Best regards from the Autobahn :)

[Matt B]

So... The re-work progresses... I already spent a substantial amount of time on my new ZR. I cleaned all brake calipers, suspensions links, etc. from what the age brought, put fresh clutch fluid to the reservoir, replaced plugs, brake fluid and drive belt/pulley, had control head and CDM fixed, cleaned and re-finished the seats, replaced the sealed beams by legal H4 inserts, installed a new hatch weather strip, hood support and rear fog lamp. Also I bought new Michelin tires and a speedometer calibrator.
Loads of work to do to a very scruffy car. Currently I'm trying to remove the exhaust to give it a fresh paint job. Issue is that my Z came from NJ and was exposed to salty sea air it's whole live...
Just last night I found out that the rear right Bose amp is no Corvette amp, both left hand side amps don't work. So now I will buy new rear amps for Dr Don and have the front ones fixed.
In 2 1/2 weeks I will have her examined by TUV, our local authority to make a car road legal. Still a way to go, fingers crossed I'll be successful.
Anyway, she's an amazing car and I'm confident we'll be great friends once everything is up to date.

Next steps will be: replace transmission fluid, refresh steering fluid, replace cam sensor by one made by Phil, change coolant, fix audio, run her!!!!

I'll keep you posted!

[Matt B]

So... The story goes on. While the new camshaft sensor is on it's way (thanks, Phil!) I pulled the exhaust as planned and cleaned and nicely repainted the mufflers.
Don't ask me why - but I had a look into the cat tubes and discovered the driver's side cat to be broken. The monolith has become lose, doesn't make sense to proceed here. So I pulled the left side manifold today, right side to follow tomorrow. I intend to have metal based monoliths inserted as leaving cat out is no option over here. My connection to this Corvette is already way more intimate than I thought it would be...
Isn't that great?

More to come. My target is to have the legal inspection done in 2 weeks and hopefully get her road legal on first attempt. Fingers crossed!

[Matt B]

So... More progress. We've had a rather cold week so working wrenches was all but ideal for me. Nevertheless my Z went on! Thanks to the great support by a German ZR brother I had the chance to replace my broken driver's side cat with a used (but great) original part. Work wasn't actually too bad, only the lower front bolt (the one next to the steering gear) is a nasty beast - as is getting the big center nut back onto the stud. It took me a few hours back an forth but wasn't the worst thing I ever did.

In parallel I repainted the mufflers and had some the cracked welds around the silencer redone.
Moreover I took out the two beams that connect front and side crossmembers to fully re-tighten the oil pan. Following that I used gallons of break cleaner to remove the leftovers of a cracked cam sensor and leaking oil pan from all under the car. Ah, and I also drained the tranny to make room for fresh fluid.

Today the replacement cam sensor by Phil has finally arrived, so tonight I will plug this one in, add the Ecklers speedo module and mount the inner fenders on both sides. And maybe, if there's time left, I plan to mount the exhaust as well.

So only a few miles to go for me. Rear fog lamp, German road legal parking light assembly, and rebuilding the interior after all electrical work was done. Tuesday next week is her big day - 9 a.m. she will be inspected by an official inspector to judge whether or not she's ready to hit the road. At least the weather forecast agrees that it's gonna be a great day

Gents, I can't thank enough for that forum! Besides the plenty of questions I asked (and all of which were answered perfectly well and kindly) I found so much just by research and digging in the crates of that huge pool of knowledge. It's a great community and huge factor in a satisfying ZR-1 life!

[ImpalaDave]

Welcome to the brotherhood! I enjoy reading your enthusiastic posts detailing all the maintenance work you're doing on your new baby. I am also a new ZR-1/C4 owner. These are amazing machines and I'm excited for you to finally be able to drive it! A note about flushing the clutch fluid - if you can, crack open the bleeder on the slave cylinder with a brake bleeder bottle/hose attached and slowly pump the pedal a few times, then check your clutch fluid level. Continue the process until the fluid is clear. It's similar to bleeding brakes but a little easier. This process will guarantee that you have flushed out the old fluid. I haven't done this on my Z yet but I assume it's the same as any hydraulic clutch system. Enjoy and have fun!

[Matt B]

Thanks, Dave! I'll definitely try this. When working on my reverse light switch I asked myself "Why the heck don't I use that bleeder valve?!?" as the drain/refill process of the reservoir has only a mere effect on the whole system.
Also thanks for your nice words. Actually I was intended to follow up my story here, but in the end this car caused way more white hair than I expected. Let's put it that way: I'm definitely having a "run". One of the nice highlights was that the dudes at my appraisal office forgot (no kidding...) my appointment. So... I pulled her back on the trailer and took her home.

I however eventually finished my work in the meantime, which includes fresh fluids for power steering and transmission. For the latter I decided to go with the 5W30 recommended by Marc but will test and compare Castrol 20W60 (or 10W60?) next time. Technically my ZR is now ready, including rear fog lamp and a nicely repaired Bose system. Unfortunately the latter broke down after only 2 cycles. But I ran out of patience and will not touch it again for now. I opened a separate threat on this.
Now I'm focussing on making her bullet proof, e.g. by installing the recommended clutch switch bypass relay.

Interestingly I got in contact with the brother of the previous owner. He sadly confirmed that the gentleman has passed last November, which must have been right after I purchased the car. I never met or spoke to him, but now I have a piece of his legacy so I will treat it with the necessary respect.
On the other hand he also confirmed that the previous owner bought the ZR new (which to me was always a bit blurry as the title was issued in 1995 with no indication of what happened before that day). And, even more interesting and important, that the injectors were replaced by "ZR-1 Net Registry recommended" parts. Good news, at least one topic less on my list...
And maybe, if only I have some luck, the family will find the lost binder with all the documents, invoices, etc. that is supposed to exist. Fingers crossed.

So... Wednesday is the day. I'm really excited as it's hard to tell if she will pass the emissions test, all brakes are as they should an all Euro Conversions are done properly. It's always a thrilling experience. After 3 months of intensive care, setbacks and surprises my ZR now needs to offset my pain with positive experiences.

[Matt B]

Well, finally... After a couple of painstaking months of work I went to the federal inspection last week. Everything was set perfectly well, all fluids replaced, lights and switches testes, new L/H side converter to ensure emission compliance, fresh tires, speedo calibrated to match the 335 rear rubber, European light conversion, all documents in place etc.

So we put her on a trailer and proudly carried her to the inspection. Everything was so good! Brakes perfectly aligned, test ride must have been awesome (considering the fat grine on the guys face), she performed really well. In emissions she did so well, that one particular test couldn't be done because after being stressed with sudden extra load (brakes, A/C, lights on) the engine returned to perfect parameters SO quickly that recalibration of injection and ignition was done before the test could start. So that could have been a perfect pitch ... if not the stoplight switch had stopped working

Okay, no big deal. It's easy to fix these switches. But sadly we could not finalize the inspection and I missed my appointment to get her licensed. Over here federal inspection and licensing are two different pair of shoes and thanks to covid there is no more spontaneous "just go there and get it done" licensing.

Anyway, after having fixed the switch in the evening I got my documents the next day and next Thursday will be the day to put plates on her and finally get her on the road. I will send pictures as soon as the weather allows.

Let me also say a big thank you to all of you here and this amazing brotherhood. I'm new to ZR-1 and Corvette in general, the closest I have to my Vette is a 1988 Caprice (it's a Chevrolet, it's red and it has a V8). So the advice, help and inspiration I found here were a key success factor to achieve the current status. My ZR is a great car but was not really taken care of for a while. Now she's up to date, at least for the moment.
Based on my recent experience I expect more issues and trouble to come. But I know that I'm in the right community to overcome whatever may be down the road.

[garyhugo]

Well done Matt and welcome to the greatest C4 ZR-1 club on the planet. Now start enjoying it!

[dredgeguy]

Congrats Matt and glad to see you have her ready to go. One thing about these cars, the more you drive them the better they perform. I purchased mine with 61,000 miles on her in 2012 and now just turned 103,000 miles yesterday. Drive it often, it reduces your stress!

[lfalzarano]

Originally Posted by dredgeguy

Congrats Matt and glad to see you have her ready to go. One thing about these cars, the more you drive them the better they perform. I purchased mine with 61,000 miles on her in 2012 and now just turned 103,000 miles yesterday. Drive it often, it reduces your stress!

Totally agree!


Sent from my iPhone using ZR-1 Net Registry

[Matt B]

Thanks all . Today my journey finally came to an end as I got my license plates!!! Not without thrilling moments, though. But successful in the end. I immediately took her for a spin, about 30mls around town. What an insane beast! I never drove a ZR before, or any other Corvette. And it's so impressive. I love the gear whine in first and second, sounds like an angry bull.
But it's also a surprisingly civilized and even more surprisingly comfortable ride. I would have expected WAY sturdier. But even in Track Mode your spine is safe. Also I was surprised about how much power she has in low power mode. It definitely feels much stronger than just around 230hp.
Now I need to carefully wake her up, as this probably has been the longest spin she was taken for in many, many years. I have to carefully burn some deposits and also follow up some issues and noises before I drive her really hard. So there still is a lot for me to be discovered down the road. But following your advice my plan for 2021 is to make sure her engine never cools down