Tadge Confirms Cooling Improvements for 2017 ZO6!
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hootowlc7 (07-22-2016)
07-21-2016, 09:45 PM
#102
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2020 C8 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
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johnglenntwo (07-21-2016)
07-21-2016, 09:59 PM
#104
Race Director
It was 86 degrees....
07-21-2016, 10:41 PM
#105
Pro
Jalopnik is now reporting the same information. Nothing new, unfortunately:
http://jalopnik.com/looks-like-chevy...-pr-1784072034
I emailed with Patrick George today and he said Glucker was going to try to ask some questions while testing the GS today... we'll see if they come back with any new information.
http://jalopnik.com/looks-like-chevy...-pr-1784072034
I emailed with Patrick George today and he said Glucker was going to try to ask some questions while testing the GS today... we'll see if they come back with any new information.
07-21-2016, 11:15 PM
#106
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Furthermore, the manual Z06 and 8 speed Z06 will both receive cooling improvements as well. The cooling improvements will bring the track operating temperature threshold to 100 degrees.
And I'm sorry I mistyped 85 instead of 86.
I'm just trying to provide helpful information as I am permitted to do so. I don't get paid one cent for what I post on the forum. I just want to help my fellow Corvette enthusiasts.
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07-21-2016, 11:25 PM
#107
Le Mans Master
It may be too little too late. They knew of this problem early in 2015. I think GM should step up and offer these fixes to previous owners for free. That would restore their credibility and provide good will to these customers. I don't think its fair that dedicated track rats will have to dig deep in their pockets to make this car what it was clearly advertised to be in the first place. 
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07-22-2016, 02:36 AM
#108
Former Vendor
It'll be interesting to see how hard it will be to retrofit the new hood and ancillary pieces to the 2015s (etc). They're going to change as little as possible, generally, so there's a good chance the fenders and bumper cover won't change (but it could, of course).
I think you'd be hard pressed to find 500 owners that track Zs, let alone have overheated them. Glad they're fixing it, but they're only doing it because the very small minority are also (a) vocal and (b) get press coverage.
I can provide you with a reason not to buy pretty much any year of Corvette. Should we start with the Blue Flame 6 and powerglide? The C3 rear suspension? The Crossfire injection?
You just know that somehow fixing this will turn into a bad thing for that certain set of never-happies.
Unless you meant to say "on the track", there's something wrong with your car, then, because no one overheats a Z in normal driving no matter how hot it is. Only at the track, and only when pushed. If I can track it in 112F by short shifting I'm pretty sure you can make it to Safeway in Texas!
I think you'd be hard pressed to find 500 owners that track Zs, let alone have overheated them. Glad they're fixing it, but they're only doing it because the very small minority are also (a) vocal and (b) get press coverage.
I can provide you with a reason not to buy pretty much any year of Corvette. Should we start with the Blue Flame 6 and powerglide? The C3 rear suspension? The Crossfire injection?
You just know that somehow fixing this will turn into a bad thing for that certain set of never-happies.
Unless you meant to say "on the track", there's something wrong with your car, then, because no one overheats a Z in normal driving no matter how hot it is. Only at the track, and only when pushed. If I can track it in 112F by short shifting I'm pretty sure you can make it to Safeway in Texas!
Thanks,
Carlos
07-22-2016, 09:13 AM
#110
Le Mans Master
It appears updates will be available for current owners:
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/07/21/2...-fix-official/
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/07/21/2...-fix-official/
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/07/21/2...-fix-official/
While Chevy will apply the changes to all 2017 Z06s when production resumes this fall, we're still waiting on details for current owners. "We intend to have the new hardware as a relatively straight forward retrofit to existing cars. We'll announce timing and pricing as we get closer to the restart of Z06 production. So look for an update from us in the coming months." Juechter told Autoblog in an emailed comment. "Again, these changes are designed to improve the cooling performance on track in high temperatures. The engine will carry over its SAE 650 horsepower and torque ratings."
- How about a discount pricing on these retrofit items with free installation at your local GM Dealer?
Last edited by BOBSZ06; 07-22-2016 at 09:40 AM.
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07-22-2016, 10:31 AM
#111
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Regardless of the 5% claim, if 5% have heating issues than they all do since they are all the same design. Only the ones tracked hard in hot weather show the issue. Or is Tadge saying side by side one might overheat and the other not? I don't think so.
07-22-2016, 10:48 AM
#113
Team Owner
It may be too little too late. They knew of this problem early in 2015. I think GM should step up and offer these fixes to previous owners for free. That would restore their credibility and provide good will to these customers. I don't think its fair that dedicated track rats will have to dig deep in their pockets to make this car what it was clearly advertised to be in the first place.
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07-22-2016, 11:15 AM
#115
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Before I ever took the car to the track I added the Secondary Radiator so I don't have a baseline without that mod but others think I may not have needed to install it. The car has 13 track days on it since the beginning of the year with the last few being run in high 80/low 90 ambient temps with no overheating issues. Based on my experience my opinion is the overheating thing has been overblown by people who have never been close to a track. Do some people have problems? Yes, but they seem to be hit and miss and some of those problems may not be heat related.
On July 13th/14th I was at Watkins Glen. During my second track session the car was running great but toward the end of the session I noticed some vibration coming from the wheels. When I got back to the paddock I knew I had to change brake pads and when I took the car back on track I had a severe vibration that was causing the front of the car to move up and down. I did two laps and brought the car in to find out what was wrong. As it turned out all 4 tires slipped on the rims (one of them at least a quarter turn) and when I reinstalled the wheels I swapped them from side to side to even out tire wear. From that point on I had engine performance issues. The car was noticeably sluggish in acceleration and more than 10 mph slower on the back straight. Even just coming out of pit lane with a cool engine the sluggishness was noticeable. Performance was on a par with my stock 97 C5 when I used to run it at the Glen and it only had 345 HP. Coolant and oil temps were fine, but gas consumption went from poor to very poor. The outside exhaust tips that are usually heavily coated with black soot during track events were clean with a slight reddish tint on the perforated surfaces on the inside of the tips. I had never seen these tips that clean unless I had just cleaned them.
When I got home I talked to the dealer mechanic who works on the car. Since I didn't get a CEL he didn't think the vibration caused by the wheels being severely out of balance would have caused the knock sensors to cut back on timing. His thoughts were something was making the car run lean and maybe I had gotten some gasoline with too much water in it. He suggested running a few more tanks of gas through the car and see if that brought the performance back. The problem is I have no place to test it to find out if the performance is back until I go to my next track event at the end of September. You don't run out to your local back road and try to accelerate from 130 to 150 mph unless you want to die or go to jail.
Bill
07-22-2016, 11:26 AM
#116
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Not every car that is tracked overheats. Even in 90 deg weather I have only seen mid 220 coolant temps and mid 270s oil temps when running hard on the track.
Before I ever took the car to the track I added the Secondary Radiator so I don't have a baseline without that mod but others think I may not have needed to install it. The car has 13 track days on it since the beginning of the year with the last few being run in high 80/low 90 ambient temps with no overheating issues. Based on my experience my opinion is the overheating thing has been overblown by people who have never been close to a track. Do some people have problems? Yes, but they seem to be hit and miss and some of those problems may not be heat related.
On July 13th/14th I was at Watkins Glen. During my second track session the car was running great but toward the end of the session I noticed some vibration coming from the wheels. When I got back to the paddock I knew I had to change brake pads and when I took the car back on track I had a severe vibration that was causing the front of the car to move up and down. I did two laps and brought the car in to find out what was wrong. As it turned out all 4 tires slipped on the rims (one of them at least a quarter turn) and when I reinstalled the wheels I swapped them from side to side to even out tire wear. From that point on I had engine performance issues. The car was noticeably sluggish in acceleration and more than 10 mph slower on the back straight. Even just coming out of pit lane with a cool engine the sluggishness was noticeable. Performance was on a par with my stock 97 C5 when I used to run it at the Glen and it only had 345 HP. Coolant and oil temps were fine, but gas consumption went from poor to very poor. The outside exhaust tips that are usually heavily coated with black soot during track events were clean with a slight reddish tint on the perforated surfaces on the inside of the tips. I had never seen these tips that clean unless I had just cleaned them.
When I got home I talked to the dealer mechanic who works on the car. Since I didn't get a CEL he didn't think the vibration caused by the wheels being severely out of balance would have caused the knock sensors to cut back on timing. His thoughts were something was making the car run lean and maybe I had gotten some gasoline with too much water in it. He suggested running a few more tanks of gas through the car and see if that brought the performance back. The problem is I have no place to test it to find out if the performance is back until I go to my next track event at the end of September. You don't run out to your local back road and try to accelerate from 130 to 150 mph unless you want to die or go to jail.
Bill
Before I ever took the car to the track I added the Secondary Radiator so I don't have a baseline without that mod but others think I may not have needed to install it. The car has 13 track days on it since the beginning of the year with the last few being run in high 80/low 90 ambient temps with no overheating issues. Based on my experience my opinion is the overheating thing has been overblown by people who have never been close to a track. Do some people have problems? Yes, but they seem to be hit and miss and some of those problems may not be heat related.
On July 13th/14th I was at Watkins Glen. During my second track session the car was running great but toward the end of the session I noticed some vibration coming from the wheels. When I got back to the paddock I knew I had to change brake pads and when I took the car back on track I had a severe vibration that was causing the front of the car to move up and down. I did two laps and brought the car in to find out what was wrong. As it turned out all 4 tires slipped on the rims (one of them at least a quarter turn) and when I reinstalled the wheels I swapped them from side to side to even out tire wear. From that point on I had engine performance issues. The car was noticeably sluggish in acceleration and more than 10 mph slower on the back straight. Even just coming out of pit lane with a cool engine the sluggishness was noticeable. Performance was on a par with my stock 97 C5 when I used to run it at the Glen and it only had 345 HP. Coolant and oil temps were fine, but gas consumption went from poor to very poor. The outside exhaust tips that are usually heavily coated with black soot during track events were clean with a slight reddish tint on the perforated surfaces on the inside of the tips. I had never seen these tips that clean unless I had just cleaned them.
When I got home I talked to the dealer mechanic who works on the car. Since I didn't get a CEL he didn't think the vibration caused by the wheels being severely out of balance would have caused the knock sensors to cut back on timing. His thoughts were something was making the car run lean and maybe I had gotten some gasoline with too much water in it. He suggested running a few more tanks of gas through the car and see if that brought the performance back. The problem is I have no place to test it to find out if the performance is back until I go to my next track event at the end of September. You don't run out to your local back road and try to accelerate from 130 to 150 mph unless you want to die or go to jail.
Bill
07-22-2016, 11:28 AM
#117
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http://www.autoblog.com/2016/07/21/2...-fix-official/
While Chevy will apply the changes to all 2017 Z06s when production resumes this fall, we're still waiting on details for current owners. "We intend to have the new hardware as a relatively straight forward retrofit to existing cars. We'll announce timing and pricing as we get closer to the restart of Z06 production. So look for an update from us in the coming months." Juechter told Autoblog in an emailed comment. "Again, these changes are designed to improve the cooling performance on track in high temperatures. The engine will carry over its SAE 650 horsepower and torque ratings."
- How about a discount pricing on these retrofit items with free installation at your local GM Dealer?
While Chevy will apply the changes to all 2017 Z06s when production resumes this fall, we're still waiting on details for current owners. "We intend to have the new hardware as a relatively straight forward retrofit to existing cars. We'll announce timing and pricing as we get closer to the restart of Z06 production. So look for an update from us in the coming months." Juechter told Autoblog in an emailed comment. "Again, these changes are designed to improve the cooling performance on track in high temperatures. The engine will carry over its SAE 650 horsepower and torque ratings."
- How about a discount pricing on these retrofit items with free installation at your local GM Dealer?
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sunsalem (07-22-2016)
07-22-2016, 11:31 AM
#118
Race Director
anybody got a '17 Z06 tpw yet 
07-22-2016, 12:24 PM
#119
That would be nice, but GM might add the extra new bits (& the extra radiator already available from GMPP) as an "Extreme track pack", & make even new buyers pay for them. I don't think the "Rough track" calibration is free either. I will be ordering a 2017 Z06 & keeping my fingers crossed to see how the pricing shakes out.
07-22-2016, 12:35 PM
#120
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That would be nice, but GM might add the extra new bits (& the extra radiator already available from GMPP) as an "Extreme track pack", & make even new buyers pay for them. I don't think the "Rough track" calibration is free either. I will be ordering a 2017 Z06 & keeping my fingers crossed to see how the pricing shakes out.
Bill