2010 Chevy Corvette Grand Sport Coupe
Firstly let me start off by saying that this thread isn't even in the same league as some of the other awesome & extensive build threads in the beyond garage, that being said...
Two years ago I was not a Corvette guy at all, I had respect for their performance but that’s where it ended. Then my friend gave me a ride in his 2010 ZR1, that day changed how I thought of Corvettes….. needless to say the thing was bonkers fast, but it wasn’t just that, it was the seating position, the awesome handling, the noises it made and the looks it got that I fell in love with. Not being baller enough to afford a 125K ZR1 at 24 I started looking around at what I could comfortably afford and that meant something used…. 2008-09 Z06 or a 2010-11 Grand Sport where my two choices. I wanted the car to be my summer DD but what was very important to me was how well the car did at autocross from the factory, as we no longer have a track in Calgary autocross is the only performance driving I can do locally. After a lot of research on the Corvette Forum as well as looking through historical SCCA Solo-II results I discovered the Grand Sport was the better autocross car due to its specific gearing, yes I know it’s down 70HP and up 100lbs on the Z06 but in real life a 0-60MPH time of 3.6Sec (Z06) vs. 3.9Sec (GS) is not noticeable, besides the GS comes with a lot of the same goodies as the Z06; wide body, big brakes, hand built engine, dry sump oiling system…. So the decision was made: time to start looking for a 2010-11 Grand Sport. The pricing on them in Canada was substantially higher than in the states so I decided to buy down South; thanks to Jaymez’ awesome ‘How to Import Thread’ I was convinced importing was actually pretty simple. After months of searching I found a mint Cyber Grey 2011 that a dealer in Seattle that was willing to bring in for me (from Atlanta), after some background checks and negotiating the deal was made. Unfortunately once the car arrived at the dealership in Seattle the transport company quite literally dropped the car from the second deck of the transport truckBack to square one. Some more searching turned up a Certified Pre-Owned mint condition black beauty with only 2300 miles on the clock in Youngstown, Ohio. Again some background checks and negotiating and the deal was made, this time being deathly scared of transport companies I decided to fly down to Ohio and drive the car back myself. Here she is a 2010 Chevy Corvette Grand Sport 2LT w/ GS Interior Package & NPP Bi-Modal Exhaust (the only option I really cared about).
I flew down to Chicago (the nearest city that seemed remotely interesting to visit) in early May with my fiancé and we picked up the car in Youngstown, Ohio a couple days later.
After getting the car home the first order of business was to get rid of that front license plate bracket and get a 3M Clear Bra put on and while I was at it get the windows tinted, so after a quick visit to Shadow Tint….
The Escort Passport 9500ix is probably the single best thing you can get for yourself if you enjoy driving, I wanted to install mine as cleanly as possible so a Blend Mount and a Mirror Tap cord were a must.
This car has the NPP Bi-Modal exhaust which in case you don’t know opens two flaps in the exhaust at 3500RPM making the exhaust note go from civilized to angry. A Mild-2-Wild controller gives you full control of the flaps with a key fob type remote so this mod was a must.
The factory brakes are amazingly capable (14” 6 Piston Front & 13” 4 Piston Rear) but it was a shame that GM decided to use rubber hoses and DOT 3 Fluid, so a set of SS Lines and Motul Brake Fluid fixed that problem.
Seeing first hand just how much oil can get into the intake mani and on the valves thanks to the PCV one of the first things I did was a small catch can. ***I later ended up getting rid of this POS catch can and put in a proper one***
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. After which an alignment to PFADT Race Engineering specs was a must so that I could hopefully get more than 8000km’s out of these $2500 shoes.
