Well like the title says I'll be getting into an 02 trans am within the week, and its got 54k miles... what kind of problems should i keep an eye open for...

like on my lt1, problems might consist of heat or ignition... were very common problems, and were both problems i had...

but for the ls1... what should i look to make sure it has?

 

WS6 option & 6 speed

 

besides that...?

what should i pay close attention to as far as the engine bay is concerned?

 

ohh and another thing, are long tubes smog legal on ls1's?

 

Not a chance in hell that LT's will pass emissions

 

technically long tubes are not legal on any newer car, anything that moves or alters the cats...is illegal.

there really isn't anything that really stands out that you should look for

 

are there any midlengths or good shorties?

 

Not really, just not worth the ****ty gain. Just get longtubes and high flow cats. You should be ok. I've heard of many people easily passing emissions in their LS1's with gutted cats.

 

but here in cali, we got to pass a visual...

and if it doesnt have a carb number i'm skrewed

although my dealership does have a smog shop...

 

Under the hood... check for oil stain coming down the front of the heads from the valve covers. Mine ('02 Z28) had some. No biggie, but something to look for.

 

lol, i would, but its getting steam cleaned... this is more or less the info i was looking for... thanks

what would this mean, that the gaskets are worn out?

 

Probably just valve cover gaskets, but losing oil is never good, no matter how innocuous the reason.

 

well i test drove it yesterday... although, like most ls1's it felt slower then my lt1, but I know its not... sounds fantastic too, atleats at wot...
its an A4... but
the acceloration in 4th gear (maybe 1300 rpms, or maybe 45mph) was kinda sluggish is that normal?

i know in the Lt1, there was plenty of power at that rpm...

 

How sluggish? My LS1 M6, at 45mph in 6th (1000 rpm), builds speed pretty slowly, but it is strong enough at that RPM to accelerate, even up a decent hill. I'd say that if I floored it from 45mph on a flat road, it should be at 55 in about 5-7 seconds. I'll go out at lunch and try it out.

Question, though... if this is an A4, why didn't it downshift? Or did you not give it that much gas? And if you didn't give it much gas, then why are you worried about the acceleration?

 

nono, it had power, it was just a little slow under 15-20% acceloration compared to the low end grunt I'm used to from my lt1... but if i pushed it any more sure it'd downshift and would be like a raped ape