Killer back on the drawing board

[69MyWay]

So, Killer has been together for a little over a year now in the same basic configuration. I think this latest road trip to and from Bowling Green with no break downs or defects was proof that it is maxed out in its current configuration.

However, I am not satisfied and want to take it to the next level. Most of you know I have been playing with the idea of an overdrive trans now almost since I started building the car.

When the funds are availalbe, I want to put Killer in the work shop, jack it up, and yank the trans and diff out of the car. The clutch packs are making noise in the diff, and I need to start there.

Furute plans:

1. An overdrive of some sort:
a. Richmond 6
b. TKO 5
c. Stock 4th gen F body 6
d. Stock 3rd gen F body 5
e. Viper 6

2. Rework the underhood:
a. create covers/fillers/extension to hide the wiper motor, overfill, hoses, wire harness, etc. (carbon fiber---or fiberglass....maybe aluminum)
3. TINT the windows
4. Go back and tweak/tighten/adjust all the body panels, interior panels, etc.
5. Block down and repaint the nose, and possibly the whole car.


So....I guess this will keep me busy for a bit. As a whole I am satisfied with all the other functions. The car really impressed the heck out of me on the road trip, but running from 10 to 13.5 mpg was terrible!

 

[69_Dream]

Chris, what can I say... you impress me. :BOW What you get done in say... a week, would take me 5 years. Maybe. :L

Good luck with it, as usual.

P.S. My 69 gets about 7 or 8 mpg, 9 if I wish real real hard.

Sly

 

[6 Shooter]

Chris,

I'm sure U know this without me saying it . . . Your Vette is 1 Sweet Ride !!!

I must say, it is Great 2 get MPG's n the Mid 2 Upper Twenties.

Just visited your Homepage, it l@@ks like it's had a major reconstruction since my last visit. Do U have any Large Digital Pics of Your Vette similiar to this size with an interesting backdrop that U could e-mail my direction (dkfenton@jobe.net) ?

Later,
6 Shooter

 

[Black Thunder]

Chris I forget what rear gear do you have now and what will you go with for a new combination!
Is it possible to get down to say low 2,000's at 75 mph! Everytime I travel the superslab I am unhappy pulling so many R's (3,600-3,800) and folks are zipping by me.
I will follow with interest if you upgrade the driveline what happens. Frankly I don't know how you hold that thing down now with WOT off the line!
Thunder goes sideways in tirespin, if I raise the rpm just by 100. And thats with the A/T 1st gear and 3,500 stall.
And getting 13mpg with that motor is unbelievable! I get 6mpg with a 3:73 gear. Also currently get no more than 500 miles on plugs and then performance goes away, quick! How many miles are you getting on a set?

Posse Bro

 

[matchframe]

"...Projects are never complete! If they were, then we have lost our creativity!"

That's a quote from somewhere, I can't remember where, but its true. I think I heard it in College when I was working on my Television Production degree.

I look forward to following Killer's next upgrades with interest.

Bill

 

[69MyWay]

6 Shooter, I don't have any other large pics handy at the moment. I will eventually upload more to my site

Sly, I don't feel like I get much accomplished. In fact, I often feel guilty when I kill a day doing nothing. I am working on a book and write on that when I have time, plus my Killer Lights project. Both of those will distract me a bit.

Posse Bro....If I had your car, I would have already popped a 700R4 in there and gotten the best of both worlds. If my car was an auto, that would be a "automatic" decision. Total mod would be under $2,000 for a high quality trans, torque converter and hardware. I still have the same set of plugs in my car. It is not hard on them at all.

Here is some plus and minus.

Richmond Plus:

1. I get to reuse my clutch, bellhousing, and driveshaft and speedo housing.

Richmond Minus:

1. Rumors of poor quality construction, cost, and heavy mods to the cross member, and retention of rod based shifter.

TKO Plus:

1. Less expensive than Richmond up front, less mods to cross member, rail type (internal shifter).

TKO Minus

1. requires a new bellhousing, clutch, and driveshaft mods. This adds cost back in.

---basically the plus/minus is the same for the F body and Viper trans...but the plus being I can pick up a used unit for less up front money.

For those that don't know, I already have a nice Lakewood bellhousing, Quatermaster hydraulic clutch/release bearing.


Decision, decision.

 

[TZ Racer]

"...Projects are never complete! If they were, then we have lost our creativity!"

If that quote is true, then Dave has to be the most creative person I know!

Right now he is out in the shop with Bruiser up on jack stands. The leaf spring is out. The rear-end is out. The trans was out and now back in. I think the starter is out also and he is currently working on a ball joint. Parts are on order!

This is the racer in him. If it isn't perfect, it isn't done. He can hear tiny noises that are not heard by the normal human being. Those noises must be quieted or he won't sleep...or drive the car. :eyerole

Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted! Even with the problems the caravan trip was a blast, especially after Chris & Nikki made it.

Chris, if Bruiser is up on jack stands, Killer might as well be also.

Susan (Mrs. TZ Racer)

 

[patsnitrovette]

im so happy i went with overdrive,with fuel injection and overdrive im now up to 20mpg around town from the measly 5-8 i used to get on the old 355.You got an awesome car there and what ever you do to it ,just makes it 10 times better.Remember it never ends,i have a list a page long of things ill be doing this winter.

 

[sscam69]

Chris

I just bought a 2000 Trans Am with the T-56 6spd in it. My differential gear ratio is 3.42 and have 245/50 R16's and at 75mph I am just above 1500rpm! At 100mph I am at about 2200rpm. On the freeway I swear I am driving an import from the gas mileage standpoint.

Problems associated with the 4th gen F-body T-56's include bad trans casings. At least a racing team checked the casings and it turned out they weren't cast right. The team goes by "Team ZR1". Maybe TZracer might know who they are. I don't know how reliable that information is. This tends to be the case with later F-bods 01-02.

There is something that also has aroused my interest. It seems GM put a restriction in the hydraulics to help make the shifting smoother. For those of us who drive these cars like there suppose to be driven this restriction prevents the clutch from disengaging completly during fast shifts and also causes gears to be missed during high rpm shifts. This problem eats up the synchros in the tranny faster than normal.

Another problem is the 4th gen fbod tranny also comes with aluminum shift forks. With agressive shifting tends to bend them and the typical "it gets stuck in 4th or 3rd" syndrome starts to occur.

This tranny comes with internal stops but seem to be pretty weak. An aftermarket shifter with stops would be prudent to help support the ones already in the tranny.

I don't hear to many people actually blowing gears. These trannys seem to be able to handle a lot and i mean A LOT more then their rated at. I know they are behind some of the fastest F-bods out there and the only problems have been synchros and shift forks.

There is a shop called D & D performance. Dunno if you have heard of them. The primarily work on mustangs but seem to be the place to get "aftermarket" upgrades for the T56. You can get steel shift forks and better synchros from them and they even build up trannys to mate to SBC's. You cant used the T56 from an F-bod on your car. The input shaft is different.

Hope this helps some.

 

[Ken]

True Gearheads!

We're never done are we Chris? Finally get to the back and start over again from the front.

Have fun! :J

 

[WhalePirot]

Richmond Minus?

Heard to be noisy, too, ut tough as nails. I may still do it, if my 4+3 goes down.

I rather like the new automatics, though.

I wish I had the real estate in my C-4 tunnel for another O/D. Else, the Gear Vendors unit looks quite nice for certain automatics, if only a 30% reduction.

I don't check mileage on the Vette anymore. Seems my foot is on the floor too much to really care. Seems I like the
mike

 

[69vettester]

"If it aint Red, It aint a corvette"..hahaaa..Mostly kidding Chris, but I am Biased.
What color options are you thinking about for the new Killer??
Tom

 

[69MyWay]

"If it aint Red, It aint a corvette"..hahaaa..Mostly kidding Chris, but I am Biased.
What color options are you thinking about for the new Killer??
Tom

It will be back in black. I am not 100% happy with how some of the body settled after it got out in the sun for many hours on end. There was some shrinkage where the inner fenders bond The only way to cure is to block it back flat and then reshoot.

No red anytime soon.

 

[Ken]

No, no red Chris, now's your chance to think about silver again! :L

 

[groovyjay]

Sounds like we are riding in the same boat that never goes to any final destination. I'm one week from driving my car and I'm already getting sleepless nights of what I'm going to do next winter, new engine, brakes, 5 point roll bar and some serious fibre class pieces are definately coming on like dash, door cards, maybe hood and one piece t top.

Like you mentioned above, both 6 speeds have their own advantages and disadvatages. 6 speed richmond was basically designed using the old Doug Nash 5 speed and adding one lower gear to it. I have also heard that on a engine with high torque numbers and 3,08 rear the 3,4,5 gears are under lot of stress and this has somehow ended up in exploding gears. You woud be ok with you 3,55 ratio with the .62 OD. Like the T56, the Richmond also requires the driveshaft to be shortened by 2". Richmonds tend to greate lot of gear whine when new and they are very hard to shift for the first 500miles or so. But with right shifter it is very accurate to shift and will never miss one shift.

I have no personal experience about the T56, but what I've read and hear about it, it should be great tranny. It is very modern and will be very easy to shift. There is a company called Keisler and they are currently making a bolt on T5 kit for C2 and C3 corvettes, and are currently developing T56 kit too, so you might want to check that out.

Take care man and talk to you soon.

Jay

 

[Stallion]

Chris, what block do you have under that hood? I thought you had fuel injection. And you get that low of gas mileage?

I read about a guy with a ZZ4 and he got 27 mpg. :eek

 

[69MyWay]

Stallion,

I am running right at 468 cubes, and with no overdrive it spins at 3,000 rpm around 70 mph. EFI, or no EFI, you just can't generate good MPG out of that combo, unless I drop the cruise RPM with an overdrive.

 

[Culprit]

since we're straying off topic...

Chris - what RPM would you consider max for sustained highway driving? We're talking a stock '78 L-82 here.

Groovyjay - I'm going to try to read up on Keisler's "bolt on" T5. Do you have a web site or anything on them? I'm doing just about 3000 at 60 mph and would love to be able to reach for a 5th gear - but I don't want to cut the crossmember on my frame to do it.


Semper Fi,
Culprit

 

[69MyWay]

Culprit,

Sounds like you have some pretty stout gears in your car.

The perfect RPM all depends on your motor combo and cam profile. A big block can run at a much lower RPM, and still generate enough torque to push the car against the wind.

To me, perfect would be 1,000 RPM at 70, but that is just me. I know the big block will do it, and still push the car at 800 or so for 55 mph.

I hate to throw things out the window I already bought. That is what has me hung up. I have a nice expensive Lakewood housing, and Quartermaster clutch assembly, and hydraulic release bearing. I know of all the combos out there that the Richond will reuse my stuff, and save some money in the long run.

The other trans options are more high tech, and higher quality from what I can tell, so there are definate trade offs.

 

[groovyjay]

Here ya go: http://www.keislerauto.com/Corvette_5Speed.htm