LOOK! ZR-1 life in 1988: Development & Testing

[Meanmyz]

"Touch the Clouds LT5", an awesome find! After watching the Corvette Online video of Graham dynoing the Gen III LT5, this video showed up. THANK YOU Brad Reeder!?? A GM employee from the day perhaps?

Here is a snapshot of life in June 1988 for the engineering and development of the ZR-1! Later in the video is high speed testing. Watching this video brings back a little of the excitement when the ZR-1, "The King of the Hill", was about to command the automotive world stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGBhM_iq2ro#t=15

[Blue Flame Restorations]

Way too cool! Love the Dymags too.

[Meanmyz]

I did see something about desert proving grounds in the video.

[IMZZ]

I just ran across this video. Pretty neat time capsule from the development of the ZR1 in 1988. Anyone have more info on this one?

[Hog]

It's cool to see all those GMT-400 trucks all lined up for desert use. There are a couple front end designs that wouldn't make production for another 7 years. 1988 was the 1st model year for the GMT-400 truck, though the TBI was used on the older square body GM trucks in 1987.

Those were the trucks that started the sport truck craze of the 90s that saw North AMerican truck ownership dominate the sales scene.

In the 1998-1998 GMT-400 trucks:
The 88-95 got the:
TBI 305 with 170hp
TBI 350 with 200hp
TBI 454 with 230hp@3600rpm/385lb feet torque@1800rpm in the 1988-95 3/4-1 ton and in the 1990 454SS 1/2 ton with a 3 speed thm-400 trans and 3.73 rear axle, while the 1991-1993 454SS was uprated to 255hp@4000rpm/405lb/ft torque@2400rpm from the new GEN V BBC with the new 4 speed 4l80e and 4.10 rear gears

The new front ends and interiors were installed for MY 1995, and the new "Vortec" series of engine started in MY 1996 along with federally mandated OBD2 protocols which required catalyst monitoring and a crankshaft position sensor to determine misfire status to protect the cats.
The 1996-98 GMT-400 trucks got the CSFI(Centralport Sequential Fuel Injection) system on the GEN 1E SBC and MPFI on the new roller cammed GEN VI/6 BBC:
Vortec 4.3 V6 L35 200hp/260lb/ft torque
Vortec 305/5.0 L30 V78230hp@4600rpm/285lb/ft@2800rpm
Vortec 350/5.7 L31 V8 255hp@4600rpm/330 lb/ft torque@2800rpm
Vortec 454/7.4 L29 GEN VI BBC 290hp/410 lb/ft torque
Vortec 454/7.7 L21 GEN 6 BBC 290hp/410 lb/ft torque, started in 1998 and took over for the 6.0 and 7.0 tall deck truck BBCs in 1998. The L21 BBC could be run on Compressed Natural Gas(CNG) or Liquified Petroleum Gas(LPG-Propane) as it came equipped with the special valves and seats. Its longblock value was almost double that of the L29 BBC. This was the 1st BBC to get the Coli Near Plug ignition as well as Electronic Throttle Control(ETC) it used the same PCM as the 1998 Corvette, so in essence the L21 BBC "thought" it was an overgrown LS1 Corvette. The L21 uses a 24x reluctor ring that slides over the crank snout and supplies the ECM/PCM with a 24x pulse. Very beneficial to those of us who took the 0411 PCM and retrofitted it into other vehicles.
The L21 was the precursor to the GEN VII/7 BBC that came out in 2001, the L18 Vortec 8.1/8100 or 496 cid with its 340hp/455lb/ft torque.
Any remaining MY1998 1/2 ton trucks were rebadged as 1999 trucks and sold, as the new GMT-800 truck with its GEN 3 SBC, the 255hp LR4 4.8 and the 5.3liter LM7 rated at 270hp/315lb/ft torque were introduced as a 1999 model. The new LM7 and its lower 315 lb/ft torque rating @4000rpm was 15 lb/ft less than the 330 lb/ft @ 2800rpm L31 Vortec 350 that it replaced, the torque peaked out at1200rpm higher as well. Owners complained of the less than perky dead stop acceleration and "gutless" low rpm towing power. This was tempered by the extra upper rpm power that the GEN 3 engines offered the truck owner which made for excellent passing and on ramp expeditions.



I'll finish the video now.

[Hog]

1 hot lap took 1 minute 43 seconds, using 165mph, I get a track length of 4.72 miles.

Anyone know the actual track length?

[twowire]

What a cool video, thanks for sharing that