Noticed something interesting on my LT5...

[1989ZR1#74]

Originally Posted by bdw18_123

Any thoughts on the dates in my above post?

Sorry missed, the previous post.

I am a little curious about the gap between the "priced date" and the block date. The price date is typically the date the car is completely assembled. There is a 76 day lag between the two. That to me would seem quite a bit longer then what I would expect. I would imagine that Mercury Marine was working at about their maximum output to keep up with the 1st year supply demands. It seems unusual that an LT5 would be out there for more than a week or so. MM was struggling to keep up with demand

From "Heart of The Beast":

"As the ZR-I was launched and demand for the car soared, MerCruiser struggled with both demand for the engine and its supplier problems. Production was falling behind demand for a number of reasons. Steve Campbell, who joined MerCruiser in the mid-Seventies, was directed by MerCruiser president David Jones to take over LT5 project management from Jim Cunningham in June 1990."

"Chevrolet could not build a car that was the class act of the world unless the LT5 was the class engine of the world. Certainly, meeting production demand was part of all this. By October 1990, MerCruiser had made up all the backlog and was producing 22 engines a day. Two months early"

So I would think a 76 day lag was almost impossible without some intervening story. The evidence is there. A double stamped block in two places 76 days after it was made. In an environment that could not keep up demand. So I revert to my original idea hypothesis. For whatever reason the block was sourced for a different ZR-1 was not used, and due to the lack of LT5 supply was repurposed for #2299.

Although I think the "Mary" failures did not start until December of 1990 so that more then likely has nothing to do with your 5/22/90 ZR-1.

FWIW here is the quote about Mary from "Heart of The Beast":

"They both heard the familiar whine of the Nippondenso starter motor of the LT5 as a ZR-I was being started up but then heard the LT5 immediate go to maximum rpm-something no ZR-I owner in his or her right mind would ever do. Behan turned to Barton and said, "I think I' ve found our problem." He walked over to the young woman starting the cars, introduced himself and asked her if she started all the cars that way. She said yes. Behan tried to maintain his composure. In all of Lotus' development and durability testing, they had never started a car in such a manner in such cold weather. Still, simply starting the engine in such a way could not explain why an LT5 had failed while still in Bowling Green. But Behan felt sure this abusive starting technique definitely had something to do with it."


I can't wait to find out why this happened, it will be an interesting footnote to the legacy of the ZR-1