Hi, my name is Craig and I'm kind of a "newbee" here, but have been registered since 2011. Had a C3 (72) Vette, but sold it before retiring and moving from the DC area to sunny SW Florida in the last 18 months.
Anyway, I recently got the itch and bought a '99 Coupe from a friends Dad in Connecticut. It has the Z51 package and just about every option, including a 6-speed. The car had 31,000 miles on it and had been sitting in a garage with no tags since 2007 or 2008. It was started and taken for short rides monthly. It had the original wheels and runflat tires on it. After reading the extremely helpful threads here on the Forum, I spent the money and bought a lifetime membership. Well worth it in my opinion.....Then I went to work on "making this car mine".
Got the windows tinted...which is much needed in FL. Detailed the exterior, interior and under the hood. Had all of the belts and hoses replaced. Added a K&N cold air system. Unfortunately the AC was toast, so that was all made new. I kind of expected some things to be needed because we all know that sitting is the worst thing for all cars and boats...Also got new tires and rims. Went with 17 x 9.5 rims and 265/40 Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport tires on the front and 18 x 10.5 rims and 295/35 tires on the rear...and bought a small compressor and a tire plug kit to keep in the car. I then contacted the local Chevy dealership and had them run the VIN. The recall had not been performed for the column lock issue. Even though I hadn't had a problem, I went ahead and ordered the LCM5 module. I read the threads on it and installed the module yesterday. Piece of cake and it took about 45 minutes to complete. Following the threads on the subject, I cleared the codes beforehand, did the install, ran the car and checked the codes. Nothing present!!! I do have to admit that I was nervous when I went to fire it back up.

I think that the only other thing that I want to do to the car is add some new exhaust. It needs to sound better. Then just enjoy it!!!It doesn't have enough miles on it to tear into that LS1 engine just yet.

My wife and I took the car on a 640 mile trip through the Keys and back and 30.7 mpg. Unbelievable!

Sorry for the long-winded post, but I just wanted to thank the Forum. I did a bunch of reading and found many great ideas here. There is a TON of useful....and not so useful information here.

Craig

 

Congrats on getting your C5 - looks like a really nice ride.

 

Welcome to FLA and enjoy that ride here where there is no "season" of limited use. Well there is Summer, Love Bug season, and Tourist season.

 

Nice choice on rims and tires those look very classy.... congrats!
Another thing that may add to your driving experience is the CAGS delete if you haven't done it... easier than the LMC5 module, takes more time to jack the car up..
Also the Anti-venom mod is helpful with the MN6 and the C6 shifter is a nice upgrade also for a NICE smooth, easy shifting C5...ask me HOW I know.
Have fun!

 

Congrats Craig!!! It had to pain you to replace the wagons!

Enjoy!!

 

Nice looking ride you have! Enjoy!

 

Welcome! Peruse this site http://www.toquez06.com/ and start performing the upgrades and maintenance that may be needed or desired (if you haven't thought or heard of them).

Yank the passenger carpet up and check around the BCM to insure that there hasn't ever been any water damage/leakage through the A/C ducting or windshield. Plenty of threads on it if you run into indications.

Folks like Chadwick for washing and cleaning; Autogeek is another place for cleaning and maintenance products, tips, and instructions.

Be sure to read this a couple times: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...must-read.html

Check for codes on the DIC.

 

Great looking ride! Congrats.

 

Enjoy weather and the ride.

 

Beautiful car! Congrats.

 

On the tires & wheels, & other "fixes" stated so far.

Mine is an auto, so I didn't have any issues with the steering wheel lock, which I believe was resolved by '04, regardless. I also agree on the exhaust tone, just see if you can find someone to let you hear theirs from inside the car before you buy, you don't want a low frequency drone that can get old right quick-like on the highway. It's gonna sound different from your C3 regardless, the LS engine's firing order is different. The other thing I'd do immediately is grab a cold-air intake setup. That's actually more important from a performance standpoint than the exhaust, esp where the air is warm & humid. Then, you might want to up the rear end gear ratio, don't recall offhand what was stock on the 6-speed, mine was already the "performance upgrade" of a 3.15 from the stock 2.78, and I went with the ZO6's 3.42, which made a serious difference on launches, no change in gas mileage. I also got a great tuner box (DiabloSport) which also made a very noticeable bump in performance, esp being able to tighten my shifts, but that's no use to you, however.

I had a local Vette dealer with a good rep do the intake, rear end & exhaust all at once & I'd gotten the pumpkin off this forum, ordered the intake & exhaust online, & I took all the parts over there, so I just paid for labor, which was about (I think) $600 for everything done right. I went for the VaraRam complete intake system, SLP PowerFlo cat-back exhaust, which is a little loud sitting in the garage, but nice on the highway, awesome around town. Plus, I like the "eyebrow" type tips.

There are at least 100 other little things you can do over time to "make it yours," but discovering all that on your own is half the fun. Just remember to ask questions here before you spend money, you'll remain very happy with all your goodies that way. Congrats again, & have FUN!

Best regards,
...z

 

Thanks to all for the replies and tips. That thread at the top of the forum with the "read before you buy" tips was worth the price of admission.

As I said in the OP, I know the code procedures and I've already installed the cold-air kit. My friend and his Dad ordered the car with most of the options. It has RPO for the 6-speed, 3.42 gears and Z51 package, sport seats, etc...

Love the car and looking forward to driving it for a while...

 

Congratulations on the nice ride neighbor! (well almost, closing on our Rotonda home the end of June)

 

Beautiful ride love the color!!

 

Welcome!!!

Your car is beautiful. I may be a little prejudiced towards Silver, but still.....

If you haven't already, check/change fluids (ie power steering, brake, differential, antifreeze). Unless you have service records showing when they were last changed.

Clean out carefully around front radiator, and air cond condensor. Collects leaves and papers and all manor of road debris up there. Threads about this too, if you haven't read them.

And then, drive it, enjoy it.

Don

 

Props!

The wheels look great on it.

 

Looks good and welcome to the club. Next mod imho should be a short throw shifter. Dumping the stock one is probably the single best mod I've done so far.

 

good luck with your car and welcome to the tropics (i'm way south of you on the other coast). unlike you, i haven't ever found the need to tint any car (but i'm a native and the weather is just something you get used to, lol). i suggest (since i have changed the exhaust on my 04 commemorative edition convertible a few times, that you try to get to some of the local corvette cruise ins in the area so you can actually hear the systems in person. some of the sound bites on the web sound good, but in person they aren't the same. depending on what you want sound wise and what you want to do to get that sound (long tube headers, X pipes, etc) the systems will sound different. be careful of drone at highway speeds. what sound nice on the streets may be the system that gives you the biggest headache from drone. you can even go so far as to install the mild to wild setup (which is what i finally put on mine after route 66, borlas, & corsa, etc) that was an option on the C6 and now C7, it's got a nice agressive sound on the street and can switch it to "mild" on the highway (and it resembles the route 66 sound which has no drone in my opinion, but is still better than the stock sound). there is lots to read on exhausts here and there are just as many opinions on them all, lol.

enjoy your car and florida!!

 

Congrats on the new car and wheels, they make a great improvement!

 

nice !!!!!!