Removeable Top Z06

[87L98Z52]

Will This Option Be Available On The New Z06,thanks!

 

[JRMaroon]

I have heard that the top can be removed and is held in place with 8 bolts.
It comes off but it is not recommended and will compromise the rigidity of the car.

What is my source?
Maybe there was a ZO6 at Cruisefest, maybe there wasn't.

 

[RoadReady]

Dave Hill said it would be "major surgery" as the top is bolted/bonded on and the car would be a flexible flyer.

 

[Joe C]

Dave Hill said it would be "major surgery" as the top is bolted/bonded on and the car would be a flexible flyer.

agree! first, people think that just because the top is bolted on, it's an easy mod to unbolt the top. the top is bolted on to compensate for the manufacturing tolerances of the piece parts and sub assemblies that make up the overall frame assembly. something on the frame has to have bolts and slots to allow for slight dimensional variances in the final assembly of the frame structure. remember, this is an assembly line thing with parts coming together with tolerances that differ from part to part, or even from different vendors. second, since the frame is mostly aluminum, it has different dynamic characteristics than that of steel. constant flexing and twisting may have some long term effects on the aluminum, and maybe the fiberglass panels attached to it. i can see things like cracked panels/mounting points and broken frame welds. i would also think GM would void the warrenty on anything associated with the frame and body of a z06 that has the top removed. no flames, just my 2 cents -

 

[Rob]

Will This Option Be Available On The New Z06,thanks!

Nope.

 

[Rob]

Here's a little historical trivia for everyone....

The 1984 C4 Corvette was originally engineered by Corvette Development NOT to have a removable roof panel. The door sills were also lower. However, a top executive at GM (his name escapes me at the moment....), took one look at the car, and ordered Corvette Development to give it a removable roof panel in order to make it more like the Ferrari 308 model.

Unfortunately, the C4 platform (frame, suspension, etc.) was engineered with a fixed roof in mind. Limits or tolerances were set for frame rigidity etc. When this top Executive requested that the top be removable, Corvette Development didn't have the time or the funds to go back and totally re-engineer the platform. As a result, they had to beef up the side rails in order to compensate for the amount of flexing that occurs when the roof is removed. Even though the side rails were beefed up, it didn't completely eliminate the amount of flex that could be felt. That's why, when you take the roof panel off a C4, it almost changes the nature of the car. You can feel the entire car flex over bumps and cracks in the road. In fact, that's why I believe that in the owner's manual of most, if not all C4s, it specifically states to make sure that the car is parked on level ground prior to re-installing the roof panel.

I remember when I first got my ZR-1 and experienced this. The car was parked in my folks' driveway which is very similar to a road in Iraq after a bombing run. I tried for 20 minutes to get the roof panel back on the car, when I realized that even though the car looked like it was parked on level ground....it was not. I had to move it a few feet in order to get the roof panel back on.

As much as I love open-air driving, I rarely take the roof off my Vette. If I know I'm going to be doing some spirited driving in the car, or going over roads that are less than perfect, the roof panel stays on.

The roof is an extremely important support member in any automobile. When you remove it, the entire car becomes subject to more chassis flex. That's why convertibles tend to experience more flex and why they tend to weigh more....due to the increased "Beefing up" of the chassis that is necessary to minimize that flex.

Corvette Chief Engineer, Dave Hill has said all along since the C5 generation....the Z06 will remain fixed-roof due to its high performance capability. The 2006 Z06 Corvette is in some ways, very similar to the new C6-R Corvette race car that just won at LeMans. If you noticed, the C6-R, and the C5-R never came with a removable roof panel.