Purchasing a C5 from Canada
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Purchasing a C5 from Canada
I'm currently considering purchasing a 2003 C5 corvette from Canada (the price is good and it checks my boxes). However, seeing as it's a Canadian car and I live in the US, I have some reservations.
- I've heard that that the gauge cluster on the Canadian version is different (coolant temp is in C instead of F, the speedo is numbered to 300 and is in km/h, etc. I know that you can switch between km/h and mph through the DIC, but do the other readings remain in metric? I don't mind the speedo being numbered to 300 but I don't want a car that can only give coolant readings in Celsius, or oil pressure in kPa. Additionally, if I switch the car to mph, will it reset to km/h every time I start the car? I don't want to have to switch it every time I get in the car.
- As another option, I have heard that Canadian C5 corvettes are produced with a Z49(?) RPO code that designates them as Canadian. Would i be able to get somebody with a Tech2 scanner to remove this RPO code? If I did, would the car behave exactly like a US-spec model?
- Is there anybody else who has done this sort of purchase? (US buying from Canada). If anybody has, could you walk me through the paperwork and steps that I would need to take to make this transaction go smoothly? Unfortunately, I'm unable to physically go and drive the car back. How would shipping work with this? Would I give the truck driver the paperwork to give to border patrol?
- Has anybody had trouble with their state registering a Canadian car? (In my case I'm currently stuck in California, so this is a major concern as I know how strict they can be).
Last edited by Dragon1us; May 11, 2021 at 10:31 PM.
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From: Ottawa ON. Canada
C5 kph / mph switch
Hi. The Canadian speedo display reads up to 300, but the needle will adjust position and display the correct kph or mph depending on the selection. So if kph is selected, the HUD and cluster will both display 100 kph. If you select mph, the HUD displays 60 and the needle on the cluster will drop down and also display 60 with the mph display.
The other thing is the twilight option cannot be disabled, so you will have daytime running lights - which I think are a good thing all the time anyway, and a good mod to update the look. The annoying part of that option is that your headlights will automatically pop up and come on when you enter a dark space, so my lights come on for those few seconds as I pull into my garage. It’s a minor thing and I’m used to it, and I’ve read on this forum that it cannot be disabled.
The other thing is the twilight option cannot be disabled, so you will have daytime running lights - which I think are a good thing all the time anyway, and a good mod to update the look. The annoying part of that option is that your headlights will automatically pop up and come on when you enter a dark space, so my lights come on for those few seconds as I pull into my garage. It’s a minor thing and I’m used to it, and I’ve read on this forum that it cannot be disabled.
Last edited by JMinCanada; May 12, 2021 at 10:16 AM.
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Does the switch include the other gages as well? (kPa to PSI for oil pressure, C to F for temp, etc?)
I've also heard you can replace the light sensor with a resistor to disable the popups going up with twilight sentinel
I've also heard you can replace the light sensor with a resistor to disable the popups going up with twilight sentinel
