darnold

Although I've been a part of Corvette Action Center for a long time I just purchased my first Corvette 4-5 weeks ago. I really love and enjoy this car!!!!!
When I bought the car it was listed as a 99', and that's where things get interesting. When I gave the VIN to my insurance broker he called me back and said that it came out as an 00' NOT a 99'!!!

I was a little shocked but wasn't really sure he was correct. I then looked/joined here and saw that 00's were supposed to have the RH door lock removed but my Vette has one. This further confused me so I looked at the build list in the glove compartment and compared it with the lists over at CAC. While most of the codes showed up on the 99' list there were some that didn't, so I looked at the 00' list. Sure enough, every code in my build list was present in the 00' list, so I figured that it was indeed an 00' that was produced in June of 99'.

However, while perusing a thread about something else here I came across the fact that 00's were supposed to also have the passenger side airbag switch and I don't have that. This lead me to go out and look at my build date on the drivers door, and wouldn't you know it...it's May 99'.

Would it be safe to say that it is indeed an 00' per the glove box build list and VIN registration number that just got caught in some of the transition from 99' to 00' since it was built in May of 99'? This would explain why there seems to be some stuff that is 00' (like aluminum sway bar links to go along with the build list and VIN information), while other points are still from the 99' model year, such as the passenger side door lock and no kill switch for the passenger side airbag.

What are some thoughts about this?
Thanks in advance:

Vetteman Jack

The passenger air bag cutoff switch did not become available until around the middle of the '00 model year - it was not available when production first started on the '00s.

Whatever your VIN comes up with should be the year of the car. Perhaps the listing for the car was in error - not the first time that may have happened.

The one thing that baffles me is the date on the door - I do not believe the '00s were in production in May 1999. I would have thought production of the '00s would have started around the July time frame.

darnold

Thanks 8Vette7 and Vetteman Jack. I used the VIN decoder and it turns out that my insurance broker was wrong. The 10th didgit/letter is an X and NOT a Y, so that makes it a 99'. Lol.

c5vetteguy

You could also tell by the sequence # - last 5 digits of the VIN. A large number would indicate a late '99 while a low # would be an early 2000.

darnold

Awesome idea. My last five digits are 299xx. That solidifies it I think as being a late 99' even though the RPO in the glove box has it as an 00'. My bet is that it has a mixture of 99' and early 00' parts on it. That's fine with me as it runs great, and was in good shape overall when I bought it (except for a problem with the driver's sport seat frame and the oil pressure sender).

Right now I have been doing the maintenance since I'm pretty sure that a number of things were due. I have changed the trans fluid that came out dark red (it's an M6) with Dextron 3 and boy did THAT make a huge difference in the ease of shifting. I've also put in fresh
Mobile 1 LS 75w-90w Diff oil as the old stuff was nearly black when we changed it. THAT also made a huge difference with the tires having more on-power traction on street corner exit. I had actually become afraid to accelerate even modestly before and was waiting to get completely straight as the car had almost swapped ends a couple of times.

I've also replaced the plugs (NGK Iridium IX's) and the wires (MSD 8.5 Super's) and that also made a VERY noticeable difference is smoothness and bottom to mid-range acceleration. The plugs and wires that were in there were the factory originals (the car had just over 115k so I figured this stuff would need to be done). Next on the maintenance grid this upcoming Thursday will be a coolant drain & fill and getting the oil pressure sender replaced. Replacing the drivers side sport seat frame will have to wait until next month (the back clevis was broke when I bought it so it's sitting on a couple of small blocks). That's because the soft mod's will begin early next week.

Soft mod's will be shock replacements, a twin tube CAI, and some new mufflers/exhaust. For the shocks, right now I'm leaning toward the Bilstein HD's but I have some new C6 Z06 shocks available for purchase as well; I'm just not sure which way to go as the car with the new Michelin Pilot Sport AST/RFT's simply doesn't like small pot holes and has that famous "floating" sensation in hard corners. crazy: I blame most of that on what appears to be the original shocks. I want performance for going to a track day or two at Joliet and Blackhawk, but I do NOT want to be jarred to death on the suburban streets of the Chicagoland area where I live and work.

During the shock replacement I am thinking of lowering the car, but only by something like a 1/2", but who knows; with the original shocks on the car it may already be sagged down to that and I don't know it!? Later in the summer some C6 Z06 sway bars, and C5 Z06 Intake Manifold will hopefully find their way on the car, and then I'll call it a wrap. However... I wouldn't exactly say that it's out of the realm of possibility that an 01" Z06 Cam won't find it's way into the car next summer as the cherry on top (coup de gras was too violent of a picture ).

Any suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks for everyone's help.