Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Had a good surprise at the mechanic
I wanted to get some basic maintenance taken care of on the Corvette, and was a bit pressed for time, so I took it to AutoFab to have them change all the fluids and have them check it out to see if there was anything that might need repairs besides the A/C. They cleaned some feathers out of the radiator (note to anyone owning a C4 Corvette: The cooling system collects all sorts of junk) and pronounced it to have a clean bill of health. Some of the suspension bushings could use replacing, there's a little delamination on the rear spring, and the power steering rack has a small leak, but it doesn't show any signs of needing urgent repair.
But one thing they found came as a pleasant surprise, even though I didn't realize it until I got home and looked up a few specs. Wayne measured the sway bars with a calipers while it was on the lift, since I was curious about what suspension it had and the option list faded long ago. I found a 30 mm front sway bar and a 22 mm rear one. I'd heard that 30 mm is the largest front sway bar they put on a C4 Corvette, so I did a bit of digging and eventually found VetteNet's suspension guide. Looking up those measurements, I see that I've got the Z51 handling package. I had kind of expected it to have a base suspension - it's got an automatic and quite a few luxury items - so this was a pleasant surprise.
But one thing they found came as a pleasant surprise, even though I didn't realize it until I got home and looked up a few specs. Wayne measured the sway bars with a calipers while it was on the lift, since I was curious about what suspension it had and the option list faded long ago. I found a 30 mm front sway bar and a 22 mm rear one. I'd heard that 30 mm is the largest front sway bar they put on a C4 Corvette, so I did a bit of digging and eventually found VetteNet's suspension guide. Looking up those measurements, I see that I've got the Z51 handling package. I had kind of expected it to have a base suspension - it's got an automatic and quite a few luxury items - so this was a pleasant surprise.
Labels: Corvette
