Welcome to the Corvette Strip!!!
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Corvette Strip
Corvette Parts and Accessories for the C5 and C6
Later, in the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans, it made up for Sebring by
placing first and second in the GT1 car class (5th and 6th overall, a
considerably high finish for a GT class car) after a lengthy duel with
the Aston Martin team’s DBR9 racers.
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Welcome to the Corvette Strip......This is a hobby site that is dedicated to Corvette and the community that surrounds
it. The primary goal of the Corvette Strip is to be able to compile useful, free Corvette Facts and Corvette information that is relevant and easily found. We will also be pulling together a large Corvette picture album that is free for everyone to enjoy.
Again, this is a completely free, not for profit site that is purely dedicated to Corvette lovers around the world that are looking for a centralized location for Corvette facts and information.
Corvette C5 tips, tricks, and secrets!!!
The little yellow "helper light" on the bottom of the rear-view mirror that illuminates the shifter area
That you can put your key in the driver's door and turn it twice towards the front to unlock the passenger door and a third time to pop the trunk.
That you can pop the trunk and also pop the gas cap cover by pulling on metal lines hidden in the back.
The little slotted cover on the dash behind the steering wheel is where the inside air temperature sensor is located.
All of the option codes are in the glove box.
Tire inflation recommended pressures are on the driver's door
The thing that looks like a little LED near the DIC buttons is a light sensor
The thing that looks like a little LED near the defroster vent is a UV sensor for determining A/C usage to compensate for the heating effect of the sun
The build sheet is in the front re-bar
If you leave your turn signal on, in about 1 minute it will start to ding (loud enough to hear over the stereo) to let you know you have old timers disease.
You can reset the oil life by pumping the gas pedal 3 times (but not with the engine running)
Hold down the reset button while on one of the trip odometers and it changes that reading to the miles you've traveled since last starting the engine.
Hold down the Active Handling button for 5 sec. to engage "Competitive Driving" on cars equipped with active handling (2000 and previous years must be stopped.)
If you pull the seatbelts all the way out while you're buckled in, they ratchet back in to hold you tighter into the seat.
Simply remove fuse #2 under the hood and your DRLs will be out permanently. Only thing affected is that when you unlock at night using the key fob your front turn signal lights and back up lights will not will not flash. Your front turn signals will operate normally, however.
The side-view mirrors can twist both forward and backward, decreasing the chance of damage if struck.
There is a release opening with a flap to let air out of the car when the hatch is closed. It is located just above the driver side rear compartment, behind the carpet and on the side of the car. Not that it really works well.
Also you can ground your amp to a screw/bolt that holds the rear middle compartment to the frame.
If you have a 6-speed car you can pop the trunk when the car is running by lifting the e-brake.
There is a spot on the driver side just out of the middle compartment under the carpet for the lug nut key. You should have a compartment on the drivers & passengerÂ's side (in the trunk) and a center compartment. On the left (drivers) side of the center compartment, on the left side where the center cover fits, there is an 'indent' that holds the wheel lock key.
If you turn on the headlights, then go to parking light position, the lamps remain up but the headlights are not left on.
If you have the passive entry feature: If you lock your keys in the car, wait a few minutes and then shake the car. That will unlock the car.
HUD has a shift light for manuals.
You can easily shift the M6 trans up or down without the clutch if you match revs. (Not great for longevity, however.)
You can eject the cd from the in-dash player without turning on any power. Don't even need key in the ignition.
The cruise will disengage if you purposely make sharp side to side turns while cruising at say 60-80 mph.
When the engine is shut off, you can get the odometer reading by turning on the parking lights.
You can program setting #3 (both memory buttons atonce) in the seat memory to run the seat back and steering wheel forward for getting in/out of the car with the engine running.
If you hate DRLs you can pull the e-brake ONE click and they go off
Corvette History
Corvette History
The
Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car first manufactured by Chevrolet in
1953 and is built today exclusively at a General Motors assembly plant
in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was the first all-American sports car
built by an American car manufacturer. The National Corvette Museum is
also located in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The
car is widely regarded as a “poor man’s supercar”, although this
description is intended to be complimentary. Corvettes have a long
history of melding exceptional handling and brutal amounts of engine
power into an affordable package that is drastically less expensive
than prestiguous marques with similar abilities. This has
understandably led to some scorn of the Corvette by owners of such
competing marques, with most of the criticism being aimed at the
Corvette’s level of refinement. Older generations of the Corvette have
been criticized for being brutish when compared to European sports
cars, although the C5 and C6 generations seem to have silenced all but
the most strident of such critics.
Corvettes
tend to emphasize simplicity over technical complexity when it comes to
engine power. Where nearly all competing marques rely on
smaller-displacement engines with complex, double overhead cams (DOHC),
variable valve timing (VVT), four- and five-valve heads, or
turbochargers, the Corvette makes just as much or better power using a
simple overhead valve (OHV) head with only two pushrod-actuated valves
per cylinder, coupled with a larger-displacement engine. The relatively
simple pushrod V8 engine is both lighter and physically smaller than
the more complex arrangements, as well as cheaper to manufacture. This
lack of sophistication is sometimes viewed as a negative by extreme
automotive purists, and has fueled the aforementioned “lack of
refinement” argument. Regardless of the validity of such criticism, no
one can deny the power, efficiency, and affordability of the design.
Early History
While the style of a car may be just as important to some as to
how well the car runs, automobile manufacturers did not begin to pay
attention to car designs until the 1920s. It was not until 1927, when
General Motors hired designer Harley Earl, that automotive styling and
design became important to American automobile manufacturers. What
Henry Ford did for automobile manufacturing principles, Harley Earl did
for car design. Most of GM’s flamboyant “dream car” designs of the
1950s are directly attributable to Earl, leading one journalist to
comment that the designs were “the American psyche made visible.”
Harley Earl loved sports cars, and GIs returning after serving overseas
World War II were bringing home MGs, Jaguars, Alfa Romeos and the like.
Earl convinced GM that they needed to build a two-seat sports car. The
result was the 1953 Corvette, unveiled to the public at that year’s
Motorama car show. The original Corvette emblem incorporated an
American flag into the design; this was later dropped, since
associating the flag with a product was frowned upon.
Taking its name from the corvette, a small, maneuverable fighting
frigate (the credit for the naming goes to Myron Scott), the first
Corvettes were virtually handbuilt in Flint, Michigan in Chevrolet’s
Customer Delivery Center. The outer body was made out of a
revolutionary new composite material called fiberglass, offering the
strength of steel without the weight. The tradition continues even
today, as no Corvette has ever had anything other than a fiberglass
outer skin. Underneath that radical new body were standard Chevrolet
components, including the “Blue Flame” inline six-cylinder engine,
two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission, and drum brakes from
Chevrolet’s regular car line. Though the engine’s output was increased
somewhat, thanks to a triple-carburetor intake exclusive to the
Corvette, performance of the car was decidedly lackluster. Compared to
the Ford Thunderbird with its 312 in³ (5.1 L) V8 and British and
Italian sports cars of the day, the Corvette was underpowered, required
a great deal of effort as well as clear roadway to bring to a stop, and
even lacked a “proper” manual transmission. Up until that time, the
Chevrolet division was GM’s entry-level marque, known for excellent but
no-nonsense cars. Nowhere was that more evident than in the Corvette. A
Paxton supercharger became available in 1954 as a dealer-installed
option, greatly improving the Corvette’s straight-line performance, but
sales continued to decline.
1957 Chevrolet Corvette roadster. Fuel-injected models were
identified by badging on the side scalloping in the front fenders
Enlarge
1957 Chevrolet Corvette roadster. Fuel-injected models were
identified by badging on the side scalloping in the front fenders
GM was seriously considering shelving the project, leaving the
Corvette to be little more than a footnote in automotive history, and
would have done so if not for two important events. The first was the
introduction of Chevrolet’s first-ever V8 engine in 1955, and the
second was the influence of a Soviet emigre in GM’s engineering
department, Zora Arkus-Duntov. Arkus-Duntov simply took a 283 in³ (4.6
L) version of the new engine and backed it with a four-speed manual
transmission. That modification, probably the single most important in
the car’s history, helped turn the Corvette from a two-seat curiosity
into a genuine sports car and Thunderbird competitor. It also earned
Arkus-Duntov the rather inaccurate nickname “Father of the Corvette”.
C1
There have been six generations of the Corvette so far, generally
referred to as versions C1 through C6. The first generation started in
1953 and ended in 1962, with the noteworthy addition of optional fuel
injection in 1957. This new induction system first saw regular use on a
gasoline engine two years prior on the Mercedes-Benz 300SL “Gullwing”
roadster. Although the Corvette’s GM-Rochester fuel injection system
used a single central plunger to feed fuel to all eight cylinders in
contrast to a more direct means of delivery with a single plunger for
each of the Mercedes’ six cylinders, the system nevertheless produced
283 hp (211 kW) from 283 in³ (4.6 L), making it the first production
engine in history to reach 1 hp/in³ (45.5 kW/L). In 1962, the GM
Small-Block was enlarged to 327 in³ (5.4 L) and produced a maximum of
360 hp (268 kW).
C2
The second or mid-year generation, now under the styling direction
of Bill Mitchell, started in 1963 and ended in 1967. 1963 would see the
introduction of the new Corvette Sting Ray coupe with its distinctive
split rear window (discontinued for 1964 over safety concerns) as well
as an independent rear suspension. Power for 1963 was at 365 hp (272
kW) hitting 375 hp (280 kW) in 1964.
Four-wheel disc brakes were introduced in 1965, as was a
“big-block” engine option (the 396 in³ (6.5 L) V8). Side exhaust pipes
appeared on the 1965 Stingray and persisted through 1969. Chevrolet
would up the ante in 1966 with the introduction of an even larger 427
in³ (7 L) version, creating what would be one of the most collectable
Corvettes ever. 1967 saw a L88 version of the 427 introduced which was
rated at 430 hp (321 kW), but unofficial estimates place the actual
output at 550 hp (410 kW) or more. Only twenty such engines were placed
in the 1967 Corvette, and the cars can fetch US$600,000 or more in
auction today.
In 2004, Sports Car International named the Stingray number five on the list of Top Sports Cars of the 1960s.
C3
The third generation, patterned after Chevrolet’s “Mako Shark”
show car, started in 1968 and ended in 1982. This generation has the
distinction of being introduced to the motoring public in an unorthodox
— and unintended — fashion. 1968 marked the introduction of Mattel’s
now-famous Hot Wheels line of 1/64-scale die cast toy cars. General
Motors had tried their best to keep the appearance of the upcoming car
a secret, but the release of the Hot Wheels line several weeks before
the Corvette’s unveiling had a certain version of particular interest
to Corvette fans: the “Custom Corvette”, a GM-authorized model of the
1968 Corvette.
In 1969, GM enlarged their small-block again to 350 in³ (5.7 L),
and in 1970 the 427 big-block was enlarged to 454 in³ (7.4 L). Power
peaked in the 1970 and 1971 models, with the 1970 LT-1 small-block
putting out 370 hp (276 kW) and the 1971 454 big-block having its last
year of big power with 425 hp (317 kW). In 1972, GM moved to the SAE
Net measurement for horsepower (away from the previous SAE Gross
standard), which resulted in numerically lower horsepower numbers.
Along with the move to unleaded fuel, emission controls, and catalytic
converters, power continued to decline and bottomed out in 1975 — the
base ZQ3 engine put out 165 hp (123 kW), and the optional L82 engine
put out 205 hp (153 kW). Power remained fairly steady for the rest of
the C3 generation, ending in 1982 with the 200 hp (149 kW) L83 engine.
Styling changed subtly over the generation. In 1973, the Corvette
dropped the front chrome bumpers for a urethane-compound “5 mph” bumper
but kept the rear chrome bumpers. In 1974, The rear chrome bumpers
became urethane, too, making 1973 the last Corvette model year with any
chrome bumpers. 1975 was the last year for the convertible, and 1978
saw the introduction of a glass bubble rear window. In 1980, the
Corvette got an integrated aerodynamic redesign that resulted in a
significant reduction in drag.
C4
The fourth generation was introduced at the close of 1982
production as a 1984 model and ended in 1996, meaning that there’s no
such thing as a “1983 Corvette”. The C4 corvette is known for its boxy
look. In the coupe it also is the first Corvette to have a glass
hatchback (except for the 1982 Collector’s Edition) for better storage
access. It also had all new brakes with aluminum calipers. The Corvette
C4 came standard with an electronic dashboard with digital liquid
crystal displays for speed and RPM. The C4 was a complete redesign of
the previous generation, and the emphasis was on handling. The C4
Corvette was proclaimed the best handling car ever when it was
released. This handling came at the expense of a stiff, unforgiving
ride. The unit-body frame used in the C4 was also prone to rattles and
squeaks due to frame flexing. Also due to the external unit-body frame,
the door sills were quite deep and entry and exit were impeded. Lastly,
the bumper did not meet federal bumper regulations.
ZR-1
Corvette ZR-1
Enlarge
Corvette ZR-1
In 1990, the Corvette ZR-1 was introduced as a limited-production,
high-performance version of the standard Corvette, which contained a
special 32-valve overhead cam LT5 engine designed by Lotus Engineering
and built by Mercury Marine. One of the fastest street cars ever built
up to that time, the final year of ZR-1 production was 1995.
[edit]
Grand Sport
1996 Corvette Grand Sport
Enlarge
1996 Corvette Grand Sport
Chevrolet released the Grand Sport (GS) version in 1996 to mark
the end of production of the C4 Corvette. The Grand Sport moniker is a
nod to the original Grand Sport model produced in 1963. A total of
1,000 GS Corvettes were produced, 810 as coupes and 190 as
convertibles. The 1996 GS came with the high-performance LT4 engine,
producing 330 hp (246 kW) and 340 ft·lbf (461 N·m) of torque. The Grand
Sport came only in Admiral Blue with a white stripe down the middle,
and black wheels and red stripes on the front left wheel arch added to
its distinctive look.
C5
The fifth generation started in 1997 and ended with the 2004 model
year. The C5 was a radical change from the previous generation. The car
now had a hydroformed box frame, and the transmission was moved to the
rear of the car and connected to the engine via a torque tube. Gone
were the squeaks and rattles of the C4, and in replacement was an
incredibly strong frame that would last for at least two more
generations. The new C5 was better in every aspect than the C4 it
replaced.
The Corvette’s 50th Anniversary was celebrated June 20th and 21st,
2003 in Nashville, Tennessee. The venue provided a bonanza of
flawlessly restored Corvettes, a chronological display set up by the
National Corvette Museum with every model year of the Corvette along
with engineering and restoration seminars. The anniversary also brought
some Chevrolet Concept Vehicles into focus including the
approved-for-production Chevrolet SSR, a combination pickup truck and
roadster featuring styling cues from Chevrolet trucks of the late 1940s
and early 1950s. Also on hand were several Corvette race cars,
including the Corvette SS built by Zora Arkus-Duntov and the C5-R that
won at Le Mans. Among the many displays were examples of the 2003 50th
Anniversary Edition as well as a few 2004 “Commemorative Edition”
Corvettes.
Recently, the factory has expanded to build the Cadillac XLR
roadster, which shares its platform with the sixth-generation Corvette.
Bowling Green is also home to the Corvette Museum, which celebrates
this American automotive icon by displaying in chronological order the
various regular production models as well as some unique one-off
versions created by Chevrolet. The building in Flint in which the first
cars were assembled was spun off with GM’s Delphi Electronics division
and later donated to GMI/Kettering University in the late 1990s. The
building has since been remodeled and is now the C.S. Mott Engineering
and Science Center, housing the Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry
programs. In the garage housing the school’s Pontiac Firebird club is a
plaque commemorating it as the place where the first Corvette was built.
Z06
A successor to the ZR-1 made its debut in 2001 and was called the
Z06. Instead of a heavy double-overhead cam engine like the ZR-1, the
Z06 used a high-output (LS6) version of the conventional Corvette V8
(LS1). This engine produced 385 hp (287 kW) which was not much more
than the old ZR-1, but since it was much lighter, the Z06 was a much
faster car.
For 2002 onward, the Z06 produced 405 hp (302 kW). The Z06 also
came with side mounted brake ducts and an rpm red-line raised by 500
rpm (to 6500 rpm). GM has stated that the 0-60 time on a 2002 Z06 is
3.9 seconds. The stock quarter mile time is 12.4 @ 115mph, but some car
enthusiasts have been able to push their stock car into the high 11
seconds.
Other features of the Z06 include a stiffer hardtop body design,
stiffer suspension, larger wheels and tires, a new six-speed manual
transmission, and functional brake cooling ducts. The Z06 is 106 lb (48
kg) lighter than a standard C5 thanks to a titanium exhaust, thinner
glass, lighter wheels, and a lighter battery.
[edit]
C5-R
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R’s and their Team
Enlarge
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R’s and their Team
The C5-R was a racecar built by GM Racing. It was based on the C5
road car but had an enlarged V8 and different bodywork with exposed
headlamps. It is raced in the American Le Mans Series in the GTS Class
and has been to four 24 Hours of Le Mans races.
[edit]
2001
The car’s remarkable 2001 racing season produced eight victories
in ten races, including an overall win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and a
one-two finish in the GTS class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Le Mans
wins sparked off a rivalry with Prodrive’s Ferrari 550 Maranellos, and
both teams have become fan favorites.
[edit]
2002
In 2002 the C5-R repeated its one-two victory at Le Mans and also
dominated the GTS class in the American Le Mans Series. A new transaxle
unit replaced the previous year’s separate transmission and
differential.
[edit]
2003
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R 2003 Paint Job
Enlarge
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R 2003 Paint Job
In 2003, additional restrictions were placed on the C5-R to limit
power. At the 2003 season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring race, the C5-Rs
remained in winning form, with one of them finishing first in class and
eighth overall. Also in 2003 the yellow paint was dropped in favor of a
special red, white, and blue color scheme to commemerate the Corvette’s
50th anniversary. However, at Le Mans the Prodrive Ferraris spoiled the
anniversary and hopes for a three-in-a-row victory by winning the GTS
class.
[edit]
2004
In 2004 the yellow paint returned, and after being beaten by the
Ferrari 550s at Le Mans in the previous year, the Corvette returned for
another one-two finish.
C6
The sixth generation Corvette has not changed as much as the
previous generation Corvette did. The design engineers tried to
perfect, not reinvent, but some still complain that it is challenging
to drive in town, on bad roads, and in the rain.
The new C6 gets an overhaul of the suspension geometry, all new
bodywork with exposed headlamps (for the first time since 1962), a
larger passenger compartment, a larger 6.0 liter engine, and a much
higher level of refinement. Overall, it is 5.1 inches (13 cm) shorter
than the C5, but its wheelbase has increased by 1.2 inches (3 cm). It
is also one inch (2.5 cm) narrower, making for a smaller, sportier
Corvette. The reduced dimensions were in response to criticism that the
C5 Corvette looked too wide—the new body gives the impression of a much
sleeker, faster car. Chevrolet hopes the new design will attract buyers
of comparable European sports cars like the Porsche 911, but some
purists dislike the new styling. The new 6.0 liter LS2 V8 produces 400
hp (298 kW) at 6000 rpm and 400 lbf.ft (542 Nm) of torque at 4400 rpm.
Its red-line is increased to 6500 rpm like the C5 Z06.
The C6 retains its relatively high fuel economy, in part by
upshifting to higher gears as soon as possible. Equipped with an
automatic transmission, the C6 achieves 18/26 mpg (city/highway), and
the manual transmission is slightly better at 18/28. However, some
prospective Corvette buyers are surprised to find that the C6’s manual
transmission is fitted with a lockout device, obligating the driver to
shift from 1st directly to 4th when operating at lower RPMs. While this
boosts the EPA’s derived fuel economy, thus allowing the buyer to avoid
paying the “gas guzzler” tax, it is an open secret that more than a few
C6 owners with manual transmissions simply have a $20 aftermarket part
(CAGS eliminator) fitted to their vehicle to re-enable a normal
1-2-3-4-5-6 sequence at any RPM.
Z06
The new Z06 is slated to arrive as a 2006 model and should be
available in the third quarter of 2005. It will have an eight-cylinder,
7.0 L (7,008 cc/427.6 in³) engine codenamed the LS7. Officially
certified output is 505 hp (376 kW). Dave Hill, the chief engineer for
the C6 Corvette, says that it will be a much further departure from the
standard Corvettes and more like the C6-R that GM is building for the
American Le Mans Series. Its performance is projected to be similar to
the Ford GT and the Dodge Viper SRT-10. Official performance figures
indicate that the Z06 will hit 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds in first gear.
In addition to the larger engine, the C6 Z06 will have a dry sump
oiling system, something typically found only on race cars. Connecting
rods made out of exotic titanium further lighten the reciprocating mass
of the engine while making them stronger than the steel rods they
replace. Altogether, the Z06 model will not only produce more power, it
will rev faster and higher than any non-Z06 engine.
In a radical departure from anything Chevrolet has ever done
before, the primary structural element of the C6 Z06 will be aluminum
instead of steel as on the non-Z06 cars. The hydroformed aluminum frame
remains dimensionally identical to its steel bretheren but is
significantly lighter. The front fenders are made of carbon fiber to
reduce weight, while wider rear fenders allow for the wider tires
necessary to deal with the engine’s increased power. The Z06 officially
weighs 3132 lb (1421 kg), giving it a power to weight ratio of 6.2
lb/hp.
Taken as a whole, the C6 Z06 is very similar to its race-going
variant, the C6-R, much more so than the C5 Z06 was to the C5-R. The
number of production automobiles from all marques across the globe
featuring more than 500 horsepower is small indeed. With an official
list price of US$65,800 per unit, it will likely be the only such
vehicle in existence with a price tag under US$85,000.
[edit]
Blue Devil
Chevrolet has long worked on developing an ultra-high performance
version of the Corvette to compete with the Dodge Viper and European
imports. Dubbed Blue Devil for the mascot of GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s alma
mater (Duke University), the car is rumored to be set for production in
2006. It reportedly1 features a supercharged version of the LS7 engine
producing 600 hp (447 kW). Carbon fibre body panels reduce overall
weight to well below 3000 lb (1360 kg). Pricing is expected to be over
US$100,000.
[edit]
C6-R
The C6-R was unveiled for its first race at the 2005 12 Hours of
Sebring endurance race of the American Le Mans Series. It came in
second and third, just behind the new Aston Martin DB9 racecar. It was
put on display a week later at the New York International Auto Show
next to the Z06.
See or hear of some use Corvette facts or information that would be useful to add to the site? Send us and email at info@corvettestrip.com
