First fly'n'buy trip for a 91 zr1 documented here.This was a joyful experience and went smoothly. Perhaps too smooth.
Now its time for the sequel........
a worn out 1990 Charcoal Grey Metallic ZF6 Z51 FX3 car with 217,526 miles on it.
THIS TRIP MAY NOT GO AS SMOOTH.
Follow along as a potentially disastrous journey unfolds. I know for certain that @Tom400CFIlives along my route home to Canada .....so ....maybe keep your phone charged.
I found a cheap 1990 C4 that I *thought* was a bonafide z51 car, (aka, non fx3 with the downgraded fe1 springs, but the bonafide z51 stiffy fe7 springs)....but it turns out that the seller just happened to cut off the right hand side of the picture of the rpo sticker....and i didn't catch it. it was definitely not intentional, and I know i can find what i need and who knows may end up with coilovers anyway. Besides I learned that the corvette challenge r9g cars were sold with the stiff fe7 springs with fx3. that is where i will start.
Always liked the Charcoal Grey Metallic cars. Rare, and most have been repainted. @DMITTZhas a beauty charcoal grey metallic 88 car and i've seen a couple gorgeous ZR1's in that color too. Its not my favorite color, but the longer I am part of the C4 community the more I appreciate original (rare) colors and if i see a rare color for a good price, i'll buy it, even if it is completely missing the clear coat! Like the one I bought! Here are some photos of this 1990 vette. Don't worry, this car will be gutted, caged, repainted with a racing livery (with CGM as the base color), and may even have an engine transplant (cough cough LT5) for the next phase of its life. As you gaze upon this roach, just think, what the myriad of things that may fail during the 17hr drive home, through the Rockies, could be. I've included the rpo sticker. See how I glanced at the RPO sticker, saw the FE7, no FX3, and thought i had scored a true FE7 z51 car, for peanuts. Unfortunately, this car, because of the FX3, will actually have the FE1 springs but we already covered that.
Name wise, I was thinking something like the Coonvette because it looks like a Racoon tore it up inside and its kind of a coon-ish color.
OK, now that you have seen the condition of this relic, bonus points for anyone who can tell me if those are bonafide A-mold rims!
I really did not like the idea of paying 7k for a nice example of a zf6 speed car and gutting it to turn it into a racecar. At the end of the day, most of the wear items will be replaced anyway, to prep the car for competition. So why start with a nice example. But I did want to start with a z51 90,91 or 89 mn6.
Now I am a dad with 4 kids and a business so as much as I do have an extreme sense of adventure .....I still sent the car in for a major inspection to a shop in Grand Junction CO. The focus was on the ZF6 and the engine, both came out with a perfectly clean bill of health.
Fluids were all checked, including diff, and with those items out of the way, here is a list of deficiencies:
- headlights sometimes roll up and sometimes don't. (will manually rotate and leave them up)
- there is a short somewhere that drains the battery (guessing seat motors or headlight motors, both will be unplugged!)
- tires do have some signs of a wee bit of dry rot
- brake master supposedly has some weeping
unbelievably that is all. but we all know that will barely scratch the surface. and fair enough, the tires and the weeping brake master may actually be meaningful. That said, I have a set of racing tires and rims here at home and I don't want to buy tires if i don't need them. and I also have a brand new mc. So lets roll with it and see what happens.
We can take an educated guess and try to predict what all else is going to be fubar on this car, based on pics and our collective experience. I'll start:
- wobbly steering wheel
- intake manifold bolts likely need to be snugged i'll be it eats a bit of coolant
- what are the chances the blower motor works? or hasn't been claimed by a family of small furry rodents.
- i can totally see a loose rear wheel bearing, or a u-joint on the precipice of grenading.
- heatercore must be leaking.
- at 217k miles (holy crap that is 350,000klm what am i getting myself into?) it *must* burn some oil.
what other things am i missing ?
more to follow, including:
the intended pathing home
the surprisingly tight area this car stayed in for the past 30 years
its accident history!
a potential co-pilot on the journey!
....
...
...
...
...
....
....
....
....
Now its time for the sequel........
a worn out 1990 Charcoal Grey Metallic ZF6 Z51 FX3 car with 217,526 miles on it.
THIS TRIP MAY NOT GO AS SMOOTH.
Follow along as a potentially disastrous journey unfolds. I know for certain that @Tom400CFIlives along my route home to Canada .....so ....maybe keep your phone charged.
I found a cheap 1990 C4 that I *thought* was a bonafide z51 car, (aka, non fx3 with the downgraded fe1 springs, but the bonafide z51 stiffy fe7 springs)....but it turns out that the seller just happened to cut off the right hand side of the picture of the rpo sticker....and i didn't catch it. it was definitely not intentional, and I know i can find what i need and who knows may end up with coilovers anyway. Besides I learned that the corvette challenge r9g cars were sold with the stiff fe7 springs with fx3. that is where i will start.
Always liked the Charcoal Grey Metallic cars. Rare, and most have been repainted. @DMITTZhas a beauty charcoal grey metallic 88 car and i've seen a couple gorgeous ZR1's in that color too. Its not my favorite color, but the longer I am part of the C4 community the more I appreciate original (rare) colors and if i see a rare color for a good price, i'll buy it, even if it is completely missing the clear coat! Like the one I bought! Here are some photos of this 1990 vette. Don't worry, this car will be gutted, caged, repainted with a racing livery (with CGM as the base color), and may even have an engine transplant (cough cough LT5) for the next phase of its life. As you gaze upon this roach, just think, what the myriad of things that may fail during the 17hr drive home, through the Rockies, could be. I've included the rpo sticker. See how I glanced at the RPO sticker, saw the FE7, no FX3, and thought i had scored a true FE7 z51 car, for peanuts. Unfortunately, this car, because of the FX3, will actually have the FE1 springs but we already covered that.
Name wise, I was thinking something like the Coonvette because it looks like a Racoon tore it up inside and its kind of a coon-ish color.
OK, now that you have seen the condition of this relic, bonus points for anyone who can tell me if those are bonafide A-mold rims!
I really did not like the idea of paying 7k for a nice example of a zf6 speed car and gutting it to turn it into a racecar. At the end of the day, most of the wear items will be replaced anyway, to prep the car for competition. So why start with a nice example. But I did want to start with a z51 90,91 or 89 mn6.
Now I am a dad with 4 kids and a business so as much as I do have an extreme sense of adventure .....I still sent the car in for a major inspection to a shop in Grand Junction CO. The focus was on the ZF6 and the engine, both came out with a perfectly clean bill of health.
Fluids were all checked, including diff, and with those items out of the way, here is a list of deficiencies:
- headlights sometimes roll up and sometimes don't. (will manually rotate and leave them up)
- there is a short somewhere that drains the battery (guessing seat motors or headlight motors, both will be unplugged!)
- tires do have some signs of a wee bit of dry rot
- brake master supposedly has some weeping
unbelievably that is all. but we all know that will barely scratch the surface. and fair enough, the tires and the weeping brake master may actually be meaningful. That said, I have a set of racing tires and rims here at home and I don't want to buy tires if i don't need them. and I also have a brand new mc. So lets roll with it and see what happens.
We can take an educated guess and try to predict what all else is going to be fubar on this car, based on pics and our collective experience. I'll start:
- wobbly steering wheel
- intake manifold bolts likely need to be snugged i'll be it eats a bit of coolant
- what are the chances the blower motor works? or hasn't been claimed by a family of small furry rodents.
- i can totally see a loose rear wheel bearing, or a u-joint on the precipice of grenading.
- heatercore must be leaking.
- at 217k miles (holy crap that is 350,000klm what am i getting myself into?) it *must* burn some oil.
what other things am i missing ?
more to follow, including:
the intended pathing home
the surprisingly tight area this car stayed in for the past 30 years
its accident history!
a potential co-pilot on the journey!
....
...
...
...
...
....
....
....
....