[akpancake]

My trip to pick up my new car:

weather was great the first five days, then when my wife came down to meet me, the weather turned to rain, rain, and more rain. Let me tell you, those tires are definitely not made for the rain, but it made it kind of fun to drive. We still had a good time, and saw some awesome coastline. About the car: 1: The synchronization between the accelerator pedal to the throttle body is an epic GM failure, you step on the pedal, nothing happens for about a half second, then when you let off the pedal, the same effect, it's still throttling up when your foot is completely off the pedal. (There has to be some fix for this) 2: As I had expected, the stereo system was soft and mushy, I couldn't take it, and had to tear into it. added a Rockford 300-1 amp. with a JL audio tw3 8" sub. sharpened the sound right up, and is now acceptable. the old adage ( all highs, no lows, it must be Bose) truly lives on. 3: Handling, This car outhandles any previous Vette, it cruises nicely, the steering is spot-on, I can't say anything bad about that portion except!...... Brake dust, OH MY! this thing makes more brake dust than a grinding wheel. 4: Tire noise, I will be installing Hush mat to the fender wells, as the interior noise is unacceptable (on most highways)

 

[stanton]

I was at Carr recently and saw your C7 in person! They had it parked right next to a cyber grey grand sport. I liked it so much I took a picture. Congrats! I'll be picking up my AW there hopefully in a couple months!

 

[Chip]

Congrats!

 

[akpancake]

BTW, I got pulled over in Medford Oregon by some really young looking officer that pulled me over just to "check out my car" . At first I thought that was kind of cool, but then I thought about it, and he had no concern, or respect for what I had on my agenda that day.
I now remember very clearly why I left Oregon.

 

[elegant]

Love your car! Think I know the exact turnoff where you took your picture, and yes 5" inches of rain last few days.

Could you share more about your stereo upgrade for those of us not so smart in that area? Thanks. And in regard to your later adding Hush Mat, many would love to know more about that also when you have time -- maybe that could be a future DIY?

Meanwhile, thanks and enjoy your ride!

 

[akpancake]

Love your car! Think I know the exact turnoff where you took your picture, and yes 5" inches of rain last few days.

Could you share more about your stereo upgrade for those of us not so smart in that area? Thanks. And in regard to your later adding Hush Mat, many would love to know more about that also when you have time -- maybe that could be a future DIY?

Meanwhile, thanks and enjoy your ride!

the stereo upgrade is a must, as the Bose system is really lacking of any presence (sharp mid-bass, and hard hitting bass) the JL 8" tw3 cabinet works very well with the amount of airspace in the stingray. The amplifier is your standard Rockford Fosgate punch 300-1 mono block amplifier, it produces ample power and is very controllable with remote switch. The trick to the installation was finding clean signal out of the Bose components. We ended up taking high level input signal from door woofers, as every other source was polluted with signal noise that made the subwoofer "fart" whenever you pushed the accelerator. The door woofer signal was the only clean signal in the system.
The hush mat, Sound Dampening, Vibration Damping, Thermal Insulation for automotive applications - HUSHMAT. will be added on the interior surfaces of the fender wells, and perhaps the floorboard of the vehicle in an attempt to drastically reduce road noise. ( what's a few pounds of stuff, compared to unbearable road noise)? I've used Dynamat, hush mat, in other vehicles, and it does a tremendous job of reducing unwanted noise.

 

[U.S. Marine]

akpancake, congrats your Vette looks great!! Your right about the accelerator, it feels like to me while driving a full second of hesitation. I thought maybe it was because I have an automatic, but it also does it when I'm warming the engine and push on the accelerator same hesitation.

SF
Rick

 

[Texas2Gun]

Congrats!

 

[akpancake]

it's hard to find a good road in Oregon to open it up on without running into a Sherriff, or some other Revenuer. I finally had to just take a chance on the sunset highway, mash the gas, drift out of a couple of corners, get up to a moderate speed (165) then have to back it off due to headlights coming at me in the distance, only to notice it was a Washington county Sherriff car. (whew!) My spider sense was good to me that time. that was the only time I got to "Muck about" because it started raining, and never stopped. I did manage to put 1,500 miles on in 10 days though. I'll go back down in a couple months to put lots-O-Miles on it, as it's a fun car to drive, and I averaged 26 mpg, and I wasn't all that nice to it.

 

[elegant]

Thanks "akpancake" for adding lots of great info about the radio upgrade and the Hush mat!

 

[stanton]

it's hard to find a good road in Oregon to open it up on without running into a Sherriff, or some other Revenuer. I finally had to just take a chance on the sunset highway, mash the gas, drift out of a couple of corners, get up to a moderate speed (165) then have to back it off due to headlights coming at me in the distance, only to notice it was a Washington county Sherriff car. (whew!) My spider sense was good to me that time. that was the only time I got to "Muck about" because it started raining, and never stopped. I did manage to put 1,500 miles on in 10 days though. I'll go back down in a couple months to put lots-O-Miles on it, as it's a fun car to drive, and I averaged 26 mpg, and I wasn't all that nice to it.

That's right in my neighborhood! Wish I coulda heard you screamin' by I'm super paranoid about the revenuers here that will keep me from enjoying mine to it's fullest extent. Looks like this will be a first step to moving back to California where car culture has a much wider acceptance, even by the police.

 

[Suzy Cruisy]

it's hard to find a good road in Oregon to open it up on without running into a Sherriff, or some other Revenuer. I finally had to just take a chance on the sunset highway, mash the gas, drift out of a couple of corners, get up to a moderate speed (165) then have to back it off due to headlights coming at me in the distance, only to notice it was a Washington county Sherriff car. (whew!) My spider sense was good to me that time. that was the only time I got to "Muck about" because it started raining, and never stopped. I did manage to put 1,500 miles on in 10 days though. I'll go back down in a couple months to put lots-O-Miles on it, as it's a fun car to drive, and I averaged 26 mpg, and I wasn't all that nice to it.

You're going back to AK and leaving the car in OR? No ferry for you?

 

[akpancake]

You're going back to AK and leaving the car in OR? No ferry for you?

leaving it there to be a vacation toy. We will be looking for a suitable place to live to become snowbirds.

 

[elegant]

leaving it there to be a vacation toy. We will be looking for a suitable place to live to become snowbirds.

If you would want someone who would treat your StingRay with respect, exercise it periodically as you would want while you are in Alaska, please let me know.

 

[Suzy Cruisy]

leaving it there to be a vacation toy. We will be looking for a suitable place to live to become snowbirds.

Got it. Was just going to request that if you had it in AK, you could take a day trip to Homer and show my Mom what one looks like in person! LOL! She is not a 'car gal' though, so just a photo from me will probably suffice!

Good luck on the vacation home thing! Lots of good roads to do fun stuff on in Phoenix area, but who knows where you're lookin!

Cheers,

 

[wcjulyan]

the stereo upgrade is a must, as the Bose system is really lacking of any presence (sharp mid-bass, and hard hitting bass) the JL 8" tw3 cabinet works very well with the amount of airspace in the stingray. The amplifier is your standard Rockford Fosgate punch 300-1 mono block amplifier, it produces ample power and is very controllable with remote switch. The trick to the installation was finding clean signal out of the Bose components. We ended up taking high level input signal from door woofers, as every other source was polluted with signal noise that made the subwoofer "fart" whenever you pushed the accelerator. The door woofer signal was the only clean signal in the system.
The hush mat, Sound Dampening, Vibration Damping, Thermal Insulation for automotive applications - HUSHMAT. will be added on the interior surfaces of the fender wells, and perhaps the floorboard of the vehicle in an attempt to drastically reduce road noise. ( what's a few pounds of stuff, compared to unbearable road noise)? I've used Dynamat, hush mat, in other vehicles, and it does a tremendous job of reducing unwanted noise.

Did you leave the Bose woofers connected also and add the JL Audio subs or did you replace the Bose woofers? I have a convertible with the 10-speaker Bose system, which has two 10-inch woofers (1 in each door), two 5.25-inch full range speakers behind the seats, and an 8" sub in a box in the trunk.