New Member, New Owner, Existing Car - 1992 ZR-1

[Will69camaro]

Hey everyone, I had the pleasure of purchasing this 1992 ZR-1 from a forum member, Chuck Banks.

Chuck took excellent care of the car from when he got it in 1994 with 11,000 miles on it, through the day when he let it go to me last week with 102k!

He made a few minor cosmetic changes including the A-Molds he acquired from a GM dealer in 1994 and the side vents to look like a 1995. Other than that the car retains nearly all original components with some maintenance along the way.

Car has the Accel injectors and a replacement fuel pump (still dual pump) as well as a rebuilt Remy starter.

Back to the start!
I was originally looking for ZR-1 in the 60-70k mile range as i plan to drive the car extensively and wanted a car that has had continual use. Primarily looking at 91-92 cars as i prefer the "new bumper" to the 1990 and my budget wasn't allowing for 93+ cars!

Searching the nation on Craigslist, I came across Chucks posting in the local (to him) search! Car is in a combination I like being White on Red, very classic Corvette combination, only issue was the distance!

I called Chuck and had a chat, had all the right answers and seemed like a great collector and caretaker, so I left a deposit and started working on plans to make the long drive out to get it. I would have LOVED to fly out and drive it back, but with spare parts, tools and most importantly WHEELS, I was left with trailer option.

Started the trip on Wednesday Jan 3, by driving from Houston to Tucson. Took forever to get out of Texas (12hrs) with a total first day drive of 16hrs.

Day 2 (Thursday) I got up early to make the drive to the car (Northern AZ) and back to Tucson before bad weather hit. Upon arrival Chuck and his wife were gracious hosts and got to see his amazing garage and collection. Lots of C2s which are a personal favorite.

Quick drive in the car and mechanical check and the deal was done. Started loading it up on the trailer for return trip back to Houston. On the way I met up with a brother that was passing through Tucson and we camped out with the kids and shared/showed off the car!

[Will69camaro]

From Tucson, I deviated on the direct route to Houston to go see my parents who live in Ruidoso. This put me through some beautiful countryside going into New Mexico.

While i was passing through Alamogordo, I was reminded of childhood memories of white sands and my recent viewing of Oppenheimer and thought, I'm on no one's schedule, I'm stopping.

Quick chat with the front and asked if any issues dropping car off trailer, of course they didn't and went in to get some cool shots of the white car on the white sand!

I was a bit apprehensive about getting sand in the car, but managed to keep it to a minimum. Enjoyed about a 1-1.5hr detour on my drive, including load and unload and back on the road to Ruidoso to see family!

[Will69camaro]

Moving on from there, it was an uneventful few days in Ruidoso seeing family (Friday-Monday). Nice to have a reprieve from the driving, at this point I was just over 29 hours of driving in 3 days (Day 1 - 16hrs; Day 2 - 7hrs, Day 3 - 6.5hrs) not including the White Sands detour.

Said my farewells and started the last day of driving from Ruidoso back to Houston. Much to my surprise leaving...Snow....It wasn't expected in the forecast, just cold weather, but I was greeted with 3-4in of fresh snow upon opening the door to leave at 6AM.

Not a huge deal, but going down their mountain was a bit tricky heading down. Little bit of sliding but overall not too bad, and ZERO traffic on the road it dumped me out on so sliding through was as safe as it could have been.

It was slow travel to start for the first 2 hours until i got out of the mountains a bit and into the flats of the Texas Panhandle area. I did manage to carry a bit of snow to the Texas border, but only a little.

I got home about 10hrs later, and final tally for the trip was 40hrs 26minutes and 2,632 miles traveled. Mileage wasn't too bad consider some mountain towing in there, and I had cruise set religiously 5over, so 85 across west Texas and about 75-80 everywhere else the weather allowed.

[Will69camaro]

Where to from here?

I'm new to Corvettes and very new to C4 platform. Always been a fan and the ZR-1/LT5 has always intrigued me. Love the history and performance behind it and it being the original GM "super car."

That said I do plan to make it my own and make some changes.

Starting off with regular maintenance. I got fluids in alignment with Marc Haibeck specs (Amsoil AMO / MTF) for Engine and transmission. I will fully bleed brakes with RBF600 fluid, as well as bleed the clutch fluid. I will replace fuel filter and plugs and have a belt on the way but will inspect belt condition prior to tackling that. Believe Chuck had said he replaced not too long ago. I will check his EXTENSIVE records.

I will be replacing the hatch weather stripping with Corvette Rubber replacement that arrives this Thursday, and MIGHT change the targa top seal that came with the car. Has minor splitting but does not leak into the car.

Car is set to be dropped off this week for paint correction and ceramic coating, but this freeze in Houston may delay that a week. Not going to risk driving the car to the shop on icy roads.

After detail, the car will get tinted, not sure how dark yet, but likely NOT 5% like my F250.

From there, I plan to do a coil over conversion that keeps the FX3 shock / functionality. While the car is up, i will inspect bushings, bearings, etc and consider replacing wheel bearings with SKF and bushings with the "SuperPro" synthetic bushings. I will consider replacement of upper and lower ball joints while I'm in there as well with Moog units.

I have my eyes on a set of SW headers and Corsa exhaust, and will get a tune accordingly when that is completed, as well as rear gear change.

I have a track day planned in a couple months, so will see how she performs there, and will adjust any modifications accordingly. I like big power but it's a bit pricey to get LT5 to that point. Ultimate goal will be 425ish RWHP (ported upper, etc, etc) and larger brakes (C6Z?) and wheels.

Overall I'm just very excited to have the car and join this community which seems VERY supportive of keeping these cars maintained and on the road and the legend of the LT5 alive and well.

William

[Will69camaro]

Ceramic completed and some beauty shots.

[efnfast]

Nice beauty shots, the car looks great. Welcome aboard, but be careful, these cars are addictive. - Steve

[Will69camaro]

Originally Posted by efnfast

Nice beauty shots, the car looks great. Welcome aboard, but be careful, these cars are addictive. - Steve

I?m sure they are. Honeymoon phase with it still but genuinely enjoy every minute behind the wheel so far. Previous owner took excellent care of the car!

[tiegsd]

Congrats & welcome!

[Will69camaro]

Originally Posted by tiegsd

Congrats & welcome!

Thank you!

[hiperf406]

Welcome love the color & interior as I have a 91 in the same configuration.