crowdsourced interactive map of "wiggle testers"
 

I bought my C6Z a few weeks ago and was eager to have my LS7 heads checked but did not want to do it myself or know who in my area could competently do it at reasonable rates. For others in a similar predicament, I thought it might be a good idea to create an interactive map of shops, independent mechanics, and other helpful folks who can perform valve-to-guide clearance measurements for LS7 owners concerned about potential problems. A quick web search revealed several free options that support crowdsourcing, so I chose one and kicked things off here. I entered a few shops to get things started, but to be useful, others will need to add shops in their area for others to discover. Thanks in advance to anyone who contributes!

"Wiggle Testers" map


Please be sure to post clearance measurements to one of the following threads!

The "In Spec" guide wear registry

The "Out of Spec" Guide Wear Registry

While your intentions are good, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

You're liable to end up with references to, and rave reviews and testimonials about, non forum sponsors and non forum supporting Chevrolet dealerships in this thread.

That can and will cause friction for it with people claiming that your actual intent was to steer business away from forum supporting vendors , and to non forum supporting rival shops and non forum supporting rival Chevrolet dealerships.

Good luck anyway though. But if you point to a map showing and potentially sending people to a Chevrolet dealership which is near to, or a competitor of a forum supporting Chevrolet dealership, or a shop which is a rival shop of a forum vendor, this might run into trouble.

Great idea since the question keeps coming up. If a forum sponsor wants to put his shop on the map he's free to do so. Forum sponsors are not immune from selling items that other forum sponsors are also selling. No difference here.:cheers:

Excellent idea, thanks for taking the initiative to get it rolling :thumbs:

Unfortunately there is no one local to me that I could add :(

I would offer one correction to what you have already; while I'm sure that WCCH in CA does excellent machine work I'm pretty sure they don't do any wiggle tests.

From the map (and granted it has just been initially populated), if you live near either coast, at least you are "close".

I mention the "wiggle test" around here (115 miles W of Kansas City) and all I get is a blank stare...

With that said, can anybody recommend a shop in either KS or Missouri that does this?

Thanks.

KSUPROF

Great idea. :thumbs:

Great idea!

wiggle testing
 

It will work only if there is ample participation. If the trend is encouraging, then another map of exhaust shops that perform the muffler mod might also be useful. And a map of forum members (at the town level) could be interesting...

There are no competent Corvette mechanics in the state that builds Corvettes and hosts the National Corvette Museum?!

Good point. Thanks for removing it, else for pointing it out for others to remove.

In The Houston area...Mac Haik Chevrolet off I10 and VetteTech in Katy, TX.

Not that I'm aware of, of course the range of my knowledge only extends to my local area, not the entire state. There might be shops (none local, I'd think, but there is a guy up in south St. Louis that does a lot of LS work) that could do the wiggle test but you'd probably have to instruct them in the procedure.

My local Chevy dealer refuses to do the wiggle test in association with any hopes of warranty work (even if you pay up front) and the regional GM rep backs him up. So... if you do Museum delivery, better hope it doesn't break down until you cross the state line :ack:

Added my dealer to the map. Great idea btw.

I know of two in CA...Abel Chevrolet in Nor Cal and American Heritage in So Cal.

:lurk:

That is a good idea...

I am lucky to have found local shop is close to me I can trust. I talked to a lot of places and most implied to me, without doing any testing, that I needed to stop driving my car before it blew up and have the heads replaced. Of the seven shops that told me I needed I chose them because they do not go into any task with a preconceived fix for any problem before they identify your problem. I asked them about the wiggle test and was stunned when out came a brand new set of LS7 heads along with a used set. I was shown how a wiggle test was performed and the intended goal. They also knew about GM procedures and the different options. Again this is in Huntsville, AL but they do not advertise being the expert. I will be using them soon to perform the test and I will post results. I got there at the end of the day and we talked for a long time about LS motors, tuning and how good cold beer tasted. It was kind of place and I can see me doing less of my own work as I found a shop to trust.

I do not own this shop nor am I being paid in any way to post this. YMMV

Roughly how much does the dealer charge?

I don't like spending money that I don't have to, just as much as the next person, but I skipped the wiggle test on my 09 Z06 with 27,500 miles and applied that money on a set of new PRC265 heads, two days after my warranty expired. I don't recall the numbers, but I seem to remember that a very high percentage of those that had the wiggle test performed, had guides that were out of spec, an ended up going with either new aftermarket heads or a complete rebuild of their heads.

I might have had a set of perfect stock heads that I sold to another CF member, and wasted my money buying new heads, but I now have 7,000 miles on the new heads and I don't worry about blowing my engine when I'm one or two thousand miles from home on a long cruise.

As discussed in many other threads, it typically costs $350 - $550 to have all sixteen valve guides (both heads) checked. The inspection stops as soon as a problem is encountered, so when correction is required, the cost can be considerably lower and is often waived if the same shop subsequently tackles the repair.

Thanks to all who have kept this thread on topic and contributed to the "wiggle testers" map to help others who want to pursue this option (sure glad I did)!