Lbias4211

Last year I was in conversation with Katech about sending them my car. At the time it was summer and they was swamped busy. By the time things slowed down GM had discontinued our motors. So my thoughts was that would de-value my car. Was looking at there top package but not changing the blower pulleys to maintain the reliability but still get a increase in power and that big cam sound we all love... Well the itch has hit me again. What are you guys thoughts? I have a sebring non ztk m7 with 7200 miles.

rob62

My thought is....................No FN way I open up my engine. Even if they paid me.

range96

The LT5 responds very well to intake, exhaust and pulley mods. If you don't want high boost just don't floor it. The supercharger will spin faster and wears out faster. Will you put 50,000 + miles on the car? I would worry about the tune itself, not many shops can do it right.

C7&7

I have been back and forth on this myself, to modify my car or not. Id love to do simple stuff like headers, CAI, and flex fuel. However I am with the OP on the value / devalue, especially on a M7 car which mine is.

Kevin A Jones

No, why F'up a great sportscar.
And not only will you be spending quite a bit of $, you will be substantially decreasing the value of what you already have.

Repo Pilot

I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but if you've got an expensive to repair problem - as I did with the Auto Transmission's slippage - GM can decide to void your warrantee anytime they feel like it for replacing things like the spark plugs or anything else with a non-deco part-number. The other side of the nightmare that I think happened to me and brought to light by the knowledge of a couple of forum members: The dealer will over-state things to GM - like things that you have changed (like installing Magna-Core spark plugs) - I'm not kidding.

Why - because they lose money changing out a transmission as GM pays them a fraction of what they would have charged a customer for parts and labor. So things at the dealerships are tough and why should they lose money working on your car? So they come up with all sorts of hot-button issues that they pass on the GM so GM ends up voiding you driveline coverage. Stupid **** like your after-market air-cleaner, intake tube and a ported throttle body or how about your X-pipe or aftermarket mufflers?

Don't think for a minute that they can't/won't do it. Your only alternative is to sue both the dealer and and GM. In my case I've got a documented Lemon-Law claim. So what do I do when I win it? There are no replacement ZR1's and the odds are very long in getting the court to replace my ZR with a C8 XR1 when they are available. Things are so tight at GM they wont even implement a design change to the transmission and fix the damned transmission even though they knew they had a big problem with it on the C7-ZO6,s. And guess what...they are still putting this transmission on the Cadillac and history is repeating itself there.

Since you are closer to Florida than you are to Texas and Arizona, and you do decide you want more power, I'd suggest that you include getting a bid from Redline Motorsports in Pompano Beach, Florida, Howard Tanner's operation. They moved their operation from New York where Redline used to be located several years ago. Tanner used to work at GM and the only thing he works on are GM products. In addition to installing his 3rd party torque converter that has been race-proved to be the fix for numerous Z06's and Cadillacs.

In addition to buying the HP tuners "crack", I'm going for a streetable 3/4 cam and a bunch of upper and several lower end improvements that just make common sense.

I dont give a damn about the car's resale value. That window pretty much closed when I passed the 10,000 mile mark.

ss2z06

Do what you want. I buy the car for me and make it how I want. If you can’t afford the consequences of something going wrong leave it be. Every car I’ve had I have had parts on the shelf before the car was in the garage. Don’t worry about the next guy. Enjoy it how you want. These cars are beasts and if you have a reputable shop do the work (CPR or AMP) I wouldn’t worry one bit.

Cordes Performance Racing

Correct AMP or us is your best choice to have it run like it should for the power, and be reliable.

2019 ZR1

I just sold my 1200HP ZR1 and I can tell you first hand that the car was a beast and held up VERY well. I had www.raceprovenmotorsports.net do mine because they had done my 13 Z06 and 16 Z06 and didn't have any problems. I agree that it all comes down to the tune because anyone can hang parts but it takes a pro to tune it. Nothing against any other shops but I can tell you Fran at Race Proven Motorsports knows what he is doing. I put over 8000 miles on my 1200HP ZR1 and had absolutely no problems. If anyone tells you it's going to lose value they are full of ****... I just sold mine on Bring A Trailer for $182,000. So I put almost 12,000 miles on it 8000 of it at 1200HP and still made money on the car even after all the mods.. I will never own a stock car.. Bottom line mod the hell out of it but be careful who you get to tune it.. If you are interested get a hold of them and talk to Bill and tell him Guy told you to call... Let me know what you get done.. Any questions get a hold of me...

frodoz737

Growing up poor puts a different perspective on things for some of us. I bought my ZR1 as a reward for me...not the next guy...which in this case may be my Son. I drive the **** out of it almost everyday and love it. The ONLY reason I have not "Tuned" mine is because there is no real place or situation in daily driving to use it. Hell...there's only a few places "on the street" where I can safely get on it full tilt boogie as it is. Now...if I used it for real competition on real tracks...regularly...then I would have already done it. No disrespect...but I have over 60K on the clock now and you folks that don't use your car for anything other than Cars and Coffee or Show and Shine are missing out on one undeniably fun monster of a toy. See ya on the road.

Repo Pilot

I hear you 5 by 5 Frodo. I just wanted to get my freaking transmission fixed. For a reasonable amount more I will once and for all also fix the CEL light that wont stay out more than 1000 miles. I'm going to also reset the speed limiter that kept me from going faster than what GM says I should. I also want a standing mile speed that's in the high 190's. Just because the beast has it in them and all I need to do is essentially open the door.

I'll be driving up to Spartanburg, SC this fall and yes I'll include a couple passes on Deals Gap either coming or going and hopefully before the leaves start covering the road.

I like taking it to the shows too. Sitting next to or amongst the Italian supercars and the Porsches with the ZR displaying a 200 MPH Club certification decal on the windshield. GM built a monster ***-kicking car and put the Corvette badges on it. Damn right I love it and I love the freeway 70-140 roll races on those portions of the trip that me through portions of the road that are in Mexico..

I also love the fact that it is also a damned good looking car that has an interior that I'm not afraid to display during the shows too.

I hope some day our paths cross Sir.Frodo

frodoz737

It's possible. I have a lifetime friend that lives in Orlando and works in Tampa that I've meaning to drive it out for him to see. I'll let you know it that ever happens.

Roger that on the speed limiter though. When I talked to the guys at AMP that was my leaning and the tweaker of the two said no problem, but I have to crack the box first. Never say never...right?.

NicD

Are you building the car for yourself or are you just holding onto it for the next guy? If it's for the next guy don't waste the money, but also make sure you don't drive it so you don't put miles on it otherwise you won't be able to sell it for an outrageous price. If it's for you do what makes you happy and drive it.

Katech_Zach

As much fun as this project would be to do, I will give you my unbiased, honest feedback:

Anytime you modify any car, even if it is done reputably or not, you will eliminate certain buyers from wanting to get into your vehicle. There is always something nice about buying a car that has not been touched. I would not be worried about a discontinued LT5, because you can build an LT5 from parts if you ever needed to. It shares a lot of components with the mass produced engines. The main question you should be asking yourself is this:

"Do I plan on selling this car, and do I want to maximize the value of my ZR1?"

If you plan on selling the car and want to get your best bang-for-buck, you will likely not get back what you pay for in mods. It is possible to recover some of it when the work is done by someone who is reputable, but most of the time you only get a fraction back. The value of your specific car is not as critical as one that is under 1,000 miles, so you will not be taking a huge price hit when it comes to tastefully modified vs stock.

In the end, if you are itching to modify the car for additional enjoyment, I would not be too worried about ruining the value of it. If you think you are going to sell it soon, it might be in your best interest to leave it stock, or doing something very mild like an aftermarket catback exhaust that requires no additional modifications.

Whatever you do, you still have a ZR1. Enjoy it!

Rkreigh

demand is pretty high for these cars. My advice, if you are going to sell it, leave it be.

If you are going to keep it and enjoy those mods, go for it. The smiles are worth way more than the dead presidents in the bank in my book

I spend almost everything on my wife, fast cars, and good times. The rest I feel unfortunately is wasted!!

Thomasmoto

I'm at 43K miles now and it's parked outside of my office as I type this. Drive them!!! This day we brought both of them.

Repo Pilot

Well, I pulled the trigger. My ZR is going to an independent shop that has been doing business successfully for more than 20 years working exclusively on GM products and they are almost in my back yard instead of many stata lines away..

They only work on GM products..and have successfully remained in business for almost 30 years which also included relocating from New York to Florida so they must be doing something right. Their drag strip mods have a serious reputation of winning and not blowing up.

The drag strip is not my objective but while they are fixing my transmission (they've done a ton of them between the Z06 and the Cadillacs) I might as well add a cam that is more suited for the ZR and replacing all those stock rocker pressed bearings with Trunnion roller bearings, GM performance lifters, dual valve springs and GM race lifters. Also a new streetable hydraulic roller cam and a bunch of stuff that all makes sense for a car that will primarily be driven on the streets with occasional Roll Races and trips to the IMRA full-throttle areo dynamic testing .I can't wait to hear it idle .

Finally, my ARH shorties are coming off the car and being replaced by ARH,s real deal 3" Long-Tubes (with sensor ports) from the engine to the connect points with the Akrapovic tail pipes.

Finally, we will be doing the base tuning using VP MS109.

Of course there will be an HP tune required but I'll be retaining the original ECM. I'll keep you all updated and post the dyno run when it is finished. If you're interested in what shop I am using or further details please send me a private email. When the work starts I will start a new thread.

ss2z06

@Repo Pilot it sounds like you’ve got a great build starting. If I can make a recommendation is that to go with Johnson lifters over the gm ones. Obviously talk to your builder but the quality is much better.

Repo Pilot

Thanks for the info and opinion !!! Please tell me in short sentences why in your experience indicates the GM roller lifter is not as good in your opinion..

I'll mention it and then duck and listen to him tell me he's never had a problem with the GM 'top dog' product. But maybe he will also think that I know the difference and launch into a explanation that I don't have the shop level experience to judge. hahahaha.

I will find a way to ask it nicely, and thanks.a mill for your experience based comparison.

ss2z06

The gm roller lifter isn’t bad but I have seen them fail (not that others can’t) more often when used in a race application vs the Johnson lifters. The Johnson lifters hold up better to the different cam lobe ramp rates and with the upgraded valve spring pressures. Good valvetrain stability is important at high rpm’s for longevity. I recently did a head swap on a z06 that had the gm lifters in it from a previous cam swap. I happened to pull them out for a visual inspection and fortunately for the owner I did. The c clip was about to pop out. Had I not and we just reinstalled the heads it would have grenaded. I’ll attach a picture.