Hello,

I am going to look at a 1998 Camaro Z28 tomorrow. The car is black, auto, leather with 125k miles on it. That's about all i know about it at this point. The person is asking $5500. I am trying to get the VIN number from him so I can run a carfax before I go look at the car.

A few questions:
1. With 125k miles, I am a bit worried that the transmission doesn't have a lot of life left in it if it is still on the original tranny. How long can the 4L60E if properly maintained? Also, if I did have to replace the tranny soon, about how much would that cost?

2. Ticking: I test drove a 2002 Z28 yesterday that made a ticking noise above 3k. My guess was that it probably had a bad lifter. However, since I hadn't driven an LS1 before I really had no idea how the engine was supposed to sound (with it being an alum block and all). That sound is not normal for an LS1, correct?

Other than I mainly would like to get anyone's input about things I need to look that are needing to be replaced or could already be broken on a 98 camaro with many miles. I'm hoping the fact that it's a 98 will help me avoid the whole piston slap issue.

The price seems reasonable, but I hope to talk him down a few hundred more dollars.

Anyways, let me know what you guys think?

 

sounds like a decent enough deal, power windows are known for going out on all 4th gens, a little seafoam in the oil might get rid of that ticking in the '02, but in the 98 if that is the stock tranny, it still has some life left in it as long as you dont hot rod it everyday, i believe a new tranny with installation runs around 1,000ish, someone correct me if i'm wrong though. i would go for it as long as the carfax checks out

 

A newly rebuilt transmission costs 1400 around here, but that's for a well built one. You could always get one from a junkyard but that's a crapshoot.

Costs me 2200 for a performance rebuilt one local, but there are (or were) sponsors on here that builds better ones cheaper.

 

I did get the VIN number, and the car looks good (no accidents, salvage, etc.).

The guy claims nothing needs to be replaced. He also said it has the original engine and transmission (no service records though). He also said it is a hardtop.

Assuming everything looks okay in person and on the test drive, what do you guys think a reasonable offer would be?

 

A 1998 would not be my first choice for an LS1. 2000+ had some better parts on them (not professing to be an LSx guru). Of course, I guess it what fits your budget.

 

Yeah, but I do like the fact that the bore spacing was tighter on the 98s, which lessens the chances of piston slap. Not to mention the real water temp gauge. I do wish it had the bigger gas tank though.

Ideally, I'd take an 01-02 in order to get the LS6 intake. But for the money, I can't complain to much about it being a 98.

 

the real water temp guage is a definate plus in my book, as is the smaller chance of piston slap

 

I always go by and LS1 is an LS1, which holds mostly true. The 98 real temp gague is cool, but smaller tank, it had a hair bit bigger cam than 00+ models though no ls1 intake. The PCM was somewhat different than 99+.

If its a a clean car I would be happy with it

 

Another thing I just remembered about that 2002 Z28 M6 that I test drove was that at idle the engine rocked the car a lot. Is that a sign of bad motor mounts?

 

sign of bad something if its not cammed

 

Definetly was not cammed, I think that car just had a lot of problems.

 

Okay, so I went and looked at the car yesterday. It had a few things wrong with it, but the engine transmission seemed to be okay. At WOT it shifted at 45 in first, so I think that meant it had 3.23s. It didn't chirp the tires going into second or anything, but the shifts still seemed firm enough to confirm that the transmission was good.

The bad:
Exterior:
Scratches, marks, etc. all over the car. Most of the clearcoat was missing from the front bumper (the bumper almost looked like a flat black color). The car would need to be painted. A chunk of the front left quarter panel was missing near the driver's door at the bottom.

Interior:
Rips in the leather. Top part of dash was cracked.

Electronics:
Rear window defroster was disconnected because of tint. Both power window motors need to be replaced. Neither of the front turn signal lamps worked. The power window switches were wired funny (the switch that would normally be the driver's side window was to make the windows go down(up position for driver's, down position for passenger). The passenger power window switch on the driver's side did the same for putting windows up.


I'm probably nitpicking too much considering the car was only 5500 dollars. I think the real deal breaker was that a piece of the quarter panel was missing, and if I wanted to fix it I know it wouldn't be cheap. I know there are some other 98s with similar miles for 6000 that have good paint and body that I'd like to look at. The search continues!

 

Alright, so here is the new list of cars that I'm thinking of looking at this weekend:

(All these cars are automatics and have T-Tops, power windows, power seats, power mirrors, etc. and claim to be in great condition)

1. 98 Camaro Z28 - 128k miles, Black, Leather - $6000
2. 99 Camaro Z28 - 103K miles, Pewter, Cloth - $7995
3. 99 Firebird (Trans Am I think?) - 106k miles, White, Leather - $6950
4. 98 Firebird (Don't know if it's a formula or a trans am, it has Z06 rims) - Unknown miles (30k on engine / transmission with kevlar clutches?), Silver, Leather - $6895

The carfax looks good for all of them except for the fourth, which I haven't gotten the VIN yet so I haven't ran a carfax on it.

 

It's always good to look at several. I'm buying an LT1 for my stepson and we made out way better off by looking at several and not jumping on the first one. This is the right time of year to get a bargain plus the economy is not doing well and people are dumping cars they don't need. And that equals bargains out there.

 

I called the two camaro guys mentioned above. They both sound to be in good condition (although, the 99 has new tires).

Given the 2k price difference, I'm leaning torwards the 98. The 98 guy is pretty firm on his price, while the 99 guy might be willing to negotiate more.

I'll definitely look at both of them before making a decision.