Challenge C4 - under new ownership.

I wasn't even looking for another challenge car.  The S10 project was scrapped, and we were working on putting together a less impressive, but reliable, Plan B.  Time to see how many GRMer's I can call out in this post.  a_florida_man put up the C4 Corvette he and stafford1500 have campaigned since 2021 for sale.  The car had racked up three 3rd place finishes in that time, so it was definitely well developed for the challenge.  However, it was sold as a roller.  This is where Cooper_Tired comes in.  He sent me the link, and wae and 84FSP decided to be enablers.  I checked out the ad, and was surprised it had been up for a few days and not sold yet.  I've been spouting off about how a C4 with an LS swap may be the ideal Challenge car under the current ruleset, so it was time to put up or shut up.  I made the deal, and then just needed to figure out how to get it to Ohio.

Normally, wae and I go on these stupid adventures together, but life was getting in the way this time, and that may have been a good thing, more on that later.  Enter Patrick.  He was game to haul it up, and had parts to pick up and drop off in the south anyway.  So, Tuesday, about a month and a half after buying it, I drove north to his place, and then we headed south.  First visit was Dusterbd13.  He had tires for Patrick, and wouldn't let us leave without more stuff.  I bought a spare Corvette driveshaft that may come in handy.  While we were there, someone else stopped by to pick up some Miata parts and was introduced to the fun of Challenge scavenging.  He was completely incredulous that Dusterbd13's Miata was sitting on $15 no name coilovers.

We had to leave, and pressed on until we were too tired to go continue.  Got up on Wednesday, got going, and made it to a_florida_man's place a little after noon.  He was unable to be there, but Stampie had stopped over to pick up some parts, and help us load up.  This is where Patrick's trailer also shined.  Even with tall drag tires in back and spring spacers up front, the car was low.  Between the dovetail and wider deck, Patrick's trailer handled it well.  Going to be interesting figuring out how to haul it down on wae's trailer.  May need to build some much longer ramps.  We loaded up in the Florida heat and humidity, which other than the overbearing sun, wasn't much worse than Ohio has been this year. Stopped and grabbed some lunch together before we parted ways, and Patrick and I headed north.  We made a quick detour to Summit Racing to check out the discount section, and let Atlanta rush hour settle down, then made it to somewhere in southern Tennessee for the night.  

Next morning we got up on a mission to get home at a reasonable hour, and sort of did so.  We managed to reach my place around lunch time, eastsideWife picked up street tacos for us, then, with the help of a neighbor, we unloaded.  With the car and spare parts tucked away in the garage, I set off a bug bomb to make sure any unwanted hitchhikers weren't going to be an issue, and we headed north to retrieve my car, with a bit of a sidequest to Jungle Jim's.  Made it to Patrick's in the evening, and I had to say my goodbyes and point the car south.  Got home about 11:30 last night.

Messing with cars is always more fun when friends are involved.

The Plan

stafford1500 and a_florida_man have already turned this into an excellent performer at the Challenge, and I thank them for the opportunity to be the next person to take it there.  My first rule is don't mess with success.  It is a well sorted and light platform, so there are not any huge gains to be made, and changes will be be small, just looking for incremental improvements.  Since the engine bay is empty, it'll be getting a 5.3 and a 4L60E, which is where a lot of my effort will be concentrated on.  First, getting it running, and second, optimizing it.  

First things first, I need to sort through the parts to see what I have, and and what can be sold off for recoup.  a_florida_man decided to let me keep the drag wheels/tires, so that may be one less thing for me to worry about sourcing.  

My biggest concern is going to be the driveshaft.  I am hoping between what is on the car, and what is in my garage, I can put something together.  If not, paying to balance something I build or just a whole driveshaft may be a significant chunk of the budget.  I'll need to fabricate a mount for the differential brace to the transmission but that should not be too bad.

I also need to figure out how to get an out of state inspection done on a roller, so I can transfer the title to my name.

I'm glad I continue to be a small part of this car story. It was good to see you and Patrick. It was really good.

I believe the 1995 C4 would have come with a 4L60E, so you should be able to piece together what you need fairly cheaply. Configure your LS engine mounts so that your transmission is in the right location, and you should be off to the races, as it were.

In reply to eastsideTim :

It was great seeing you guys and I think I helped by standing in the shade more than anything.  When/If you get to custom driveshaft time let me know.  I've had good luck making a DIY driveshaft in the junkyard.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

I believe the 1995 C4 would have come with a 4L60E, so you should be able to piece together what you need fairly cheaply. Configure your LS engine mounts so that your transmission is in the right location, and you should be off to the races, as it were.

I think the C4 used a 4 bolt tail housing for its entire run, but I could be wrong.  Someone makes an adapter to fit it to a newer 6 bolt 4L60E case, but I think it might be a cheaper to build a bracket that bolts to a couple of the housing holes and the transmission mount.  If I'm wrong, it would be a lot easier to just use a housing that bolts right up, and just move the engine forward a bit to account for the Dana 44.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Glad you are picking up and running with the project. If you run across things and want to know why, feel free to reach out. Looking forward to seeing how it comes together.

In reply to stafford1500 :

Thank you! I will definitely have questions after I've gone over the car in more detail.

One question I have is what type of paint did you use?  I want to make sure any livery changes don't eat the foam.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Standard Rustoleum oil based, thinner with acetone and applied with roller/brush. Aerosols of most any kind are out since they have more aggressive thinners and it can seep into the glass/resin/foam.

If you want to check compatability the foam is standard hardware store EPS (extruded polystyrene).

It may take a while to fully cure but the colors are basically universal across north america.

I enjoyed not driving any yesterday. I did a lot of porch sitting, cooking, and hanging out with Carli and it was a nice day. Between cabin last week and going to grab this, I put around 4,000 miles on the truck in 8 days and I'm really sick of staring at a steering wheel, might not go anywhere all weekend. I think the goodies from Jungle Jim's helped the kids not care that I was gone for 3 days. 

Mental health wise the journey and friendly faces and 3 days of roadtrip chat were much needed, and that was my biggest motivator for saying yes, way beyond needing to go to NC for some tires. 

I think stuff like this is what sets a good chunk of the challenge community apart from other groups. There are definitely people in the group I've come across(and avoid, you probably know who you are, or maybe you're clueless) who are very unaware of the true meaning of the event, but the bulk of the community will help however they can. We run cars and parts around for each other because it's part of the spirit of the event, and we get to make new friends or strengthen existing bonds by doing so. I'm planning to campaign a top car next year with Warren, and I just went and helped pick up some really stiff competition for another team, because damnit that is what this is supposed to be about. I've known tim for a long time, in small snips and short bursts of time. Getting to know him better the last few days just makes me love and appreciate his friendship that much more. 

I'll drop some trip pics when I'm not chasing squirrels, sat down to print a shipping label for this morning's pickup and got distracted...

In reply to Patrick :

Excellent photo dump!  There were so many rust free SUVs and trucks down there, too.

Went out to the garage this morning to go over the car a bit, and do a little planning.  Looks like my instinct to set off a bug bomb was a good one.  Several dead roaches (or should I call them Palmetto bugs, since they are from Florida?) on the floor around the Vette.  Just in case, I'm going to open the storage bins, and set off some more today.

I started a rough budget sheet a ways back, and am going to revisit it today now that I've gotten a better look at the car.

Good call on the bug bomb then! 
 

thank you for asking me to be part of this journey with you. 

That's a great photo dump. I like the part about the challenge community. This GRM board is full of a lot of good people. People that I regularly think of as actual friends even though I have never met. Top motivators for my challenge car project are; 1- having a cool project with my teenage son, 2- getting to go to the challenge and get deeper into this community, 3- prove to myself that I can still do a cool project from basically nothing. 
 

Looking forward to getting to know the challenge competitors better. 

Patrick said:

Good call on the bug bomb then! 
 

thank you for asking me to be part of this journey with you. 

You're welcome!  Glad you said yes.

Round 2 of the bug bombing is under way, with the lids off the bins.  Found more dead ones before I started, so they might still be staggering out from various crevices.  I'll air it out tonight so I can resume my inspection and planning tomorrow.

I've ordered up two sets of motor mounts, since they are extremely cheap.  One will get used for test fitting, and the others will be subjects for my 3D printing.  I'm going to try to design some inserts to firm them up, and print them in TPU.  I already have a set of SBC-to-LS adapter plates that I'd used in the past for adapting an engine stand, so they'll get called into more permanent duty.

For now, my initial budget:

• 1985 Chevrolet Corvette:  $1000 purchase price.
• 2000 S10:  $300 purchase price - $0.50 change found in car - $260.25 sell off(as of 7/16/2025) = $39.75
• 2004 Trailblazer:  $800 purchase price - $1.78 change found in car - $1350.07 sell off(as of 8/8/2025) = -$551.85

Starting budget of $487.90

That doesn't include anything that will be needed to install the engine in the car, like adapters, oil pan, exhaust, or anything additional to get it running, like a high pressure fuel pump. Some of that I've already bought, but will wait to include it until it is installed or at least committed to be installed.  The S10 is currently only providing the tail shaft and tail shaft housing for the 4L60E, so if I need to get some extra budget room, I may see about sourcing those parts individually.  The Trailblazer is going to be the engine/transmission/wiring/computer donor, and I have saved a ton of other parts from it, so we may be able to squeeze more blood from that stone.  There are a couple TPI intakes that came with the Vette, and even though I think they are one of the best looking intakes (1st gen Taurus SHO being the best), I don't need any wall art, so they'll have to go up for sale.

In reply to eastsideTim : Glad to hear you picked up this car! I think it is a great starting point. I was so disappointed for you when the S10 end up not being viable. Looking forward to seeing your build progress and you running at the 2026 Challenge! You definitely had some GRM Allstar help on the relocation of car. We certainly do have a great community here!

Wish I knew you needed an oil pan while you were here....

Also, want to do some 3d printing for my challenge car? Since apparently you do that.....

I need 4 of something like this that will fit into a 1/4 drive extention and have a flat on the other side for epoxy to another part. 

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

I do have a Holley 302-2 clone in my stash that should work.  I am missing headers, though.  Going to grab some C5 exhaust manifolds or some cheap block hugger headers.
 

Happy to help out with some 3D printing, but the picture does not seem to have come across.

Same pan I have.  No header though. Added the picture....

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

Something like this? 

If that's close, I'd still need to do a few tweaks, and I could add some texture to the bottom to make the epoxy grip better.  I don't have a setup to print anything too high strength right now.  I can do PLA and PETG if you want to look up if either of those are strong enough and heat resistant enough for what you are looking for.  This fall, I am hoping to mess around with ABS/ASA when it cools down and gets dry enough to use the printer in the garage instead of in the house.

The female needs to be male. Otherwise,  perfect! And I think petg will be perfect. 

1 to 1.5 inch od on the knobby portion would be awesome as well.

Thanks tim. You're making a hard part of my build very simple for me. And I just now realized this should have been do e via pm....

Dusterbd13 said:

Thanks tim. You're making a hard part of my build very simple for me. And I just now realized this should have been do e via pm....

Dusterbd13 said:

The female needs to be male. Otherwise,  perfect! And I think petg will be perfect. 

1 to 1.5 inch od on the knobby portion would be awesome as well.

 

Thanks tim. You're making a hard part of my build very simple for me. And I just now realized this should have been do e via pm....

Sent you a PM. 😀

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

Sent an email, so if it doesn't show up, check your spam folder.  Also, feel free to delete your address in this thread to cut down on actual spammers.

Done!

And, thank you sir! If I come across block hugger for an ls in my crap, I'll send them your way.