.

Got the same letter last week. About the time my 427 was a year old, a friend noticed the clutch fluid a little low at a show and pointed it out - he has a 427 Vert also.
I checked the fluid and it was getting gooey. I had the dealer clean and flush the clutch fluid and replace it. Haven't noticed any problem since.

(snip)
"Gooey"?!
Your clutch fluid was getting freakin' "gooey".
Damn Tuna, what'd you pour in there, some cheap beer?

You oughta write GM back on that "Clutch Letter" and complain about "gooey" clutch fluid. Maybe they'll reissue the letter and put not only unapproved fluid and pressure spikes during the self-adjustment feature but also "gooey" clutch fluid.

Lastly, "gooey" clutch fluid...remember Ghost Busters and the slime? Gooey clutch fluid...who you gonna call?

 

[Red Vette]

I received the same letter for my M6 2008 convertible with 28K miles on clock. My owner's manual says to use DOT 4 brake fluid for the clutch (not DOT 3). I wonder if DOT 3 is an unapproved fluid.

Barrett

 

[catbert]

Also, who says this guy "Ranger" is the "best" C5 C6 drag racer in the country? I'd think, if he was really such a good drag racer running National Events, we know his real name.

Just because you don't know him doesn't mean he doesn't exist, or anything else for that matter. He's a regular guy who is very fanatical about being the fastest stock Vette driver in the Country (and a little anal too), and he usually is. Search the other forum or Google.

 

[Toms007]

I received the same letter for my M6 2008 convertible with 28K miles on clock. My owner's manual says to use DOT 4 brake fluid for the clutch (not DOT 3). I wonder if DOT 3 is an unapproved fluid.

Barrett

That's what I use too.......I think he must have meant Dot 4.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Just because you don't know him doesn't mean he doesn't exist, or anything else for that matter. He's a regular guy who is very fanatical about being the fastest stock Vette driver in the Country (and a little anal too), and he usually is. Search the other forum or Google.

I know about the guy. I've read about the "Ranger Method". My question is who/what has decided that he's the "fastest" stock Vette driver in the country. People who are that anal about stuff like that are sometimes proven to be misrepresenting themselves.

Actually, if he's a drag racer, he probably thinks he's the quickest stock Vette driver in the country rather than the fastest.

 

[Hib Halverson]

As a magazine technical writer, I get lots of press releases. Some I just delete but some I actually read. A number of months ago the people at Denso sent out a release about its new line of cabin air filters. I filed the email for "future action" and promptly forgot about it. Last week, I was in that "future action" file and re-read that release.

I wondered...does a C6 have a cabin air filter? I looked in the Service Manual under "air", "cabin", "filter" and found nothing. Then, a light came on...the Owner's Manual! Sure enough, C6es have cabin air filters–the Ole Blue Bullet II is the first car I've ever owned which has one.

Turns out it is super easy to change a C6's cabin air filter. Under the hood, at the top of the firewall on the passenger side, there is a cabin air filter comparment. You pop loose the upper latches then remove the compartment cover. On a car with a dry sump tank, disconnect the two plastic lines going to the tank and move them out of the way. Then, reach in the compartment and pull out the old filter. My old filter was gray and black from air pollution. It also had trapped a lot of bugs, straw and other debris. Yuk!

A couple days before, I had ordered two Denso cabin air filters (PN 4545055) from my favorite Internet parts vendor, Rockauto.com. These filters are engineered for optimal airflow and filtration, meeting all Chevrolet requirements. Up to five layers of fleece material filter media are used to trap impurities down to just .001 micron in size.

I simply lined up the filter with the compartment opening, pushed it in place then reinstalled the filter compartment cover.

Man...that was easy.

Why can all the work I do on cars be that easy?

 

[Hib Halverson]

Finally...after a long "gestation" period, this coming Monday (26 Oct.), I'm taking the Blue Bullet II back to WesTech Performance Group in Mira Loma CA to test the MSD "Atomic Air Force" intake manifold (PN 2701) I have installed on the car's LS7.

The MSD manifold installation itself was fairly easy. I will detail the installation process in a product review I'm going to post elsewhere on the CAC once I have my chassis dyno data.

To get ready for testing required quite a bit of calibration work with the new "tuning" software I use, EFI Live. I started doing cal work with HPTuners, but HPT does not support the "intake manifold volume" calabration parameter and, when an "AAF" manifold is installed, that parameter needs to be changed becasue the MSD's volume is so much larger than is that of the stock manifold. EFI Live does support the intake manifold volume calibration and, now that I know the basics of using it, seems to be a better choice in DIY tuning softare.

It took me about a month to learn how to use EFI Live then do the testing necessary to alter the engine's volumetric efficienty tables to reflect the change in VE caused by the new intake manifold. I also recalibrated the engine's fuel delivery in power enrichment and the cooling fan strategy.

Then, I had to wait another two weeks before a time slot opened up for Westech's SuperFlow WynDyne chassis dyno.

After my last chassis dyno sesssion, I sent the engineers at Denso the set of Iridium Power IT22 spark plugs I had in the engine to get their opinion on how the plugs were working. After inspecting the plugs, they emailed me and suggested that, for chassis dyno testing, I go to the colder IT24, so, today, I installed a set of them.

I'm going to test the MSD "Atomic Air Force" manifold two ways: 1) with the stock air filter assembly and a stock air filter and 2) with a Zip Products "Mamba" air filter assembly which uses a cotton gauze filter made by the Green Filter people.

I'll post the results on Tuesday.

 

[Hib Halverson]

I'm a day late on getting the dyno info posted but I'm certainly not a dollar short–considering the cost of this project.:eek

The MSD Atomic Air Force test at Westech had mixed results. First, the bad news: I didn't get useful data from the test of the AAF with the stock air filter assembly because of a fueling problem the engine controls had which was not easily solved.

The package of the MSD manifold with the Zip Products "Mamba" air filter assembly did quite well, providing a near 22-hp SAE at-the-wheels increase in performance compared to the baseline test which was the stock intake manifold and the stock air filter assembly. The baseline configuration peaked at 453.7-rwhp@6200-rpm and 423.0-rwlbs/ft torque@4900-rpm. With the MSD "AAF" and the Mamba installed, the engine peaked at 475.6-rwhp@6050-rpm and 450.9-rwlbs/ft torque@5000-rpm. In addition to almost 22-hp at the wheels for a peak increase, the AAF and the Mamba increased power and torque from the low-end on up. Using the 15% driveline loss rule-of-thumb, the LS7 in the Blue Bullet II is now making just short of 560-hp. All power and torque numbers are SAE-corrected.

That much of an increase from just a change of the manifold and airfilter assembly was impressive.



I'm going to work on solving the problem with the AAF and the stock air filter assembly then rerun that test in the near future.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Spent most of last week at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. For those who don't know the Specialty Equipment Market Association is, basically, the trade organization for the performance and specialty automotive aftermarkets.

Saw a couple of interesting ideas for the Blue Bullet 2.

I may have finally found a way to put Flowmaster mufflers on the car and still retain the dual mode exhaust. Flowmaster introduced an axle-back exhaust system for the new Camaros which have a dual mode system. I asked the people in the Flowmaster show booth if they would be able to adapt that technology to a C6 Corvette system. They said, "Maybe." and asked me to send them some photographs of the car's stock exhaust.

For a couple of years, I have a device called "DashLogic" which allows one to change the information which the C6 "head-up display" can show. I used it for a while but sort of lost interest when I found the device could not display knock retard data.

Recently, Auto-Meter has purchased the product, revised it and rebranded it "DashControl". I'm going to request a DashControl unit for testing and see if it will now display KR on the HUD.

I visited the Lingenfelter booth and talked to one of their engineers who told me that the LS7 with an MSD AAF intake manifold "likes" to be leaned out a bit at high rpm, so the next calibration I write, I'm going to try that.

But, right now, I'm over in Phoenix doing a photo assignment with a really interesting C4 Coupe. It's one of the 216 cars built with Copper Metallic paint and is the only Copper Coupe built with a six-speed manual trans and the Z07 option. The color was discontinued right at the start of production due to quality issues. The article will be in an upcoming issue of "Corvette Magazine."

 

[Hib Halverson]

Through most of November and the first half of December, there hasn't been much going on with the Blue Bullet 2. I've been distracted by my latest new "toy", my Wife's 2016 Cadillac ATS-V. What a fun car to drive...when she lets me.

This week, I've been back working on the tuning of my LS7 with the MSD intake manifold. Regular readers may recall that during our last chassis dyno test, when I recalibrated the car in between chassis dyno tests and after changing air filter assemblies, once the stock air box was back in place, I could not get the car to run right. ad

Rather than run up the meter on dyno time, I decided to return to my shop and "regroup" with anothe revised engine controls calibration.

Still working on that....

Merry Christmas everyone

 

[Hib Halverson]

This morning, I, again, ran the Blue Bullet II on the chassis dyno at Westech Performance Group in Mira Loma, California. Previously, we ran the car on Westech's Superflow Autodyn with the stock intake manifold and stock air filter assembly. The car made 453.7-horsepower at 6200-rpm and 423-lbs.ft torque at 4900-rpm, at the rear wheels, SAE-corrected, or about 533-hp SAE at the flywheel. Other mods were Denso IT-24 spark plugs, MSD coils, MSD SuperConductor wires, retrofitted 2011 exhaust, my own calibration and a mix of 1:2 100-oct unleaded and 91-oct pump gas. Calibration work was done with an Innovate Motorsports LC-2 wideband and EFI Live software.


With the MSD Atomic Air Force intake manifold installed and a revised engine controls calibration required by the AAF manifold, but everything else the same; the car made 474.0 horsepower at the rear wheels, SAE-corrected, at 6000 rpm and 449.0 lbs/ft torque at 5000-rpm.


That is a 20.3-hp SAE at-the-wheels increase compared to the baseline test. In addition to 20.3 at the wheels for a peak increase, the AAF offered an increase torque from the mid-range on up with the increase at peak torque being 26-lbs/ft. Using the 15% driveline loss rule-of-thumb, the LS7 in our car is now making 558-hp.


That much of an increase from just a change of the manifold was impressive. That said, we've already seen even a little more power with an aftermarket air filter assembly, but more calibration work is needed to run with the aftermarket AF assembly. After working with it for about nine months, I have to say that Atomic Air Force manifold is an excellent design

 

[froggy47]

This morning, I, again, ran the Blue Bullet II on the chassis dyno at Westech Performance Group in Mira Loma, California. Previously, we ran the car on Westech's Superflow Autodyn with the stock intake manifold and stock air filter assembly. The car made 453.7-horsepower at 6200-rpm and 423-lbs.ft torque at 4900-rpm, at the rear wheels, SAE-corrected, or about 533-hp SAE at the flywheel. Other mods were Denso IT-24 spark plugs, MSD coils, MSD SuperConductor wires, retrofitted 2011 exhaust, my own calibration and a mix of 1:2 100-oct unleaded and 91-oct pump gas. Calibration work was done with an Innovate Motorsports LC-2 wideband and EFI Live software.


With the MSD Atomic Air Force intake manifold installed and a revised engine controls calibration required by the AAF manifold, but everything else the same; the car made 474.0 horsepower at the rear wheels, SAE-corrected, at 6000 rpm and 449.0 lbs/ft torque at 5000-rpm.


That is a 20.3-hp SAE at-the-wheels increase compared to the baseline test. In addition to 20.3 at the wheels for a peak increase, the AAF offered an increase torque from the mid-range on up with the increase at peak torque being 26-lbs/ft. Using the 15% driveline loss rule-of-thumb, the LS7 in our car is now making 558-hp.


That much of an increase from just a change of the manifold was impressive. That said, we've already seen even a little more power with an aftermarket air filter assembly, but more calibration work is needed to run with the aftermarket AF assembly. After working with it for about nine months, I have to say that Atomic Air Force manifold is an excellent design

Do you expect the car will run "ok" with just 91 pump gas? Or will you always have to blend in the race gas?

 

[Hib Halverson]

Yes. It runs "ok" on pump gas.
It just will not run perfectly on 91.
I use stock high- and low-octane spark tables. Since GM calibrates for 93-oct, running on 91, except when the IAT is really cool, there will be knock retard.

When I test on the chassis dyno or when I'm doing calibration testing at my secret test facility in the mountains, I run a little unleaded race gas as a preemptive strike against detonation.

I do not run that fuel mix all the time. Couldn't afford it.

 

[Hib Halverson]

My latest adventure with the Blue Bullet II has to do with air filters. Seems mundane, I know, but I have uncovered what could be a:ugh...scandal at ACDelco.

During my last chassis dyno test of my engine with an MSD intake manifold and the OE air filter assembly and an OE air filter, I noted that the power peak moved down 200 rpm. I thought that strange. After some thought and research, I decided a possible reason for the change might be a restrictive air filter, but first...the back story.

Back in 2009, when GM introduced the 638-hp, supercharged, LS9 in the C6 ZR1, it gave that engine a new, less restrictive air filter so support the obvious large increase in airflow from enough to support the LS7's 505-hp to enough to support the LS9's 638-hp.

In 2006, when the LS7 was introduced, it used a new air filter design produced by the Donaldson Company, a filter media Donaldson called "PowerCore". During the LS9 development, GM wanted an air filter of about the same physical size as the LS7 unit to fit in an air filter assembly the size of that used on the LS7. GM went back to Donaldson and it developed a new filter, the same size as the LS7 filter but using a new, less restrictive filter media called "PowerCore G2". The new filters were installed on all LS9s and, up until 2012, were only used on that engine.

For the 2012 model year, in response to more stringent exhaust emissions standards in California, GM put exhaust systems on Corvette with four catylitic converters. While the 4-cat exhaust was not a big deal on the supercharged LS9, on the normally aspirated LS7, it restricted the exhaust enough that the engine's power fell below the 505-hp mark which made the engine famous. During the development of the '12 LS7, GM determined it could reduce intake restriction enough to offset the increase in exhaust restruction such that the power level remained at 505-hp, if it used the LS9 filter made with the Donaldson PowerCore G2 media. As such, all 2012 and 2013, LS7-equipped Z06es and 427 Convertibles used the LS9 air filter.

Fast forward to a year or so ago:
I ordered a new air filter for my 12 Z06 from Amazon.com. When it arrived, I noted the filter media was slightly different but didn't think anything about it at the time.

Then, a month or so ago, I tested the MSD Atomic Air Force intake manifold I installed on the engine and noted that, while peak power and torque improved significantly, that the power peak moved down slightly. I thought that strange and then remembered how the air filter looked different.

I did some research on the Donaldson Company web site and learned that Donaldson has two similar-appearing, but different-performing filter media: "PowerCore" and "PowerCore G2". The web site implied that the PowerCore G2 was capable of higher flow rates but no specific information as to the two media's actual flow rates was given. Imagery on the site indicated that the PowerCore G2 media was the media used in my original LS7 air filter and the older, PowerCore media was used in the replacement, AC Delco A3107C filter I had ordered from Amazon. I contacted Donaldson's Marketing Manger, Rod Radosevich. Initially, Mr. Radosevich suggested I email him some questions. I did so, asking about differences between PowerCore and PowerCore G2. He emailed back saying that Donaldson Company would not answer my questions.

Here is an image showing the difference between the two.


Some more research in the Internet found a statement, the original source unknown, that the PowerCore G2 LS9 and '12/'13 LS7 air filter flowed 850-cfm, a 19% increase in flow over the earlier LS7 filter which was made with PowerCore media.

Then, I took my research in a different direction, trying to better understand AC Delco's current offering for air filters. Turns out that the 2006-2011 Z06 air filter is an A3077C and has always used the PowerCore media. The factory-installed 09-13 LS9/12-13 LS7 filters (GM PN 25940997) used the PowerCore G2 media, however, the AC Delco replacement filters (PN A3107C) I have seen so far, one from Amazon.com and one from Zip Products, both of which were purchased in the last 12 months, use the more-restrictive PowerCore media.

I suspect that ACD confronted with the cost of the PowerCore G2 media decided it was not important to sell the proper filter for LS9s and 12-13 LS7s and ordered it's current stock of LS3, LS7 and LS9 filters from Donaldson to be made with PowerCore rather than PowerCore G2 media.

If that's true, then anyone putting an OE-replacement A3107C filter on an LS9 or LS7 is gong to experience a loss in performance.ad

So, what am I going to do next?

Well, one thing I want to do is try to find or borrow an NOS LS7 filter made with PowerCore G2 and test it to see if performance improves over my last dyno test. I have found a couple of ZR-1 or late model Z06 owners willing to let me borrow their filters.

More on this story, later, as it develops.:confused

 

[Tuna]

So, what filter would you recommend as a replacement for the LS9/Z06 instead of the ACDelco filter?

K&N?
WIX?
What?

 

[Hib Halverson]

Unfortunately, I have not researched that question, yet.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Sorry it took so long for me to provide a good answer to Tuna's question.

First, I did some chassis dyno testing of both the first design and second design Z06/ZR1 air filters.

The difference in performance on an LS7 is 3.9-hp SAE corrected. Most assuredly, the difference on an LS9 would be greater, but I have not tested that because I don't have a ZR-1 to use for the testing.

As for what alternatives there are for aftermarket filters which can replace the OE second design air filter which is no longer available, I have not done adequate research on that. My initial research is that the non-performance aftermarket replacement filters (ie: Fram, Wix, etc) are simply the same PowerCore filter ACDelco is buying from Donaldson.

Further research is necessary. Until then, as long as the filter is not fill of a lot of contaminants, I'd keep the filter you have on the engine now. It helps to remove the filter, smack it on the ground a bit to disloge large pieces of stuff then blow shop air backwards though the filter.

 

[Tuna]

Thanks Hib.

I put a K&N filter in my LS7 a couple of years back and saved the original AC Delco filter just in case.