MasterDave

Drove the '07 bone stock Z at freeway speeds for 13 hours today (except for gas/pee breaks) and the pistons/valves all stayed in the holes they started in. Got another 13 hour day tomorrow. I know at 80 mph the tach doesn't even go past 2K rpm, but we need some good news once in awhile, right?

Dan_the_C5_Man

Interestingly enough, you might do yourself (specifically your engine) a favor and make sure you don't cruise for hours in 6th with the tack around or below 1500 RPMs..

Just one of many possible (but alas probable) theories contributing to our wonderful guide wear issue has to do with fairly high loads at low RPMs, with the engine running on the lean side, as it would be cruising in 6th between 60 and 80'ish.

I try to make it rule that anything under 75'ish gets 5th gear and / or I don't let it lug around or below 1500 RPMs on the freeway at any speed.

Every little bit helps I suppose (or should I say couldn't hurt).

SPDKLZ1

Sounds like my 67yo dad who drove one back from Florida to Fargo, ND a couple months ago. He said his second leg was 20hrs straight. He is an insomniac. I bought it from him a week ago and gave him my C6. It runs good. I hope its okay after reading the previous post!

Did you think you wouldn't make it?

John Pearson

I just went from Kansas city to Seattle with no problems. It was not really a fun trip because it was just transporting the car so I could ship it to alaska.

stefuel

just curious. What are you getting for gas mileage?

Too-Fast

Sure is better than reading I dropped a valve or my heads/valve guides are shot.

MasterDave

Well, I didn't buy the car for mileage but I averaged 26.8. It helps when traveling thru california where gas is almost double that of arizona.

MasterDave

My rule of thumb is not to be in 6th below 60mph, but that is mainly for the big end, not the valves.

Bill Dearborn

That will not affect anything since the engine is producing such a low HP number. The engine produces about 40 HP at part throttle operation to drive the car down the road at that speed and operate all of the accessories. That is roughly 30% of the total energy being consumed by the engine. Wide open throttle at full load and peak HP rpm produces 505 HP which is 30% of the total energy being consumed by the engine at that point. That means there is about 93 HP of waste heat being produced at 80 mph Vs 1178 HP of waste heat being produced at max power operation. It is obvious to the most casual observer that less than 2000 rpm extended operation at 80 mph in cruise does little to bring the temps up close to a danger point. Even if a lean mixture doubles the combustion temperature it doesn't add anywhere near the maximum heat being produced at full power. Now if you are running at 199 mph with the throttle wide open in 5th gear for extended periods of time you might get into a temperature problem.

Bill

BearZ06

Good news, yes!!! What a great engine/car, if only GM would have taken care of known issues it would be nearly perfect.

JonSnow

I'm going on a 13 hour ride as well. I 'll let you know how I make out

MyLS1Hauls

Any day the LS7 makes it back into the garage unscathed, is a good day

erichg1000

It's a great GT car with plenty of luggage space, power, and economy. I always wished for cloth seats though. The fake leather gets so hot and sweaty no matter the temp outside (after several hours of driving). Sticky back, swamp ***, sweaty bawls. Those are the reasons I went 130+ when I had to drive from Dallas to Denver.

If you're wearing shorts you can kind of prop your left leg up and get that AC blowing directly up one leg which helps a little.

I hate leather.

TwoSmoke

Well you just reduced the resale value of your car by a huge margin.

erichg1000

lol.

Well, I actually sold my car a couple weeks ago. It was a sad day.

Now I just hang out to troll MyLastCorvette :p

Dan_the_C5_Man

If you ever scanned your car while driving, you'd be amazed at the throttle position, ignition timing values (and sometimes KR) when "lugging" these motors in the way I am suggesting.

In many cases, most of our cars spend the VAST majority of their time running freeway and in-town speeds, not racetrack wide open pulls..

Remember Bill, many, many, many Z06's have bad guides that were pampered, street only vehicles.

Who knows, there may be a harmonic component to this as well..
It has at least as much merit of consideration than blaming everything on weak valve springs..

But as others have posted above me, whatever the potential negative outcome may be, it is still (IMO) a bad idea to run the engine at those low RPM's and relatively high loads.

Minkster

I've driven my Z06s ('06 and now '11) many times from CA to VA, IL, or FL. Usually average about 700-800 miles per day for 3 days straight, 12-14 hours at a wack. Never had a problem and the cars have run flawlessly. Got to my destination feeling pretty good. Speaking of gas mileage, I noticed that mine would jump by about 2 MPG after leaving CA and it's crap gas behind. Here's a pic of my average after filling the tank in Kingman, AZ and checking just as I had passed Flagstaff on my way to Gallup, NM enroute to ABQ for the night in Oct 2013. Also you can see the oil pressure is up there so no problems at that RPM as the engine load is very low and no sign of lugging it at all.

MasterDave

Welp, did a 14 hour day yesterday and arrived in Seattle with no issues whatever. Fun car to drive long distances. Not fun to try to drive in the deep asphalt semi truck induced grooves with 13" wide tires tho. I do have Nitto Invo tires (non run-flats) and did not worry about it. They have about 20K on them and still look new.

RobsVette04

MasterDave, STOP being so positive!!!

Don't you know where you are? This is the Corvette C6 Z06 forum, where positive attitudes, fun and any sustained excitement are forbidden!!!

In all seriousness, nice work, and its good to see another happy C6 Z06 owner, like myself.

Dan_the_C5_Man