Yes later C4s got squared tails, but the zr1 kept the chmsl at the top of the hatch glass, whereas the non zr1 had it incorporated into the bumper skin.
Yes later C4s got squared tails, but the zr1 kept the chmsl at the top of the hatch glass, whereas the non zr1 had it incorporated into the bumper skin.
This will be the last batch of updates on anything underhood or front suspension for the time being. I will polish the DS engine emblem before reaffixing it. Worked on it most nights this week and have reached all the low hanging fruit. From here, marginal returns will diminish significantly so am moving on to other areas.
Most of the roads and diveways in the apartments are torn up for drainage projects so paint detailing will depend on rain and winds. Billowing clouds of dust are no bueno for cleaning the car. Plan to pull a rear wheel and assess the back wheel wells and suspension this week. The interior will get a light touch up.
Am working on the rear wheel wells and will have before/after pics soon. In the meantime here is something cool.
My car made the cover of Heart of the Beast, the quarterly publication of the ZR1netregistry. I took the shot in front of the National Corvette museum in May at the annual C4 Gathering.
Honestly, this could be any red late C4 but it's neat to know it's mine. 
You're doing some serious deep cleaning there. It's a lot of work.
The NCM track offered touring laps for a modest fee during the Gathering. Weather cut the afternoon short but it was still a good time. Here she is out on the track.
This is something you don't see every day: the two apex predators of the C4 family, a Callaway Twin Turbo and a ZR-1 side by side. Had to take them outside this morning so the garage doors can be replaced.
The Callaway is an '88 with updates including the big Wonderbar and some turbo work, both done by Callaway. In its current tune it makes 419.9 hp and 581.9 tq at the wheels.
So the Callaway doesn't get out much. After the Z is all cleaned up this one will get a bath as well. Dusty!
Lovely.
Oh man that Callaway.
You're quite a bit more fastidious than I am, and my wife calls me anal retentive with my cars. Really enjoying watching this.
The rear wheel wells are coming along. Here is a before pic of the right side and an after of the left. I'll finish the right side this weekend. I was reluctant to leave the area inboard of the frame and behind the shock but it is hard to reach and there is a good chance I couldn't get it uniformly clean. Better left alone than looking half done, I think. Also, you would have to pretty much get inside the wheel well to reach it and I'm not comfortable doing that on jack stands. One day, I'll have a lift. 
You have the best of the best in the C4 world.
Slightly off topic: How do those intercoolers get air flow in the Callaway?
Callaway modified the hood, incorporating ducts for air flow to the intercoolers. Finish is factory-level and I'd hate to ever have one repaired. The 1987 cars got NACA ducts; 88-91 was mostly stock on top except a handful of late cars got big open ducts near the base of the hood. Here's a pic showing the changes.
Nice!
Thanks for the pic tutorial.
When we left off, I'd cleaned the LR wheel well but left an area deep inside the frame dirty. After looking at it some more I realized it would look badass clean. So I figured out a way to get it done.
The RR is also complete. I finished this side after dark and had to put a shop light on the subject to take the pic. Overall, not bad. I see small things I missed but as they say, perfect is the enemy of good. I can live with it for now. My Saab mechanic has offered his lift for additional cleaning so there may be some touch ups in the cards depending on when it's available and not occupied with a paying job.
This post made me open the hood on my appliance SUV and spend an hour cleaning it this weekend. It felt good.
Wow - you do such beautiful detail work. Love that such a special car has an owner that appreciates it! Keep the updates coming, I love this thread!
In reply to conesare2seconds :
I would never ever drive my car if it was that clean. Hell, after taking it through the automatic car wash I'm hesitant to drive it!
Meh, once it's clean, it's much easier to clean back up than it was to get it clean in the first place. So it won't bother me too much to drive it.
Had something happen a few years ago that made me pretty much get over worrying about driving a detailed car and trying to keep it clean. A bunch of us drove from Jacksonville down to Eckler's in Titusville for a judged car show and I'd spent the usual 10 hours cleaning and polishing the car so it would look its best. Naturally, it started raining on the way but the cruelest blow came when we drove through an area of interstate in St. Johns county that had been closed the night before because a big rig came through the median and overturned. There was a good 70 yards of road covered with grass, dirt and - worst - diesel fuel, plus the traffic lifted a 3-meter-high haze of said mess in the form of tire spray. My formerly pristine white car arrived at Eckler's covered top to bottom in brown sludge. Fortunately I had enough supplies in my take-along detailing kit to put her right before judging started but it was a frantic hour or so ahead of stop-clean.
How do you address the rotors??? I wirewheeled them to bare metal and painted with por 15 caliper paint. Is there a better solution??
I didn't touch the brakes at all because of how quickly they dust up and get nasty again. But your plan sounds like a good one for the hat area. It would really make things look nice and tidy on a car with open spoke wheels like this one. With the sawblades you would never see it.
Did two smallish projects tonight: replace the rear hatch release solenoid and replace the Bose CDM.
The hatch solenoid was failing. It was only good for one attempt at opening and if the glass didn't release the solenoid had to rest a while before you could try again. For a while, it helped to press down on the glass when activating the release button but that eventually stopped working.
There is a manual release cable hidden behind the rear carpet. Step one was to locate the release and pop the glass. Step two was to remove the center part of the reveal trim. The solenoid is immediately below the trim. I loosened the striker bracket to remove the solenoid. There are 2 electrical connectors to release and a wiring ground on the mounting post.
Here's the offending part (pic shows the solenoid upside down):
Easy project. Part was less than $30 from a national Corvette recycler on eBay. All years interchange.
Next project was the Bose CDM. The radio would play for 15 or 20 minutes, then go silent, go silent and power off, or shriek like crazy at full volume. I started on the easy stuff by replacing the main relay for about $10. This is way easier to do in a 90 and newer than on the old cars because GM moved it out from underneath the dash to the compartment behind the passenger seat. I also replaced all the speaker amps with JY units I had in my stash. There are amps on all four speakers and they are NLA but you can have them rebuilt or swap in takeouts from a Maxima/I30 or some Cadillacs. The symptoms persisted and pointed to a bad Control Data Module. The CDM was also relocated for the later cars and mine was in the same compartment as the relay.
Open the storage compartment and remove the tray insert.
Looking toward the front of the car, the CDM is on the outboard side (the relay is in the bottom center of the picture).
The CDM is secured by HD hook and loop. Disconnect the antenna lead, then disconnect the wiring, taking note of the position of the wiring connections. One slot is not used.
Remove the CDM by rotating it toward the center of the car. This is a 10-minute swap, tops. There are rebuilt CDMs available. I bought a takeout CDM and head unit from a fellow on CovetteForum who was upgrading. My CD player is inop so I'll be swapping the headunit as well, but for now I can listen to the radio (or play a cassette!) fine.
In reply to conesare2seconds :
Yeah, a Scorpions cassette!
Your attention to detailing is amazing!
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