2020 C8 Corvette ....... Love at first sight ?

[highfigh]

RX-7 was a fine car! Except, it tended to be difficult to find anyone that could work on the engine.

Did you ever have problems with finding mechanics with the proper knowledge?

It's not that complicated but I know someone who was a Mazda tech and a friend from school had one and he knows that engine inside-out. Mine had a sticky deceleration rod and it sounded like an exhaust leak- we both learned something on that one but I don't think the gasket cost more than ten bucks and a little of my time. The Mazda tech fixed it when I took it to the dealer. Other than that, I replaced the starter, brakes and tune-up parts.

The friend from school had a '79 GS model with the 4-speed and he started reading 'Rotary Rocket' magazine, which put all kinds of crazy idea in his head. He found a front clip with the engine and trans from a GSL-SE, which had the 13B engine (1.3Liter injected) and 5 speed, so he went to work making all of that fit- needed new transmission and motor mounts and he installed a 13lb flywheel to make it MUCH more responsive. He removed the injection and sold it to a company called 'Rotary Engineering' in California, replacing it with (IIRC) dual Weber side-draft carbs, and he added a fuel pressure regulator to the electric fuel pump from the injection system. He then lowered it a bit and installed better shocks, Pirelli P6 tires, air dam and rear wing before his brother painted it with Imron in Porche Garnet like the 944 in the photo.

https://cdn.bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/s-l720-527-620x412.jpg

That car hauled ass! He was on the freeway and went up against a Camaro I had worked on (stereo system) which had a Paxton low rise blower on an Edelbrock intake and some other work done to it, to give it 468 HP. The guy in the Camaro was impressed.

I went to see someone play at a local club and at one point, my friend & I started talking about insurance and what a scam it is. At some point, I said "Now watch- I'll walk outside and my car will be gone".

I'll never do that again.

I really liked that car.

 

[davidscott]

So true. One of the joys of getting old. When it takes me longer to get in or out of a car than it takes the car to go from 0-60, it's time to look elsewhere. (But it does look great!)

Love that quote. I heard that once you were able to afford a supercar you were to old to get in and out of it.

 

[highfigh]

Here's one for you Corvette lovers- a friend worked in V8 Powertrain Development for GM's 'CPC' group at the Desert Proving Grounds. CPC stands for 'Chevy/Pontiac/Canada' and he had to do all kinds of troubleshooting, testing for new calibrations/models and part of the testing was destructive, as in, "Do things as if you were a normal car owner and see what breaks". One such test was on a ZR1 Corvette, which hadn't been released at that time. His job was to drain all of the coolant and drive it on their 5 mile test track until it failed. Well, guess what- it never stopped running. It smoked all of the gaskets, but it never seized. They stripped the engine, machined what was needed, installed new gaskets and reassembled the engine so they could do it all over again.

 

[lovinthehd]

So true. One of the joys of getting old. When it takes me longer to get in or out of a car than it takes the car to go from 0-60, it's time to look elsewhere. (But it does look great!)

LOL. I know the feeling. My daily driver is a 15psgr van these days, driven fairly slowly most of the time. I do somewhat miss my old Nissan 300ZX twin turbo....but not the tickets!

 

[killdozzer]

it's far more than a 'lukewarm rehashing' !

Exactly my point.

 

[NINaudio]

While I love a nice sounding exhaust, didn't know BMW and Audi provided a way to amplify it the cabin....you can turn it off hopefully?

My car (Infiniti Q60) has this "feature" too. You can turn it off through accessing the hidden service menu. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a way to turn it off in BMW's and Audi's as well, even if through a hidden menu like in my car.

Really cool design, almost looks like a Ferrari. 0-60 in less than 3 seconds is huge from a car with a 60k base price. There is a lot to like here but.. a 14 speaker Bose sound system?

While I would never buy Bose for home, my car came with a 13 speaker Bose system and I find it to be quite enjoyable. There's a shallow mount 10" in each door, which if you don't turn the bass eq control up too far provides fairly balanced bass. Go too far and it does gets boomy. I of course wouldn't mind more bass output, but I suspect I'm not in the norm in that regard.

 

[Irvrobinson]

My car (Infiniti Q60) has this "feature" too. You can turn it off through accessing the hidden service menu. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a way to turn it off in BMW's and Audi's as well, even if through a hidden menu like in my car.

If only that were the case, says the man with one of each.

 

[slipperybidness]

Ah, guess that's just the oldest one now. It's cool, but I've got a newer location just down the street so on the rare occasion I go to a theater I'd probably go there.

Just to clarify, it is still kind of considered the "original" in that the original moved into the Ritz building. As much as I liked the old bar, it is kind of cool to see an old theater getting new life.

 

[slipperybidness]

LOL. I know the feeling. My daily driver is a 15psgr van these days, driven fairly slowly most of the time. I do somewhat miss my old Nissan 300ZX twin turbo....but not the tickets!

You ever turn a wrench on that thing? I've heard those TTs were no fun to work on!

I had a 1985 300zx, but mine was just the NA model. White with red leather interior! And, I was the 3rd owner. But, even that model was so dang tight under the hood, is was tough to get your hands in there to work on it.

Sold it to a friend for his kid, and it is still a daily driver. Those old 300zx are fine cars!

 

[NINaudio]

If only that were the case, says the man with one of each.

From my super quick search results:

For BMW's

For some Audi's, though it may not be "fake"

Edit: I have heard of some car companies that have mechanical systems to allow engine noise through to the passenger compartment, this is apparently what some Audis have. I believe that Mercedes may do this as well.

 

[NINaudio]

You ever turn a wrench on that thing? I've heard those TTs were no fun to work on!

I had a 1985 300zx, but mine was just the NA model. White with red leather interior! And, I was the 3rd owner. But, even that model was so dang tight under the hood, is was tough to get your hands in there to work on it.

Sold it to a friend for his kid, and it is still a daily driver. Those old 300zx are fine cars!

I always loved those older Z's from the 80's and 90's. The newest iterations have never held the same appeal to me.

 

[slipperybidness]

My car (Infiniti Q60) has this "feature" too. You can turn it off through accessing the hidden service menu. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a way to turn it off in BMW's and Audi's as well, even if through a hidden menu like in my car.



While I would never buy Bose for home, my car came with a 13 speaker Bose system and I find it to be quite enjoyable. There's a shallow mount 10" in each door, which if you don't turn the bass eq control up too far provides fairly balanced bass. Go too far and it does gets boomy. I of course wouldn't mind more bass output, but I suspect I'm not in the norm in that regard.

I have been admiring that Infinity line since the G35 and/or Skyline model!

To me, that just looks like the perfect mix of luxury and sporty. Kind of like a luxury model Z, and I do love the Z and ZX too.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I have heard of some car companies that have mechanical systems to allow engine noise through to the passenger compartment, this is apparently what some Audis have. I believe that Mercedes may do this as well.

BMW did this before the sound system fakery, and it was for intake manifold noise. Both our Audi and the BMW (and the new MBs) have the audio trick. A friend with a 2017 M4 did the unplug thing, and oddly ended up plugging it back in. He claimed the sound system made the drivetrain sound "more pleasant". Whatever.

 

[slipperybidness]

BMW did this before the sound system fakery, and it was for intake manifold noise. Both our Audi and the BMW (and the new MBs) have the audio trick. A friend with a 2017 M4 did the unplug thing, and oddly ended up plugging it back in. He claimed the sound system made the drivetrain sound "more pleasant". Whatever.

Similar to how some CVTs have the "fake shifting". Doesn't make sense to me, no shifting is a reason to choose a CVT. I'm not trying to start a CVT debate, just pointing out a similar tom-foolery!

 

[panteragstk]

Similar to how some CVTs have the "fake shifting". Doesn't make sense to me, no shifting is a reason to choose a CVT. I'm not trying to start a CVT debate, just pointing out a similar tom-foolery!

When we were looking for a new vehicle we looked at one with a CVT (which I'm not a fan of for a number of reasons) and I noticed on the shifter there was a setting for manual gear selection (auto stick) and asked the sales guy what the point of that was when the transmission was a CVT. Got an "I don't know" out of him. At least he was honest.

 

[lovinthehd]

You ever turn a wrench on that thing? I've heard those TTs were no fun to work on!

I had a 1985 300zx, but mine was just the NA model. White with red leather interior! And, I was the 3rd owner. But, even that model was so dang tight under the hood, is was tough to get your hands in there to work on it.

Sold it to a friend for his kid, and it is still a daily driver. Those old 300zx are fine cars!

It was pretty tight in there, but I'm not a car mechanic (my brother is a Nissan master mechanic tho and he went thru the car before I bought it, also used and also was 3rd owner). Mine was a '90 (Z32), fully loaded in pearl white with black leather. It sold after I was done with it to a kid who I understand subsequently souped it up some and promptly crashed it, totalling it.

 

[NINaudio]

I have been admiring that Infinity line since the G35 and/or Skyline model!

To me, that just looks like the perfect mix of luxury and sporty. Kind of like a luxury model Z, and I do love the Z and ZX too.

Yeah, I remember when the g35 coupes first came out and it was an instant love for me. The q60's are defintiely more GT than sports car for sure. In my opinion with this latest iteration they went too far into the luxury side of it, the car was so quiet when I got it. I like hearing some exhaust and engine noise and it had nothing.

It was pretty tight in there, but I'm not a car mechanic (my brother is a Nissan master mechanic tho and he went thru the car before I bought it, also used and also was 3rd owner). Mine was a '90 (Z32), fully loaded in pearl white with black leather. It sold after I was done with it to a kid who I understand subsequently souped it up some and promptly crashed it, totalling it.

Oh man, that sucks. You always hope that a car you love gets sold to someone who will also love it and drive it until it falls apart. Where does your brother work?

To stay on topic, I like the new Vettes. Can't wait to see one in person.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yeah, I remember when the g35 coupes first came out and it was an instant love for me. The q60's are defintiely more GT than sports car for sure. In my opinion with this latest iteration they went too far into the luxury side of it, the car was so quiet when I got it. I like hearing some exhaust and engine noise and it had nothing.



Oh man, that sucks. You always hope that a car you love gets sold to someone who will also love it and drive it until it falls apart. Where does your brother work?

To stay on topic, I like the new Vettes. Can't wait to see one in person.

He changed industry for a while but is wrenching again for a dealership in socal. He did some 240Z restorations on the side years back, too.

 

[slipperybidness]

It was pretty tight in there, but I'm not a car mechanic (my brother is a Nissan master mechanic tho and he went thru the car before I bought it, also used and also was 3rd owner). Mine was a '90 (Z32),fully loaded in pearl white with black leather. It sold after I was done with it to a kid who I understand subsequently souped it up some and promptly crashed it, totalling it.

Oddly, back in the day my brother was also a Nissan mechanic working at the dealership!

I mentioned that I was the 3rd owner, the second owner was my bro-in-law, and he made the purchase in 1986, 18k miles on it.