Corvettes and all things about them

Mr_Shiftright

Ah, okay, sorry, your post read like that was your opinion. Well, like you say, it depends, and small HP gains are certainly believable.

ruking1

Well, I think the real interesting thing is that the small block, push rod V-8 350 cu in V-8 has been around since buddha was a foot soldier, yet they are still able to wring out hp!

Mr_Shiftright

You can thank the computer for saving the pushrod V-8.

ruking1

#303

I am also glad the software isnt done by Microsoft!! The term CRASH takes on a whole new dimension!! Which will be address by OS 6.111112...

Seriously even our most sophisticated fighters have been relying on computers to help to fly them for years now!!

Even our 50 plus year bomber the B52H will put in close to 100 years in the air when hopefully mercifully, it is yanked from service.

avolvofan

To the Edmunds Corvette forum:

I presently am driving a Volvo that is about to have its lease mature. I have been considering leasing a Corvette coupe. However, the one thing that is a must for me is a comfortable seat (I have back problems from prior automobile accidents that were not my fault; however, the injuries remain). Herewith my question: How are the seats in the Corvette for comfort? I believe that the seats in the '03 Corvette are upgraded from the seats in the earlier models; is this true? Does anyone have Volvos in the family that can compare the seats between the Corvette and the Volvo? The best response would be from someone who has suffered back injuries (compressed disks, partially fractured vertebrae) in the lumbar area.

I do like to drive, and the Corvette would be a fun car; however, I have to take care of my back.

ruking1

#305

What I am telling you is indeed 2nd hand, told to me by a long time and avid Volvo driver with back concerns. The seat in question was a Z06 seat, so it may not be totally germane. He told me during and after a 4000 mile road trip that we took together that the Z06 and the seats were very comfortable and he was amazed he could do a 8-12 hr leg and be relatively comfortable. He stated that if it was in his Volvo that 3-4 hrs max would have been his limit. I was comfortable also but I am blessed with no back concerns. I also find what I just told you a bit counterintuitive for on the face of it, I personally would have like the seats in the Z06 more Euro and Japan like.

candyman85233

The actual lock is loose. It turns around in your hand. If I physically straighten it upright and close it, it closes fine and locks fine and opens fine. Please advise.
Thanks

Mr_Shiftright

LOCK---oh, there must be a fastening clip that holds it that fell out. Sorry I don't have a C4 in front of me but if I spot one in my parking lot I will ask the owner for a chance to inspect the mechanism for you.

Volvo Seats -- I'm with ruking here, I never thought the Volvo seats were particularly comfortable, and they seem awkward to adjust.

You should sit in a new Vette and pay particular attention to the range of seat adjustments, and also where your knees end up.

vickig2000

Hi, new here. Hubby bought me a 2000 coupe in August. Have problems with targa top (think thats what it's called) leaking when washing it. I live in sunny california so rain isn't too much of a prob. BUT el nino is suppose to come on strong this year and am getting a little worried about it. Leaks are not coming from rubber. Seems to be leaking from to clip looking things on each side of top. Any one else have this trouble? Any suggestions? Thank you Vicki

gbjerke

I recall reading that the Z06 got the additional 20 ponies from a combo of things.
10 supposedly came from the enlarged air box intake, MAF screen removal and pup cats being removed. The other 10 from a mild cam change and some reprograming of the ECU.
As to seats, I have a Z06 and think the seats are OK comfort wise for long hauls but they totally suck if you like driving the twisties...very poor side bolstering. My brother has a Vette convert and has the optional "sport seats" which are much better from a bolstering standpoint. However this is not available on the Z06.
Go figure, you can't get the "sport" seats in their sportiest model (Z06).

avolvofan

Thank you to everyone who has responded to my earlier posting. If there are others with information on the seats (especially if you have similar back problems), please post. I really appreciate the feedback. I have "test sat" in the seats of a '03 Coupe at a nearby Chevrolet dealer. The fit is good, no problem with the knees, etc. The basic problem with seats for me is that the bad ones (and there are some german manufacturers who are guilty who shall be nameless) cause numbness in my legs after only 30 minutes in the seats. Hence, the reason for my post - to find out if there are Corvette owners with similar back problems that have had good results with the sport seats on newer C-5s. Once again, thank you for the feedback.

vettes2

I don't think that the 2003 Corvette seats were upgraded from previous C5 model years.

Regarding water leaks, there are a couple service bulletins that address these issues and may be helpful:

Check here for more information:

http://corvetteactioncenter.com/kb/index.php?ownertopic_id=13

ruking1

If I understand your parameters, you want to know if Corvette Sports or normal seats will fit you during a specific time frame without adding pressure to make your back act up, as your back will act up on its own. This time frame is between 1/2 hr to 4 hrs. It sounds from your tests and folks downloading their "seat of the pants" experience that it does meet those parameters.

I am not sure if electric controlled driver and passengers seats are standard across the vette line, (Z06 electric drivers seats are standard with the passenger seat on manually adjusted rails) but I would make sure you had that option for optimum adjustability. I personally found that once I had the seat position's dialed in, I seldom if ever moved it, even with 10-12 hrs of seat time.

Mr_Shiftright

I read somewhere that the lateral support is important for comfort to the human back because if you are driving around curves and not being supported, your own muscles have to keep you straight...in other words, you are subtely tense because you don't have enough support.

avolvofan

ruking1 and Mr_Shiftright:

My understanding from reading the Corvette.com website and discussions with the sales staff at the nearest Chevrolet dealer is that the '03 Coupe comes with the sport seats as a standard equipment item. Therefore, the request for feedback from anyone who had the sport seat upgrade on an earlier model C-5. (Trying to get as close to an apples-to-apples comparision as possible.)

Regarding electric powered seats, I completely agree with the concept of power seats. I would even order the memory option - inevitably when the car is dropped off for service, someone changes the seat position to suit their size. You then spend a non-trivial amount of time re-adjusting the seat to fit your requirements again. A simple press of the memory button is all that is needed to bring things back to where they need to be for maximum comfort.

Once again, thanks for the feedback.

starrow68

Now had the Coupe for just over a year and 14k miles. Bad back started about '79 while on a trip from SF Bay Area to Washington state (laid up for a full day before I could sit in car seat again) and have had issues with long distance trips ever since. One reason we have liked to travel with our dogs in Suburbans and now an Excursion is that I can lay down in back on trips. The wife's daily commuter is a '98 V90 Wagon replacing a 745 GLE that we had from '85 to 2001 when I donated it with just over 200k miles. I could never drive either longer than 3+ hours, not due entirely to back but also leg position and steering wheel. I'm 6' 3" and around 190#'s.
I got the Vette in Montana and had to drive it back to SF, so planned 4 days just in case knowing that I would need to get out and relax every so often. On the trip back longest days drive was 10 hr. day and wife did at least 1 hour a day and maybe 2.5 hours on that long day. But I was still sitting, and surprise, no real issues with the back. I got the sport seats on both sides with electric on passenger as well. I like the driver's double bolster in the lower back and the side bolsters as well. Also as mentioned elsewhere in several posts, I got the Z51 suspension to do some autocrossing and track time and even with stiffer ride I don't see any problems. I have also taken the car to LA/Orange Co. and back with similar results, no back issues.

avolvofan

Thank you for the feedback. This is real encouraging. I think I will start getting serious about negotiating with the dealer. Thanks again for the info.

starrow68

As you can tell I went 1350 miles to get a decent deal which saved me $2k for sure and maybe $4k+ and I got exactly what I wanted. Very happy. The local dealers seemed to be more interested in moving what their buyers were ordering than in using limited order slots to fill an order for a buyer. I expect they have found that they get more from impulse buyers when the market is good and at that time, pre 9/11 it was still very good.

I found several dealers I could work with on Corvetteforum.com and I know CorvetteActionCenter.com also has several as well. Check around, they can even order for you from out of state and have it delivered to a local dealer for a minimal charge, say $125 to $250. I get mine serviced at the dealer I didn't buy from and say hi to the salesman every so often and we have talked, he was glad I got what I wanted at what I wanted to spend and as he notes the ones they have gotten in since then have all moved off the showroom floor. Can't fault the guy for wanting to feed Mom and the kids.

vickig2000

Thanks so much for your response to water leaks. The site you suggested is most helpful. We now have a starting point. Vicki

avolvofan

Thank you for the heads up. I will see how flexible the local dealers are willing to be. As you have noted, the economy is not the same as it was pre-9/11. Also, winter is the time when car demand is lowest. I will definitely do my homework and see what goal ($ off MSRP) I need to work toward. If I go out of state, what challenges if any did you encounter in getting your Corvette registered in California? Is it as simple as bringing the sale documents and a SMOG test result to the DMV and paying the registration and license fees? Is there any special ordering information when the car is ordered? I made a pretty thorough search of the Corvette.com website, but could not find anything that would suggest any problems. However, there is no substitute for actually completing the process of registering a car for which delivery occurred out of state. Thanks again for the info.

starrow68

If I had known that I could get the Smog cert. before going to DMV it would have been done in one trip instead of 2 over about an hour. It was pretty painless and the fact that I got the car shipped to Montana with the CA emissions cert option really didn't seem to make any difference. Vette's since 2000 have been 50 State certified from what I understand. However if you took delivery on the courtesy delivery plan at a local dealer that would process the delivery paper for a fee then if ordered with CA emissions you might be free and clear right from the dealer.
But that depends on finding one who will do it, I've heard several people say that Caddy dealers are more likely to do it than Chevy dealers.

99dago

I just bought a 99 vette, and noticed a bit of gear noise in the rear-end when turning in first gear. I asked the dealer and they told me the oil in the rear-end was probably old and needed to be changed. Has anyone heard of this?

ruking1

#322

How many miles are on the '99? If I am not mistaken starting with 2000 the specified 75W-90 gear oil is synthetic.

99dago

I have 27,500 miles on it. But once the gear oil gets old you start to hear gear noise?

ruking1

#324

The answer is no. There is a certain amount of marbles in a can type of noise, but since you have put app 28k on it, I would figure you would notice a difference.

Depending on whom you talk with, the upper end of rear differential oil is life, down to 25k. I would say bring the car in under warranty is in line to fix the problem, if you indeed have one or to assure you if there is none.

scissors

If the noise only happens when turning, then it is your rear end. Have the gear oil changed and the proper additive added.

The "marbles in a can" occurs in all vehicles equipped with the Borg-Warner T56 transmission. It can be heard as a slight grinding rattle when in neutral with the clutch engaged. A small rev of about 500 rpms makes it louder for just a split second.

avolvofan

After reading the CorvetteActionCenter.com article, one could reach a conclusion that the F55 option (Magnetic Selective Ride Control) is the next best thing to Antilock Brakes and the Z06 engine. Does anyone have actual "real world" experience with the F55 option? I would tend to agree with all of the positive comments regarding F51 suspension (especially when it comes time to replace the suspension due to wear/failure of components); however, when ABS was new, there were comments about what would happen if it failed (usually from manufacturers that did not offer ABS on their vehicles...).

starrow68

Shift... ; "Corvette has always had a strong club organization. I don't relate too much to clubs because they can get very pedantic about their cars. About the only club I really like to drive with is the MG people, who don't seem to care whatsoever if they have matching numbers THIS or a correct THAT. And I will go to Ferrari events because they race a lot more than other clubs."

How recent is your data on Corvette's? I have joined a club, haven't had one person mention NCRS and matching numbers in the last year. Read about it a bunch in Mags and the internet, or I wouldn't even know what you referenced. Been to 3 autocrosses, 2 to watch and one I tried out after getting a helmet and got lots of input to help from people from several other clubs. Been up to Sears Point 3 times to watch and in all 3 cases there were a handful of Vette's, several Ferrari's, a number of M3's and lesser BMer's plus many others including a couple Capri's, of which I had forgotten until I saw them, but very few Porsche's. Not to mention all the stuff from the setting sun which I have to admit I don't much look at. The race prepped late 60's Mustang with cut off hard top and full roll cage was a kick to watch. Big block I think based on hp numbers people were throwing around. Maybe times have changed some, it is always possible.

starrow68

http://www.car-data.com/xpage.news/news.template.asp?article=popular.science.awards.gm.technology.txt

starrow68

So here's another take;

http://www.vetteweb.com/features/0208vet_celebrate/

Mr_Shiftright

starrow---I was talking about older cars since I was mentioning MGs. Obviously matching numbers would not be an issue with newer cars. Most club people are nice and helpful in any event despite whatever eccentricities the cars bring out in them.

avolvofan

Thank you for the additional information, starrow68. What I was looking for in my original post was whether any member had purchased a Corvette with the F55 option and what their ownership experience with the option was like. I am a bit skeptical of "rave" reviews without confirming ownership experiences - especially when the technology is as revolutionary as the F55 option appears to be. (When everything works, F55 may well be the best thing in suspension technology; the question is how often does everything work....)

Again, if anyone has actual ownership experience with the F55 option, I would be interested to hear about your experience(s).

starrow68

http://corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14619

starrow68

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/021211/112035_1.html

avolvofan

Since we are just expressing our own opinions, it would appear that a feature of the C6 may be a "hard" convertible top. Any tidbits regarding the drivetrain (like whether the C6 Z06 will come with sequential manual gearbox, such as is available for the BMW M3...)? In any event, the post was interesting reading.

avolvofan

starrow68, I had reviewed the thread that you have posted prior to my original post on the F55 option. Hib Halverson's posting regarding the F55 option was the one that I was citing as being as profound as say, ABS in an earlier time. Based on all of the information, I am leaning toward specification of the F55 option, but will definitely get a GM Extended Warranty to cover any failure of the system. The potential of the F55 is too intriguing and I am too much of a gadget freak to pass the opportunity by. Thank you for sharing the information on Hib Halverson's post.

Mr_Shiftright

There's a very interesting, off-beat magazine devoted to Corvettes which comes out of California called "Corvette Magazine". Subscription is $15 a year, info send e-mail: forza@rossperiodicals.com.

starrow68

Not sure putting the weight of a retractable hardtop would be worth more than just a power soft top which would be a big catchup vs. most everything else. Interesting to see where it goes.

Thanks for the magazine info Shifty.

ruking1

#348

This is subject to an experts' opinion, but I heard calculated that: 1. 10#'s of additional weight equals app minus -1 hp. 2. 100#'s is equivilent of 2-3 mpg.

From a performance point of view, I think that one trend that is instructive from the Corvette Coupe and Convertible to the Z06 Corvette is that weight gained is hard to lose on subsequent models. (On the principle that: Most all features tend to add weight.)

Another trend might be the fact that weight loss is infinitely cheaper and more reliable than upping the HP to compensate for a heavier vehicle. This is very evident, say, if you compare BMW's M-3 and to me, the apples to apples comparo of BMW flagship two seater, the Z-8. to the Corvette Z06.

Or let me cut to the chase, all things being equal would you like a 3115# which is awesome, or a 2500# vehicle with the same identical engine and or HP (385-405 hp) ? Or like having 61.5 hp more.

ruking1

#349

Comparative weights: M-3 Convertible = 3781#'s
M-3 Coupe = 3415#'s
Z-8 Convertible = 3495#'s

So as you can see the range of weight over the Corvette Z06 is from 666#'s,300#'s,380#'s, respectively. If the 10#'s per minus one hp is correct, on vehicle weight alone, that is: minus -66,-30,-38 hp respectively.

On the other perspective, most if not all BMW buyers REALLY don't care. We know this by the simple fact, they buy them. They like paying more for the extra features and corresponding extra weight.

needashave

Anyone know if the GM Supplier Discount program is beong accepted by dealers on the purchase of a new Corvette?

starrow68

Some do and many don't. It depends on if they think they can move all the allotment with it or not. Since more C5's are selling annually for the last few years there are more cars going to dealers when sales in general are off some, that suggests that somebody may have a unit they are willing to go GMS on. And I think it usually applies only to inventory units, i.e., not being able to order what you want. Probably more chance you will get a dealer over the internet to take it rather than a local shop that just sells to a fairly fixed customer base, again pays to shop around.

starrow68

There is now a post on that thread with one guy's 3 month experience comment if you haven't seen yet.

vettes2

Not sure if the GM Discount applies to Corvettes or not. I believe it does. Your best bet is to contact Rick Daniel at Maxie Price Chevrolet. He's a big supporter at the Corvette Action Center and many people that have purchased new Vettes from him have been extremely happy doing business with him:

http://corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=168

bigorange30

Has anyone actually seen one of these? If so, where? I would love to see one of them in person.

http://www.avelate.com/speedsterGallery.html

ruking1

#355

After checking out your link, these cars sound like SERIOUS eye candy to me!

Actually I am wondering outloud if having a vette that generates vigorous downforce (no big visible wings for heavens sake) but (like in F1 cars) would add seat of the pants performance!

99dago

ruking1 and scissors thanks for the input. I changed the diff oil over the weekend and the noise is gone. The car was level and it seems like I put in alot more than I got out.

ruking1

#357

I am glad it worked out well for you! I also like how the measuring procedure is so fool proof! If the car is level, then pump in the 4 oz of friction modifier,synthetic differential oil and if it drips back out it is full!!! In any case the total amount of synthetic differential oil (75W-90) is just under 2 qts if memory serves me correctly!

starrow68

Link to article about C5's and new tires:

http://www.vetteweb.com/tech/0301Vette_Retiring

It was really slow to come up on my home connection. Be patient.

chevyjoe1

right now!!!!is a good time to hit up a dealer. we are all trying to get our allocations for next year. we just sold about 4 units at supplier and gms, just to move them.