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Picked up my new to me 2004 C5 last Thursday. Man is it sweet, a world of difference over the old '72 stingray I'm restoring!! 44k miles, 1 owner, no wrecks, 6 speed manual. Drives & runs excellent, pretty excited about this car! Anyway, just wanted to say hello to you C5 guys, I'm used to being in the C3 world.
Yes it has been a big project to take on but I've enjoyed every step of the way. & no I didn't replace existing metal, I purchased a whole new donor birdcage (cab frame) from an original 1971 vette that was in California its whole life. It's flawless, like new.
Real beauty. Welcome to the asylum. Never ends. Lol. Just dropped $5300 taking the weak points out of my driveline. Like once you start you can't stop. Goes on and on. Lol.
seriously...inherited mine 6 months ago and my 'free' vette has already gobbled up $7k
Nothing more expensive than the word free. Lol. Fun cars but some weak spots to iron out. All mine seemed to go at once. Harmonic balancer, differential and clutch parts. All hit at once.
When can I expect to start having problems go wrong with the car? Closer to 100k or? If one of you don't mind could you make a list of the things that these cars are prone to have problems with that haven't already been mentioned, maybe I should go ahead & replace them in advance. Seeing that this is my DD now, I don't want it to leave me somewhere. My plan is to only keep this car for 2 or 3 years & then sell it & uprade to a newer corvette, hopefully a nice used C6 grand sport or z06. So I wouldn't doubt that this car will still have less than 100k miles on it when I part with it. The C3 on the other hand, I never plan to part with. Lol
Last edited by 72Shark_VAL; 06-17-2017 at 08:08 AM.
Thanks for all the nice comments everyone, the car really is a beauty in person. I was worried when I was on the way to get it (8 hour round trip to get it) that I wouldn't like the body as much as the old C3 because I had been so loyal to the extreme curves of the 68-72's, but it really has grown on me a lot. I love it!! Having an actual trunk area in a corvette is very nice also.
Last edited by 72Shark_VAL; 06-17-2017 at 08:09 AM.
Congratulations on your very nice looking C5! I also ran a big block 4 speed C3 for quite a while. And while I wish I had not sold that car I do believe you will find the C5 is a much different animal and a better, much better, car in all respects. Good luck with your new baby!
I wish I had a separate building like the one you are working out of. I would buy one of those 4ft 2 post lifts. My garage is a pita to work out of.
As far as C5 maintenance issues, It just depends on how **** the previous owner was mechanically speaking. Mine had good maintenance records on the CarFax and appeared to be under an aftermarket warranty. I tore my C5 almost completely down for a mechanical restoration because the previous work was kind of shoddy and there was some neglect. I think they relied too heavily on that warranty and didn't assume much personal responsibility in terms of maintenance.
Mine didn't have any mods at 130k miles. All this suggest to me that the previous owner may not have been mechanically minded. They just drove it without keeping it in top notch mechanical condition.
That kind of warranty probably covers catastrophic mechanical failures and limited prevented maintenance.
I bought my C5 in 2010 with 49k on the odometer. Now at the 78k mile mark I have had 0 breakdowns, all the money I have spent on the car has been for appearance upgrades to suit my tastes. I do have an occasional service abs traction control light at start up but I can immediately turn off the ignition and restart the car and the warning is gone. A voltage or ground problem? I don't know but it is so infrequent that I haven't concerned myself with it so far. I did install a new yellow top battery because I thought it was time but it did nor affect this situation one way or the other. So it's a combination of luck and the care the car has received from previous owners as to what might go wrong. Since yours will be a daily driver I would just check that your don't have a harmonic balancer wobbling and then just drive it. Chances are it is likely all will be fine!
Congrats on your purchase of the C5. It is a great car and you will get a lot fun driving it. I have a C3 also and there is no comparison between the 2 cars. I do however still love to drive the C3 as well.
Congrats and welcome to the forum...the only emergency thing that you need to do is take off the body side moldings so the looks will be smooth and free flowing and not chopped up...its easy to do and tons of members do that as their first mod...
Again congrats and the C3 you are redoing is wonderful...
Don't mean to hijack the OP's thread, but I'm new to the C5 world too!
As far as I'm concerned Corvette are C3's - I'm a C3 snob, love my 81... But I have warmed up to the C5, the looks and the way it drives. I purchased my 2001 Z to chase my C7 loving wife around the track.
Welcome! Nice car. I loved my C3. But as you are finding out C5 is a very nice step up. Folk here on the Forum are very helpful so don't hesitate to ask when you have questions or issues.
06-16-2017, 04:59 PM
What a project!
Congratulations on your very nice looking C5! I also ran a big block 4 speed C3 for quite a while. And while I wish I had not sold that car I do believe you will find the C5 is a much different animal and a better, much better, car in all respects. Good luck with your new baby!
...its easy to do and tons of members do that as their first mod...
