2005 Corvette C6 Convertible Z51 Manual
Discussion
It's about time I started a thread for this...
Late last autumn I finished paying off my student loan (I was lucky, 1.1% interest after graduating in 2011 and £1500pa fees in Wales) which left me with a couple hundred pounds a month left over. Having owned my C4 for about 6 years at this point, I'd just spent loads of money on a new interior (which I still haven't fitted) but was curious about trying out an LS powered car. A cheapish C6 manual on eBay caught my attention. I phoned the chap in London and he seemed reasonable, saying the paint wasn't perfect and it needed a window regulator. Fine. I enlisted my friend Vesa (also double Corvette and Volvo daily driver) to come to look at it with me. An expensive day out with ULEZ and all. The car had obviously been crashed but not recorded. The front headlights were mismatched, one made in China. The same side on the chassis rail it was poorly welded back together. Air con didn't work. The seller claimed he knew nothing about it and had bought it from a dealer. He didn't have an answer when I asked why his home address was on the import documents I found online. I don't understand why people do this, a waste of time & money for us both. If it was a decent bit cheaper and there were photos of the actual damage perhaps it would have been a different story.
Anyway, I posted the car on the Corvette Club UK Facebook page to stop other people making the same journey. He kept phoning me to pester that I take it down, I agreed if he updated the listing with a real description but that never happened. However this episode lead me to finding my car, and it's a convertible!
Someone else messaged to say they were considering selling their car. It was also a 2005 C6 Z51 manual, and a similar price. It had excellent Carfax and UK history with a few fastidious owners. But it was a convertible. I've never had one and spent a few days mulling over it. Reading on the US Corvette forum someone said that if I had a convertible, I'd never wish I couldn't put the roof down. What a good way to think of it!
So I booked my train ticket to Kemble where my Dad picked me up to take us up to Northampton to look at the car. I had a new loan ready so I could graduate to the C6. The car looked lovely and the owner was genuine and a real enthusiast. His wife had an Austin 7. What a difference from the other car I saw. I bought it and my Dad crammed some spares in his Mini and I drove it home, getting an impressive 32mpg.
It only had 33k miles on when I bought it and being the Z51 has the better gear ratios, bigger brakes, bigger anti roll bars, oil cooler and lots of goodies. It also has every option box ticked, literally everything! Plus it's a lovely Le Mans blue colour. Stock performance is 0-60 in 4 seconds with a top speed of 186mph. The previous owner had fitted long tube headers and a Vararam intake. Coupled with a custom tune from Wortec it's running 458bhp at the crank, as opposed 400 stock. It's a real monster, especially when you pop it in 3rd on the motorway!
I'd put about 1k miles on it and was just thinking, this is excellent. Then the clutch slave line failed and sprayed fluid all over the headers. It seems the heat had helped make a pinhole leak. The previous owner had fitted fibreglass socks to the plug wires but the clutch line was still able to get toasty. After it happened I googled it and found out it's a common issue. Annoying as it caused a headache that could have been avoided, but this is how you learn when you get into a new “platform” ha.
Luckily from mucking about with my C4 for years I've met some great people into American junk and it was on a flat bed to someone local. The procedure to bleed the clutch is a chore, the exhaust has to come off and the torque tube cover (another 36 bolts) then childlike hands might just reach it. My mate had a long braided line made up, fitted it and tucked it nicely out of the way. Once he topped up the master and pumped the pedal a bit, it came back! Result!! To put a new oem slave unit in the line is crimped on and involves dropping the whole drivetrain! So change from £300 including the recovery was a nice outcome!
I've also had the factory stereo replaced with a Pioneer android auto one. The OEM one didn't pick up many stations and being 2005 vintage, had a CD player but no bluetooth. The android auto unit fits well and is very functional. I just plug my phone in, keep it in the arm rest and I have google maps, Spotify, DAB all on the main screen.
The car itself is very different to the C4 but you can also tell it's the same DNA. Immediately there are some things better on the C4. The ZF gearbox (same as the Lotus Carlton and 90's Aston's) is quick and very accurate, you can rip through them. Also the steering on the C4 is 2 turns lock to lock, so very responsive. However the C6 actually feels like a car instead of a kit car. What it loses in some raw character it makes up for in usability. I wanted something fun which could be driven for hours on long road trips and the C6 is a much better car for that. I was surprised how many people like the C6 too, I guess it still stands out as something a bit different. A couple of times I've come back to it in a car park and kids are having photos by it and I get lots of thumbs up!
I really like the interior, one button to turn traction control off. Nice big dials and gauges of things I want to see and a steering wheel without lots of buttons. It's very much here's a 6 litre 450bhp+ NA V8, a steering wheel and 3 pedals in a car that weighs 1400kg.
I can still hear these photos!
With Dave at WSM helicopter museum
I'm much more into driving cars than polishing them but an afternoon of effort and it came up very nicely for a 17 year old car!
I was also childish and bought a cheap plate
And I still have this knocking about. I'm not sure if I should sell it, keep it, run the C6 for a bit and sell it then put a stronger engine in the C4.
Late last autumn I finished paying off my student loan (I was lucky, 1.1% interest after graduating in 2011 and £1500pa fees in Wales) which left me with a couple hundred pounds a month left over. Having owned my C4 for about 6 years at this point, I'd just spent loads of money on a new interior (which I still haven't fitted) but was curious about trying out an LS powered car. A cheapish C6 manual on eBay caught my attention. I phoned the chap in London and he seemed reasonable, saying the paint wasn't perfect and it needed a window regulator. Fine. I enlisted my friend Vesa (also double Corvette and Volvo daily driver) to come to look at it with me. An expensive day out with ULEZ and all. The car had obviously been crashed but not recorded. The front headlights were mismatched, one made in China. The same side on the chassis rail it was poorly welded back together. Air con didn't work. The seller claimed he knew nothing about it and had bought it from a dealer. He didn't have an answer when I asked why his home address was on the import documents I found online. I don't understand why people do this, a waste of time & money for us both. If it was a decent bit cheaper and there were photos of the actual damage perhaps it would have been a different story.
Anyway, I posted the car on the Corvette Club UK Facebook page to stop other people making the same journey. He kept phoning me to pester that I take it down, I agreed if he updated the listing with a real description but that never happened. However this episode lead me to finding my car, and it's a convertible!
Someone else messaged to say they were considering selling their car. It was also a 2005 C6 Z51 manual, and a similar price. It had excellent Carfax and UK history with a few fastidious owners. But it was a convertible. I've never had one and spent a few days mulling over it. Reading on the US Corvette forum someone said that if I had a convertible, I'd never wish I couldn't put the roof down. What a good way to think of it!
So I booked my train ticket to Kemble where my Dad picked me up to take us up to Northampton to look at the car. I had a new loan ready so I could graduate to the C6. The car looked lovely and the owner was genuine and a real enthusiast. His wife had an Austin 7. What a difference from the other car I saw. I bought it and my Dad crammed some spares in his Mini and I drove it home, getting an impressive 32mpg.
It only had 33k miles on when I bought it and being the Z51 has the better gear ratios, bigger brakes, bigger anti roll bars, oil cooler and lots of goodies. It also has every option box ticked, literally everything! Plus it's a lovely Le Mans blue colour. Stock performance is 0-60 in 4 seconds with a top speed of 186mph. The previous owner had fitted long tube headers and a Vararam intake. Coupled with a custom tune from Wortec it's running 458bhp at the crank, as opposed 400 stock. It's a real monster, especially when you pop it in 3rd on the motorway!
I'd put about 1k miles on it and was just thinking, this is excellent. Then the clutch slave line failed and sprayed fluid all over the headers. It seems the heat had helped make a pinhole leak. The previous owner had fitted fibreglass socks to the plug wires but the clutch line was still able to get toasty. After it happened I googled it and found out it's a common issue. Annoying as it caused a headache that could have been avoided, but this is how you learn when you get into a new “platform” ha.
Luckily from mucking about with my C4 for years I've met some great people into American junk and it was on a flat bed to someone local. The procedure to bleed the clutch is a chore, the exhaust has to come off and the torque tube cover (another 36 bolts) then childlike hands might just reach it. My mate had a long braided line made up, fitted it and tucked it nicely out of the way. Once he topped up the master and pumped the pedal a bit, it came back! Result!! To put a new oem slave unit in the line is crimped on and involves dropping the whole drivetrain! So change from £300 including the recovery was a nice outcome!
I've also had the factory stereo replaced with a Pioneer android auto one. The OEM one didn't pick up many stations and being 2005 vintage, had a CD player but no bluetooth. The android auto unit fits well and is very functional. I just plug my phone in, keep it in the arm rest and I have google maps, Spotify, DAB all on the main screen.
The car itself is very different to the C4 but you can also tell it's the same DNA. Immediately there are some things better on the C4. The ZF gearbox (same as the Lotus Carlton and 90's Aston's) is quick and very accurate, you can rip through them. Also the steering on the C4 is 2 turns lock to lock, so very responsive. However the C6 actually feels like a car instead of a kit car. What it loses in some raw character it makes up for in usability. I wanted something fun which could be driven for hours on long road trips and the C6 is a much better car for that. I was surprised how many people like the C6 too, I guess it still stands out as something a bit different. A couple of times I've come back to it in a car park and kids are having photos by it and I get lots of thumbs up!
I really like the interior, one button to turn traction control off. Nice big dials and gauges of things I want to see and a steering wheel without lots of buttons. It's very much here's a 6 litre 450bhp+ NA V8, a steering wheel and 3 pedals in a car that weighs 1400kg.
I can still hear these photos!
With Dave at WSM helicopter museum
I'm much more into driving cars than polishing them but an afternoon of effort and it came up very nicely for a 17 year old car!
I was also childish and bought a cheap plate
And I still have this knocking about. I'm not sure if I should sell it, keep it, run the C6 for a bit and sell it then put a stronger engine in the C4.
The car looks fantastic, I saw the arrival in your C4 thread recently (I was a bit behind) and was worried the C4 content would stop as I love that car 
Over in the Holden camp a lot of people have had Wortec tunes and been very happy, but their reputation has dropped a bit in terms of perhaps the tunes weren't as good as first thought, so if you do tinker any further with the C6 and want to get it tuned again, it may be worth asking around for alternatives. Happy to chat via PM if you want
Yours and Dave's threads are great reads so look forward to this one
Over in the Holden camp a lot of people have had Wortec tunes and been very happy, but their reputation has dropped a bit in terms of perhaps the tunes weren't as good as first thought, so if you do tinker any further with the C6 and want to get it tuned again, it may be worth asking around for alternatives. Happy to chat via PM if you want
Yours and Dave's threads are great reads so look forward to this one
I prefer the Coupe to, however, that is very nice. The colour scheme is absolutely spot-on!
Looks like it has been well looked after or the detailer has been on triple overtime.
My friend with the C4 is looking at importing a C5 to Oz, an early one, as there is a 25 year limit, but I keep telling him to wait, at least until a 2000 or 2001 can come in. I prefer the C6 though, so that is a wait until 2030. He nearly bought a C6 a few years ago, but one needed a bit of time spent on it and the other didn't, but it was a Z06 and the LS7 engine issues scared him off. I struggled to convince him that people in Oz would know about the engine issues and how to fix them.
He looks after a thing on facebook for the C8 down here, so that will probably win....uurrrgghhhhh!!!
The number plate, brilliant!!!!!
Don't sell the C4, that is what I tell him to, he has spent so much time and effort on it, like yourself, to not enjoy it. Besides that meccano construction makes it so easy to work on.
Looks like it has been well looked after or the detailer has been on triple overtime.
My friend with the C4 is looking at importing a C5 to Oz, an early one, as there is a 25 year limit, but I keep telling him to wait, at least until a 2000 or 2001 can come in. I prefer the C6 though, so that is a wait until 2030. He nearly bought a C6 a few years ago, but one needed a bit of time spent on it and the other didn't, but it was a Z06 and the LS7 engine issues scared him off. I struggled to convince him that people in Oz would know about the engine issues and how to fix them.
He looks after a thing on facebook for the C8 down here, so that will probably win....uurrrgghhhhh!!!
The number plate, brilliant!!!!! Don't sell the C4, that is what I tell him to, he has spent so much time and effort on it, like yourself, to not enjoy it. Besides that meccano construction makes it so easy to work on.
As others have said, I wasn't sure about the Convertible, but seeing and hearing this one up close has changed my mind. Whilst I can take the roof panel out of my Coupe it's a bit of a hassle for short journeys, whilst the 'vert is just a button press away. I like the double bubble cowling behind the headrests. You've done a great job with the paintwork Felix. 
I think this thread deserves a video clip?
I think this thread deserves a video clip?It's time I updated this thread now it's my only Corvette!
I sold my C4 of 7 years a couple of months ago. The buyer was a similar age/attitude to me and seems very happy! It was great selling it to someone like that as I had a lot of time/effort/money in the car over the years and I'm glad it's gone to someone who is going to continue using and improving it.
I'll move some bits over from the C4 thread here and then there'll be a better update of different bits I've tinkered with!
Last summer I took the C6 too see a mate who bought a farm in Llandovery and didn't believe him when he said the lanes to his house wouldn't suit the car. I think I cut the grass in the centre of the road all the way up there.
Lovely drive back though through Brecon
Next up a little group trip to Spa
We had parking right inside Eau Rouge! Everyone else bought slow sensible cars apart from the TVR
Saw a couple of ZR1s, infact mine was the only peasant model C6 there!
Had a great French lunch on the picnic table
Back in Vianden. Luxembourg is great, well worth a visit if you're nearby.
Last night we stayed in a chateau, less than £100 a night!
Another shift cycle in the summer. 5Am commutes are great this time of year, hardly any traffic and decent A roads to myself
Made a new friend in Cardiff by the Museum. Awesome widebody SWB 300ZX
Went to some more American meet ups with my friend Mark & his big block 4 speed Camaro, mega car this!
I met up with Geraint also of PH with his MX5 although I was using the C6 a lot since it worked. Funny seeing the two cabrios together. I went to an American car meetup at Whocult doughnuts too and saw another C6 Z51 6 speed in Le Mans blue, apart from this one was a coupe. I'd seen it advertised before, it's a very nice car! Vesa also came to visit to have a go driving the C6. For an afternoon there was double trouble in my car port!
Dave (owner of Clive the Corvette) had asked me at the end of last year if I wanted to drive to the Sahara desert so I left the C4 behind once more. We had an incredible adventure and made it to the desert mostly drama free.
I helped out with the ubiquitous African detailing grit applicator.
I sold my C4 of 7 years a couple of months ago. The buyer was a similar age/attitude to me and seems very happy! It was great selling it to someone like that as I had a lot of time/effort/money in the car over the years and I'm glad it's gone to someone who is going to continue using and improving it.
I'll move some bits over from the C4 thread here and then there'll be a better update of different bits I've tinkered with!
Last summer I took the C6 too see a mate who bought a farm in Llandovery and didn't believe him when he said the lanes to his house wouldn't suit the car. I think I cut the grass in the centre of the road all the way up there.
Lovely drive back though through Brecon
Next up a little group trip to Spa
We had parking right inside Eau Rouge! Everyone else bought slow sensible cars apart from the TVR
Saw a couple of ZR1s, infact mine was the only peasant model C6 there!
Had a great French lunch on the picnic table
Back in Vianden. Luxembourg is great, well worth a visit if you're nearby.
Last night we stayed in a chateau, less than £100 a night!
Another shift cycle in the summer. 5Am commutes are great this time of year, hardly any traffic and decent A roads to myself
Made a new friend in Cardiff by the Museum. Awesome widebody SWB 300ZX
Went to some more American meet ups with my friend Mark & his big block 4 speed Camaro, mega car this!
I met up with Geraint also of PH with his MX5 although I was using the C6 a lot since it worked. Funny seeing the two cabrios together. I went to an American car meetup at Whocult doughnuts too and saw another C6 Z51 6 speed in Le Mans blue, apart from this one was a coupe. I'd seen it advertised before, it's a very nice car! Vesa also came to visit to have a go driving the C6. For an afternoon there was double trouble in my car port!
Dave (owner of Clive the Corvette) had asked me at the end of last year if I wanted to drive to the Sahara desert so I left the C4 behind once more. We had an incredible adventure and made it to the desert mostly drama free.
I helped out with the ubiquitous African detailing grit applicator.
Started this year at a local meet in what seems like summer weather now!
Then in early spring the girl I met the year before and drove around South America with came over and after a week in Italy we did a lap of Wales in the C6. There was one afternoon when we managed to put the roof down! Wales has lots of fantastic roads and scenery though and we both had a great trip! I'd like a C6 Z06 in the future but even the base model is plenty wide enough to navigate some of the roads here.
The car definitely needed a wash afterwards...
I met up with an old friend from school who bought a 997 the same time as I got my C6. Funny to think we were looking at cars like this in sixth form and now we had rivals! He paid exactly the same for his 05 997 as I did my 05 C6. The 997 has 100k more miles and 100 less BHP. It's a really nice car though, you can tell it would have been more expensive when new. The interior is better quality but I think now they're almost 20 years old the C6 has worn better because it's made of simple vinyl materials.
I got a great tip to use a lint roller on the soft top which pulled off all the dust
Helped out a local guy who bought a C4 by dropping off some of the spares I had left over
And then I managed to wear a hole in one of the header pipes from scraping it on the pavement getting out of my car port.
Someone close by with a hot rod shop welded on a plate as a quick fix for some beer tokens.
There's always some nice stuff around his workshop
Caught up with Fishydave again at Yate. There's an excellent meet up here, always great variety!
And a very different blue 2 seater offered by GM the same time as the C6 this time at Llandow
I saw a Corvette in Copenhagen on a short trip
This was at the Haaning collection. A small but very slick museum there, highly recommended!
Next an exciting parcel turned up...
Then in early spring the girl I met the year before and drove around South America with came over and after a week in Italy we did a lap of Wales in the C6. There was one afternoon when we managed to put the roof down! Wales has lots of fantastic roads and scenery though and we both had a great trip! I'd like a C6 Z06 in the future but even the base model is plenty wide enough to navigate some of the roads here.
The car definitely needed a wash afterwards...
I met up with an old friend from school who bought a 997 the same time as I got my C6. Funny to think we were looking at cars like this in sixth form and now we had rivals! He paid exactly the same for his 05 997 as I did my 05 C6. The 997 has 100k more miles and 100 less BHP. It's a really nice car though, you can tell it would have been more expensive when new. The interior is better quality but I think now they're almost 20 years old the C6 has worn better because it's made of simple vinyl materials.
I got a great tip to use a lint roller on the soft top which pulled off all the dust
Helped out a local guy who bought a C4 by dropping off some of the spares I had left over
And then I managed to wear a hole in one of the header pipes from scraping it on the pavement getting out of my car port.
Someone close by with a hot rod shop welded on a plate as a quick fix for some beer tokens.
There's always some nice stuff around his workshop
Caught up with Fishydave again at Yate. There's an excellent meet up here, always great variety!
And a very different blue 2 seater offered by GM the same time as the C6 this time at Llandow
I saw a Corvette in Copenhagen on a short trip
This was at the Haaning collection. A small but very slick museum there, highly recommended!
Next an exciting parcel turned up...
Thanks! Yes I love the colour, much better than red or silver!
In the boxes I had a set of Apex EC7 wheels 18x10 fronts and 19x11 rears. I've got to say thanks to Apex for great customer service. I ordered the wheels direct from them on a Friday and used my credit card via paypal just incase. My bank obviously blocked me from spending a couple of grand on wheels from the USA on a friday night. On Monday with nothing pending I reordered and sent Apex an email to confirm the first transaction hadn't cleared and I only wanted one set. When the customer service rep saw the email later in the day I was told both had shipped! Paypal had used my current account as a back up and so the funds cleared for Apex and they sent the wheels and then later in the day the wheels I'd ordered that Monday with my credit card allowing the transaction this time. Both sets arrived in the UK a couple of days later. After a few emails I paid the duties on one set and collected them. The others were just in the UK customs depot at Donington. Apex managed to get these returned to them and gave me a full refund for the set including the initial $440 shipping cost and didn't deduct anything for the return postage. I thought this was the best outcome possible when they could have just said tough, you ordered and paid for two sets!
A quick test fit. The finish is very nice!
I went from 18x8.5 245/40/18 and 19x10 285/35/19 to 18x10 275/35/18 19x11 295/35/19. New Falken tyres, all four fitted for £600. The Falkens are impressive in the wet compared to the Goodyears and I don't know if I could justify double the price for Michelin PS4. It's great having a wider tyre up front again, it's more like the C4 now with similar tyre size and lots of mechanical grip without upsetting the balance of the car. The offset is perfect too, really fills out the arches.
I met up with Geraint again to show them off and he kindly helped me with a temperamental rear indicator. The wiring conversion was a real mess! The US spec C6 has dual filament rear lamps for tail light/turn signal/brake and it's not as simple as just fitting an amber indicator. We found a bad relay in the passenger footwell but the wiring at the rear had redundant parts and so many joins and changes for no reason! I ordered an original tail light loom and some aftermarket lights which should be here in a couple of weeks hopefully. In the meantime we put some orange led indicator strips around the tail lights to satisfy MOT.
Now the reason for my wheel change. I picked up a complete set of C6 Z06 brakes for cheap when I first got the C6. I bought them from Norway via eBay. The fronts are 6 pot with 14” discs and the rears are 4 pot with 13.5” discs and they'll bolt on provided you have a wheel that will clear
them. They were red when I bought them but I had them powdercoated Porsche speed yellow as I wanted them to pop against the car. All new seals, pads and braided hoses were used but I just painted the centres of the discs they came with. There's hardly any wear on them and in the future I'd like the 2 piece EBC discs that you can get. On the front they clear fine but the rears required a 7mm spacer. I used extended thread wheel nuts so I still have the same thread engagement. They really transform the look of the car in my opinion.
In the boxes I had a set of Apex EC7 wheels 18x10 fronts and 19x11 rears. I've got to say thanks to Apex for great customer service. I ordered the wheels direct from them on a Friday and used my credit card via paypal just incase. My bank obviously blocked me from spending a couple of grand on wheels from the USA on a friday night. On Monday with nothing pending I reordered and sent Apex an email to confirm the first transaction hadn't cleared and I only wanted one set. When the customer service rep saw the email later in the day I was told both had shipped! Paypal had used my current account as a back up and so the funds cleared for Apex and they sent the wheels and then later in the day the wheels I'd ordered that Monday with my credit card allowing the transaction this time. Both sets arrived in the UK a couple of days later. After a few emails I paid the duties on one set and collected them. The others were just in the UK customs depot at Donington. Apex managed to get these returned to them and gave me a full refund for the set including the initial $440 shipping cost and didn't deduct anything for the return postage. I thought this was the best outcome possible when they could have just said tough, you ordered and paid for two sets!
A quick test fit. The finish is very nice!
I went from 18x8.5 245/40/18 and 19x10 285/35/19 to 18x10 275/35/18 19x11 295/35/19. New Falken tyres, all four fitted for £600. The Falkens are impressive in the wet compared to the Goodyears and I don't know if I could justify double the price for Michelin PS4. It's great having a wider tyre up front again, it's more like the C4 now with similar tyre size and lots of mechanical grip without upsetting the balance of the car. The offset is perfect too, really fills out the arches.
I met up with Geraint again to show them off and he kindly helped me with a temperamental rear indicator. The wiring conversion was a real mess! The US spec C6 has dual filament rear lamps for tail light/turn signal/brake and it's not as simple as just fitting an amber indicator. We found a bad relay in the passenger footwell but the wiring at the rear had redundant parts and so many joins and changes for no reason! I ordered an original tail light loom and some aftermarket lights which should be here in a couple of weeks hopefully. In the meantime we put some orange led indicator strips around the tail lights to satisfy MOT.
Now the reason for my wheel change. I picked up a complete set of C6 Z06 brakes for cheap when I first got the C6. I bought them from Norway via eBay. The fronts are 6 pot with 14” discs and the rears are 4 pot with 13.5” discs and they'll bolt on provided you have a wheel that will clear
them. They were red when I bought them but I had them powdercoated Porsche speed yellow as I wanted them to pop against the car. All new seals, pads and braided hoses were used but I just painted the centres of the discs they came with. There's hardly any wear on them and in the future I'd like the 2 piece EBC discs that you can get. On the front they clear fine but the rears required a 7mm spacer. I used extended thread wheel nuts so I still have the same thread engagement. They really transform the look of the car in my opinion.
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