gamblelane

For peace of mind I had my 2008 ZO6 with 10,000 no track miles checked for excessive valve/guide wear. I'm leaving on a 3000+ mile trip and said it would be a good time to do it. The first cylinder had both valves out of spec, intake 8, exhaust 14. The mechanic said do you want me to continue? I went and talked to the service manager, Richie, who said he keeps a set of AHP heads in stock, gave me a loaner car to get home and said it would be done in 2 days, it was. This was the best experience I've had at a dealer. I would recommend ABEL Chevrolet to anyone , they know Corvettes and the service dept.is superb. ABEL is in Rio Vista, Calif about a hour and a half from San Francisco. Job was $4000 including changing brake fluid. The heads were AHPs stock replacements with new springs.

SSMOKE

I hear A LOT of great things about Abel Chevrolet and Richie. It must be nice to be able to take your Corvette to a COMPETENT Chevrolet Dealer. That is DEFINITELY not happening here in Hawaii.

psp6158

I've read good things on here about them, I find it amazing (In a good way) that a dealer has a set of AHP heads in stock, and the mechanic asked to continue seemingly knowing what the result was going to be. Thanks for listening and getting them fixed, enjoy the car...

captain vette

Smart move, peace of mind is priceless

BRISLS1

Two observations : 1. You are driving a C6 Z06 for 3000 miles? Own a daily driver? Rent one? Got any air miles?

2. Why would you give $4000 to a shop to take a working automobile and give it right back to you working the same way with no improvement whatsoever, and no guarantee that it stays that way? Did they warrantee the replacement heads?

This has turned into the biggest racketeering case in American history..

tommyc6z06

i did a similar thing...bought my 08Z last year from a dealer in St. John's Newfoundland (one of the owner's personal cars for 10yrs) with only 10,000km (6200 miles).
First thing I did was replace the heads with AHP and yes, a few valves/guides were just out of spec.
The work was done by my local Porsche shop who i trusted implicitly for decades (GM/Chevrolet is useless here in Montreal)

I do the odd track day and this was insurance for that and street use.

I'm not interested in further mods, cams and such as I suspect many of the failures, or let me rephrase; the shortened longevity of cars with 'fixed' heads are caused by greater lift, or more extreme valve train angles, etc. Whatever...mine is a street/mild trackday car and reliability is more important than an extra 100hp from a cam, or headers melting engine mounts, oil cooler lines and baking starters,etc.
(instead, I improved brake cooling, track rotors/pads, DRM dampers, wheels/tires)...
I'll try to drive it a bit better instead...lol

Landru

Maybe not, Bris.
Excessive guide wear resulting in catastrophic failure has been well documented.
While not every LS7 frags enough have to justify concern, if only considering LS7 replacement cost.

As an 11 yr LS7 owner w/ no issues whatsoever, I'd my heads rebuilt at 60K.
Solely because I want to keep my LS7 in tip-top condition.
I consider rebuilt heads a part of long term preventative maintenance.
YMMV

moose.b3

This has turned into the biggest racketeering case in American history..[/QUOTE]

The only "racketeering" has been from GM for not taking care of the well documented valve problem caused by defective heads.

KurtsZ06

Although all of my valve guides were in spec when my OEM heads came off, there were two other issues. Four rocker arms had lost bearings and there was a impending breach of the head gasket. So, the effort was rewarded.

The new heads, ported and polished with better valves, springs and guides make better power, are quieter, give peace of mind and add value to the Z. Cost, just under $5000.

As an aside, Z06 owners feel much, much less dollar pain as compared to high performance car owners of different brands. My Porsche went in for the 20k mile check up and all of the valves needed adjustment, the fuel pump was low in pressure and the clutch ( 6 sp manual ) needed replacement, all four brake pads replaced. $7900.

my neighbors Ferrari California had an engine out service at 30k miles. $18000. And, according to him, that was cheap.

And, neither the Porsche or the Ferrari will keep up with my Z. Big Bang for the buck.

mayracn

People drive across the county all the time in vette's. Whats the problem? Fixing worn out guides before his trip could save him a 10K engine so not sure what your getting at. Proven problem.

449er

Lol, I have a 3 yr bumper to bumper warranty currently on my 2013 427, so I am going to roll the dice & do nothing

73DBG

The only "racketeering" has been from GM for not taking care of the well documented valve problem caused by defective heads.[/QUOTE]

Fact. Not sure why people are quick to tell others it’s ober blown or internet hype....call the LS7 issue a “scam” but hand out free passes to GM like candy.....I mean we(the tax payer) already bailed those clowns out once and didn’t get **** in return. Owning up to this massive failure of quality control would be nice....I mean at this point I’d probably settle for a straight up “our bad” we fucked that up! We’ll do better in the future.

Les

If ignorance is bliss, you must be the happiest guy in the world.

OP, you definitely went to the right place. I've been to Abel twice for the same thing. The out of spec original factory heads were replaced under warranty at 26K miles if memory serves, by another set of factory heads. In less than 20K those guides were bad and the heads were replaced by a set of AHP, under extended warranty.

Abel is simply the best.

MTPZ06

Issues are widespread and well documented...what people choose to do with that information is on them.

Inspect and take action accordingly.
Just do it anyways.
Get a (very good, comprehensive) warranty.
Or simply do nothing.

That last one being my least favorite of the bunch. The only thing that still makes me shake my head at this day and age are folks that say, "my car has XX thousand miles and no issues to report"...yet they've never done any sort of investigation/inspection to validate their claims of "no issues". Kind of like someone unknowingly walking around with 90%+ arterial blockage; but they haven't had that massive heart attack yet....so carry on, all is good, right?

mkitt27

OP, good move. And enjoy the road trip. These cars are made for road trips!! Much more enjoyable than the daily driver. Unless one is going off pavement in some parks or mountains, sports cars are the way to travel.

American Heritage

Great to hear Rich Got you Squared Away!
Abel is a Great outfit and Rich is a Great guy!

We have several GM dealers around the country that stock our Heads on their Shelves!

Hats off to Abel Chevrolet/Rich and his Crew!


https://www.americanheritageperformance.com/

baxsom

I am just buttoning my AHP head replacement up now. All that is left is waiting on the intake manifold i sent to vette air for porting and I can give it a crank. AHP was incredibly helpful and answered every question I had over the phone before i made the purchase

American Heritage

Hey thank you for the nice Feedback!

We love hearing things like that as we really take pride in the way we treat our customers and potential customers.

We operate on the Golden Rule: "Treat others the way you would want yourself or your loved family member treated in the same situation"


https://www.americanheritageperformance.com/

Millenium Z06

Lol, good luck with that

baxsom

Hahaha well the tracking number does say it was supposed to have been delivered two weeks ago