Sportsman Award questions

[Terry M.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

In thinking about this kind of battery disconnect, why would the fire dept. think the one with the by pass wire is OK? It can't be used on all my old cars for display at shows where you leave the doors open for judging since it will drain the battery if the door lights are on all day, and thus you can't use the jumper wired version. Are the fire people afraid of starting the engine indoors? If so just leave the keys in your pocket, no problem then. I don't get it.

Mike,

It is not starting the car that the fire department is concerned about. The battery is an energy source. They are concerned about the sudden discharge of the battery by a short of the car's wiring. That could cause a fire. Disconnecting the battery, even if a small fuse is still in the circuit, protects against that possibility. Given a sudden large discharge of the battery the small fuse will blow and the discharge will stop.

I have to confess I don't understand why the fire department wanted the keys, but in my other life I have had many occasions to respond to electrical fires and I have learned when dealing with fire men you can't tell them a thing. They are singularly focused, and nothing will deter them, even common sense.

[Gary C.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

Mike,

Section 23.11.314.4 International Fire Code http://www.codepublishing.com/wa/bel...ml#23.11.314.4

Cities adopt that spec and then add their own twists. San Antonio wanted the keys in case they had to move the cars out of the building to remove potential fire fuel source.

Gary
....

San Antonio 2006 Fire Code
Fire Marshal IFC 2003 Vehicle San Antonio Conv Requirements_2006.jpg

[Bob D.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

Mike

As a follow up regarding the Lone Star Regional, we are going to offer you the option of putting your car inside the convention center or in the parking garage. The garage will ofer you the convenience of coming and going as you please whereas inside there will be specific times to move in or out.

[Michael J.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

Mike

As a follow up regarding the Lone Star Regional, we are going to offer you the option of putting your car inside the convention center or in the parking garage. The garage will ofer you the convenience of coming and going as you please whereas inside there will be specific times to move in or out.

Thanks Bob, I really appreciate the options. I am not concerned about the in and out, I am there for the duration and my son lives in Dallas and will come see me. But I am concerned about the battery shutoff switch issue and all the electronics on a 2012 ZR1 being an issue. But I will check it out further and make a decision when I arrive. Thanks very much again for all the considerations.

[Michael J.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

OK, stubborn (and paranoid with new electronic cars) me just read all my owners manual (a couple hundred pages), and checked with the dealer service department. Putting the battery disconnect switch on with the low amp bypass wire will only mess up the power windows, they should be the only thing needing to be reset. All my presets (nav address book, phone pairings, radio stations) should remain if I can accomplish the installation of the switch in less than a minute or so. I think I can do that, even with my fat fingers. So looks like I am good to go to meet the fire department regs for indoor, thanks.

[Dennis C.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

All my presets (nav address book, phone pairings, radio stations) should remain if I can accomplish the installation of the switch in less than a minute or so. I think I can do that, even with my fat fingers.

Mike,

If you have one of those portable battery jumpers with a 12 volt port they come with an adapter to plug in to the cigarette or power port of the car. It will provide sufficient power to maintain all your settings while installing the cut off switch. Just beside to disconnect it before closing the battery cut off switch.

Dennis

[Michael J.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

Mike,

If you have one of those portable battery jumpers with a 12 volt port they come with an adapter to plug in to the cigarette or power port of the car. It will provide sufficient power to maintain all your settings while installing the cut off switch. Just beside to disconnect it before closing the battery cut off switch.

Dennis

Thanks for that thought Dennis, I had wondered about the Battery Protection Package I got as an option when I ordered the car. It is just a small trickle charger that plugs into the cigar lighter to keep the battery topped off if it sits for a few weeks (lots of electronics still running that would drain the battery). Maybe if I keep that plugged in while I install the switch nothing will go down at all, even the windows?

[Dennis C.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

Mike,

I never tried it with one of those units,but I have cleaned battery terminals several time with the battery jumpers. Good luck.

Dennis

[Terry M.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

Michael,
I recently had the battery on my 2008 Z06 disconnected for a week. The only thing I had to reset was the windows. I have Nav also. You will have the magnetic suspension which I do not -- but that should be the only difference between our cars. I think you are overly concerned about nothing.

[Michael J.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

Michael,
I recently had the battery on my 2008 Z06 disconnected for a week. The only thing I had to reset was the windows. I have Nav also. You will have the magnetic suspension which I do not -- but that should be the only difference between our cars. I think you are overly concerned about nothing.

Thanks Terry, and yes you are correct, and you told me so too. I installed it yesterday and nothing happened except indexing the windows, which is a simple job given the instructions in the OM. Having restored and dealt with so many old cars over the last few decades, and never once been intimidated or hesitant to undertake most any job on them, I find myself very intimidated by new cars due to their complexity, electronic fly-by-wire systems, and my inability to work on them anymore due to that. I take my other new cars to the dealer for everything, it is a sealed system under the hood. I like to work on 'Vettes myself, but this ZR1 is the first new 'Vette I have had in 31 years, and the array of electronics is amazing to the point that it is an electronic device with some mechanical items, whereas the cars I am used to working on are mechanical devices with some electronics. The workers at Wixom Performance Build Center, where I built the engine for the ZR1 last year, laughed at me during the build when I asked them where the distributor was since I didn't install one when I built it, I was only half kidding. But thanks again for your help here, you were correct about the engineers listening to customers about not letting a battery disconnect be a major issue requiring a lot of work by the owner. Now if only Honda would understand that, I changed the battery in my daughter's new CR-V and that required a trip to the dealer, as dealer codes needed to be input to get the nav and radio to work at all and activate the onboard alarm system. Glad Chevy is better than that at least. Cheers.

[Terry M.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

Thanks Terry, and yes you are correct, and you told me so too. I installed it yesterday and nothing happened except indexing the windows, which is a simple job given the instructions in the OM. Having restored and dealt with so many old cars over the last few decades, and never once been intimidated or hesitant to undertake most any job on them, I find myself very intimidated by new cars due to their complexity, electronic fly-by-wire systems, and my inability to work on them anymore due to that. I take my other new cars to the dealer for everything, it is a sealed system under the hood. I like to work on 'Vettes myself, but this ZR1 is the first new 'Vette I have had in 31 years, and the array of electronics is amazing to the point that it is an electronic device with some mechanical items, whereas the cars I am used to working on are mechanical devices with some electronics. The workers at Wixom Performance Build Center, where I built the engine for the ZR1 last year, laughed at me during the build when I asked them where the distributor was since I didn't install one when I built it, I was only half kidding. But thanks again for your help here, you were correct about the engineers listening to customers about not letting a battery disconnect be a major issue requiring a lot of work by the owner. Now if only Honda would understand that, I changed the battery in my daughter's new CR-V and that required a trip to the dealer, as dealer codes needed to be input to get the nav and radio to work at all and activate the onboard alarm system. Glad Chevy is better than that at least. Cheers.

The new cars can be intimating at first, but once one gets used to the idea that electronics control everything they are not too bad. Some manufacturers (including GM) keep the computer access codes proprietary, and that is a huge fight in the automotive aftermarket industry. The suspicion is they want to keep customers coming back to their franchisees (dealers) for service. The automotive aftermarket has won some court cases on this subject, but it is generally like David and Goliath. They have won some battles but not the war, yet. In any case usually some very expensive electronic equipment is necessary to service the new cars. Even when that equipment is not proprietary to the manufacturer it (the diagnosis equipment) is still quite expensive. That usually deters the armature from embarking on even minor diagnosis and repair.

The Corvette engineers are quite accessible to those of us who own their product -- more so than most vehicle makes I think. If one attends many Corvette meets you will frequently run into Corvette engineers, although without an introduction you might pass them right by. Many of them own Corvettes (and not necessarily new ones -- they get those to drive. It is tough job, but someone has to do it.) and several are members of NCRS. Some even monitor this board and others in order to get feedback on their product. And in many cases (although not all) they listen to us. All that said, none of them have yet been able to explain to me why the trip odometer resets to 0 at 2200 miles. The usual response I get is "It does that?" It would seem like that could be corrected with a simple firmware flash, BWTFDIK?

[Michael J.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

I'm getting used to the car, but I am still not comfortable enough to change my own oil with that complex dry sump system. I may get there soon, as it needs it's first oil change and I have arranged with the dealer to watch the operation. I would like to meet some of the new Corvette engineers, I had dinner with a few at Wixom during the engine build experience and they were really nice guys who seemed to appreciate my passion for old ones. Meanwhile, that LS9 just puts my L71 to shame for acceleration and sheer torque, an amazing engine.

The aftermarket thing with new Corvettes is amazing. The other forum has hundreds of aftermarket suppliers constantly advertising or showing their wares. I am constantly amazed at the people who would buy an expensive car like a ZR1, and immediately start mods like ripping out the hood window to install a "shaker" hood contraption, or replace the blower and intercoolers, or the entire interior, as well as painting it and sticking all sorts of badges and decals on it. Being old school, I am keeping mine just like it was delivered at the NCM. I have not encountered the trip odometer issue, I always reset mine after each fill-up, and that LS9 with the 6 speed gets me over 25 mpg all the time, except of course on the track

[Terry M.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

Mike,

There are two trip odometers: Trip A & Trip B. I use A for each fuel fill and B for road tours. When B resets at that odd number I have to do more calculations than I believe should be necessary for such a load of electronics. But of course that is just my opinion, but I did make it known but I suspect the guys I know are not the computer nerds that could change that with a stroke of code.

I have changed the oil in mine myself for every oil change, however there is a chance the next one will get done by someone else due to a variety of personal circumstances. There is nothing magic to it. Just open both drain plugs and be sure to add the right amount of oil to the remote sump. The required oil quantity changes a lot through the years, and even some dealerships do not have the correct information. DO NOT attempt to put the oil into the engine itself. Some shops, even dealerships, have tried that with disastrous results.

The earlier engines built at Wixom had magnetic drain plugs for the oil drains (two per engine). That is a feature that Chevrolet cheapened out on during the 2008 model run. I would advise you to source two magnetic drain plugs from your FLAPS, and request whoever changes your oil to install them. Then in the future watch those drain plugs for rocker arm needles when changing oil. The full story on all that is too long for this thread, and we have wandered far off topic. We should sit down in Texas and talk some about the C6 and the folks who designed and built it.

[Michael J.]

Re: Sportsman Award questions

Thanks Terry for all the info, I appreciate it, and yes having heard many horror stories about things that can go wrong with the LS7/LS9 (and even the LS3?), that is way too long for a TDB. Cheers, see you in Texas.