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Differences in Hardtop and z06?

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Old Jul 14, 2009 | 10:58 AM
  #21  
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didnt the frc come with better gears? maybe i should just wait and find one for a great deal
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Old Jul 14, 2009 | 11:08 AM
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Funny, that link says fog lights were not available on an FRC as well.
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Old Jul 14, 2009 | 11:23 AM
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The "billy bob" frc was introduced in 99 and was pretty bare bones to keep costs down. So some literature about the FRC's may be specifically referencing how they were originally introduced.

I dont believe they sold that well and for the 2000's (maybe mid year?) GM made available a bunch of the other options found on the coupe & vert (HUD, Fogs, Dual Zone HVAC, etc). I am not sure, but one option may be the sport seats that were not available on the FRC's... but again not sure.

My 2000 FRC has HUD, Fogs, Dual Zone and power driver seat....

All frc's are 6 speeds and have 3.42's. The Z's are also 6 speeds with 3.42's, but the transmission has different gear ratios (M12 trans versus the M6)

If you are planning to mod, i dont see any advantage to going with a Z over a FRC. you can easily make up the hp difference and then some with heads and cam.

One other thing to note - and this is purely personal preference... but the FRC's do NOT have the rear brake ducts molded in. Which i personally like. I am not a fan of the brake ducts - and if you are, you can EASILY put them on (functional) a FRC if desired.

Good luck in your search.
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Old Jul 14, 2009 | 11:31 AM
  #24  
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Originally Posted by SmoothFRC
The "billy bob" frc was introduced in 99 and was pretty bare bones to keep costs down. So some literature about the FRC's may be specifically referencing how they were originally introduced.

I dont believe they sold that well and for the 2000's (maybe mid year?) GM made available a bunch of the other options found on the coupe & vert (HUD, Fogs, Dual Zone HVAC, etc). I am not sure, but one option may be the sport seats that were not available on the FRC's... but again not sure.

My 2000 FRC has HUD, Fogs, Dual Zone and power driver seat....

All frc's are 6 speeds and have 3.42's. The Z's are also 6 speeds with 3.42's, but the transmission has different gear ratios (M12 trans versus the M6)

If you are planning to mod, i dont see any advantage to going with a Z over a FRC. you can easily make up the hp difference and then some with heads and cam.

One other thing to note - and this is purely personal preference... but the FRC's do NOT have the rear brake ducts molded in. Which i personally like. I am not a fan of the brake ducts - and if you are, you can EASILY put them on (functional) a FRC if desired.

Good luck in your search.
Right, mine is a 99 and I have all of the 2000 options that you have that people keep telling me weren't available in 99. So, the changes were actually made sometime late in the 99 year model.
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Old Jul 14, 2009 | 02:01 PM
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yeah - your right - they added the options mid/late 99 to try and boost sales, but i dont believe it really helped. I want to say (too lazy to look it up) they sold double the amount of 99 FRC's as they did 2000's...
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Old Jul 14, 2009 | 02:24 PM
  #26  
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I did a search and found FRC asking prices range in the 18-19K range. I'm sure you can get a decent one for around 16K. A search for 01-02 Z06's showed a asking price of 23-25 and I'm sure you could knock a few thousand off that as well. So it looks to me like about a 5-6 thousand difference.

A lot of people have expressed the opinion that if you are going to mod the car, get the FRC. The rational seems to be it won't take much to get it to Z06 performance levels.

So, can you do heads, cam, suspension and transmission upgrades for much less than 5-6K?
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Old Jul 14, 2009 | 02:34 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by Mark C5

A lot of people have expressed the opinion that if you are going to mod the car, get the FRC. The rational seems to be it won't take much to get it to Z06 performance levels.

So, can you do heads, cam, suspension and transmission upgrades for much less than 5-6K?
You can install superior parts to the Z06, to the FRC, for less than that. Shopping the for sale section on here will help u out tremendously! Look @ the C5s For Sale section, too, if you re looking for a FRC to start with @ a good price. You might find one, already modded for a great price!
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Old Jul 14, 2009 | 03:38 PM
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If you want an FRC, don't wimp out and get a coupe...You'll regret it and up wishing you'd waited to get what you wanted.

FRC's are kinda rare, but they made a little over 4,000 of them in '99, and 1500 of them in 2000..I see them for sale fairly often in the "C5's for sale" section...

Out of 75K or so 'vettes made between 99-00, 7% were FRC's...

To be honest, I did get a little worried about finding one in my price range, but I did...Good luck!
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