Drove my 1st ZR-1 - WOW

[sledutah]

Hello all,

Been looking to buy a ZR1 for the last month or two. Drove my first one a few days ago. WOW, it was just what I expected and more......... Drove to Boise (350 miles each way) on the Harley to have a look. It is a '91 w/85K miles. It ran GREAT and strong. They want $19,900 for it. I have been looking at some with less miles that I think I can get for not much more.

The one thing that has me wondering (maybe someone could help out!!) The plenum and valve colors have a light green tint. It looks like paint. I'm not sure why anybody would paint them light green, the car is Black/Black. If I was too purchase this one, I would want them to be stripped and back to silver. What is involved in this? Is it worth the cost/time to do it.

I haven't driven anything with that much power since I sold my '70 Torino Cobra w/429 SCJ w/ram air Could light the tires up going into 4th.

Thanks,
Craig

[We Gone]

Should be silver..some one may have cleaned with the wrong type cleaner

I have seen many that get this green tint, by the way it is only painted silver.

Good luck in your hunt and welcome.......

Steve

[tomtom72]

...can cure a bad day! Tell me you didn't have a grin big enough to swallow your ears? Welcome to the club!

I'm just a rookie owner, less than 9 mos, so I don't have much on the tech side. I'll offer up this thought for you to consider. I bought a low milage 90 over Christmass 04. 9200 miles from the original owner & paid 25K. Now I will have to address all the common repairs that would have been done if the car had had more normal milage on it. I got to use it a good bit before the problems cropped up. My point is if you get one with 35K miles down to about 20K miles on it you may be better off. Most of the common things will have been done and it will be used to being used. Just a thought.
Anyway good luck in your search & welcome to the neighborhood!
Tom

[Z Factor]

Originally Posted by sledutah

The one thing that has me wondering (maybe someone could help out!!) The plenum and valve colors have a light green tint. It looks like paint. I'm not sure why anybody would paint them light green, the car is Black/Black. If I was too purchase this one, I would want them to be stripped and back to silver. What is involved in this? Is it worth the cost/time to do it.

Hello Craig, and welcome to the forum.

The light green is not correct for the ZR-1 regardless if it was painted or affected by an improper cleaner(I suspect the latter). As to the cost and time being worth it, I'd say yes it is. The LT5 has to be one of the best looking engines on the planet, and we ZR-1 owners are always proud to open up the hood to show it off.

There are plenty of ZR-1 tuners that will power-coat them back to the original color, or even a custom color if you wish. Many people opt to have the plenum and injector housings P&P at the same time for performance gains. There are also several members here on the forum such as Jeff (Jeffvette) who do the powder-coating. Although I have not had him do mine, I have heard he does a very nice job, so drop him an PM and inquire as to cost.

You may wish to use the need to repaint as a bargaining chip in your negotiations.

Good luck, and let us know when you pick one up.

[Kevin]

Jeff will be doing my motor when the time comes. But you are looknig at $450-1500 to get the top end/cam covers done.

[Nick]

Welcome to the Forum. While I would not be afraid of a car with 85,000 well maintained miles (if in fact it WAS well maintained), I think if you have located other cars with fewer miles for not much more money, you should take a hard look at them. Let us know what other cars you are looking at.

As for re-doing the engine finish, Jeffvette does an excellent job. I let him practice on mine, and now he's an expert, and very $$ reasonable. Take a look for your self:

[sledutah]

Originally Posted by We Gone

Should be silver..some one may have cleaned with the wrong type cleaner

I have seen many that get this green tint, by the way it is only painted silver.

Good luck in your hunt and welcome.......

Steve

It looks like it was painted or powder coated. It is a even color over the plenum and the valve cover. I forgot my camera and the pictures the dealer has posted on their webpage are not clear.

Thanks,
Craig

[sledutah]

Originally Posted by tomtom72

...can cure a bad day! Tell me you didn't have a grin big enough to swallow your ears? Welcome to the club!

I'm just a rookie owner, less than 9 mos, so I don't have much on the tech side. I'll offer up this thought for you to consider. I bought a low milage 90 over Christmass 04. 9200 miles from the original owner & paid 25K. Now I will have to address all the common repairs that would have been done if the car had had more normal milage on it. I got to use it a good bit before the problems cropped up. My point is if you get one with 35K miles down to about 20K miles on it you may be better off. Most of the common things will have been done and it will be used to being used. Just a thought.
Anyway good luck in your search & welcome to the neighborhood!
Tom

Yes I did From the ride up and back and especially the Z....

Thanks for the tips, I appreciate them. What type of work did you need to do with that low of mileage? I'm looking at cars in the 35K-70K (mileage) range. Any lower than that, it looks like the price jumps up. It sounds like you got a good deal with that low of mileage.

Thanks,
Craig

[sledutah]

Kevin and Z-Factor:
Thanks for the tip. I may contact him if I need to.

Craig

[sledutah]

Originally Posted by Nick

Welcome to the Forum. While I would not be afraid of a car with 85,000 well maintained miles (if in fact it WAS well maintained), I think if you have located other cars with fewer miles for not much more money, you should take a hard look at them. Let us know what other cars you are looking at.

As for re-doing the engine finish, Jeffvette does an excellent job. I let him practice on mine, and now he's an expert, and very $$ reasonable. Take a look for your self:

That is what I'm looking for It looks great.
I've had my eye on a '90 in Vegas (not too much info ). Had a friend (He pointed me to ZR1.net) look at it for me. I'm just trying to get them to lower the price alittle more. I've been watching it for a month now, so we'll see.
Thanks,
Craig