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Unread 02-24-2022, 08:11 PM   #4
Rich Z
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Crawfordville, FL
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Name : Rich Zuchowski
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Sorry, but my experiences with nearly every shop and "Corvette tech" around this area has been less than satisfactory. They will all sing you a nice tune, but when the pedal goes to the metal, well, pay with a credit card in case you need to dispute the charge is what I will suggest.

Heck, honestly a while back when I was looking for someone I would even have been willing to ship my car to in order to have the drive train pulled and inspected, I just could not get anyone to help, much less even respond to me. But likely not unusual, since many shops are reluctant to work on a highly customized vehicle that had other people's hands on for the build. I actually was talking at length with a local company that builds TransAms from stock Camaros. They called in a favor at a Chevy dealership in Quitman, GA and got them to work on my car for me. That didn't go exactly all that well, but better than some other experiences I had. Cost me much more than it should have, and took a LOT longer than it should have, but when you are between a rock and a hard place, you can't complain much without burning the only bridge you have available.

So is it simply a matter of Corvettes just being that problematical to find qualified techs for?

Unfortunate, but it sure seems that way to me. Unless you are sticking with a plain vanilla car that you want to KEEP plain vanilla. Which is odd, because except for that torque tube arrangement, they really don't seem to be that odd of a duck to work on. As one Corvette tech who came to closest to being someone I felt I could trust once told me "It's all just nuts and bolts, Rich."

Dealerships are often reluctant to do anything that isn't "by the GM book", so you are often wasting your time even asking them for help. But if you can find the Corvette tech at a local dealership and get a few minutes to talk with him face to face, perhaps he will know of an aftermarket shop that he could recommend you to. But note that although a tech might be assigned as the dedicated "Corvette tech" at a dealership, doesn't always mean that they are really all that much more experienced with Corvettes outside of that little "stock" envelope, and know anything more about aftermarket products than the guy who does the oil changes there.

Yeah, I know this sounds discouraging, but after what I went through with my C5Z, documented in this thread -> https://www.corvetteflorida.com/foru...ad.php?t=44697, I seriously doubt anyone would think I am being overly pessimistic and now looking at the world with only jaundiced eyes. To be perfectly honest, I no longer trust anyone else to even do oil changes on my vehicles. If anything else breaks on my car, if I can't fix it myself, then I sell it, either whole or parted out.

Anyway, good luck on your DIY project. Hope it works out for you. The procedure doesn't sound too tough. But getting underneath these cars to work on them is the biggest challenge. Best thing I EVER did was when having my garage built, I had a commercial 2 post lift put in. It REALLY saved my bacon with my C5Z.
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