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July 1992 corvette plant tour memories. ZR1 questions from dizwiz, the 15 yr old
Wanted to share I was on a family vacation in july 1992 to mammoth cave. As part of the trip we toured the corvette plant.
i had 2 questions:
1. Why wasnt the zr1 built in a convertible.
a: it goes 180 mph (rolleyes, i didnt believe that answer)
2. How do the corvettes do in crash-testing
a: better than you’d think
I also remember them saying the zr1’s got a special road test around the streets of bowling greens - to address any rattles or vibration issues...
I saw a special made either 87 or 88 Corvette convertible on ebay a while back. It was a yellow car that had basically a nascar powerplant. It was at the time the fastest C4 convertible hitting a top speed over 180 mph. You have to realize that automakers were under pressure to kill the convertible back in the late 70's over safety concerns. So we went about a decade before GM started to make a Corvette in a drop top again. Look at today. They even made the 2019 ZR1 in a convertible. It sure would have been awesome had they made a 90-95 ZR1 and probably would have sold a descent amount of them. It was the times though.
I’ve always read the reason for no convertible was there was no where to put that 315-35-17 if the car got a flat. It wouldn’t fit in the spare tire carrier and you couldn’t strap it to the top of the car. That’s the reason a ZR-1 comes with the tie down strap for the spare tire.
Well luckily I haven't ever gotten a flat fire in any of my Corvettes. But yes that would be a concern where to put the rear tire of the ZR1. Think about this though. Where there is a will there is a way. How about the spare tire delete for the 96 Corvette? Was it just for the Grand Sport or LT4 equipped cars. No concern about it then. Good question for Dave McLellan I guess. He will be at Corvettes at Carlisle this year.
Speaking of ZR1 convertibles isn't this what is left of it?
Crabs I'm wondering what your car setup is? The engine mods and what gear ratio? What gear were you in to get such a low right below or just above 5000 RPM for those speeds?
I remember reading a long time ago that the real reason for no ZR1 convertible was they tested it and they were cracking windshields pretty frequently because they couldn't strengthen the chassis enough.
I remember reading a long time ago that the real reason for no ZR1 convertible was they tested it and they were cracking windshields pretty frequently because they couldn't strengthen the chassis enough.
Why would that be an issue on the zr1, but not the regular lt1 (or l98) vert?
I remember reading a long time ago that the real reason for no ZR1 convertible was they tested it and they were cracking windshields pretty frequently because they couldn't strengthen the chassis enough.
That's a myth. The B2K had lots more torque, yet had none of those issues. Higher top speed, too.
I agree X2. Why do people believe this kind of crap? Why does it get passed on? Why don't people think/scrutinize when they hear this stuff? MANY, a C4 has existed with way, WAY, WAY more tq & hp than the ZR1 had...and no cracked windshields. "high rpm" has nothing to do with cracked windshields either.
Bingo!!
Yup, on a dyno.
It's really amazing how fast the tires can spin with no wind resistance on the car.
They needed a much better fan on the radiator. ;-)
I agree X2. Why do people believe this kind of crap? Why does it get passed on? Why don't people think/scrutinize when they hear this stuff? MANY, a C4 has existed with way, WAY, WAY more tq & hp than the ZR1 had...and no cracked windshields. "high rpm" has nothing to do with cracked windshields either.
both the b2k and many after market turbo cars spanked out a boat load more HP and torq than ZR-1 Meany and several others have build TT cars that did many miles of street duty with over 1k plus HP
in the C4s While clearly the c5 and later cars are MUCH stiffer, GM DID build a couple of not for sale ZR-1 verts known as DR-1s for Don Runkle (Sp)
that pic above is a DR-1 that fell into the pit. Read "corvette from the inside" GM elected not to do the ZR-1 vert and spend a ton on the Lotus version of the Z with the adjustable suspension.
the "myth" is that the ZR-1 wasn't strong enough to be a Vert, as many have said, just an internet rumor. Make no mistake, the ZR-1 was a top end bomber that would indeed do 180 + and a bit more out of the box.
that was quite a bit faster than the base L98 at 240 hp tuned port 2 valve per cyl engines. The turbo's of course "fix" cfm issues and are a great equalizer
considering the b2ks made well over 500 ft lbs of torq that was substantially more than the Lt5 would ever do, I think a ZR-1 vert was not only possible, it would have been fine.
business case to do a wide body vert for the very limited amount of vert ZR-1 sales would have never gone over with the bean counters who if the truth be known, would have not let the ZR-1 out the door if not for some solid leadership to make the LT5 and ZR-1 an "investment" ZR-1 had much trouble selling even at the sticker, and a vert would have required very expensive tooling that would have driven costs even higher.
The B2k was a GM contract and the engineering work that Callaway did in my mind more than proves the stock c4 chassis is plenty strong as the B2k used c4 as the base for their builds.
As Chris would tell you there was much engineering and updates put into the car to meet the emissions, durability, and service targets for C4 that made both the B2k and the ZR-1 amazing cars.
now take the LT5 and add that Callaway touch, and you have the best of both, a TT ZR-1 !!!
Even more amazing they made it out the door! These were not good times for corvette and C4 almost didn't make the cut.
07-20-2019, 10:06 PM
July 1992 corvette plant tour memories. ZR1 questions from dizwiz, the 15 yr old
