Not much of a difference? You're comparing $59,000 in 1990 dollars directly against $48,000 in 2001 dollars??

That $59k is actually over $80k once you adjust for inflation.

 

Does that mean you can't get GM parts for it anymore?

If you resleeve it, the LSx can go to 4.125

The following is a link for an LSx 427 small block that puts out 550+ Hp turnkey package for $18K. There are several other places that have similar packages and prices.
http://www.motorsporttech.com/z07.asp

Edit: If you use the C5-R block, you can go to something like 440 cubic inches, but I have no idea how much that would be. My guess is another 5K, mostly just for the block purchase.


I have a question for you (or other ZR1 guys)... why is the ZR1 production so low in the later years? I mean, from thousands to several hundred a year. What happened?


[Modified by nuke61, 4:15 AM 6/14/2004]

 

BTW the LT5 certainly is an awesome motor, especially for its time. But you gotta love technological progress. Now GM can get identical performance out of a lighter, cheaper to build motor based on good old fashioned pushrod technology, while getting over 30mpg in actual highway use (to answer another question you posed earlier).

 

ahhah! so i was right about the 80 grand!

 

Mercury Marine actually stopped building the LT5 engines in 92, at that point all the engines were sealed up and the remaining ones would be spread out evenly over the next three production years.

Tommy Morrison had 3 of the factory sealed engines sitting in his shop when the call came to break the 50 year old 24 hour land speed record. He just picked one of the three and the rest would be automotive history. The car it was put into was a L98 car I believe.

Over $1,000,000 dollars was spent developing the LT5 - which Dave M. had to hide from GM until it was done - otherwise he never would have been able to get it past the bean counters. I think once GM caught on to what was going on - they worked to kill the ZR-1. I've heard all the comments about size, weight and cost of the engine being the reason why GM killed it, but really it was was "because it wansn't built [designed] here [in the U.S.]". There were a lot of non-GM companies involved in building that engine, tho Lotus was the major designer - different parts were sent out to different companies to be designed and built.

The design of the engine is amazinging bullet proof. 90-92 engines were designed to switch between peak HP and torque every 5 minutes for 200 straight hours; thats 8 days at max output; for the 93-95 engines with the "official" 4 bolt mains, 400 hours - that's 16 days straight of hard core engine stress. There are probably less then 5 catastrophic LT5 failures, and that includes the cams breaking at the plant when a GM employee would rev the motors to 7,000 on a cold start [which also resutled in a design change for the oil system].

Lotus could have done more at design time, but there were design restraints comming (bore, stroke, it HAD to have lead mains) from GM at the time that really hindered the motor.

These motors like to be ran hard, in fact if you baby them too much you will get carbon build up and it will run like crap. Even in the owner's manual they recommend an occasional flogging to keep thing running well.

I believe the price was $32K more than the base corvette at the time, my 91 stickered at $65K. For that you got a different engine, trans and a unique body from the firewall back - as well as the wider tires and rims.

There was supposed to be a 30 year supply of LT5 parts, not sure if that's the case or not. Parts usually require a little more work to find then a L98/LT1 but it's not really that bad. On the plus side, changing the spark plugs is a 5 minute job

 

We are just passionate about our cars and there tends to be a lot of misinformation out there from people who have never owned one, or spent any sizable amount of time trying to get to know the cars history.

 

Thud,

Actually OHC design predates pushrod design, so if anything the LT5 is good old fashioned technolgy, while the pushrod design is the new kid still playing catch up

 

Yeah, it was only Dave Hill who said they went with a pushrod motor for those reasons. Let's see... ~30K difference between the LT5 and base C4, a measly 10K difference between Z06 and base C5. Naw... couldn't be for money reasons that GM decided to use a pushrod motor.

 

Nuke61,

Again, the cost of the LT5 could have been bought down dramatically if GM had requested more units from Mercury Marine. Give the LT5 the same production numbers the LS1/6's are getting and the cost argument disappears.

 

No it is not hard to get parts for the LT5. I can get any parts I need in the rare case that something goes wrong with the motor.

I was not aware that you could bore/stroke the LSx to a 427. I remember LPE saying that the cylnder walls were to thin to bore it more then a 3xx. I still can't remember what the exact size was, but this was in 1998 or so when MT tested one of his 383 C5's. I thought that all the 427's out there now were C5R motors.


[Modified by 90 Corvette ZR-1, 1:29 PM 6/14/2004]

 

What is this "boring" of the cylinder walls that you speak of?


For those who are not in on the joke, the LT5 only requires swapping in new Nickel cylinder liners when you need to up the cubes, block work is not necessary (tho I understand some work is required in the 415" so the crank will clear the block)

 

The LSx also gets resleeved, but as I understand it, the sleeves are undersized so they still need finish boring/honing.

 

I didn't know the LS motors were sleeved; learn something new everyday! Is it the same design wise as the LT5?

 

 

we're being invaded by the LT5 People....

You guys crack me up...

 

I am also a Carmelite......Ya, I get a kick out of the LT5 guys too....

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=824851

 

Here is a better story http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=830015

 

I guess it is time for another ZR-1 vs Z06 thread.

Funny one. GM only built about 6000 FRCs so finding a good one to transform into a Z06 might not be that easy.

The problem is that all those parts look very similar to the standard C4 parts.


Nice attempt at a jab, but this is just not true.


I guess if I planned on blasting down the highway @ 170 MPH for 10 hours this would concern me. Why not just be nice and stay in the ZR-1 section? I've stayed away from the current ZR-1 vs. Z06 thread in your section, maybe you could show the same respect here?

 

I think everyone here agrees both cars were/are at the pinnacle of performance for their era. The ZR-1 was a bigger step up for its day, due to the relative lack of power in the late 80s. Yes, it is more rare, and the widebody remains truly unique amongst Corvettes. Anyone who thinks it looks just like a regular C4 hasn't seen them both side by side.

Now we have the luxury of 14 second Honda Accords, for crying out loud....this is the golden age of performance, and the Z06 does a damn good job of upholding the Corvette name amidst all the fast iron out there. It's the performance bargain of the decade. I am on my 3rd C5, and they are incredible cars! Looking forward to a set of AFR heads soon...the potential for affordable power in a lightweight/compact package is what puts the LS motors in a class of exactly one. There is no competition.

(how was that litany for an "LT5 guy")