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[Z06] First Corvette... Love it! Although internet is scary.
C6 Corvette ZR1 & Z06General info about GM’s Corvette Supercar, LS9 Corvette Technical Info, Performance Upgrades, Suspension Setup for Street or Track
My oldest son served 5 yrs.. US Navy... He currently works with General Dynamics based out of Va. Does the same thing he did in the Navy making $26 per hr... Not bad for a 25 y/o kid... He still travels to Hawaii, Japan, and the West coast... My 18 y/o actually leaves tomorrow for boot camp @ Great Lakes.... Yep, Navy like his brother.. He'll be repairing, maintaining the Turbine engines on the Jets.... I'd say he has a pretty good future.
Great cars.... you'll be fine. Keep us posted... Again, a few guys on the board living in Hawaii.. MTPZ06 (Mike) comes to mind.
Originally Posted by TronC6Z
I'm at Pearl Harbor onboard USS HOPPER. Chief Fire Controlman w/ 12 yrs. Looking forward to meeting some of the members out there. Thanks for your continued service!
I'm looking currently at doing the heads at HPT in Honolulu. Just concerned about my luck.
Alot of new C6z06 owners replace the heads if they have not been done already.
OP we have core sets of head in stock we can make ready to your specs. That way you don't have any down time. Install our heads and send back your old heads for your core deposit back. We also have a head install kit that contains everything you or your shop will need to properly swap the heads (same as we do here in our shop).
Congrats on your new car and thank you so much for your service.
I had mine done by Vengeance Racing and I could not have been happier with the results. Drove down from Nashville and spent the day with them down there. They did an excellent job. Don't know if it needed to be done or not but I sure do feel better about not worrying about my engine grenading. My car only had 12k miles when they did the work but I'm sure glad I had it done.
Alot of new C6z06 owners replace the heads if they have not been done already.
OP we have core sets of head in stock we can make ready to your specs. That way you don't have any down time. Install our heads and send back your old heads for your core deposit back. We also have a head install kit that contains everything you or your shop will need to properly swap the heads (same as we do here in our shop).
I've been looking around yet and haven't found a definitive answer either way -- once heads are done, do they generally need to be periodically checked/redone or is it a one-time fix?
I've been looking around yet and haven't found a definitive answer either way -- once heads are done, do they generally need to be periodically checked/redone or is it a one-time fix?
Depends. Depends on what was done, type of materials used, simple head fix or mod (cam) the car, etc.
Valve guides normally do wear, and some alloys wear faster than others. Having said that; they shouldnt wear out in 10, 20, or even 50K miles. The average unmodified, stock cam vehicle receiving a performance valve job by a competent machine shop utilizing treated (tumble polished) OE Ti intakes (or Katech Molybdenum coated Ti intakes, or even stainless) and OE exhaust valves (or stainless) should get what is to be considered the normal useful life out of their valve guides (100K mi+). Start adding high lift cams, changing valve train geometry, etc.; then the recommendation is to do periodic inspections, and spring tests/replacements. I think Katech recommends intervals in the 15-20K mi range with their packages.
Simplest way to think of heads is like tires. They wear, and need $1000-1500 into them every so often. That is the downside of a 7krpm 505+ha n/a big v8.
This is sooo true. Think of it as a necessary expense. Peace of mind CAN be bought.
Point is a high performance 500+ hp high RPM v8 will wear faster than a corolla, just like tires on a high HP sports car wear faster than a family sedan. That being said, getting 100k out of a set should be doable.
But when someone said "one and done" that doesn't exist besides something like a rotatory that doesn't even have valve guides.
Point is a high performance 500+ hp high RPM v8 will wear faster than a corolla, just like tires on a high HP sports car wear faster than a family sedan. That being said, getting 100k out of a set should be doable.
But when someone said "one and done" that doesn't exist besides something like a rotatory that doesn't even have valve guides.
Dude, I get it. I've been in the performance car game for a decade (the aforementioned MR2's engine was built by yours truly and put down 460 wheel) -- I just know very little about LS7's other than they have a habit of chewing through OEM valve guides and information on aftermarket guide longevity has proven to be surprisingly sparse. Perhaps I should have phrased my question more specifically so people didn't think I'd expect valve guides to go a million miles without attention.
MTPZ06's post was exactly the information I was looking for.
Bluf: is dropped valves common among stock cars? How common?
Cheers all,
New owner of 2009 C6 Z06 and its been something I've I wanted to say since they used to spank my 03 terminator Cobra back in '09. Picked her up in Lafayette, LA yesterday with 19k miles on her. Stock minus the Nitto Invo tires and a CF ZR1 front splitters. I am super excited about our future together and I'm shipping her to Honolulu where I'm currently stantione.
One thing on my mind is the stories of the infamous valve guide issue with the Ls7. I'm driving her to Atlanta for the military shipping processing and I'm almost scared to death to open her up. I don't want to grenade my new baby... Do I need to limp until I get the heads addressed or should I be alright until I hit up American heritage for a set ? (don't plan on ******* her, just concerned about the evil right foot and my investment.
Again, I'm happy as hell to join the ranks
Best Regards,
Charles
Thanks for the pics. That's one sweet ride! BTW, thanks for your service!
The valve issue is real, failure happens to a small percentage of engines, and no one knows how many. Lots of people get their heads "fixed" proactively, so who knows if they would have had a failure?
Although relatively few engines fail, many of the valve guides get out of tolerance. Doesn't seem to be a serious issue (to me), since the engines generally do not fail, but a lot of people cannot tolerate an important part of their engine being out of tolerance. So, suit yourself. If you can afford an LS7 car, you can probably afford to have the heads reworked. I have not had mine done, but I only have 10,000 miles on mine, so I am not in a hurry.
To the OP's orginal question about stock cars dropping valves.
I seen on Z06 owners FB page yeserday that a stock 07 dropped a valve with 50k on the odometer. Owner was said to not never hot rod it due to being scared of the power. Which is under standable for some.
I have a C6Z with 78,000 miles on it and haven't addressed the heads, haven't had a problem yet. I'm also stationed out here at Pearl Harbor (retiring in June) and have my Z with me. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have shipped my car here... The roads here suck.
03-04-2018, 10:14 AM
This is sooo true. Think of it as a necessary expense. Peace of mind CAN be bought.
