Luke Lonberger's Blu808 built C6 Formula DRIFT Car build thread

[blu808]

Last year we brought you the Hankook, GM performance, Blu808 2010 Camaro. This year we are introducing the Blu808 X LG Motorsports C6 Corvette Formula DRIFT and Red Line Time Attack Corvette. This is a primary Blu808 effort with partnership, advice, and support from LG Motorsports. Other key members of our Corvette build will be Turn Key Engine Supply, Forgeline, Sparco, Aeromotive, Exedy racing clutch, Lab17 and others.

This thread will be a documented full feature build up of the Corvette.

We will show the following processes in detail.

Complete dismantling process
Weight removal
Chassis modifications
Roll cage design and construction
Pedal box fabrication
Seating mount fabrication
Drivetrain modifications
Engine modifications
Cooling system fabrication
Clutch hydraulics fabrication
Fuel system fabrication
Carbon body fabrication
Aerodynamics
Wiring
Electronics
Suspension design and setup
Steering system modifications
Corner balancing
Paint
Final assembly
Testing.




Any questions or feedback would be great.

Luke

Build start.

Here is our project car. A 2005 C6 base. We would have used a ZO6 but Formula DRIFT won't allow aluminum chassis. Anyway.




We then drove it around for about a week to get a feel for it. Our dog Turbo approves of the Corvette doggy bed in the back.



Once we had the car back in the shop we started removing the interior and other unnecessary items.





Here is our base weight with the carpet, Seats, and Consol removed. The car has 3/4 of a tank of gas as well.



Next we started on the bumpers and body panels. It is a treat to work on a car with a removable body.



Now that we have a good portion of the chassis exposed we take a closer look to see any evidence of crash damage.



Luckily everything looked great.

Since we are now sure the chassis is in good condition we started marking all the areas on the car that will be removed for weigh savings

Every panel is clearly marked with a red X and is documented and cleared with Formula DRIFT for approval.









After that was all figured out we went back and removed the Dash and the components under it.



They sure manage to fit alot of stuff in these cars! The radiator and Ac condenser were removed along with the fan assembly. Then the steering column and wiring started to drop.

As it sits with the heater core/AC, blower assembly, Cats, Headers, Exhaust, Mufflers, Gas tanks, ABS, Pedals, Windshield, rear hatch, and window we are getting pretty light.



Not bad for a car that still starts and drives. (well not far without a steering wheel or radiator)

Decided to ditch the factory steering tube and fabricate our own.













Ok so today now that the steering tube position was finalized we measured everything up for the main hoop.

We use Bend Tech Pro here at the shop. It is a great program and makes making complex bends easy. It eliminates any errors in the design process and eliminates wasted material. That is the main reason we use it at Blu808.

Here is what we had come up with after taking some measurements.



We then bent up the hoop in the bender.



After a quick floor trace, flip, and cross measure to ensure everything was symmetrical we test fit it in the car.



Fits perfect!

[blu808]

Today we finished notching the tubes for the rear "X" brace and tacked everything up.





Started welding up some sections of the cage tonight.


Also started chopping out some more of the plastic inner fenders to provide the steering clearance we need for drifting.





And yes. Our tool boxes here at Blu808 have Blue under glow.





All of the body panels fit great. So it should only take some minor bracing for the fender supports.

More coming your way tomorrow!
Also you can keep track of the build on Welcome to Blu808 - Engineering Performance

[blu808]

Our new fire system came in today. It is a safecraft 10 Lb model.




In preparation for our new LG setup we removed the entire drivetrain from the car today.




And the engine.



All ready for Chassis prep!





We will be having a big announcement soon with our new drivetrain package.

Just got a shipment in from the guys over at LG Motorsports.

They sent over their Super Cool Radiator. The pictures do not do it justice. The end tanks are not sheet aluminum. It is actually fabricated out of what looks like 1/8" thick. Should be super durable and add that extra cooling that any race car would need. The execution of the setup is really well thought out. There are all sorts of tabs and brackets already welded onto the radiator so all the stock shrouding and fan will snap right into place. There are even provisions for the AC condenser. How cool is that?







The next item that we were really excited about were the LG Motorsports Super Pro Long Tube Headers. Again. The build quality on these headers is amazing. We have used these headers many times in the past and remain the first choice for many top racers in the industry.

Lou and the guys over at LG actually had to formulate a new production process just for the collectors. These are the only headers on the market for your Corvette that come with a true full race collector. Amazing!



T304 Stainless steel, beautiful tig welds and construction.



This is really shaping up to be a fun build. We would like to invite everyone to come by the shop to check it out in person. We are located in the northern California area.

We also managed to get the halo bar bent up, notched, and fitted today!





The fitment on this cage is awesome!

[blu808]

Another update. We started mocking up all the suspension components tonight at the shop. We have the LG coilovers in place, and will have everything ready for when the LG Billet uprights and Sway Bars show up.



Little update.

We have removed the hatch and the bodywork. We will be doing some modifications to the oem roll cage structure to provide proper head clearance with the new roll cage.







Tonight we got all the control arms bead blasted to inspect for any cracks. Everything looked good. We also removed the front cross member in preparation for tomorrows cleaning.



Our LG Motorsports World Challenge hood arrived today! Looks great!







We did some mock up for the custom steering system tonight and we are able to get upto 55 degrees of steering angle with our setup. This should be very competitive.





Just received the LG Carbon ZR1 Splitter/Side Skirt Package. I must say that the fit and finish on these pieces is factory tight. I have dealt with many aftermarket body parts over the years, and can honestly say that these will bolt right on without any modifications. The sideskirts are autoclave produced and the weight next to nothing. The front lip features a complete under tray to improve on the GM design, and they reinforced the edges for added strength.





More pictures coming your way tomorrow!

We spent the evening bending up the "A" pillar bars for the cage and tacking everything into place.



The fit and finish turned out really great.



We always try to position the tubes with the drivers "line of sight" in mind. This configuration shouldn't add any blind spots.





We also took some of our in house laid Carbon sheeting and covered up a hole that was left after we removed the cabin pressure equalization vent.



Thanks for looking. We are working overtime this weekend to finish the cage. Stay tuned!

[blu808]

Today we made some final adjustments to the cage and fabricated the door bar structures.





















Everything is turning out beautiful. The cage is fabricated of 4130 and completely tig welded using er-80 rod.

[blu808]

The Chassis and cage were painted today at Los Gatos Body Shop. We now have the car back at Blu808 and have started final assembly. We have completed the fire system installation with the hard lines, nozzles, pull cable, and bottle mounting brackets. We will have pictures of all that tomorrow. We also got the air jacks situated.











Traditionally all Blu808 race cars have a gray sprayed on the chassis and roll cage. For the Corvette we decided on a no glare 10% gloss black. It should provide excellent glare resistance for the night events we compete at and will have that stealthy look that only a Corvette could pull off.

[blu808]

Today at the shop we got some more goodies mounted up on the Vette.





Cabin fire suppression nozzle.



Engine bay fire nozzle.



We were all blown away at this LG Carbon intake system. We compared it to a variram system and were really impressed. The plenum size, build quality, and fit were all perfect.





We also test fit the LG Motorsport world challenge radiator. It fit factory tight, and is sure to be a critical component on our race car.



We also had a chance to get the fire "Pull" all mounted up on the cage.



Aeromotive was nice enough to supply us with our fuel system on the Vette. Here we have the regulator, mount, and filter. We will have more on this and the trick new pump they sent over this week.



More fun stuff coming this week.

[blu808]

Here are some cool pictures from when the chassis was at the body shop.





Forgeline wheels is one of our primary sponsors of the Blu808 team. We are fortunate enough to have their support on the Corvette as well. As most of you know Forgeline makes some of the best wheels on the market, Their approach to function equals subsequent design that results in beauty is an unspoken motto for their wheels and it is why many professional racing teams choose Forgeline wheels. Dave from Forgeline was nice enough to custom make a set of the amazing GA3R competition "I-beam" wheels for our project in a stunning center spoke machine finish. Pictures do not do them justice. We will have more on these wheels soon.





Exedy is also one of the brands that we rely on for all of our race cars. The amount of R&D, time, and passion that goes into each Exedy product is astounding. Confidence is not something that can easily be purchased in most situations but it is money well spent in the clutch department. Not to mention they look really cool and are anodized PURPLE !!!



We are also finally to a point on the car where we can start mocking up all the body work. We will need to mount everything up properly before sending the pieces out to the paint shop.





More updates coming your way tomorrow!

[5150 Cruiser]

Very cool! Love all the shots and details going into this build thread. One question though.
For the cage, are there any plans to tie it into the front end? Or will the front end be strengthened seperatly?

[Bebop]

What kind of fuel will this thing use?

Pump gas? E85 ish? 110 octane?

Seeing these things can make suitable power on either.

[blu808]

5150: We are not permitted to build any cage structure forward of the firewall. The Corvette has a very strong frame though and should be great as is.

Blaze. Should be running on 110 leaded.


The Corvette is really coming together now that we are in final assembly.

Here you can see the KSport air jacks.



The plumbing for the jacks.



The hard lines.



We also have teamed up with Aimsports for our data logging and display needs. The Carbon panel will be used to mount the Aimsports display.



We also finalized the KSport hydro ebrake assembly, steering column, and seating position.



Since the car is going to be a 10% matte black base coat we popped the headlights in the over at 220 degrees for 25 minutes to melt the glue and separate the lenses. We will then paint the silver part black.



Finally the steering system is complete.



The guys over at RPM Transmission are really helpful. They sent over the parts to upgrade the 08 Z06 differential to that of the new ZR1. We will be assembling the new diff with the added carbon plates, springs, and sliders. We have opted to not go with a OS Giken unit at this point.





Before the body went off to paint we mounted up the LG Front Splitter. The fit is perfect on all the LG Body parts!



Here is the GT04XD dual disc clutch we will be using in the Vette. Exedy makes the best clutches on the market. The amount of engineering that goes into each of their clutches is what makes them the best. We can run the whole season on 1 and never have to worry about the durability.

[GSXRJJordan]

Build looks fantastic in pics, but even more impressive in person! The fact that Luke has been able to pull off a ten/tenths build with no major cash sponsor is worth huge respect in my book.

Jordan Innovations is proud to be providing the Mil-spec wiring and electronics package for another awesome Blu808 race car!

[INFO]

[Ckmatsu]

such a great detailed build. can't wait to see it at long beach round 1

[Bebop]

I was really expecting too see this car in a hankook rap. Not even a decal....hmmm.

Well cant wait to see how this car performs.