New Toy

MIKES342

I traded my 2007 Corvette in for this 2013 Grand Sport.  Love it

 

 

Black_Diamond

Sweet

JoeStang

Very nice. I'm partial to the ZO6, but the GS is easily the best looking convertible vette in the last 30 years.

MIKES342

I am not sure if the picture uploaded so here is another.

TikiHut2

What a great way to spend your time. Awesome car and ideal boat!  B-)

raybo3

Nice looking ride. Good luck....

OldDogNewTrix

Nice!!!!

Michael T

Perfect combination - congratulations! MT

JMGINWV342

Mikes342,

Small world.

In July, I traded my 2008 Red Z06 in at Coughlin for a new Red ZR1.

Enjoy!

JMGINWV342

MIKES342

You have a great looking car. Love vettes traded my 07 in for the 13 Grand sport conv.

mvn

Forget those lame gassers.......I just got a new Cummins RAM.  It's all about the diesel, right RY?

 

Mark

 

Nice cars by the way

212rowboat

Cummins is where it's at- and this is coming from a Ford oval dude....

Duramax are great engines, too... GMC's issues lie in the frame... why in the ever-loving world anyone would think an independent torsion bar front suspension on a 3/4-1.5ton truck is a good thing is beyond anyone's imagination...

Ford is making their own diesels now- the 6.7L Scorpion.. it's a decent engine, but full of plastic parts in places not suited for plastic.. designed to expire, in other words.. Ford severed relations with International Harvester, making the last powerstroke made by IH the 6.4- which is the best they ever made..... and what I sought out.  The fuel systems on those things stock can handle 900HP... all you got to do to them is program them, and address the air in/ air out, and there you have it... w/ stock turbos you can nail 600HP all day long.

Dodge and Cummins hopefully will never break ties.. the only foul thing I have to say is about that stupid uera injection- but that is the EPA playing hades with the requirements more than anything... they won't produce the power of the IH engines, though it's at least comparable.... they will last forever is treated well..

212rowboat

you'd hafta step up to a F750 to get the cummins stock..

my powerstroke's high pressure fuel pump produces 3750psi at idle... constant pressure at highway speed not significantly loaded is around 22kpsi... under full throttle/load, it can touch 30kpsi... ANY debris, air, or bad fuel at those pressures, and the system fails.. that is one expensive system to replace...

you'll not hear me say one bad thing about the cummins... they are FINE engines.. I would, though, steer clear of the new v6 model going into the 1500 series trucks for a few years... let 'em work the bugs out..

mvn

Didn't mean to hijack this thread.

You're right Drew.  I had several Duramax's over the years and all of my issues were chassis related.  Never the powertrain.

So far this 6.7L Cummins is a great package, even with the urea.  Mileage is incredible.  My only reservation is the transmission as I've heard it can be the weak link (although I'm not doing anything stupid).  Too bad they don't mate the 6.7L with an Allision like the LAV's I work on.

Mark

frodo13056

Well........sorry Drew but I gotta argue that the best diesel Ford put in their trucks was the 7.3 liter International Harvester engine. After mid 2003, Ford decided to force IH to build a "ford-ized" version of an IH diesel and wound up with the 6.0 liter engine which has been a bit of a nightmare for those that own them - just do a search on the 'net about the troubles with those engines. Worst thing about them is that to do any major work (think head stud replacements) you gotta pull the cab off the frame to get to that engine. I can do most any mechanical work but if I have to pull a cab off a frame, that's pretty much where I draw the line! Even the new Ford diesel hasn't had a spectacular record - I know a few folks that have the 6.4 liter and no one has been singing their praises. I have on 03 F-250 with the 7.3 and this thing is bulletproof and then some. I do like the Duramax engines and the Cummins engines as well but the IH motor is still my favorite. Just like boats, everyone has their favorites for different reasons :-) P.S. - sorry for hijacking your thread Mike - beautiful car! How do you find time to have 2 summer toys?

212rowboat

the 7.3 is about as relaible as they come.. isnt fussy about fuel.. life expectancy surpassing 500k miles, easy.. the 6.0 sufferes from a myriad of problems, and i know most of them well... the 6.4 is the single most tunalble engine ever offered gas or oil... 350 hp stock, +$150 in exhaust work, $300 in air box, a nd $1k in h&s tuning, that engine will produce over 500rwhp safely and reliably... 

 

the problem they face is all epa driven... they are suffering like gassers did in the seventies, with project type emissions systems, basically equiv to smog pumps and first gen catalytic converters..  if you can rid it of those creatures, and get rid of the regeneration process, the 6.4 is a true winner... the fuel systems are good for 1k HP, and the rotating assembly (less the rockers, the oe rockers suck), will go well north of 1k hp...   the pistons could use some work, if you ever go that deep, but even they are superior to tue 6.0, and are well capable of holding up to a reasonable tune...

 

the lift pump should be replaced- the OE one is tricky.. an airdog 150 or 165 will more than suffice to remove debris and water- is easy to service and makes you less likely to run out of fuel in high load demand..

 

the 6.0 can be 'bulletproofed', which is expensive, and will only get you to about the same expectations of the 6.4 stock... the 7.3 simply cant compete when it comes to performance, as it has limitations the 6.4 doesn't have- namely, fuel delivery..  my 250 lariat 4x4 weighs in around 8500# dry- and it will run a low 13 second 1/4 mile... I rarely run it hard, because that isn't why I did the work to it- I did the work to get a long and happy life out of it.. turns out, many of the things you do to them to increase reliability also are go-fast mods..

 

ALL that said, if you were to staple together a dream truck for me and my purposes, I'd take a either a IH MTX or a Ford body and chassis, an Allison transmission, and either a pre-'06 cummins 5.9, a pre-'98 cummins 5.9 12v, or a 7.3... all would give me all the torque I care for, and all would get high teen/low twenty mileage once the work I'd STILL want to do was done....

 

MVN: your transmission is fine as it can be... but... if you look at the transmission oil return line from the main core of the radiator, you'll see a brass quick release bell looking fitting... when you have an hour or so one day, disconnect that thing, pointing both ends at a bucket.. disconnect the other high pressure quick release so you're holding the soft line in your hand.. look at the spring loaded plastic check valve that lives inside the brass bell looking thing... learn to hate it.. throw it as far away as you can... get a remote spin on transmission filter kit, and put it on in place of that line... the filter will work as an anti-drain back system, add additional filtration, and NOT clog- that $5 POS has cost many a mopar a transmission over the years.. if you ever go to rebuild, most trans shops won't warranty their work if you demand it remains in place... it will seriously take you an hour to do this job, and will add years to that things life.... the other thing you can do, and I HIGHLY rec it, is to install another PLATE STYLE >15k# exchange, and mount it in front of your a/c exchange... heat eats trans, and mopar is stubbornly remaining with bad style automatic transmissions which makes them very susceptible to heat... that exchange allows more cooling surface, and the remote filter allows more fluid- together, they go a long way to keep the trans on the road... in front of the a/c exchange, because if you notice a spike in trans temp when on a grade or under heavy load, just flip on your defrost (on high, and full heat)... that turns on the electric fan on your a/c exchange, which will pull air through your additional trans cooler.. also, high heat defrost will open your heater core and exchange engine coolant, too- cooling it off... and since the trans fluid goes first through the main radiator core, it will allow it to cool even more.

Black_Diamond

I just chipped and added a better exhaust to my 7.3l F350. Best move I made. Use it to pull a 5th wheel horse trailer and now get 16-17mpg, quieter too. I'll pay for the chip just in fuel savings.