legomaster141

Hello all, I am a huge corvette enthusiast as are most, if not all, of you. Anyway, I am looking for a track car that has lots of power while still being able to perform in the corners all for a cheap price. I've narrowed it down to either a C5 Z06 or C6 with the Z51 package. From there, I can't decide and I want your opinions on the choice. I want the most performance and ability for preferably less than 30k.

Thank you for the input!

AU N EGL

C5Z cheap, easy to mod, raw power.

RedLS1GTO

To me, that's a no brainer. C5Z.

RaleighSS

C5Z ... hands down just make sure you do all the "knowns" to make it safe and increase reliability.....

red1vette

C5Z--easy choice

TEXAST1

Yea, what they said.

yakisoba

More specifically a 2002-2004 Z06. The earlier years had quirks and oddities of parts which are better to avoid.

Reason: These cars are less expensive to buy and maintain, and comparable in power to the later C6 z51.

Warning: They are getting old, and suffer from older car issues. The ABS system in particular is getting expensive to acquire and is unavailable (except as salvage) for the earlier models.

VatorMan

C5Z-LS6 is bulletproof.

ltborg

+1 for the C5Z. I really miss mine, great car.

greendot

As a relatively new C5Z owner who has a problem doing concise searches here for threads, is there a thumbnail of these known issues?

BTW, I was told last night of a problem with the hard line for the clutch system rusting at the rubber isolator. Seems the isolator traps water and the pipe rusts under that and looks perfect on both sides of it. Is that one of the knowns here?

Scooter70

There's nothing wrong with the 2001 Z other than being down a few horses. Mine doesn't use any more oil than any other LSx car I've had on the track so "oil consumption" isn't really an issue.


I think he was referring to the things like: You're probably going to want to add an oil cooler and DRM brake ducts, the stock seats are terrible on the track, etc.

I live near downtown Farmington if you ever want to chat and/or check out my car.

-Matt

crease-guard

I second this. I have a 2002 C5Z stock LS6 and I've been flogging it for the past two years. Recently dynoed the car and it has lost nothing as far as torque and HP. I still haven't reached the point where I NEED more car.

RX-Ben

If you are looking for strictly a track car, you can get your pick of a stock bodied (ie w/o aero bits) C5Z race/track car for a bit under $30k.
There is zero extra benefit corresponding to the increased cost of a C6 and there are some negatives.

1BADLS3

C6 Z51


but I may be a bit biased.

JeremyGSU

C5 Z. Mine's an '04 and for being 9 years old I'm still impressed with what it can do at the track with just a few small mods.

froggy47

C5Z will cost less & provide equal performance & looks better. Sorry never liked the c6 style even though I will eventually get a c6z when they get to high 30 low 40 (LOW MILES).

c5_4_me

Minimal road course experience with my 2001 C5 Z06 (one High Performance Driving Clinic -- at Buttonwillow in August - 108 degrees ambient - drove it 200 miles there and 200 miles back home), but probably 10 autocrosses and roughly 250 1/8 mile dragstrip passes and 5 years of daily driving and 140K on the odometer. Never had the valve covers off, not a drop of oil leaked, no oil burning issues. The differential is the Achilles' heel in my experience and opinion.
LS6 (even the "lowly" 2001's) is bulletproof, if you take care of it(aka change the oil).

RaleighSS

as someone said above ... if you are going to be tracking the car there are a few things you can do ...

Motor
Oil Cooler .. keeps temps way down
Accusump ... helps prevent oil starving once on R-Comps and doing a bunch of events.


Brakes
good pad like Hawk / Carbotech / PFC stock rotors do great just crack when used hard. Napa good place for those
Brake cooling when ya get extra time / money

Interrior
Harness bar and good seats with harnesses. Helps keep ya planted again not needed from the start but an idea as you get faster. Pay the money for good seats / rails and make sure they are installed properly. seen a few cars with stuff thrown together and not as safe as stock setup (more so on imports) but just do it right with brand name seats.

As others said LS6 is great ... keep it cool / keep oil in it / keep fluids fresh ..... use it do not abuse it and she will do ya good ...

wtb-z

The main reason to get the C6 Z51 over the C5 would be better stock cooling. The stock C5 Z06 only has the PS cooler, and is really only good for a few laps of 10/10ths driving imo.

I made the same choice as every one else though and got the C5 Z06. Note that the car got a bit better over the years - 2002+ fixed the 2001's oil burning issues, 2003+ stiffened up some bushings, and 2004s got valve springs that don't seem to break as often as the other 405hp motors. Probably a few other things that I am forgetting.

MBB

Go with a c5z.. They are cheap and honestly unless a c6 z51 is basic bolt on it is a driver's race in terms of power. Buy the Z and spend the difference in money on tires/suspension. Sure I went c6 z51 over c5z for the track, but I hated the c5z interior and I needed an auto because I'm tall.