1990 ZR1 #941 - 3600 miles journey, mechanical refresh, and full detail

[fastpace]

Initial heads up, I like to get detailed and include a lot of text, if you don't like reading just scroll the pictures and can make up your own story to them.

It all started with an ad shared to the ZR1 Connection facebook group for a 1990 ZR1 black/black with 20k miles for sale in Great Falls, MT. The car looked to be mostly stock, but in need of a little TLC but at an appropriate price given the location and condition. I wasn?t really looking for a black car, but when the right deal comes about you have to jump fast. Luckily, the person who shared also owned a ZR1 living in Great Falls, but had never seen the car before and was willing to take a short trip across town and take pictures and video for me. One thing led to another and was making a trip up to purchase the car, and then scheduling a long road trip.

Getting a car from Great Falls, MT to Houston, TX isn?t exactly an easy feat, most of the major car carriers declined to quote due to not servicing the pickup region. So we decided to go with Plan B, a roadtrip with my retired father with his 24ft enclosed trailer. Sunday night I flew from Houston to Springfield, MO, and then Monday mid-day we were to embark on our 3000 miles round trip adventure.

Our tow rig and home for 12-14 hour days over the next 4 days.


Within less than 1 hours into the trip, someone pulls up next to us yelling ?you just lost a wheel?. So we slow down and they repeat ?you lost a wheel, it?s back there by the gas station?. A bit confused since we didn?t feel anything we stop, and sure enough all the studs sheared on one of the hubs. Luckily we were just maybe 5 miles outside of Springfield which is a pretty good trailer area, so we quickly found a trailer shop who got us fixed and back on the road in a little over an hour.


From then on up to Great Falls was relatively uneventful for the next 1400 miles. Some beautiful scenary and nice flat roads lending well to pulling the trailer. After arrival Wednesday night, we pickup the car and take it out for dinner and then back to the hotel and plans to load up in the morning. Parked at the hotel, we found another Corvette traveller, a C6 from Canada parked next to us.


As you can see from initial parking under the lights, the paint is extremely marred up and in desperate need of some TLC.


The next morning, after being well rested, we loaded the car up and got it all strapped in for the 1500 miles return trip.


After 200 miles on Day 3, we heard an odd noise in the back and decided to pull over. Turns out the spare we put on after the wheel was damaged in the stud issue was 16 years old, but luckily we had another 16 years old spare to limp us the last 30 miles into Billings, MT. We called ahead and verified Discount Tire had some trailer tires in stock. As most of my experiences with Discount have been, they gave excellent service and got us back on the road quickly replacing the 2 old spares.


With 1300 miles to go, we were able to make it without any more trailer issues. Instead, as we passes through Nebraska and Iowa we had to deal with steady 20mph winds with 40mph gusts. We were right on the verge of just stopping for the night to let it pass as we made it through and into calmer winds. Made it the rest of the way back home, 4 days and 3000 miles.

[fastpace]

With the car now back at my parents house near Branson, MO, I needed to prep it for the 600 miles drive we had ahead to make it back to Houston. After unloading it we took it for a couple trips around the curves around their house in the Smokey Mountains and we both quickly fell in love with the feel and handling of the ZR1. After driving it, I told my dad he had to take it for a spin and after the first couple corners his first comment was ?Wow this feels better than my C5?.

Knowing mostly everything was in working order, I wanted to just make sure I was confident in the fluids, filters, and fuel system. So we put it up on the lift and changed: fuel pump to single conversion (thanks Flyman 27 for putting together an awesome kit), new FIC primary and secondary injectors, fuel filter, engine oil and filter, trans fluid, spark plugs, coolant, air filter, brake and clutch fluid, and installed a Haibeck Performance Chip.

In addition, on the drive we found that the cruise control wasn?t working, a 600 miles drive to Houston without cruise didn?t sound fun so was determined to find the issue. After some searching, found a hole in the vacuum line running to the diaphragm near the battery, a new hose and we were back in service.

[fastpace]

With the car now in a better known mechanical state, she was ready for the 600 miles drive to Houston. The trip went off without much issue and was quite surprised to get 26 mpg which included some in-town driving to stop in Texarkana for the Bandit Run car show for a nice lunch break.

With it back to Houston, I would be embarrassed to take the car to any shows in the current state of appearance, so off we started on cleaning up the engine bay and paint.

A few pictures of the paint after a fresh wash and decontamination prior to correction.






The first of polishing compound showed this car was really going to come back to life with a little elbow grease.



After pictures following the full detail. Products and steps listed by area.
Paint - Meguiars 105 and 205 compounds, Jescar Powerlock Sealant, and Collinite 845 Wax
Engine Bay ? Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner to remove contaminants, Meguiars Hyper Dressing on engine rubber and plastics, Carpro Perl on wheel liners and external trim
Interior ? Leatherique on seats and leather surfaces, Nextzett Cockpit Cleaner on plastics, and Stoners Invisible Glass

[fastpace]

[fastpace]

Lastly, the original owner kept a lot of the dealer prep information and cards that were on the car. Has truly made for an interesting set of documentation to keep with the car. Please excuse the wonderful camo duct tape someone decided to use to repair the pizza box hinge.

[fastpace]

[fastpace]

[fastpace]

My next task is going to be going around and starting to photograph the various dates and tags still on the car. I have seen a significant number of original tags and hand written dates on parts around the car in the process of cleaning it up.

[JT ZR-Won]

Wow, awesome story and great documentation. The before and after photos are a huge difference! Congrats!

Jay

[dredgeguy]

Outstanding and congrats!