I am a senior graduating high school and looking to buy a project car. There is a C5 for sale in my price range with fairly low miles and I am wondering how attainable a basic, reliable power build would be.

 

The C5 is a great platform to build on. It would depend on how basic,reliable you want it to be. If it is in good shape you would already have what you are looking for, with the exception of your insurance rates. Easy car to modify and the cost is equal to how far you want to go. A old speed shop here had a sign over the door as you walked in .... "Speed costs money how fast do you want to go"

 

How much power are you wanting? A stock base C5 maybe puts down 300ish to the wheels. With that being said a Corvette is a fantastic starting point. Just keep in mind quality performance parts for someone your age will get pretty expensive and it may take some time to buy them.

 

I'd definitely start with full bolt ons, power goals around 420 to the wheels. Alot of saving but I just wanted to know any weak points of a stock c5 with 60,000 miles on it that would need replacing for a sturdy build

 

I owned a 1998 c5 convertible with 393 to the wheels. Previous owner had done all of the mods, including K & N air filter, ceramic long tube headers (brand unknown, Billy Boat PRT exhaust, and a tune. Original auto transmission, original LS1 engine, original cam, and original rear diff, as far as I know. Bought it with 42,000 miles and sold it with 59,000 miles. It was the most reliable car I've ever owned. I currently have a 2000 supercharged C5 coupe with a Procharger Pi SC1. It produces 517 at the rear wheel. Mild aftermarket cam on stock engine, stock auto transmission and rear diff, straight piped back to Borla S-Type II mufflers, Linenfelter fuel pump, MSD boost-a-pump, 60 lb. injector.. Bought it with 36,000 miles, currently has 62,000 miles. Has been reliable. Based on my experience, your goal of 420 to the wheel should be fine, even with original engine and auto transmission. I don't know much about the manual transmission, as all of my Corvettes have been automatics.

 

Certainly a good platform to start with, but as others have mentioned, be prepared to be patient unless you have a stash of cash ready to go and your insurance will be quite expensive (even if you don’t have any points/tickets/etc). At your age, you’d be foolish to “blow” your savings on aftermarket modifications for a car. BUT I’m not your Dad so...to answer your question, full bolt ons is the best route to go if you’d like to maintain reliability. If you have a solid platform to start and won’t need to replace much prior to modding, you could make upper 300s to the tire for 3-5k. The range is broad because you can drop a lot of money quick of LT headers/axle back depending what brands you go with. You’ll also need to upgrade the drivetrain to handle the added power as much more then stock will smoke the clutch. If it is a manual, I recommend a solid twin disk clutch and rear transaxle brace to start. You’ll end up needing more if you run it hard. To break the 400rwhp mark, you’ll most likely need to crack open the motor for a heads/cam setup (at minimum a stout cam). That’s a slippery slope because you should do timing chain, lifters, oil pump, harmonic balancer, etc while you’re in there to maintain reliability. So if you expect to do a top end setup, I’d budget 5-8k all in on parts, plus the costs of a dyno tune.

 

And you could get collector car insurance from Hagerty or Grundy...it limits how and where you drive the car but is much cheaper.

 

I don't think collector car insurance and 17/18 year old drivers go together. Most will want the owner drivers to be at least 25, car garage kept and at most 5000 miles per year. If you want the benefits of collector car insurance rates at least....

 

Weakpoints? Honestly, I would probably say suspension and start there. The front and rear swaybars on a base C5 are a joke. I would upgrade to at minimum C5Z or C6Z51 swaybars which you can typically find a used set here relatively inexpensive. Change out the endlinks to metal ones, and then finish it off with C6Z(direct bolt in) shocks which is one of the most affordable upgrades out there over stock.

420 is obtainable. heads/cam/IM/headers/tune should get you there, but it's going to get real expensive unless you are doing the labor yourself. You are also going to want to do gears. Most of the base Corvettes come with 2.73's. A simple gear swap will make a world of difference, and will make the car feel much faster. If it's an auto then you are going to want to match a torque converter to whatever cam you end up going with. The other option is just saving up for a supercharger.

You got to keep in mind that the age of the car is going to affect everything else. I wouldn't even touch the engine until bushings and fluids are swapped out for new.

The best advice I can give you is is something I learned when I was younger and did the whole car project thing. Make sure your project is always running and driving so it keeps you motivated. When a project car sits for a long period of time you start regretting your decision(unless there is some form of sentimental value attached to it.). Don't chase the horsepower game, often times you will come up shorthanded and it can be discouraging, and always know that there will always be someone out there who is faster. Last, but not least enjoy the time spent with your project and don't "throw your hands up". When things on the car start to get frustrating take a break or call it a night.

Good luck! When/if you get the car, start a project thread and keep us updated.

 

https://www.hagerty.com/Insurance/Cl...verEligibility
nothing about age but a phone call to them might explain more.

 

Bought my 2004 coupe 6mt with 52k miles on September 1st 2018. I have 66k miles now. I don't think the previous owners did much maintenance beyond oil changes. Here is a list of things I needed to do or will need to do:

New tires and alignment right off the bat.
Coolant expansion tank and radiator. Both were cracking and leaking.
New radiator hoses and clamps.
New idler and tension-er pulleys and belts. One of the pulleys locked up and snapped the AC belt.
New plugs and wires.
New engine oil and filter. Flushed engine coolant a few times. New transmission fluid. New diff fluid. New brake fluid. New power steering fluid.
New brake master assembly. Reservoir was cracking and sensor failed. Bled a few quarts of new dot4 through the system.
New air filter/intake.
Chasing clutch pedal issues. Clutch petal getting soft at high rpms. Did a million ranger methods. Had to remove assist spring, remove inspection covers and do a few modidied ranger methods.

Now the harmonic balancer is letting go, so I need drop the power steering rack, pull the balancer, replace the main seal, balancer, balancer bolt and put new orings in the ps rack.
Also I need to fix the CD player, fix the HVAC display, Fix the windshield washer fluid pump, replace the shocks with c6 z06 shocks and sway bars with c6 z51 sway bars.
Oh, and the windows are getting loose and leaking water/ getting stuck going up/down and a lot of wind noise / air gap, so I am going to need to get new weather stripping, new tracks, maybe new motors and adjust them properly.
I want to put long tubes and a tune on there, but all this maintenance is eating into the go fast budget.
I am sure that there is other things that I am forgetting. These cars aren't as cheap/easy to maintain or modify as hondas lol.

 

You aren't getting to 420 via bolt on, maybe with nitrous but that isn't reliable.
My advice would be to focus on the suspension, there is tons of room for improvement and the cost is minimal, Take care of that and other items that deteriorate with age and you will have a nice car.
Get familiar with the car and it's characteristics and when you have that all out of the way start looking to add power if you still think it is necessary.
Good luck.