I had no idea my little 725hp car was a pretender but now I know! I've gotta get me the real thing.

 

 

Your missing my point. Since you may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, I will simplify things for you. Taking a base corvette and modifying it to get similar HP output of a Z06 does NOT get you a Z06 equivalent.

 

can we get some 1/4 times to compare the Z to a modded base c6?

 

His one llittle friend is in his hand...








His mouse.

 

Back to the original question...... the clutch on an '05 is velvety smooth. For a high performance sports car, it is surprisingly forgiving and easy to feather on shifts. The complete opposite of many other cars I drive in the course of my job, such as the BMW M3, which either rips your head off or stalls depending on how much gas you give it on release. If you have driven other cars with instant on/off clutches, you will be impressed by the Corvette.

 

More often than not, good advice can be painful...keep in mind such advice is intended to be helpful. From your description, the car sounds like a money pit waiting to happen. For openers, 2005 was the first model year for the C6 and it suffered from "growing pains." Don't take my word for it...do a search on this forum for "2005 problems" and you will learn about things like dead battery syndrome, steering wheel lock, etc. etc. Further, the car was set up for competition performance from square 1, coming with a Z51 package and then heads and a cam and a tune. You say the owner "babied the hell out of it." How do you know that? Were you along for the ride with him? Why would someone spend on heads and a cam and a tune which are serious engine mods...without wanting to experience the performance those mods provide? Which means the car was probably driven hard (like street racing, drag racing, autocross, etc.) By the way, with those engine mods, Chevy will deny warranty coverage in the event of any serious problems.

The fact of the matter is that the Corvette is a high performance car, even as it comes from the factory. If you really have a "must" need for speed, buy a later model (not '05) stocker which has less likely been beat on, and mod it yourself. But with about 400 horsepower in a car weighing 3200 lbs, the car all ready has more performance built into it than you will need on the street. And to answer your original question, the clutch on the C6 is easy to live with, and if not abused will give many miles of good service.

In any case, good luck with your purchase.

 

Nice advise, carjo.

 

The clutch may take a little getting used to but it's not exactly difficult to use....practice. I would assume anyone going to the extent of a H/C modification has beat on the car more than once. If the car is truly putting down 500 RWHP it must have an extremely radical cam. IMO just doing the top end (and with such a radical cam) may make the car somewhat less reliable. I agree, however, a naturally aspirated modified motor is 'generally' more reliable that slapping a supercharger on a stock, cast-piston engine. I can't say for the car you're considering but IMO modifications 'done right' can be very reliable (my car is proof of that). With a H/C package only I would have preferred more of a balance between performance and reliability but if you like the car buy it. There aren't any guaranties for a car off warranty so if something happens it's on you. Know however, problems happen with stock cars as well as modified cars. Enjoy your modified Corvette.

BTW...you can modify a C6 to outperform a Z06 but a H/C package and 500 RWHP do not a Z06 make. It will never be a Z06. Enjoy the car for what it is.

More than enought power for who? If you drove a modified C6 you might see things differently.

 

The C6 clutch is easy and smooth to operate. It's not like the older muscle car clutches of yesterday. It is easy on the legs and very predictible. Others have gave some good advice on what to watch out for, first year C6, the mods etc. I have a stock 07 Z51 car and I am quite happy with the power for my DD. I have raced late model stock cars (500+ HP,2700lbs) and drag raced my Dodge Challenger with a 450HP motor so I have felt some HP in my days and I can't think of any reason I need anymore power out of a street DD. I would be curious how many of the so called experts on this board could even use the power their cars come with. There are alot of talkers in the Corvette hobby. Good luck with your C6 purchase and I'm sure once you get it you will be on your way to great times cruising.

 

Hmmmm...."...w/ an Excelsior Stage 4 Heads and Cam kit pushing 500+hp on a custom tune..."

Hmmmmm..."...babied the hell out of it...."

Somehow these two statements just don't seem compatible. Good luck. I think your best bet would be to buy a totally STOCK, never tuner, nothing EVER done to the engine etc and driven by someone who is afraid of the car. Then....you can mod it until you bust the rear end or break the trans or whatever turns out to be the weak link...maybe the engine will blow too?

Good luck.

 

Oh wow, that's a comforting thought. :/

 

If you think the Mustang rattled and was falling apart,wait till you get a Corvette!
The corvettes have always been known as rattletraps.That does not make them a bad car,but if you did not like rattles from the Mustang,you will hate the Corvette.
I am on my 16th Corvette over the last 34 years but I also have a Shelby Mustang (my first),so I have more experience with rattling Corvettes than I do Mustangs.

 

Would u say the suspension in the vette is significantly better than the stang? I realize the Shelby has better suspension than the gt, but still a live axle. That was the other thing that drove me nuts.

 

To me the mods listed would be a big red flag and I would definitely pass on this car. A 2005 with that many miles is fine but a modded one with that many miles could be a huge money pit. If you have a lot of extra money left over to spend after paying for the car then you should be fine.

The stock C6 has more than enough power to get most people on this forum into trouble already and believe me after reading the forum for a while quite a few have lost control of even their unmodified cars.

I have owned around 25 Vettes over the years and never ever have found the need to mod the motor on even one of them. The biggest mod I ever did was wheels on one of them back in the 70's.

 

Noooooo...............

 

I've often wondered myself exactly what people do with the "Super" Corvettes do on the street. If your running on the track or chasing E/T's its understood what all the extra power is for, but if not.. well the speed limit is still 65mph last I checked.

I wont even dive deep into the whole "driving is so much more than how fast you can go in a straight line" argument. They we judge the size of ones cajones in the sportbike world is not how much power you can make on the dyno, but by who's going brake the latest going into turn 1 after you blasted the front straightaway at 170mph and carrying the most cornerspeed thru any given turn on the track. Holding down a gas pedal (or twisting the thottle back) requires little to no skill. Where as proper modulating the brakes while entering a corner (so you dont fly off the racetrack and into the trees) and remaining on the race line lap after lap is something that must truly be learned and a skill to both admire/appreciate. Same goes for flying thru twisty back roads, a sports car is about so much more than just pure acceleration.

 

I've been driving standard transmission cars forever. I just sat in the Vette and drove it. Clutch and shift is smooth and easy.

I think my friends Honda Civic is harder to shift.

 

Hey, congrats on your new purchase! I actually bought the same car but with only 27K on the clock.

It's not so much the clutch that you have to worry about but the rear diff & tranny. `05's are notorious for weak rear diffs. GM changed the rear diff casing after the `05 model year to a beefier casing. You can look it up on this forum and find numerous threads on this discussion.

I found out the hard/expensive way myself after my engine build. Ended up breaking the tranny output shaft. Thought is was a rear diff output shaft...but worse. Ended up having both the tranny & rear diff rebuild by DTE in Ft.Wayne IN to stage II specs.

One other note. If your purchasing a car w/ that many miles & the mods that you stated, it's probably safe to say that the previous owner was more than likely driving it on the aggressive side....ie, smokey burnouts & so on...I would and do, well not really and burnouts anymore after the drivetrain rebuilds. Very expensive rebuild and tires aren't cheap either. But with that being said, I'm sure you wont be able to resist smoking them at some stage. Just remember to turn off your traction control!

Hey didn't mean to bum you out, just wanted to give you a heads up. These C6's are great cars and a ton of fun to drive. LS engines are just plain wicked! Just tracked mine this last May and can't wait to do it again. It will a night day difference from your Mustang...and I'm not knocking Mustangs at all.

 

So I buy the Corvette Saturday, plan to take it to the dealership right after. Once I find out what's been serviced or not, ill most likely post them on this thread for your guys' advice on dealing with them before they screw me.

Might wait on the z06 rims and blackout kit as I don't have alot of dough. Besides that, car should be ready to go. Lets hope I only have good things to say from there on out. I imagine some of you senior members have seen members through the good and bad, must be kind of cool to see us buy our cars, and see what we do with them over time.