Foosh

TT, with these cars, it's all about what you want to spend, how original you want to be, etc. Obviously, going original with engines drivetrain, etc. means more money. It's really about what you want, and what's important to you.

Superformance is a very nice, almost-finished car, where you just drop in the engine and trannie of your choice. They are very well-built. FFRs can be made very nice as well, but it's much more up to the talents of the builder, as it is a true "kit". There is a lot more work to do an FFR right, but the "kit" is also much cheaper.

If you're serious about buying one, I think you're almost always better off, financially, finding a well-built, already finished one. Then you can enjoy it for awhile, and re-do it later if you want.

It's certainly not defeating the purpose to put a more modern engine, trannie, etc., in a Cobra body and chassis. They are blast no matter what you do you do, if it's built well. Again, it's only about what's important to you.

lt1george

These warranty problems been happening for years, and years. More than a few of us went thur this same BS from the Chevrolet (GM) Dealers back when High Perfomance engines with the 5 year 50,000 warranty of the 60's and 1970. I remember the story of my friend who blew his 69 L88 Riverside Gold Corvette Convertible engine not once but twice. First engine replaced. Second engine his Dad had to threaten to kill the service manager. Got a second motor ( 5 year 50 thou mile). If that was to happen today, he'd be arrested. So the GM Dealers been fu*king people around for years. No need to do this. You're the customer, you want to keep customers loyal ....fix the Corvette , no questions asked. Unfortunatly GM still doesn't understand this way of thinking. This is why so many people HATE GM. Service Depts have ruined GM. Customers lost forever.All BS. Good Luck with the new engine. Hope you get all you can from GM. >George

bruce1

Hi Gary, hey not accusing anyone is at fault here.
I am just making the point that the car broke, and GM fixed it.
I would be thankful, and maybe I would argue the remaing 100K warranty if I was not abusing the car when the failure took place..... but ultimately, GM is the judge here. Glad it was fixed though. These cars are tooo nice to have them broken and sitting in the shop.

Bruce

raceguy

No Mods! Just a harness bar. Oh, I also upgraded the front brakes to a Stoptech Brake system after I losed my brakes twice @ Watkins Glen (overheated). I was told these mods were the reason I was accused of racing.
I would not give GM the reason to deny my warranty by fooling with the engine.
RG

raceguy

I refuse to reply to such ignorance. I think some members just like to get a rise out of the misfortunes of others.

jimman

You got to be kidding man, you replace brakes because they've failed on a race track. You have 2600 miles on your car, just how many of those miles were at these so called uneventful events. Even 100K NASCAR race motors break. No wonder it costs the rest of us so damm much money to maintain these cars with crap like this. If I were you I would delete this thread and go have lunch and thank someone for bailing your assss out of this.

raceguy

What an intelligent member. Learn how to read genius.

raceguy

I understand how you feel about the brakes. It was a decision I felt was necessary after they overheated twice at Watkins. I did not want to risk the same situation at any cost. The PBS stock brakes were not as great as I thought they were. Expensive pads, Hard to change, be careful not to strip the alum caliber bolts, overheat easily.
In all the years I have drivin I never lost brakes before. It was pretty scary!

DDSLT5

I think we now need two main odometers in all new Z06s. One for 'normal driving' and one for 'angry miles'. When the 'angry miles' reach 2000, warranty is null and void!

jvp

I've had my views on this whole incident re-oriented, and I apologize to the OP for originally taking him to task on it. Perhaps he could have done a few things better, but overall, I think the dealer seriously screwed the pooch here.

That said...

I think this post is a little ignorant. If you've paid attention to even half of the HPDE-oriented posts in this forum, you'll know that the Z06's brakes may not be up to the task. It depends entirely on the track and the driver.

Given that the Glenn is a reasonably fast track, with some hair-raising braking zones, it's quite believable that he had brake issues there. Even in an un-timed, HPDE (some of us get moving pretty damned quickly in HPDEs).

A service writer with even HALF a brain would look at his mods: A)Brakes, B)harness BAR, and not come to the conclusion he was racing. (Here's a hint: you can't RACE with a harness bar). In this case, his particular service writer decided to be a ******** and run him around. And without anyone to put said service writer in check (there are few checks and balances in this system,) the OP is left with little else to do except call an attorney.

And that just sucks. The big one. I can't say that enough.

It is true that Mr. Hill (and the current Corvette VLE) has said you can run HPDEs and still have a warranty. As long as you don't ABUSE the car. I wouldn't call running the LS7 through its entire rev range abuse. Had he downshifted and zinged the engine, THEN it'd be abuse. But revving the snot out of it, and blasting down a big straight at the Glenn does not constitute abuse.

It's called "using the car." :-)

Again, I'm sorry to the OP for initially being a doubting Thomas. Good luck getting this whole thing un-f'cked.

jas

jimman

You and he missed my point, it wasn't about defective brakes. The point was that this car was tracked before but we all don't know how much. It may have been raced 2599 miles and then blew on a cool down, I don't know that but it was fixed so why does everyone blame GM and dealer. I've been driving Corvettes for many years and can tell you that some dealers have a problem with Corvette owners with an attitude and we all get stuck with that stigma.

jvp

It WASN'T raced. Period. You can not currently race Z06s without extensive chassis modifications so that a proper roll bar/cage can be installed.

I put well over 1000 of the total 2200 miles on my '07 Z06, ON SUMMIT POINT. That means that over half of the brand new miles were at HPDEs. But that wasn't abuse (and, incidentally, I have the EXACT same mods he does). And, the car is currently purring away.

AND, to top it off, I even had a warranty issue with my car. But, unlike the OP, I have a very GOOD service writer and mechanic at my local Chevy shop. And they covered the warranty work without any questions.

I hope to never find this out, but... I'll wager a bet that if my engine every went Tango Uniform, that same dealer would replace the LS7 without questions. They'd hook the Tech-2 up, scan it to make sure I didn't over-rev the motor, and then start the replacement process.

I didn't miss your point. I do think you're going down a rat hole with your logic, though. As I said, I agree that the OP could have done a few things differently. But overall, it was the service writer that f'd up here.

jas

BLU-BY-U

it must have been a great question, because I haven't seen it answered yet. 2600 on the clock - what percent is that around a track? how about the maintenance - was that the factory mobile one still in the car or had it been changed? what is the build date of this car? these are legit questions that current owners would love to have answered. what does someone with a lt5 even care? you have no vested interest in this post or a c6 z06, so quit trying to start a flame fest for no reason. you constantly patrol this forum and the only reason you post is to laugh about an ls7 grenading. no other constructive input because you have zero experience with these cars. I don't think a motor blowing is very funny

Larry T

Dwight...glad to see your back on the road. I to blew an engine with a spun bearing in Dec. The Z only had ~1390 miles on it. I was driving at 60-65MPH in 4th and the engine took a left turn! GM has replaced the motor with a new crate engine which now carries a 3 year, 100,000 mile warrenty. Don't want to go through this again...

DDSLT5

WOW - you're an angry man! Guess that goes with the angry miles - don't drive your Z right now!

I agree that it would be nice to know the answers to these questions, but even with these answers, odds are we won't know the real reason this motor took a crap. We had similar things occur with the LT5s back in the day (since you asked). About 30 or so LT5s had various problems that caused them to need to be replaced. Now back then GM was VERY efficient at removing the motor for any reason and supplying a brand new one to ensure the customer was satisfied (things have changed), and typically, there was never an explanation supplied as to the reason for the failure.

The nice part of all this is that the percentage of failures was low (like the LS7s) and the cars today have gained respect for the bullet proof nature of the power plant. I suspect the LS7 will gain similar respect down the road.

BTW - I wasn't laughing at his grenaded motor, I was laughing at your comment about "angry miles". Get serious. Vettes are purchased to drive in a spirited manner. I hope every mile behind a vette is an "angry" one, and that said, GM has engineered the car to perform up to the task of the average "angry" driver.

There is NO reason why this owner can't take his vette onto a track, run it hard (not over revving it) and have it capable of being driven home the same day. Don't you agree?

DDSLT5

Did they give any reason for the failure? I hear ya on not wanting to go through it again! Hopefully the new motor will be bullet-proof - as I'm sure it will be. The actual incidence of failure is very low, so odds are you'll never experience it again.

TTRotary

I have heard this before, and I like the idea. Thanks for the info on FFR vs Superformance.

allanlaw

It just so depends on the dealership. I arrived at the dealership with my Z on a flatbed from a nearby track, wearing my racing suit and shoes, car wearing its harness bar and harness, fire extinguisher, track wheels and tires, covered in track rubber, inoperative. They gave me the best rental car on the lot (Denali) for free, and had it fixed the next day with airfreighted parts. I invited the service writer to join me some time at the track to see what it would do - actually, when it was fixed and I picked it up, I took him for a little ride in the nearby hills to see how it rode. He mentioned to me at one point that the freeze frame data had indicated a speed of 117mph at the time of failure. I said "well, I would hope it can go a lot faster than that" and he laughed.

That's just the reality of the situation. Getting back to the OP's situation, IMO the oil pressure failure problem is NOT something that only crops up in "abused" cars. I have talked to (and know personally) a couple of victims of blown Z engines due to oil pressure failure and believe it is truly a random event. All had their engines replaced under warranty. That is all we can expect GM to do, but we should expect them to do it without a lot of fussing UNLESS there is objective evidence of abuse, i.e., freeze frame data showing the failure occurred at 9000 rpm, etc., not some rubber around the wheel wells.

TFAST4U

Here is a link to my Oil Pump doing the same thing http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1623737

I do not race my car like the guy that started the Thread, it's more of a daily driver, so you are right this is some random thing. My problem is that the dealer is not returning my calls.

allanlaw

I've read your posts, and the dealer's lack of response is inexcusable. I think the time has come for you to take yourself down there and find out what's going on. Be prepared to move the car to another dealer.