C4 & Up Electronic Parts

[Kenneth B.]

I have been hearing that it is getting hard to find electrical parts/sensors ETC. for C4 & up Corvettes. Without these parts the cars will not run. If no one makes these will they just be junk cars. The old Carb.plugs & fuel pump Corvettes will always go but with the electronic boards & sensors that none of us can make will these Corvettes be up on blocks?
KEN

[Tom H.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

I am starting to see issues every day in our shop. It is getting harder and harder to get parts every day. Stock up on good C4 parts if you find them.

[Clem Z.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

the after market will not step up unless the owners are willing to pay more for the parts than the car is worth. that is why you can buy a new portable phone cheaper than you can replace the battery in your old one.

[Edward J.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

Ken, being in the auto repair bussiness for 40 yrs 20 of them with a gm dealership, I see that gm doesn't make much of anything anymore, but there are after market parts avaliable, they do reman. computers, and make many sensors and fuel pumps, which is going to fail sooner or later, as GM never figured out how to make a fuel pump that would last.

[Joe L.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

I have been hearing that it is getting hard to find electrical parts/sensors ETC. for C4 & up Corvettes. Without these parts the cars will not run. If no one makes these will they just be junk cars. The old Carb.plugs & fuel pump Corvettes will always go but with the electronic boards & sensors that none of us can make will these Corvettes be up on blocks?
KEN

Ken------


I've commented on this on several previous occasions. C4 and later Corvettes could become, basically, "throw-away" cars, not because they are not desirable or otherwise restorable, but because critical parts for them might not be available. I seriously doubt that many of these parts will ever be available in reproduction. Of course, I've been surprised before when C2 and C3 parts that I never thought would be reproduced did get reproduced.

C4 Corvettes are going to be the first generation Corvette that really experiences a serious parts availability problem. This is a result of 4 factors "converging". First, and most obvious, is the fact that the last one was produced almost 14 years ago. Lots of parts for ANY car get discontinued by 14 years after production ends.

Second, the vast majority of parts for C4 Corvettes are Corvette-specific. This does not create a large enough sales volume to induce GM to keep the parts available and it certainly doesn't create interest in aftermarket manufacturers to tool up to produce low volume parts.

Third, C4 Corvettes are the most parts-content-rich Corvettes that were ever built and, likely, the most parts-content-rich Corvettes that will EVER be built. They have 40% more parts content than C5 or C6 Corvettes. So, not only are most of the parts Corvette-unique but there are also LOTS of them.

Fourth, the "spin-off" of DELPHI from GM in the 90's and the subsequent bankruptcy and dismantling of DELPHI have decimated the manufacturing base for C4 parts. In the "old days", the internal GM parts manufacturing operations would keep manufacturing SERVICE parts probably long after it really made sense to do so. However, the tooling was paid for and as long as the tooling held out, they just "slugged along" and kept churning out the parts. It doesn't work that way anymore. Most of the DELPHI operations are gone and those that continue are being "leaned down" to the bare bones. SERVICE parts for older, low volume applications just aren't going to pay for the costs of even the floorspace it takes to manufacture them. So, out they go!

As I've said before, the challenges facing C4 restorers is going to make C1, C2, and C3 restoration look like child's play.

[Clem Z.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

the C1,C2 and C3s were cars of the "car" era and were in demand later because a lot of people who could not afford new ones will pay any cost to have a car of their youth dreams. this is not the case with C-4 and up as most people who wanted them when they we new bought them then so there is no great demand for these owners to relive their youth. JMHO

[Edward J.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

Joe, wait until the ZR1 engines start breaking, engines or otherwise. this will be a real bad problem in another 10-15 years.It won't be like finding the typical rebuilding kit for the the small block.

I would imgine another problem will the the Doug Nash 4+2 transmisson. Parts for these must already be a problem, I Remember rebuilding a few of those in my day, they had many problems.

[Joe L.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

Joe, wait until the ZR1 engines start breaking, engines or otherwise. this will be a real bad problem in another 10-15 years.It won't be like finding the typical rebuilding kit for the the small block.

I would imgine another problem will the the Doug Nash 4+2 transmisson. Parts for these must already be a problem, I Remember rebuilding a few of those in my day, they had many problems.

Edward------


Yes, the ZR1 C4's serviceability will amount to a "huge problem compounded on top of a huge problem". For the vast majority of LT5 engine parts, the universe of available parts are those that exist already and the last pieces were manufactured more than 15 years ago. I cannot imagine that many, if any, will ever be reproduced.

Doug Nash 4+3 transmissions might fare a little better. The main gearbox is very similar to the T-10 and Richmond Gear still makes parts for those. The "back end" of these is the real service problem. However, I think I read somewhere that someone is now making some of the parts for this unit.

[Edward J.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

Joe, I was just going to fix that and remembered it was 4+3 its been awhile.

[Patrick T.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

Joe, wait until the ZR1 engines start breaking, engines or otherwise. this will be a real bad problem in another 10-15 years.It won't be like finding the typical rebuilding kit for the the small block.

Ed, if you're talking about the '90's ZR1 twin cam engines built by Mercury Marine, probably the only place you get parts for those now are on eBay. I've heard that NOS water pumps for this engine can run as high as $1500. PT

[Edward J.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

Pat, could be a good business to start-up rebuilding water pumps for the ZR1, with alittle research on where to find the parts like bearing and seals.

There 1500. now in 10- 15 years they may go for double that.

[Clem Z.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

Pat, could be a good business to start-up rebuilding water pumps for the ZR1, with alittle research on where to find the parts like bearing and seals.

There 1500. now in 10- 15 years they may go for double that.

the question is how many ZR-1 are out there as you need volume to make money on rebuilding because of the start up costs like a die to cut the gaskets etc. when you are dealing with million and millions like a SBC there is money to be made just on the shear numbers that will be needed.

[Edward J.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

Clem, there surely were not may ZR1's, I was beside myself when I heard that one went for 1500. on evil-bay. I am sure that someone already in the rebuilding business may give those pumps a try at rebuilding.

[Joe L.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

Ed, if you're talking about the '90's ZR1 twin cam engines built by Mercury Marine, probably the only place you get parts for those now are on eBay. I've heard that NOS water pumps for this engine can run as high as $1500. PT

Patrick------


The 1990 to 1995 LT5 (ZR1) waterpumps were all the same-----GM #10159599. You can buy these NOS on eBay for about 400 bucks without too much problem. As a matter of fact, there's even an aftermarket pump available. I expect that what's happened here is that the pumps were originally manufactured by a non-GM, non-Mercury Marine entity. That entity has the tooling and continues to manufacture the pumps. GM and Delco have discontinued the pumps because their initial run or runs ran out and volume of sales was too low to justify their continued stocking.

For core engine parts, which is what I was referring to earlier, most of those were manufactured by Mercury Marine and when they stopped making them more than 15 years ago, that was IT.

[Patrick T.]

Re: C4 & Up Electronic Parts

Patrick------


The 1990 to 1995 LT5 (ZR1) waterpumps were all the same-----GM #10159599. You can buy these NOS on eBay for about 400 bucks without too much problem. As a matter of fact, there's even an aftermarket pump available. I expect that what's happened here is that the pumps were originally manufactured by a non-GM, non-Mercury Marine entity. That entity has the tooling and continues to manufacture the pumps. GM and Delco have discontinued the pumps because their initial run or runs ran out and volume of sales was too low to justify their continued stocking.

For core engine parts, which is what I was referring to earlier, most of those were manufactured by Mercury Marine and when they stopped making them more than 15 years ago, that was IT.

Thanks Joe, I remember back then if something major went wrong with your Mercury Marine engine, the Chevy Dealer would just pull the whole engine out and put in a temporary replacement engine while your engine was sent out to be fixed. PT