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Erik's 2001 Corvette

Merry Christmas... to me

I picked up the beast, a 2001 Torch Red coupe with black interior, on December 26, 2000 -- kind of a Xmas present to self.  

I had planned to place an order that fateful afternoon at Connell Chevrolet in Costa Mesa. Typically each Chevy dealer gets a handful of Corvettes allocated to them for sale, so they don't maintain them in stock.  But when I found that Connell had one meeting 90% of my needs (somebody ordered it but was then unable to pay for it) I took it home that night. 

  Options include the removable glass roof, the better of the two preferred equipment packages (includes heads-up display, sport power adjustable seats, electrochromic mirrors, dual climate-zone controls, and a  $200 gift certificate redeemable with the CHP).

The options that it didn't have were the sport suspension package and 3.15 axle ratio.  Those options were added in July 2003... more on that later. 

What rocks

• 0-60 in under 5 seconds stock.   That's with the stock, tall-geared 2.73 differential and an automatic, too.  0-100 in about 11 seconds, and a top speed of... well... at least 160.  Theoretically, of course.
• 0-60 in a lot closer to 4 seconds following modifications.
• It's actually damn comfortable, even though my head scrapes the roof.  But thanks to the rear-mounting of the transmission, there's ample leg room for both occupants.
• Tight, quick, balanced handling, with the basic stock suspension.  Following modifications, it sticks to even the curviest, hilliest, roughest roads without a millimeter of body roll.  Crazy stuff.
• Traction control and active handling, which are great for keeping the back end from passing the front end, especially in tight corners and in the rain.  Kind of a mixed blessing, though, under other circumstances:  occasionally the traction control backs off the throttle excessively when a bit of wheel spin occurs, killing all the fun.  Fortunately, both systems can be disabled by a button in the center console, which primes the ride for some awesome donuts.
• A real trunk that can hold a couple suitcases. 
• Anything even close in performance costs at least twice as much.  Vipers, Porsche 911-turbos, and a handful of Ferraris are marginally faster; their handling is comparable.  But for not for $45K.
• Removable plastic roof, which locks solidly into place in the trunk and creates a convertible that doesn't leak in the winter.  Plus, the roof is transparent, but mercifully tinted to keep out the summer sun.
• Heads-up display, which projects speed, RPMs, and one other selection (fuel level, oil pressure, or temperature) on the bottom part of the windshield.  I find myself rarely looking down at the real instrument panel, much of which is often blocked by the steering wheel.  
• It's evil.

What doesn't:  Really minor gripes, by comparison

• Reliability was pretty bad -- even by GM standards -- over the 18 months.  I went without The Evil Beast for about 20 days over the first 25,000 miles as it underwent warranty repairs. Repairs replacement of the fuel gauge sensors (after it ran out of gas while reading 3/8 of a tank); replacement of a couple computer modules, the ignition switch, and the left door locking mechanism (when it suddenly wouldn't run at all); the center console latch, which was stuck open; and much of the transmission (wouldn't always go from 2nd - 3rd).  I did buy a 100,000 mile warranty, but have yet to use it for anything:  no problems since I've passed the 36,000 mile factory warranty!
• The roof could be about 1" higher.  The situation would probably be worse if I didn't have the thin, transparent plastic roof panel and instead had the thick, padded solid piece to rub my head on.
• The tilt steering wheel has 5 locking positions and isn't constantly adjustable in between them.  I really wish there was a spot in between the lowest and second lowest settings.  It's more comfortable to drive in a the lowest position (aka "the Indy position"), but that tends to block my view of the top of the instrument cluster, which includes all speeds between 40 and 120 MPH.  Luckily, the heads-up display takes care of that problem.
• Lack of non-trunk storage:  The center console storage and glovebox are each about 1 1/2 inches deep, and there are no pockets or compartments within the doors.  Consequently, I've found that there's a lot of crap I really don't need to cart around because I can't.
• $350 to $400 tires.   Yes, apiece.  Those Goodyear EMT run-flats stick amazingly well, but when replacement time comes around, let's hope you were sliding about $20 bucks aside for each time you slid the tires.
• GM-ness of the center part of the dash, that vast expanse of plastic containing the climate control and stereo.  My sound system replacement took care of much of that; still, you're not finding burnished walnut in the interior of this GM creation.

Modifications:  

The sound system (July 2001)...

The stock Bose CD system was the best factory system I've ever listened to.  However, it had some drawbacks:  cheesy GM appearance (the same head unit you'll find in a Silverado pickup), didn't play MP3's, and no subwoofer.  So I invested in a Kenwood Z828 Excelon MP3 unit (capable of playing about 150 songs on a typical CD), four Boston 6" component  speakers, a Kicker 500-watt amp and a 10" Solobaric sub. The nice folks at Al & Ed's Autosound built a fiberglass enclosure so that the sub could be lodged in one of the rear storage compartments.

I've had to turn down the sub amp's gain to about 1/3 of full:  any higher setting vibrates every plastic panel on the car and plucks the aluminum underframe with a disturbing buzz.   Still, cranking up anything from AC-DC to Snoop causes the clear roof to ripple with each thump.

More stereo modifications were to follow in 2003.

Differential, exhaust, suspension, and reprogramming the PCM (July 2003)...

Lawton Ferreira of Top Flight Corvette, near Miramar in San Diego, took custody of the Vette for about 2 1/2 weeks while I was out of the country, and upgraded the following:

Differential:   Chevy's 3.42 differential, found in the Z06's and other 6-speed models, took the place of the tall-geared 2.73.  

Exhaust:  Though many aftermarket suppliers are out there selling less restrictive exhaust systems than Chevy's stock, I opted for one of Lawton's home-grown exhaust systems.    In the stock system, and all the other aftermarket systems, exhaust goes through a convoluted path to mufflers beneath the corners of the rear bumper, and exits through four pipes underneath the license plate.  In the Lawton system, exhaust is first balanced via his custom X-pipe, then heads straight out the back, through two short, 4" MagnaFlow mufflers, and out two pipes.  Lawton's free-flowing masterpiece also produced a lot of teeth-rattling resonance at cruising speed. To make freeway conversations in the vehicle possible, Lawton fabricated two short metal tubes with perforations in them, which line the exhaust pipes upstream of the mufflers.  It's still pretty aggressive sounding, and invariably sets off someone's car alarm when I'm in a parking garage.

PCM Reprogramming:  Lawton sent out the car's powertrain control module (PCM) computer for an attitude adjustment.  The PCM controls everything from fuel-air mixture to the automatic transmission's shifting characteristics, and each of these parameters are adjustable over the entire RPM range of the engine using a Windows-based program called LS-1 edit.  Between the differential, exhaust, and PCM modifications, at wide open throttle, the screaming beast now burns the tires between the 1-2 shift, and is producing near 4 second 0-60 times.  Amazing!

Suspension:  The stock shocks were replaced with Bilsteins (not sure of the exact model), and Hotchkis sway bars.  The result:  no noticible difference in freeway cruise ride, but lane changes can be effected in about a millisecond without any body roll.  Neck brace is optional.  

And thus, at 53,000 miles and 2 1/2 years on the road, the beast was born a new machine.

More sound system upgrades (August 2003)

To drown out that exhaust note, further sound system work was in order.  

Al & Ed's Autosound of Vista, CA installed a Kicker 300W, 4 channel amp to power the Boston separates, which were previously powered by the Kenwood head unit. They also installed a 1 farad Monster capacitor in line with the subwoofer amp: previously, at high volumes, the headlights would dim and the voltage gauge would bounce around.

The Kicker 4ch and sub amps fit nicely on the rear wall of the back hatch area, and the capacitor went into one of the smaller rear-deck storage areas. 

The system now cranks like a jet taking off in a thunderstorm, and almost drowns out the exhaust sound at full acceleration.  Unfortunately, it also drowns out the radar detector too.

Feel free to e-mail me if you're planning any of the above type of modifications -- I can send you pictures and helpful info.

CorvetteForum.com and its many discussion pages.  Members were invaluable in providing me with help with my performance modifications.  And check out stats for the upcoming C6...there's a forum for that, too.

Chevy's official site.  Advertising, sure, but the interactive color scheme selector is cool.

Top Flight Corvette.

Traffic violation in Arizona?  Read before you take their on-line 
traffic school course.

Contact Info:
Mail me at  es(at)valicom.com