Changing Early ZR-1 Instrument Panel to Late One

[DRM500RUBYZR-1]

Originally Posted by Erik

Marty, I'm guessing you are trying to be helpful, but you are coming incredibly close to sounding really condescending.

This might amaze you, but this is not my first car, my first performance car, my first Corvette or my first C4. I'm driving it daily right now, in New Brunswick, in December, to learn and connect with the car while I can before the snow hits. I'm looking for flaws, weaknesses and things to be corrected over the winter. There are actually very few things about it from a design perspective that bother me. But yes, the instrument panel colour choices are just plain stupid and don't work. You know who agrees with me? The Corvette team at GM. They walked this colour combo back almost immediately and stopped tinkering once they got it properly sorted, in white on black. Not coincidentally, the same colour combo used in every other serious performance car. Why? Because it works. It's quick and easy to read at a glance. Which is the goal of any instrument panel, especially in a car you are driving fast. Plus, that grey plastic just looks cheap.

I've never been a NCRS kind of guy, so I'll never take it for judging. If I can do some minor tweaks to make it work better for me, then I will. And yes, popping out the gauge cluster from and earlier C4 and popping one in from a later one is not a major mod. It will look factory, because it is factory. I've been looking at pricing already, and it won't be expensive. So I get to tinker with my car, I get to do it pretty inexpensively, and I get a car that works better for me. How is this a bad thing?

And the shift knob? I'm undecided on that. I'm just enjoying the wonderfully mechanical feel of operating the transmission right now.

How about you do what you consider to be fun and worthwhile with your car, and I'll do what I find to be fun and worthwhile with mine. And I promise, I wont pop by your threads a tell you why what your doing is wrong.

Well, thank you very much for your kind comments.

However, if you have issues over the coming years, I will still do my best to help you should you ask.

Likely you never drove one with an improved shifter, correct?

Get you car running correctly, then fuss with whatever.

I am not amazed, and you may recall or perhaps re-read and see that YOU did ask for the suggestions, which I politely offered.

Have a better day.

Marty

[Erik]

Originally Posted by DRM500RUBYZR-1

Well, thank you very much for your kind comments.

However, if you have issues over the coming years, I will still do my best to help you should you ask.

Likely you never drove one with an improved shifter, correct?

Get you car running correctly, then fuss with whatever.

I am not amazed, and you may recall or perhaps re-read and see that YOU did ask for the suggestions, which I politely offered.

Have a better day.

Marty

My day is great. I'm gonna take a ZR-1 for a drive on some beautiful, winding country roads on an unseasonably warm, sunny day.

If you check back, I asked people who had done this mod for their thoughts and recommendations on doing so. I sure don't recall asking if anyone felt doing this mod was foolish. Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider it to be polite to hop into a thread and tell a guy he's wasting money because he isn't modding things on his car, for his time, effort and money, the way I want him to.

I have not driven one with a modified shifter, and I do hope to do so. It's certainly an improvement I can see doing.

Have a great day too. With any luck, Maybe you can stop someone from enjoying a meal you don't like.

[WARP TEN]

Just to add my little bit, I found one of the best modifications to both my '93 and '95 was the addition of a short throw shifter. Vastly improved the feel of the car. And in the old days of using CDs a lot, I found that with the stock shifter, if I had a CD sticking out of the unit, I would hit it when shifting into third. Short throw solved that. But by far the most important improvement was that of shifter feel and quickness. I used a Hurst shifter for both cars but Bill Boudreau's short shifter is as good or better. I had Marc use the stock shift knob so unless you shifted it, it was hard to tell it wasn't stock (first picture), although the stock shifter is a bit taller (second picture). Next most important mods were the 4.10 gears and a Corsa exhaust, although as many know I eventually returned to stock exhaust with electric cutouts on the '95.--Bob

[Erik]

Originally Posted by WARP TEN

Just to add my little bit, I found one of the best modifications to both my '93 and '95 was the addition of a short throw shifter. Vastly improved the feel of the car. And in the old days of using CDs a lot, I found that with the stock shifter, if I had a CD sticking out of the unit, I would hit it when shifting into third. Short throw solved that. But by far the most important improvement was that of shifter feel and quickness. I used a Hurst shifter for both cars but Bill Boudreau's short shifter is as good or better. I had Marc use the stock shift knob so unless you shifted it, it was hard to tell it wasn't stock (first picture), although the stock shifter is a bit taller (second picture). Next most important mods were the 4.10 gears and a Corsa exhaust, although as many know I eventually returned to stock exhaust with electric cutouts on the '95.--Bob

Thanks.
I will definitely keep that in mind. I saw Bills short shifter on his website, but it's good to get some feedback. I like how stock you kept it looking.

It is pretty silly how tall first gear is, isn't it? I do most of my two lane driving in third. And I'm already hunting for a Corsa. GMTA and all that .

[DRM500RUBYZR-1]

Originally Posted by Erik

While I responded to the major part of your question in the post above, I was just curious what you would consider the good bang for the buck mods.

Guess that wasn't you asking for suggestions.
Perhaps you were hacked.
Glad to hear you are enjoying your day.
Oh, and order the filet, it's extremely good today.

Marty

[Erik]

Originally Posted by DRM500RUBYZR-1

Guess that wasn't you asking for suggestions.
Perhaps you were hacked.
Glad to hear you are enjoying your day.
Oh, and order the filet, it's extremely good today.

Marty

No, from the above it's pretty obvious that I was not asking for suggestions. I was just asking for clarification on your part as to what you thought was a good bang for the buck mod, rather than what you thought of my planned mods. Pretty clear, actually.

Btw, what makes me so lucky as to be deserving of your trolling efforts this week? It's been obvious from the beginning that you have no interest in the mods that I am interested in and that we are discussing in this thread, hat you feel they are a waste of time, effort and money, and that you have decided that you need to point out the error of my ways, and those of some others who have either done them or have been interested in them. So did I win a prize of some kind? Do you just troll people randomly? Is it slow season, and you are bored? Or better yet, no need to answer and just leave us to discuss the stuff that interests us, and is so unpalatable for you.

[DRM500RUBYZR-1]

Originally Posted by Erik

No, from the above it's pretty obvious that I was not asking for suggestions. I was just asking for clarification on your part as to what you thought was a good bang for the buck mod, rather than what you thought of my planned mods. Pretty clear, actually.

Btw, what makes me so lucky as to be deserving of your trolling efforts this week? It's been obvious from the beginning that you have no interest in the mods that I am interested in and that we are discussing in this thread, hat you feel they are a waste of time, effort and money, and that you have decided that you need to point out the error of my ways, and those of some others who have either done them or have been interested in them. So did I win a prize of some kind? Do you just troll people randomly? Is it slow season, and you are bored? Or better yet, no need to answer and just leave us to discuss the stuff that interests us, and is so unpalatable for you.

Yes, certainly award yourself a prize of your choice!
No trolling here.
By all means mod as you see fit, which must have been said at least 3 or 4 times to you in posts, as well as wishing you well with your changes.
Guess you continuously missed that.
As you own the car longer, you will personalize it more and more, and that is a good thing.
The longer you own it, you will develop a deeper trust with the LT-5.
As that happens, that trust will have you focusing on the gauges far less, as they will consistently be in the the proper ranges, and allow you to enjoy the driving experience even more.
That was also the purpose of my suggestions from 28 years with the ZR-1, which were certainly not meant the way you implied.
6,000 ZR-1s have the orange, only the last 900 or so had the white, and after 30 years with the car that has not been a very common complaint.
No matter.
You are entitled to be critical of your own car.
Trolling?
Just trying to help another new owner as I have done for others, but fear not.
I have no further interest in helping someone with such a huge chip on their shoulder.
Enjoy your ZR-1, but by all means replace the starter first.

Marty

[DRM500RUBYZR-1]

"What we've got here is failure to communicate." In the 1967 Paul Newman movie classic, that memorable line is used by Captain to justify beating Cool Hand Luke.

Unlike the Captain; My goal was to help.
Erik found some of what I said to be critical or condescending.
Both of those were the farthest from my intentions.
However, my late mother used to say that " The road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions".

Failure to communicate is never entirely the fault of the listener.

George Bernard Shaw, the famous Irish playwright, said: "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."

Kindly accept my apology for the misunderstanding.

And that extends to members reading as well.

I will return to helping all as best that I can, and be more careful in my tone.

Erik, Enjoy that ZR-1!
I hope that you had a nice drive yesterday as you had planned.
About time I pull mine out again for some needed "ZR-1 Therapy".

Marty

[secondchance]

Good call, Marty!
We are all stressed due to COVID.
BTW - dual mass you sold me at a great price is having a fine life as part of my LT5. Thank you.

[Erik]

Originally Posted by DRM500RUBYZR-1

"What we've got here is failure to communicate." In the 1967 Paul Newman movie classic, that memorable line is used by Captain to justify beating Cool Hand Luke.

Unlike the Captain; My goal was to help.
Erik found some of what I said to be critical or condescending.
Both of those were the farthest from my intentions.
However, my late mother used to say that " The road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions".

Failure to communicate is never entirely the fault of the listener.

George Bernard Shaw, the famous Irish playwright, said: "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."

Kindly accept my apology for the misunderstanding.

And that extends to members reading as well.

I will return to helping all as best that I can, and be more careful in my tone.

Erik, Enjoy that ZR-1!
I hope that you had a nice drive yesterday as you had planned.
About time I pull mine out again for some needed "ZR-1 Therapy".

Marty

Hi Marty.
The offer I made in my PM still stands. I'll happily give you a call and have what I'm sure will be a wonderful chat.
Let me up it a bit. Once this Covid thing passes, let's get together for a bite sometime. I'm buying. You pick the joint.
I certainly can't say that I brought the best of myself to these posts, nor did I give you the benefit of the doubt.
And yes, I had a wonderful drive. I've done more exploring of back roads since I got the ZR-1 back then I did in the last 6 months in my Mustang. The Corvette is just a thrilling drive in a way that the new Mustang just can't match, even if on paper, it does everything better.