New ZR1 owner experience.

[Tripler]

Originally Posted by George Maz

I had a different experience on the highway in 6th when transmission grenaded. After a bunch of research and talking to other owners, the advice was the same ...careful with 6th. I'm actually about to install one of Bill Brodreau black tag into my car now, along with new clutch, master, and slave. Hopefully have the same bullet proof reliability some of you guys enjoy.

Thanks for that info George and sorry you had an issue . I was unaware of a ZF transmission having any issues and I was told they were bullet proof unless when speed shifting , the clutch must be completely depressed otherwise it could be damaged . I was told this by Marc Haibeck in BG last year and I am sure he would know all about the ZF trans .

[5ABI VT]

Originally Posted by Livin' in the 80's

For all of you that are owners and alike. I have owned many sport bikes in my Life. I can say that I have experienced the hayabusa at over 180 at a snap of a finger. This car is the closest I have driven that reminds me of that. If you haven't drive fast sport bikes, you. Need to at least experience it. The zr1 tonight on the highway blew me away as far as the acceleration. My busa would have blown it away, but this would have eventually kept up. Holy crap is this car fast! WOW


Sent from my iPhone using ZR-1 Net Registry

Congrats !! These cars definitely like the higher speeds! I know I do enjoy them in my Z ! Stock it was way too soft and floaty and a little scary if anything even at 80 mph but fresh suspension wheels and tires etc really sharpened it up right to 180 mph


I too miss my bikes but will never get another or Ill probably kill myself . I had an 03 gixxer 600 modded a bit then an 04 750. It really reinforced my love for dohc and higher rpm engines as I loved to hear them scream at high rpms . The 600 wouldn't budge much past 265 km/hr and even so from 240-260 it was struggling. the 750 had steam to about 275-280 km/hr and I managed to eke out 302 km/hr about 5-6 times on the qew highway at 4am ! Of course with speedo error common on these bikes as speeds increase it was likely 275+ and not really over 300. To me the difference from 220k -300 km/hr wasn't very noticeable at all especially considering I did it at night on a 5 lane highway with no cars around or even in sight.

[5ABI VT]

Originally Posted by Tripler

Thanks for that info George and sorry you had an issue . I was unaware of a ZF transmission having any issues and I was told they were bullet proof unless when speed shifting , the clutch must be completely depressed otherwise it could be damaged . I was told this by Marc Haibeck in BG last year and I am sure he would know all about the ZF trans .

I blew up my black tag ZF6 in 1998 in my 93 Lt1 car. It had 4.10 gears and I was using 6th a lot as 5th ran out of steam at around 250 km/hr. After a weekend of abuse the Monday driving up the 400 to Uni cruising in 6th gear for 5 minutes the trans literally seized and grenaded and felt like almost locked the tires at 120 km/hr. There was sufficient fluid in the trans, and the 6th gear synchro was white hot and failed. After talking to Bill at ZFdoc he said 6th and reverse share the same synchro and/or there is a lack of fluid circulation around those areas at speed and it is not ideal for load or wot for extended periods of time. Was one of the reasons I bought a brand new blue tag and had him modify it with everything he could to handle the 8k + rpms of the next stroker build in that car. 6th is so tall even with 4.10 gears you will be around 250-300mph at redline it is strictly designed as a fuel economy ratio. Check out individual ratios for 6th across all sports cars and youll see that chevy designed it this way to avoid gas guzzler tax etc.

[edram454]

Listen to Mr. Maz carefully. He is lucky to be alive since his tranny totally locked up while at speed. 6th gear was not meant as an acceleration gear. It is a maintaining speed gear and attaining miles per gallons, not miles per hour. Do as you like you were warned.

edram454

[Livin' in the 80's]

Great information to know. I haven't even put in 6th gear and if I ever do it will be a coast situation on the highway at high speed without any torque.

Are there any pics of this 6th gear placement in the trans. It would be interesting to see it.