Hi All:
I am new to this forum, but not to Corvettes. This is my 48th year, having continuously owned one Vette, or another.

My present car is a very nice '98 auto. convertible. It had 43K miles when I bought it a year ago. It has won many trophies at shows. BUT, the car was not quick. Disconnect the "active handling", take it up to 35 mph, punch it, and the acceleration was very soft. ( My last car was a bone stock '91 ZR1. That car was scary fast, it rivaled the solid lifter big blocks I ran in the '60's & 70's.)

So, I found a guy on eBay parting out a low milage '02 Z06. I bought the whole top of his motor, cam, and air box back. After having everything installed, the PCM reflashed, I took it to Dennis Ramsey in Lutz, FL, and had it dyno tuned. It put out 348 RWHP @ 6000 rpm. Well, guess what ? Disconnect the "active handling" take it up to 35 mph, punch it, and it is still very soft, more like my ZR1 with the valet key engaged.

I thought LS motored cars were suppose to be quick ? I don't really trust the electronic throttle. So what could be going on ?

 

My guess is the car has the stock rear end ratio. Get the rear end from the guy parting out the Z06 and you will be much happier.

 

 

 

Why did you spend all that money on basically the same thing you already had. I mean there is a difference but not that big of difference as you encountered.
LS engines are great engines an can be turned into quick machines. An even people that don't have LS engine will agree with that.
Get a goal.
Research whats going to get you to that goal.
Then start buying an pieceing the parts together.
The guys on this forum are nuts about these cars. They can answer anything you throw at them.. Good luck

 

For a teacher especially a science teacher, your topic post leaves me flabbergasted.. I could expect this from someone who doesn't know Corvettes but for YOU !!! A Science teacher and know that you can not compare apples you pomegranates..
You are comparing an entry performance Automatic car with a touring rear that is lucky to see 290 rwhp, to a ZR1 with an all aluminum behemoth Mercury Marine 32-valve 4 overhead cams LT5 V8 that put out 375 hp and 370 lb.-ft. of torque. Actual Hp and torque was much closer to 400 hp..with slight mods these engine saw 430 hp in the 93 model year. Knowing Corvettes as you claim, why would you buy this car after owning a ZR1, and expect it to perform in the same fashion? Then come here and complain about it's performance.. BTW these LSX engines are the engine of choice by most professional hot rod, street rod builder today. Only engine platform with a 200,000 mile benchmark.
Its obvious that you did Not do your homework when you purchased this car..
Welcome to the forum
Bill aka ET

 

I have never thought my 91 ZR1 was "quick." the 01 Z06 is MUCH quicker and more nimble. The ZR1 drives like a truck in comparison.

 

Sounds like you have 2.73 gears. Get some 3.42 and a convertor and that thing will pull like crazy

 

I had a 98 MN6 Coupe. It was basically stock with 273 gears and it was pretty fast.

I purchased a new 02 ZO6 and that car was scarry fast. Once you get use to the beast,,, the MOD bug starts to bite and now,, I did a heads CAM Fast 90, headers, tune, etc... and Im at the 450 RWHP mark. Thats FAST

You (as others have mentioned) need GEARS and a higher stall speed converter!! (that will also require some more tuning!)

Drive someone elses C5 Auto car with the gears and converter and you will see what we are talking about!

Bill

 

Thats a crazy statement considering their sub 4 second 0 to 60 times..remember that car ZR1 is20 years old with 20 year old technology... If you never thought the ZR1 ( the fastest American production car in that era , was not fast.. you have selected memory .. So back in 1990 what was fast??? a stock production car...back in the late 60's a ZL1 Camaro was a fast car .A twin turbo Porche 911 was fast but it was also 80K back then they are 120K now...but after all the restrictions ( insurance ) of the 70 we are now just slowly creeping back there. HP wise.. 650 HP Cadillacs, and Corvettes and Camaros. Back in 1990 the ZR1 was a top dog.. the closest thing around to it was a Mitsubishi twin turbo, or a Dodge Stealth twin tubo, but those cars were only six cylinders with DOHC , but they were all wheel drive and weighed as much as a freight car.

 

At 35 mph maybe your car is not downshifting. I got my car tuned and now it downshifts at 40 and below. My 98 vert has 2.73 gears and I too was dissapointed but every mod made the car a little faster. I did vararam, LS6 intake, catback, ported and descreened throttle body, tune. Now the car is quicker but it still does not burn much rubber. My next mod will be headers then maybe 3.42 gears. I am sure this will wake up the car. You should have gotten a 6 speed c5. I miss mine.

 

At 40 in second gear My 00 coupe 6 speed, will break loose, if you punch it, with the stock 3.42 rear end,with no problem, with traction control on, let alone off.

Granted, the ECS dyno tune and vararam, does help but even when stock she would pull like crazy.

 

BILL CURLEE correct me if I am wrong....... All 6 speed manual transmission C5 Corvettes came with 3:42 gears and all Automatic came with the 2:73??

 

As others have said, you need gears/stall to wake up an auto car. Can't believe you went to all the trouble of replacing a stock cam with a slightly less mild stock cam. A real cam would have made a world of difference, especially with the right gears.

 

Automatics with Z51 came with 3:15 gears. My '99 is peppy with just a Blackwing and z06 ti catback.

 

Yes you are correct! I cant do more than one thing at the same time (type and talk) and I was trying to. Thanks for the back up!

 

I learned from the best

 

i just got back from trying this.
i feel disappointed now. mine wont even come close to doing this.
my 00 MN6 has the LS6 intake, long tubes and ECS mail in tune.
i hope yours has more mods than mine.

I also think that a set of 243 heads and 02 Z06 cam should be dynoing more than 348 rwhp even if it is an auto. I have seen people here getting close to that with their bolt on LS1 after tuning. Maybe I am wrong but I have seen 01 z06s with bolts ons hit 400 (ok 398) rwhp. I would think a 02 cam would do at least 375

 

348 is about right for an 01 in an auto IMO.

As far as your car, I have seen you post this before, I think you should have your car data logged. I have had the chance to be close enough to a handful of cars that I mail order tuned and the customer stating something to this effect that you are. After being able to take a look at the car personally, I found each car to have one or more specific problems that caused the issue. For instance, very dirty MAF's, I had one car had a larger aftermarket MAF in it and the owner bought it used and didnt know. The car dyno'd 266 that way until the tune was adjusted for the MAF and it pulled 326 with just a CAI on an LS1, which I feel is normal. I had another one that was extremely carboned up pulling all kinds of power until three Sea Foam treatments corrected it.

My point being that you may be driving the car your looking to have, it just needs a minor tweak or correction. If I can help in anyway I would be happy too.



OP, we are not that far from you if you, I make it to Verona regularly in about an hour and ten minutes, if you would like to discuss some options to bring your car where you would like it to be feel free to stop in or call.




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You bought the wrong transmission.

Seriously, what is the point of an automatic sports car if you want it to be fast?