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I just bought a low mileage car from Texas. The only problem (s) is it's 17 years old and only has 27000 miles on it. It looks good inside and out BUT the dealer said it idles rough due to a replacement Cam shaft. It also has straight pipes behind the cats which I THINK are still in place. I'm old and I've been out of the performance car field since the 70s. I was just wondering what you guys thought about maintenance at this point? I'm getting the oil changed tomorrow. All the aluminum wigs me out as far as possibly stripping something out. I cleaned the Calloway filter on it which was a b_tch to put back on straight. The guy at Calloway said the guy who installed it may have been off a bit on the installation. I still was only able to get 3 out of 4 screw down bolts to tighten up correctly. Sorry about the long post but I'd REALLY appreciate any advice or input you might have for me. Thank you
Wish you were closer to Atlanta. We’d meet up and have a line of communication for repairs.
The cam may indeed be a donkey dick stuffed in that engine (poor choice) bigger than it should be. Sometimes tuning can help, sometimes it’s the wrong cam, period. Any idea on the cam specs?
You can always change it to something else.
The Honker isn’t a user friendly intake, to be honest I don’t like it (compared to others) including how you have to butcher the radiator valance upon install, and I say that as a guy that met Callaway and drove his personal C6 with him riding shotgun. Highest respect for Reeves, just not a fan of that intake in a C5.
You’ll have plenty of questions. The Advanced Search can answer many of them. Feel free to PM if you’re stuck and nobody has an answer within a few days.
Tomorrow I'm getting the oil changed and the Vette specialists are going to look it over for me. I can do the fluids. I'll probably change the belt and coolant hoses. They look good but...the frikken straight pipes are driving me crazy! Fortunately for me it's a Sunday driver. Thanks for your help. Scott
Thank you! I'm hoping for some good news tomorrow but prepared for some stuff that needs fixing. I just got back from a fairly long drive and rowed through the gears a bit. Man this thing is fast! It just screams above about 4500 rpm. My f_cking ears are literally ringing right now! That exhaust has to be fixed. I'll try to get some pictures up later. I'm low tech but hopefully my son can help me. Scott
If you haven't been involved in the "car scene" since the 70's and you don't do your own maintenance that 17 year old car can get quite expensive when things break...sometimes it's an electrical nightmare so if you're not good with a DVOM brush up on your "electrical 101" !!!...not to burst your bubble !!!
Does the car sound like it had a cam (lopey) or does it just idle rough? If just a rough idle, look for air leaks in the cold air intake. You mentioned you had a hard time buttoning up the air filter and there may be more to it.
From time to time, I've had my coupler get partially disconnected and the car runs noticeably rougher due to the unmetered air.
Does the car sound like it had a cam (lopey) or does it just idle rough? If just a rough idle, look for air leaks in the cold air intake. You mentioned you had a hard time buttoning up the air filter and there may be more to it.
From time to time, I've had my coupler get partially disconnected and the car runs noticeably rougher due to the unmetered air.
I just had it inspected by Kaizenspeed here in the Tri-cities, they're Corvette specialists. They said it definitely has a cam so I'm guessing that could be part of the rough, lopey idle. It drops down after you stop.They said they got a couple of O2 sensor readings and thought I should consider a "tune?". They said it could be anywhere from 180 to 650 depending on what they find. Not sure why so much price variance (parts? More time? Both?) They cleared the codes and my check engine light went out. They even squared up and buttoned down my intake for me. They said I should get an axle back for my super loud exhaust but 2000 bucks! That seems awfully spendy. They do a lot of high end Corvette mods so maybe not the place to go for some things?
Does the car sound like it had a cam (lopey) or does it just idle rough? If just a rough idle, look for air leaks in the cold air intake. You mentioned you had a hard time buttoning up the air filter and there may be more to it.
From time to time, I've had my coupler get partially disconnected and the car runs noticeably rougher due to the unmetered air.
They also said the tune would check fuel richness etc
If it drops at idle coming to a stop that’s a bad tune (or none at all). You can crack the throttle body coming down to idle. Should be like a stock car if tuned right. The car needs to be tuned.
If that most basic thing isn’t done there’s a LOT left on the table. Fuel ratio, spark, throttle response delays, fans, etc are all on the table.
I have hptuners and have mine set to kill. Make the trip to Atlanta?
If it drops at idle coming to a stop that’s a bad tune (or none at all). You can crack the throttle body coming down to idle. Should be like a stock car if tuned right. The car needs to be tuned.
If that most basic thing isn’t done there’s a LOT left on the table. Fuel ratio, spark, throttle response delays, fans, etc are all on the table.
I have hptuners and have mine set to kill. Make the trip to Atlanta?
Wish I could get there! I'm going to talk to my neighbor. He might know something. The local Vette guys said 165 to 650 depending on what they have to do? Whatever that means! These are the same guys that quoted me 2 grand for an axle back exhaust system. The problem is a guy doesn't know who to trust? I should get ahold of the local Vette club or? The Chevy dealer wants 500 bucks just to change spark plugs!
HP I'll remember that for future reference!
Last edited by SAS22; Jul 29, 2019 at 11:22 AM.
Reason: Adding
Plan on $650 knowing what you already do about them. I’ve seen cars tuned at a professional shop on a dyno and the car still isn’t ideal. Just like people the same thing applies to a tune; it depends on the person doing the changes.
The repair prices quoted should be motivation enough to look on YouTube to help you do repairs yourself as much as possible.
A lot of companies make axle back exhaust systems. You could spend 2 grand on a system but there are much less expensive alternatives. Does the car have long tube headers installed? If it has a cam installed most likely it also has headers and that would impact the choice of axle back you need. You may be able to just install some mufflers on the system you already have on the car.
Sounds like they are being honest, if its as simple as a vacuum leak it will be cheap, if the tune needs a clean up more. Pick up a used TI exhaust catback off a Z06 and get rid of the straight pipes. That will take of the nasty sounding straight pipes
Wish you were closer to Atlanta. We’d meet up and have a line of communication for repairs.
The cam may indeed be a donkey dick stuffed in that engine (poor choice) bigger than it should be. Sometimes tuning can help, sometimes it’s the wrong cam, period. Any idea on the cam specs?
You can always change it to something else.
The Honker isn’t a user friendly intake, to be honest I don’t like it (compared to others) including how you have to butcher the radiator valance upon install, and I say that as a guy that met Callaway and drove his personal C6 with him riding shotgun. Highest respect for Reeves, just not a fan of that intake in a C5.
You’ll have plenty of questions. The Advanced Search can answer many of them. Feel free to PM if you’re stuck and nobody has an answer within a few days.
Plan on $650 knowing what you already do about them. I’ve seen cars tuned at a professional shop on a dyno and the car still isn’t ideal. Just like people the same thing applies to a tune; it depends on the person doing the changes.
The repair prices quoted should be motivation enough to look on YouTube to help you do repairs yourself as much as possible.
Agreed I'm going to try to do as much of this stuff as possible.I'm retired so I have plenty of time.
Plan on $650 knowing what you already do about them. I’ve seen cars tuned at a professional shop on a dyno and the car still isn’t ideal. Just like people the same thing applies to a tune; it depends on the person doing the changes.
The repair prices quoted should be motivation enough to look on YouTube to help you do repairs yourself as much as possible.
Absolutely! Can you do a tune as well as their pro shop can?