Vorshlag Blog

A long overdue Forum Build Thread update covers the last 2 months of competition and test events we ran in #ProjectNewBalance, our narrow body C6 Corvette that we worked on in 2021 and campaigned in SCCA and NASA TT in 2022. The forum post is a big 3 parter, so go grab a snack and login on a device with a larger screen – as every image can be clicked for higher resolution pictures or videos.

In addition to the track tests and Time Trials, we also cover many months of development work to the C6 and our biggest single break-through yet – front brake cooling. This was a game changer for this car, and remember – we also had an ABS swap (Mk60) and ran three different brake systems (base, Z51 and C6 Z06 brakes). No other single brake system mod made a bigger difference then this, and its a simple upgrade. Wish we had done this sooner! Live and learn…

The Forum Update also goes over a bunch of power upgrades we did after securing the Tuner2 Texas Region championship for 2022, and these changes (heads / cam / intake / cold air / new headers / tune) netted an 80 whp gain on the dyno. We show the way that we built the exhaust to keep it all quiet, too.

Finally, this “final” update shows all of the paint and prep that went into making this C6 have a car show level finish, with 60% of the body repainted, plus loads of detail work done in early 2023. This all came together in a “car for sale page” that worked well, and this C6 sold quickly.

But fear not – we now have merged our C5 and C6 development threads into this one mega thread and will update it more, like when our all carbon C6 Z06 comes into the shop (soon) and gets a more aggressive TT build than any other car we have built in the last 20 years at Vorshlag. Stay tuned for more!

The latest entry into our Forum Build thread for our LS550 swap test mule is live, and it is a huge one. This 5 part update covers work we completed on Terry’s 2015 Mustang GT #Trigger, from January through June 2023, where we ran had some “not great luck” and had to make some pretty big changes, but eventually we got the car on track.

Losing the 6.3L engine on the dyno was bad stroke of luck, and wrecked our 2023 Time Trial season plans. After a generous gift from Vorshlag co-owner Amy, her HPR built 454″ dry sumped LS engine was now part of Terry’s Mustang build! We rushed to get that in the car, then stumbled with some major delays getting some parts that we thought we needed to make “big power” on this big engine.

We spent about 8 weeks making this manifold fit this engine with a bigger 112mm throttle body, which (along with some other associated problems) made for a pretty terrible-to-drive setup – small throttle input changes made for WILD power applications – and frankly did not make very much power over the standard plastic long runner intakes and the 103mm throttle bodies (we have since switched to an MSD intake and found major improvements). Oh well, live and learn – and share those lessons!

This forum update covers the end of the 6.3L and the birth of the 7.4L, which took a bit of doing: a new dry sump oiling system, a lot of testing and tuning, tweaks and repairs. This post gets us to the end of June 2023, where we completed the first track test of this car with the 454″ engine. There is still more of this build to cover, but we will tackle that another time. Remember that each picture in the Forum Build Thread can be clicked for higher rez versions or even videos, so if you have a larger computer screen to view the Forum on, that works best. Thanks for reading!

The latest 3-part update to the Forum Build Thread for our 2006 Corvette is up and covers lots of work done to this TRUE dual purpose street/track car from August through October of 2022.

Updates included 6/4 piston C6 Z06 calipers and rotors, some tie rod heat shields, TWO Mk60 ABS upgrades / tests, 295mm Hoosier R7 vs new Yokohama A052 testing, custom machined some wheels at Vorshlag, and made changes to the coolant reservoir location for more front tire clearance.

We also ran the C6 in a LOT of Time Trial events in that time period, plus our first autocross – where we took 1-2 in class and Amy crushed it in the PAX finish and raw time placement. We made almost zero changes from the Time Trial to Autocross setups and it worked SUPER well.

We ran out of time to cover the November-December months, but in the end this C6 put in 18 of the 30 track or autocross events we did in 2022 – and we had fun the whole time! Next time we will cover even more updates, more events, some paint work, and more. You can read the latest Forum Build Thread entries here. Thanks for reading!

We have been busy building / buying / testing new parts for the 2nd gen 86, including multiple sets of wheels and tires since the December update. We have also done Track Test #3 through #5 as well as two more Time Trials. We cover all of this and more in the latest Forum Build Thread update starting here!

Major suspension changes to our 2023 BRZ happened over the past few months, including MCS remote double adjustable coilovers, Whiteline bushings, Hotchkis swaybars, and RacerX rear upper control arms. We had some other updates along the way including three different types of Track extraction tow hooks, a custom EcuTek dyno tune, trailer tie down tips, an oil catch can, a throttle pedal pad extension, and more.

We have now run this car in 4 different competition groups & classes – three Time Trial orgs and one autocross group. In the latest update we also discuss what series we are building around predominantly (SCCA Time Trial T3 class) and why. Lots of data is shared, our 86 lap time list with in-car videos is updated, and a ton of technical pictures from product installation to repairs are added. Every picture can be clicked for a higher rez version, so if you can view this thread on a PC with a proper screen, that’s always better. Thanks for reading!

The last four months of work on our 2015 Mustang LS swap test mule was the most intense period yet, and updating the Forum Build Thread took a solid 24 hours of typing, sorting pictures, and performing edits over the past 2 weeks. This four part mega-update to the Forum Build Thread starts here.

Since late August 2022 our crew finished all a ton of wiring, added fluids, built front ducting, added sensors, added fluids, mounted an AiM then Holley digital dash (ugh), programmed the Accusump, made the EPAS rack work, got the engine fired up, fixed a slave cylinder/clutch stop issue, made the center stack dash panel, added SPL rear upper arms, tackled some ABS swap work, got the car aligned, made a new shifter, added some more gauges, and had the first dyno session.

Covering all of that work this time includes a forum update more than 250 pictures, some videos, and about 40,000 words. This is best read this update on a computer with a proper screen, and each picture can be clicked for a higher rez version. Enjoy! #Trigger

As 2023 rolls around we just finished a big Forum Build Thread update on a popular customer car build – this 2004 Cadillac CTS-V, which left the shop some months back. We are trying to keep up with all of our forum build updates and this one was the next in line.

This massive 3-part Forum Thread Update covers work we completed on this CTS-V from May through December of 2021. This included finishing up wiring, plumbing and a digital dash (or two!) install to allow the HPR 383″ LS6 to be able to fire up with the Holley Terminator X EFI system. Read about all of the “fun” we had with Holley EFI in this post. We fought a long battle but fired up the engine successfully in August of ’21

Getting past that milestone allowed us to focus the next phase of work – including a rebuild of the Ohlins coilovers + reservoir mounts, a new 1-piece driveshaft, then some front aero work. The aero bits needed included on front flares (to clear 18×11″ wheels and 315mm front tires) and a custom front splitter. We attached the splitter using rear quick release latches and front splitter struts from Professional Awesome. We go into major detail on this forum update showing the steps needed to mount the splitter.

We hope you enjoy reading the forum thread – the latest entry is linked here – and we will have another one to read on this build shortly. So many builds, just never enough time to share content. Have a great 2023 and we hope our documented builds inspire you to build your own race car!

After an entry to our 10+ year old 86 Development Forum Build Thread back in May of 2022, we have a major update posted in December showing the first mods and first three track tests in our 2nd gen 2023 BRZ! You can start reading the big 3-part update starting here.

We already had a gaggle of parts waiting for the BRZ before it even arrived, and in this installment we show the installation of much of the parts shown above. We also didn’t waste any time getting to the track, and arrived at our first Motorsport Ranch baseline stock test with 130 miles on the odometer! We have since run two tests on that track and another at Eagles Canyon Raceway (below) – where we had the car log booked and teched for NASA TT5 competition.

We didn’t leave out thew 1st gen 86 cars in this Forum Update, and in fact managed to get to drive this 1st gen 2020 Toyota GT86 (shown below) on two different occasions at ECR. It was nice seeing a consistent 3 second lap time drop on this car (from multiple drivers) driving it “bone stock” then adding Vorshlag camber plates, both times on a consistent set of 225mm Hankook RS4 tires and PFC pads. Those test lap videos are also included in this update. And then to drive our 2nd gen 2023 BRZ there – which utterly obliterated those 1st gen times!

There are tons of pictures of parts, parts being installed, and both cars and parts being weighed, plus more technical information about both the 1st and 2nd gen 86 models – including what previous Subaru chassis / suspensions they were derived from. If you ever thought about buying one of these lightweight, Rear Wheel Drive “86” coupes, do yourself a favor: grab a frosty beverage, boot up a computer with a high rez screen, and dig into the build thread starting here. Each image in the forum post can be clicked for higher resolution versions. Thanks for reading!

This tube framed ’69 Camaro was wrapped up at our shop a month ago, but the Forum Build Thread was badly out of date. We made some time to write-up another 2 part entry for that build that you can read starting here.

In this latest Forum entry what we cover work from late 2019 through mid 2020, and we will cover much more in further installments. Again, this car is running and driving now, just not fully documented as we would like on the Forum Build Thread.

In this installment we show changes to ride height, fender work, aluminum rear wheel tubs, custom Moser axles measured / ordered / installed in the Moser 9″ rear”, updates to the Watts Link, brake hydraulics being built, a fire suppression system install, cage-mounted external battery kill switch + fire pull panel, explain some GM ECM issues we faced, and show finish work on the aluminum hood vent.

This update also covers some fun we had with the G-Force straight cut gear 5 speed transmission, which required opening that up and replacing several parts with upgraded units we sourced from G-Force. Not what we wanted to tackle on a brand new build, but a weird failure on a shift fork cam required this step.

This forum post also covers measuring for custom MCS remote triples, then their installation. Plus some modifications to the trunk for the wing uprights. As always every image within the Forum Build Thread can be clicked for a higher resolution version, and we don’t skimp on the pics. We will show more in the next installment as we get time to write it up, but just know that this car will be aligned and dyno tuned soon so we can get it on track for some proper testing. Thanks for reading!

What does it take to put a C5 or C6 generation Corvette on track and have the ultimate in RELIABILITY? That was the question asked to us today. So we mined our own forum build threads for pictures and suggestions, plus asked Anthony Forney over at HorsePower Research, who has been around Corvettes and track prep for 20 years. We put the highlights in this forum thread.

What started as a C5 only list grew to also cover the LS2 & LS3 powered C6 models. The list is typical of almost any car model, but has many C5 and C6 specific issues and suggested fixes. Cooling system, brake pads, fluids, and a several more items. You can read the 2 part detailed forum post starting here.

What started out as a small list grew and grew, but again you can read all of it starting here. Thanks for reading!

We ordered a 2022 Ford Maverick with the 2.0L Ecoboost AWD drivetrain in August 2021, received it in Dec 2021, and now it has Vorshlag camber plates and rear shock mounts + Motion Control Suspension monotube adjustable coilovers. We explain how we went from “A” to “B” to “MCS” in this long overdue Forum Build Thread.

It might seem weird to modify another truck we own, but every vehicle around here has to earn its keep! And since this smol truck is based on the C2 Focus chassis, it has a “hot hatch” pedigree with McPherson struts, multi-link independent rear, All Wheel Drive, and even camber plates. And the optional towing package. Yes, its weird, but somehow it all works. We try to explain it, at least, in the build thread.

We show an insane amount of detail in how we developed the camber plates, the MCS coilover kit, and much more in the forum thread – with expandable pictures and behind the scenes discussions, like we always do! As we continue to develop the Mav it will get wider wheels and stickier tires, and even some road course testing. Yes, its crazy, and we might never sell a single thing for this truck, but its been a fun experiment anyway. You CAN make anything handle better! Thanks for reading.