I need to show her off!

[ZR1crusader]

I recently purchased a 1991 ZR-1 with only 12,100 miles and a decent service record history. I bought the car sight-unseen...the first time I'd ever done that...and the first ZR-1 I've ever owned.

I took a chance on it and am very pleased. The car has everything where it counts...it has a good service history and is mechanically super solid. It shows very little wear on the interior. Great bones, but it hasn't had a real detail for years. The whole car needs polish.

I started with the worst part, then engine bay. The engine and suspension were caked with dirt, grime -- even some leaves and grass. I took some BEFORE pictures...and wished I had taken more detailed photos because it was worse than I thought after I got in. In any case, I spent about 10 hours so far on the engine bay, front suspension and wheels. I still don't have everything perfect, but it looks so much better...and I wanted to share some BEFORE and AFTER photos with you all, because this forum has been a saving grace...helping me in so many ways including teaching me about the Arm & Hammer toothpaste plenum-cleaning trick. It really works. THANK YOU, EVERYONE!

Two BEFORE shots and 3 AFTERS:

[Mikey]

Lookin good!

[HAWAIIZR-1]

Congrats! Nice find and nice work! 🤙🏼


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[We Gone]

Great job! Nothing better than bonding with a ZR-1

[rush91]

Keeping showing, keep showing!! Just one of the most beautiful engines ever put in ANY car..

[conesare2seconds]

Nice work!

[ghlkal]

Congratulations.


That LT5 is looking great. Good job on the clean up :thumbsup:

[Thomas ZR-1]

Looks pretty good now!

[bb62]

Great job! What did you use to to clean the engine?

[JThomas]

Very nice work, keep it up. Hope to meet you at an event some day. Oh, and welcome to the Madness, that is ZR-1! :thumbsup:

[ZR1crusader]

Great job! What did you use to to clean the engine?

I actually used Arm & Hammer Advanced White (extreme whitening) toothpaste as per suggestions right here on this forum. I tried scrubbing with other cleaners to no avail, but I did three passes over each part with a microfiber towel and the toothpaste. That did the trick. It?s not perfect, but it looks way better than the stained original.

Next on the list is to sand down the rusty brake calipers and paint them.

[ZR1crusader]

Very nice work, keep it up. Hope to meet you at an event some day. Oh, and welcome to the Madness, that is ZR-1! :thumbsup:

Thank you so much. I?ve owned 6 other vettes in the past. I?ve always wanted a ZR-1 and now I couldn?t be happier. I am looking every minute of it. I?m still looking for a quasar blue one. I would like to buy that and put it alongside this one in my garage. I am thinking that the only thing more fun than owning a ZR-1 is owning two! :)

[Top Toy]

Great job on the clean up. Post some pics of the rest of the car.

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[ZR1crusader]

Great job on the clean up. Post some pics of the rest of the car.

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Absolutely will do. I?m taking this winter to go through everything with a fine-tooth comb. I?ll be posting pictures all the way along. In the meantime, here are a few from the day I got her delivered.

[Top Toy]

👍👍

[ZR1crusader]

I spent most of the day cleaning front calipers and the inside of the front wheels. 30 years of build up was a little stubborn, but some elbow grease and a dremel and all is good. There?s not much to show from the outside, but it?s great knowing the calipers and wheels are clean and protected ? and match the rest of the engine and suspension I?ve been toiling over.

Here are some BEFORE SHOTS. The wheels were caked with grime and brake dust...completely covered in black. This was as clean as I could get them scrubbing with a Brillo pad.

[ZR1crusader]

Here are some in-progress and AFTER shots.

[Top Toy]

A labor of love... there are no shortcuts here.

[rkreigh]

Looks pretty good now!


screw the PC I need to polish!! that engine looks great

[tiegsd]

Congrats & Welcome!

Also, appreciate the cleaning tip. My cam covers aren't gray anymore, they're light olive! Going to have to try the Arm & Hammer trick.

[G-Sting]

Great looking improvements! Keep it up!

[jcruz]

Great job! What did you use to to clean the engine?

Wow, what a difference! I'm curious too about products you used.

John

[ZR1crusader]

Wow, what a difference! I'm curious too about products you used.

John

I am happy to share. I don?t use anything special, but here?s a pic and list of all the main products I used so far.


Tub O Towels, heavy duty cleaning wipes (these are amazing...one of the most important of all the products...with the pipe cleaners, I can work them into virtually any nook and cranny to get dirt that?s super difficult to reach otherwise)
spray bottle with water (for basic clean-up)
pipe cleaners (to reach areas that I couldn?t get by hand)
detail brushes (for cleaning fine crevices)
wire-bristled brush (for caked-on grime)
microfiber towels (for plenum and wipe down on every part)
Arm & Hammer toothpaste (for cleaning the plenum)
Meguiars Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer (not pictured but used on the hoses and plastic parts of the engine bay to give them a rich black finish after having been cleaned with the cleaning wipes)
A LOT of elbow grease!!!

[ZR1crusader]

More progress on the ZR-1 detailing. I decided to redo the calipers. I stripped them down again and repainted them silver and the brackets black.

[HAWAIIZR-1]

Nice detail and work there!! [emoji1303]🤙🏼


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[bowtiguy]

For those of us who have been there done that, front suspension bits look great!

[ZR1crusader]

The weather has been so incredibly frigid over the past weeks that I haven't been able to get into the garage and work on the Z...but this weekend finally broke way to warmer temps and today I finally made some progress. I detailed the rear suspension. It's a lot of work, but I'm loving it. Here are some BEFORE pics:

[ZR1crusader]

And here are some of the AFTERS:

[G8nightman]

Very nice what did you use on the plastics?


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[ZR1crusader]

Very nice what did you use on the plastics?


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I used Meguiar's Plastic Restorer.

[RogerZR-1]

I used Meguiar's Plastic Restorer.

This stuff works really good.

Car looks great.