ShawnZR-1

...and she's still running like a bat outa hell! I bought 'er almost 3 years ago at 112,000 miles with the intention of driving it as much as possible! Man, it's been a rush so far!!!

Ok, so at 150,000 miles, it's only fair to make a list of what I've replaced and what's currently not quite right at this moment:
Currently, the front left shock needs to be replaced. The adjuster spins without stopping. I'm just trying to find some temporary shocks to put on while these are rebuilt and revalved by Bilstein. That's all that's wrong with it. EVERYTHING else works perfectly!

Now, for what I've replaced due to failure:
1. The starter...twice. The first failure was my fault completely. I doused the top of the engine and filled the V up with water. No starter likes being submerged! I replaced it with an Advance Auto special. Big mistake! From day one, it was weak. It turned the engine over at half the speed of an OEM. It failed in 4 months. I replaced it with a Delco and it's been great since.!

2. The catalytic converters... which happen to be an integral part of the exhaust manifolds of the 91's. Yeah, at $1200 each that was going to happen! So, coated Stainless Works Headers and Random Tech Cats in place and it passes emissions fine! Nice sound too

3. The entire BOSE system....buh-bye. I had said I'd keep it until it failed. It did... 3 times. One amp right after another. So now I have an MP3 headunit, Kenwood Excellon mid-highs, and Image Dynamics IDQ-8's for the subs in the rear stock BOSE locations. Obviously the sound is 10000% better and I can (and do) hook my iPod up directly.

4. The clutch... but that's a wear item (or in my case an explosion item!)

It disintegrated at 130,000 miles luckily at only ~1500 RPM. So, I upgraded to the Stage II Kevlar with the Fidenza flywheel. I'm a happy camper

5. Power brake booster.... need I say more? I did replace the master cylinder while I was there. It was part of the never ending quest to firm the brake pedal up. It's finally what I would consider acceptable. I can modulate my brakes perfectly now!

6. The clutch hydraulic system. I can say with confidence now that it's not leaking!

7. Oh the ECM went out on me too. I've had to replace the ECM in the last three cars that I've owned!


Other upgrades? Well, it has the Cross Bar and Camber Brace from R-D Racing with a 5-point harness and fire extinguisher mount, the "claw" intake, Samco intake duct, EES chip, Corsa Exhaust, C5 Z06 front calipers, braided brake lines, DRM bias spring, Hurst short throw shifter, and of course the 5-spoke Amolds.

And a cool pic I took yesterday:


Long live the KING!

DDSLT5

Very cool! Car is running like a champ! How did you get that pic exactly on the turnover mile? Pull over for the shot? Good to see the car is treating ya so well. Is it your daily driver? If I were you, I'd pull all 4 shocks and send them to bilstein for rebuild at the same time.

ShawnZR-1

I was watching it like a hawk. I pulled off the interstate at an exit at 149999 and drove into a parking lot.... it turned over and I snapped the pic.

Yep, I use it as a daily driver. I still take good care of it though. Spent Saturday washing and waxing it and Sunday morning changing the oil and taking care of the little stuff.

Since I drive it daily, I need to be able to have shocks on the car for the week to 10 days Bilstein will have the shocks. I may be able to swap cars... we'll see.

DDSLT5

You could throw on some regular shocks for a week - but then you'd have to pay for those shocks - bit of a waste of money, IMO!

DDSLT5

BTW - how did it feel when the clutch let go? That looks like a freaking mess!

ShawnZR-1

Well, I was tooling down the interstate at about 65 and was going to go around some slower traffic. My plan was to drop to 5th and power on by. I pressed the clutch and *WHAM* clackaty clackety crunch. The pedal actually got stuck then went limp. I had enough momentum to coast down an exit ramp and could hear the pieces rattling around.

There were a couple of gouges in the bell housing but the flywheel actually came out unscathed!

BTW, I'm looking for a set of cheap used shocks just to keep the car mobile for the rebuild. If anyone has a line, drop me a PM.

FASTAZU

Shawn,

I have a set of used Bilstein's you can have if ya need them...Came off a 95 lt1 with 100K miles..may be a bit soft for ya but would be a good fill in if you send the others off..

Steve

cv67

I gotta catch up, your'e 7k miles ahead of me. Amazing how strong these run with miles on them...Keep enjoying your Z!

ShawnZR-1

Steve, you da man! I'll give you a call later today!!

DDSLT5

Indeed! Steve is THE man! You gonna make it up to BG Stev-o-rino?

FASTAZU

I wish...some day I will have to cut down on my habit so I don't have to work so much Not!!! at least until I get a vette for every day than I can retire..

gsjack

Congrats on reaching a buck and a half...

Any calculation on when the double century mark will hit? You say it's a daily driver, so, how many miles a week for figuring a time?

Maybe we can have a contest to see who gets nearest the date she rolls to 200K.

Jack

tomtom72

That seems amazing to me but then I'm new to an LT5. That makes me feel better about driving mine alot...it's addictive & I can't seem to stop using it whenever I have free time.

Your car looks fantastic! Keep on keeping on!

If I might ask a Q about the S/S brake lines, please. I've had my system flushed twice now and it keeps getting cloudy. I don't auto-X, just street driving. Could the rubber lines be falling apart? Where do you get S/S lines, from GM or is it an aftermarket part??
Thanks,
Tom

ShawnZR-1

The SS lines were bought from Doug Rippie Motorsports (DRM).

When you say your fluid is getting cloudy, which fluid are you using and have you bled all of the calipers as well as the master cylinder? What color is your fluid turning? It is very possible the rubber brake lines are deteriorating over time.

ShawnZR-1

Ooooh boy. That would be a tough one. By this time next year, with a few trips and cruises and of course the daily miles, I'd almost say I'll see 175K! We'll have to see!

LoTu5

Thanks for the report Shawn,these cars certainly make the reliability grade.
Ive kept hold of my old standard shocks from my 90 Z in the loft,ime glad i didnt discard them.

tomtom72

I noticed the fluid was dark & had particles floating in it when I took delivery of the car, so I sucked out the master cyl and wiped up the particles and put DOT3/GM fluid in the reservior and bleed each caliper till it ran clean. About 8 mos & about 7K miles later the fluid was not clear any longer; it has way less particles in it but it had gotten cloudy. I changed the fluid again and I'm just thinking that 16 yr old rubber lines may not be okay any longer? The brakes work fine but the fluid not staying clear makes me worry about "what's going on that I can't see".

Thank you Shawn for you time and help!

Tom

Rkreigh

I have a complete set of FX3 shocks with controllers and the controller box out of my 50K 95 ZR-1. I just upgraded to coil overs, and now I'm waiting for one shock to be redone which is holding the car up from being tuned.

the car is currently at Haibeck's waiting on the ONE *&^%$ shock to get done, it was a bit sticky from sitting a while and would intermittently code, better to do it right.

anyway. I will be selling the entire set. from what I understand the wiring is the same on all years and as long as you use the matching controller box, they will work. we went with the 90 controller box on this 95 and hopefully all is well.

if anyone is interested let me know. I can bring these to BG.

I also have the traverse springs. I thought about keeping them but really, what's the point. after going with coil overs I see no need to ever go back!!!

a few other goodies are coming off the car like the sway bar end links, secondary vacuum cans (going with no secondaries this time around).

good luck, with your car, that's mighty impressive mileage and I hope to put another 100k on my LSV 390 before freshening it up.

ShawnZR-1

Well, from the sounds of it, I'd suspect the rubber lines. I know mine were old and I figured it was cheap insurance. If I remember correctly, they were less than $100 for the set of 4.

If you do change them, run about a gallon of fluid through the entire system. If you have access, use a Tech-1 to activate the ABS pump and get all of the old fluid out of it too. Wouldn't hurt to bench bleed the master cylinder also. Crud can build up in the far reaches of the piston cylinder.

tomtom72

Thank you Shawn! I totally forgot about the ABS side of the equation! Okay now that I know I will look at DRM to order the hoses and then go look to find a way of cycling the ABS pump...I don't have a Tech1A. The only scan tool I have is an old snap-on MT2500.

There is not anything in particular I need to know about a ZR-1's brakes in order to get the correct hoses?

Thanks again for you time!

Tom