How many miles, are too many?

[Dime]

I'm finally getting myself my dream car this summer for a daily driver. I was wondering what would be considered too many miles for a used ZR-1. I stumbled upon a Douge Rippie modded one that has 80,000 on her.

What would be your limit for a used z that your going to use as a daily driver?

[bdw18_123]

The LT5 is a very durable engine. They will go to 200,000 and beyond no problem as long as the proper maintenance is done. There are several Z's that are already beyond the 200K mark. Check out this page here for a list of ZR-1's that are beyond the 100K and even the 200K mark:

http://www.zr1netregistry.com/ZR1_highmileage.htm

In Dave Mclellen's book "Corvette from the Inside", he mentions that it was discovered that after the LT5 in the 90 ZR-1 that set the FIA record had done it's run, that engine had only used up about 15% of its life. That's amazing, considering that it had run at around 175MPH, wide open for 24 hours straight (stopping only for gas and driver changes periodically). To this day no production car has beat this record set by the C4 ZR-1. One-off, purpose built cars have beat this record, but no production cars off the line have.

The 80K Z you're looking at should work as a daily driver just fine, so long as it's been maintained properly.

[VetteMed]

My ZR-1 just hit 189,000 miles today. Condition and maintenance is much more relevant than mileage.

[FU]

Condition and maintenance is much more relevant than mileage.

Totally agree :thumbsup:

[sammy]

my 90 has 173,ooo miles,has made over 350 runs down the dragstrip ,last week running 11.88@120.86 mph and still running very strong

[94Admiral]

I am curious to know if there many high mileage Doug Rippie modified ZR-1s out there?

Anybody have one?

Disclaimer: I did not have good luck with his work.....

[QB93Z]

I have a 1993 ZR-1 with 108,000 and a 1994 ZR-1 with 110,000 miles. Both are running strong. I agree the proper maintenance history is the key to the "condition" of a high-mile ZR-1 more than just the milage.

Jim

[Brillo1990]

my 90 has 173,ooo miles,has made over 350 runs down the dragstrip ,last week running 11.88@120.86 mph and still running very strong Sammy are you running stock drivetrain on your Z? Just curious how strong the drivetrain is.

[sammy]

i have one of bill boudreaus blueprinted trannys in each of my zs .this one has 100,000 miles on it since bill redid it and still feels like the day it went in . the rest of the drive train consists of fidanza flywheel carolina stage 3 clutch. all u joints are the 799 series spicers. they are just the best. 410 gears were done by corey henderson . i have yet to have a failure of any kind at the strip with the blk 90 and only one 1/2 shaft ujoint failure with the 92 which was due to previous owner putting in a u joint with a zerk fitting in it .had i looked a little closer when i first got the car i would have changed it before going to the strip . oh i also change out my rear wheel bearings every 35k miles no matter what . maybe thats over kill but i feel tons safer by doing this . soon i am going to change out the ujoints on the 90 as they have almost 100k on them .also bill boudreaus beam plates on both cars .and heim jointed rear end pieces on both

[Dime]

I am curious to know if there many high mileage Doug Rippie modified ZR-1s out there?

Anybody have one?

Disclaimer: I did not have good luck with his work.....

What sort of bad luck? That's the first I've heard of trouble with DRM.

[94Admiral]

The major issue was a #1 cylinder connecting rod bearing wiped in a DRM 500/475HP package at 26k miles. I think that says enough. DRM was the only one to ever work on this LT5 and it used his PROM.

All is well now (thank you Marc Haibeck!!!!).

No axes to grind, I am just curious if anybody else had issues with DRM?

[Brillo1990]

:thumbsup::thumbsup:i have one of bill boudreaus blueprinted trannys in each of my zs .this one has 100,000 miles on it since bill redid it and still feels like the day it went in . the rest of the drive train consists of fidanza flywheel carolina stage 3 clutch. all u joints are the 799 series spicers. they are just the best. 410 gears were done by corey henderson . i have yet to have a failure of any kind at the strip with the blk 90 and only one 1/2 shaft ujoint failure with the 92 which was due to previous owner putting in a u joint with a zerk fitting in it .had i looked a little closer when i first got the car i would have changed it before going to the strip . oh i also change out my rear wheel bearings every 35k miles no matter what . maybe thats over kill but i feel tons safer by doing this . soon i am going to change out the ujoints on the 90 as they have almost 100k on them .also bill boudreaus beam plates on both cars .and heim jointed rear end pieces on both
Thanks for the info Sammy good to know. :thumbsup: