Pros and Cons of ZR1 ownership

[pologreenvette]

Originally Posted by 1990 quasar blue

Where are you in Ma? I'm south coast area. I'd be happy to meet up with you at some point when the roads clear up. Minimal mods and 390@the wheels. it's enough to give my friends 500hp M6 fits.

I'm in Peabody, I'd definitely like to meet up sometime, I drive a lot so chances are I'll be down there sometime.

Originally Posted by mike100

I suspect that was with minimal to no mufflers, no cats, and an optimized chip on the engine dyno. But pretty much everybody has a chip and a cat-back- you might have a hard time finding a ZR without that stuff.

I don't think it was mentioned, but buying a modified car will save you a lot of $$ since the stuff for these cars is a little expensive compared to a SBC.

ON EDIT: The later 405hp cars had improved intake ports and a little bit more intake cam duration, but it is very common to port out the plenum and intake runners on the early cars too. this adds more hp to the 375 hp cars than the 405 hp ones I did it to mine- just need the headers to cap it off.

Interesting. I'd like to buy a modified one because I get the impression that most ZR-1 owners modify their cars with good taste and with quality, the same cannot be said for most cars. How hard is it to port the plenum and intake runners? I'm getting way ahead of myself here, I'm still two years away from being able to afford this....

Originally Posted by WydGlydJim

For me personally, there literally are no cons, because I love these cars so much, that any con there might happen to be, is so largely outweighed by the pros, that it is a non factor! Youtube "Sick Fast C4" and you'll know why I am hooked. I also have not found a more knowledgeable and helpful owners group

Also don't forget to use the hyphen ZR-1=C4 ZR1=C6

Thanks for the tip, Youtubing you now!

Originally Posted by cvette98pacecar

There are cons? no really? We are going to do a road trip just before Bowling Green down the Blue Ridge parkway. Meet us there and you can take my car for a drive than ask yourself what the heck was I thinking. Or better yet, the Bowling Green reunion is for all C4 bring your C4 and pick from a slew of ZR-1 to drive.

I would go but I'm all the way up in Massachusetts unfortunately.

Originally Posted by ghlkal

1990 was the year the interior changed to the later style from the previous flat-dash with breadbox style. There were some changes to the IP from the 90 to the 95 but it is the same basic style as your C4 (oh, the tach goes a little higher )

That's good to know! So all of the years of the ZR-1 have the same interior basically, except for color differences.
It would be awesome to de-badge a ZR-1 and see if any passengers notice the 8k tach :P

[Paul Workman]

Pros:

I echo everything others have said.

Far as mods go, there isn't a lot of off the shelf aftermarket stuff for the LT5, other than exhaust systems and a few intake options. Heavy duty stuff like cams, cranks, sleeves are available, but pricy, as are some major cubic inch upgrades (how does 427 or 441 cid with nearly 700 NA chp sound?)

The un-challenged beauty of the LT5, mechanically and esthetically, is really top drawer!






And the car is rare and therefore unique. It's a



The stock LT5 is no slouch. However, the stock LT5 seems to be breathing through a straw. Porting (at least up to the point of doing the heads)and exhausts will garner significant performance gains; upward of 390 to 400 rwhp is now common; MORE when the heads are ported as well!


CONS:

Just the usual stuff one has to deal with owning a rare but vintage car. Parts availability is not an issue; just the prices

Finding skilled people locally to work on the LT5 can be an issue, depending on where you live. However, not to worry! With the help from people on this site and perhaps a ZR-1 owner near you, some (most?) become handy doing a lot of their own wrenching. That includes transmissions, clutches, etc too. (Frankly, I wouldn't think of turning my Z over to a dealership to be worked on. The real expertise resides here with the people on this site: from "a to z" there isn't a thing I can think of I'd go to a dealer for, far as expertise goes. It is the people here and the Registry that makes owning, modding, and oh, yeah...HAMMERING the ZR-1 a "no worries" situation!

A stock bottom, cammed, and headers/free flowing exhaust example of what can be done with a street driven 350 cid ZR-1...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFNFOhGGlR4

Just one test drive, and I parked my 95 LT1 Vette at the dealership and drove off with the car of my dreams! I suspect you will too!

P.

[LancePearson]

Yes, my car, 1991 0682, is stock. However, calling it 375 hp appears to be wrong. The dyno tests done that they selected that from picked much lower rpms than it runs. With one or two very minor things done to it, the correct range of hp at higher rpms it is more like 440-450 hp at the flywheel and about 15% less at the rear end. I can assure you that it is more powerful than my 2008 LS2 of about 410 hp based on driving the two. This engine is often referred to as a "beast" and it is, just keeps pulling and pulling. You have to drive one to experience it but they really fly. Tuned with top end, headers, etc. you can get them up to 198 or 202 mph on the right roads.

To answer your question mine has the stock factory 3:45 rear end which is a fair combo for quick acceleration and highway combined with the .5 to 1 sixth gear in the robust ZF six speed tranny. I have not found a road where I can let it out well into fourth gear much less fifth though they are big gears that you can drive at much lower speeds and narrower ranges. Turn it on, however, and hold on because it is going to sound special and leave the borla's exhaust sound way behind. As it is when I've let it out into low three figure speeds I'd be going 65 mph over as is and in Va. that's beyond reckless driving if John Law is around.

Your question: "I've read all about the record, that's truly incredible. What a testament to how reliable the LT5 is, not many engines could handle that.
That sixth gear is awesome, I get 30mpg highway with my car all the time! I'm still in shock about your shift points, is your car stock? Does it have 3.42 gears?
I'm not sure if I could even breath, the acceleration may cave in my rib cage...[/QUOTE]

[pologreenvette]

Thanks so much for the pics and info, I like this place a lot already

The potential of the LT5 is unbelievable, yet another reason why I should get a ZR-1. So far the cons have got nothing on the pros!

[Jim Nolan]

The one thing I enjoy most is when I am at a car show and all I hear from other vette owners is LT-4 blah, blah blah ZO-6 blah blah blah, ZR1 blah blah blah and I respond the LT5 has never been put in any production car other than a Vet, not a caddy, an Impala, a Camaro or a truck. That usually shuts them up.

[cvette98pacecar]

Originally Posted by Jim Nolan

The one thing I enjoy most is when I am at a car show and all I hear from other vette owners is LT-4 blah, blah blah ZO-6 blah blah blah, ZR1 blah blah blah and I respond the LT5 has never been put in any production car other than a Vet, not a caddy, an Impala, a Camaro or a truck. That usually shuts them up.

It has been put in several boats.

[LancePearson]

I'm reading "the heart of the beast" about the development of the engine and the zr1 which it went in beginning in mid 1980's.

There were a few Lotus early glitches but they were extremely good at analytical work and solutions quickly and fixed them all which ended up with forged, hardened crankshafts, the zf heavy transmission, etc. One of the things they did for gm was to run the 200 hour continuous run test. They took a stock engine and ran it continuously at high rpm, five minutes at high power rpm then five minutes at high torque rpm alternating for EIGHT days. They did it, passed the test, disassembled and found one circ clip type thing which was a bit too narrow, replaced it and then put the engine together and ran the 200 hour test again!

When people talk about this being high rpm and bullet proof there is a reason...it's good and built and designed that way. When the program was pulled by gm who was losing their corporate shirt on all their cars Lotus had the parts in house for the next iteration of 475 to 485 hp. they threw the parts away when GM fired the head guys, closed 21 factories, etc. Guess who did all that later: F.B.I., Lingenfelter, Marc Haibeck...and went beyond it. it was always designed to do more, be more than just a 350 of 375 at 5800 rpm.

It is soooo much more. i took a photo at a dealer today of my car next to a yellow 2013 convertible and could never justify the difference in cost for the difference in function. Sorry C6 guys but your car is built essentially on our platform with more modern traction control and a pushrod! LOL...don't flame me c6's they are fast but took more engine to do it.

We'll find out what c7 is shortly. They finally got the horsepower up to what the Lt5 would have been by 1993 with dohc lt5a!