The World’s Fastest Paperwait

Congrats Wally!

Let me know if you come up to NH for the Kancamangus or something. I have a couple of cars that can kind of hang with a Z06..kind of.

Congrats!!!

preach (dudeist priest) said:

Congrats Wally!

Let me know if you come up to NH for the Kancamangus or something. I have a couple of cars that can kind of hang with a Z06..kind of.

Didnt know you were a fellow New Hamsterite!  I'd be in for this journey.  

In reply to preach (dudeist priest) :

I have friends up that way, I'll probably be up at some point.  

The title came today, but I fell and messed up my right knee and ankle so i can't go to DMV, and I can't drive. I will know more next thursday.  It's always somrething.

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to preach (dudeist priest) :

but I fell and messed up my right knee and ankle so i can't go to DMV, and I can't drive. I will know more next thursday.  It's always somrething.

I see what you did there.  LOL...

I finally have some progress.  A couple weeks ago I was able to get it registered.  It had to sit a little longer because my dirt driveway was three inch thick ice and it doesn't move.  at all.  Lots of wheelspin but zero motion.  We had a little warm weather and it was freed about two weeks ago.  it's first trip was about 45 minutes to the YMCA where the girlfriend works.  I got there just as one of her swim classes was letting out and it was swarmed with 8 year old boys, and a couple dads.  She was a bit embarrassed by the show as I left it open for everyone to climb in and play with. One of the perks to having a car a little rough around the edges is I don't feel bad about kids touching it.   

I was scheduled to work early those weeks so I wouldn't have to sit in traffic on my way home so I started driving it to work.  It's 84 miles each way, and freezing cold when I leave so it was in for a bit of a shock.  It also doesn't have a front plate because the bracket hadn't arrived yet, and windows I am sure are too dark for NY State, and it's ungodly loud when you start it at 2am.   A plus is it has the warmest seat heaters I've ever experienced.  I had to turn them off about 15 minutes into the drive.  I made it three miles from home before I got pulled over.  I was doing about 5 under the 30 mph speed limit as I passed a cop that's there every morning.  He asked about the front plate, but didn't ticket me and I was on my way.  I set the cruise at 5 over on my way in, and kept pace with traffic on the way home and averaged 27 mpg.  Aside from being loud, and not liking potholes, expansion joints, hot dog wrappers, etc it's a surprisingly good commuter though over the course of two weeks a few issues have popped up.  

1. A misfire light for cylinders 1 and 6.  The coil wires pop off occasionally.  It hasn't happened after the first few days, if it does continue I'll replace them with GM wires.

2. Two mornings I had no low beam head lights.  The driving lights and high beams are fine for getting to work, and I have not been able to replicate the problem at home to fix it.

3. The power steering whines a little until it warms up.  The level is good so I'm chalking it up to unhappiness at having to work at 10 degrees.  

4. On  my way home Thursday the driver's door lost power.  This is a problem because the door handle is electric and the window has to lower to open and close the door.  I'm going to look at it today.

I have a couple pieces coming for it, a hidden front plate bracket that doesn't need holes drilled, a phone holder, and a new shift knob.  The current one is a small black cylinder that works fine but driving up from North Carolina  my brother said I looked like I was molesting Webster and I can't get that out of my head so I'm replacing it.  

I'm hoping the door is a simple fix, and I can get it inspected and give it a good cleaning Saturday.  I have signed up for a flying 1/3 mile at Calverton air strip on Long Island this Sunday.

Good seat heaters? 27mpg?  Sounds like I should also get one.

The power steering will whine if the wrong fluid is used.  GM power steering fluid is a special thing, it is not ATF by a long shot and it is also not generic power steering fluid, unless it has the correct specification.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

It's a very sensible hatchback aside from being sketchy as hell in a moderate snowfall on foot wide summer tires.  Good to know about the power steering fluid, I'm going to change out all the fluids in a couple weeks at my friend's shop.   

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

That's awesome you're getting to enjoy it!

Wow, missed this thread until now.  Congrats.  YOu deserve something good in your life.

I don't see any details on the original damage.  What happened to it that it was totaled originally?  Do you think some of the minor issues you've had are related to that, or just age and miles?

BTW, can you remove the tops on the Z06, or did they fix them with the aluminum chassis vs the steel chassis on the regular cars?

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

...where the girlfriend works. 

My favorite part of the thread.  I guess coffee girl is still coming around for another "hot cupful".  Glad to hear! 

In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :

The damage was to the nose of the car so it could be the cause of the headlight issue. I don't see anything obvious like damaged wires so I will have wait for it to happen again. The door issue is probably age and use. Google brings up some links for pinched and worn wiring, and the coil wires are probably just vibration. I unplugged and re connected them and they all felt like they were snapped in tight so I will keep checking them.  Honestly overall it's tighter than I'd expect a 77,000 mile corvette to be. 
 

The top is not removable, it's just as well I don't know that I'd take it off much. 

In reply to John Welsh :

She is awesome, and for some reason still around. Thank you. 

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to John Welsh :

She is awesome, and for some reason still around. Thank you. 

Those that know you well know the reason she's still around Wall. 

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS):

The fluid was just a bit low. I topped it off and we were good. 
 

I wasn't able to fix the driver's door, I tried but electricity and I don't get along so it's going to my friend's shop. The trip to the airstrip was also rained out last weekend so hopefully this Sunday it will go on. The half mile was cut to 1/3 mile. I'm curious how fast it will go, should be a good time. 
 

I took it Monday for a state inspection but it didn't pass emissions. Two monitors weren't ready, cat and evap. I'm surprised because I put about 500 miles on it since correcting the misfire but they said it was somewhat common on GMs in the winter. They said drive it more. Ollie and I did about 250 miles and three McNugget stops Monday in the rain. It has a tendency to follow ruts on the highway and that gets worse in heavy rain.  I also took it to work again yesterday. It is so much fun to drive, once I get a few bugs out of it I will probably take it more often than I thought. I'm also thinking of signing up for a couple track nights. It's probably not the best car to learn on but it's the one I have. 

Doing car things:

It was clean when I left;

Kinda glad I left it home today. It's worse in the snow than the rain:

In reply to QuasiMofo (John Brown) :

Thank You 

Yes, getting those 2 monitors to set in a GM of that era in the winter is a real problem.  My Suburban hasn't been able to set them despite about 1500 miles on it since the end of October.  The starting temp has to be at least 45 for some of them to set and the parameters are a real PITA to meet so don't expect it to reset itself any time soon.  

In reply to Sonic :

That's what they said. I'm kinda tempted to see how long I can go before someone realizes it's not inspected, hopefully into warmer weather anyway before this becomes an annual ritual. 

Ohio gives you a miss for evap because it might not run five months of the year. The only time they care is if it is a retest and it originally failed for that.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

NY will give a pass for one or the other but not both 

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

I'm happy that you seem happy.  So other than passing emissions when it's warm what are your other plans when it's warm and can enjoy it more?

In reply to Stampie :

Aside from fixing the door and window on the driver's side it doesn't have any pressing needs. The tint on the door glass will likely get removed at some point as it's too dark and a ticket waiting to happen, and I have a new shift knob on the way but otherwise I'm going to put it up on my friend's lift and give the car a good going over but then the plan is just to drive it. Everything works as it should, so I will just keep up on maintaining it and playing with it. 

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS):

The fluid was just a bit low. I topped it off and we were good. 
 

I wasn't able to fix the driver's door, I tried but electricity and I don't get along so it's going to my friend's shop. The trip to the airstrip was also rained out last weekend so hopefully this Sunday it will go on. The half mile was cut to 1/3 mile. I'm curious how fast it will go, should be a good time. 
 

I took it Monday for a state inspection but it didn't pass emissions. Two monitors weren't ready, cat and evap. I'm surprised because I put about 500 miles on it since correcting the misfire but they said it was somewhat common on GMs in the winter. They said drive it more. Ollie and I did about 250 miles and three McNugget stops Monday in the rain. It has a tendency to follow ruts on the highway and that gets worse in heavy rain.  I also took it to work again yesterday. It is so much fun to drive, once I get a few bugs out of it I will probably take it more often than I thought. I'm also thinking of signing up for a couple track nights. It's probably not the best car to learn on but it's the one I have. 

Doing car things:

It was clean when I left;

Kinda glad I left it home today. It's worse in the snow than the rain:

I think I offered before, but I'd be happy to instruct you at a mass tuning or NASA track event!  You seem like the sorta guy who would enjoy a mass tuning event.

Wait, I'm worried about that loose trim on your house.  Moisture may get in, then mold.

Let it be known that it maybe the fastest paperweight, but it sinks just as fast as a paperweight. We lost our 2003 50th anniversary Z06 during the hurricane of 2004.. the car took on water and fast, you should have seen the wife jamming our cloths in the door seams as I watched the water pour in from the tailgate.. We got stranded on I85 near Roanoke VA. Just one of those foolish mistakes and a high maintenance cars I thought I could handle.