masterskeet9

I'm currently in the process of looking for a decent 98-02 Camaro for under $5,000. The only question I keep wondering about is how many miles would be considered too much for that V-8 engine?

darrens99formul

Good luck. The only LS1's I see for that price have major body damage or no motor

LS1's for the most part are still going for 7-10K with high miles and 10-20K with moderate to low miles. But a lot depends on what part of the country you're in.

200K

I've seen people with 150-175K miles that are still running strong. Personally I think anything under 125K is worth considering.

Good luck and happy hunting

Kwiksilverz28

Look for mnypitTA on here. He bought a 98 with like 120k for $3600. Ported heads, intake, cam, headers, and spray, he is putting down like almost 500hp. He did an oil pan gasket saturday while I swapped out valve stem seals, and the car doen not leak a drop and no smoking.

The deals are out there. You just need to keep looking and have patience....

Kraest

Look for a car in the Southeast from Texas to Georgia. Those are usually the cheapest cars and haven't been around salted roads.

I bought my car for well under $10000 and it included an 02 motor with 25000 miles on it, cam-only setup, full exhaust and bolt-ons, full suspension, new seats and interior pieces, HIDs, etc.

Even though it now has 152,000 on it, you'd have no idea if you saw it.

To answer your question, the LS1 can go for 200,000+ if maintained properly. If you get one with over 100,000 on it, I'd do a good inspection on it because obviously these are sports cars and they are beat on.

Mike

dangalla

no matter what its always gonna be a crap shoot

my engine went at 120k, other peoples go to 250+

if nothing else get a good deal on a car with a good body(no rust) and if need be rebuild the motor

masterskeet9

[QUOTE=Kraest;5094909]Look for a car in the Southeast from Texas to Georgia. Those are usually the cheapest cars and haven't been around salted roads.

I am currently located in Houston, TX and have found quite a bit of 93-02 Camaros on craigslist. com

but thank you all for your help. it has been very helpful

Kraest

[QUOTE=masterskeet9;5095008]98-02 were the LS1s.

SFB767

He's right.

My car has 142K on it and I just replaced my rear main seal and oil pan gasket last week. It's been leaking oil slightly for the past 6 months and I just didn't want to ignore it any longer or snowball quickly. My auto. tranny has been as solid as a rock since the day I bought the car, I've never had any issues whatsoever with it. On the flip side, I've heard of guys who have had the opposite experience with it.

This might be hard with your price range and availability, but TRY, TRY, TRY to find a car that is bone stock or very lightly modified, that will be your best bet because it'll be a little more reliable and when you do modify it, it'll be the way YOU want to.

Overall, F-Bodies are reliable cars that will give you years of depenable service as long as they're properly maintained.

I still love driving my car as much as the day I bought it.

RevXtreme1

If the car has had a good Syn oil like M1, expect 200-300k before needing a rebuild. If conventional oil is used it could be 1/2 that. We commonly tear down LS engines w/100-15-200k or more miles & still see the factory cross hatch visable in the bores & bearings & journals still looking like new! It's amazing. Just pulled the motor out of my 98 w/176,000 miles (150k a 1/4 mile at a time) and that was only due to a broken #7 ring land (a little spray incident)& I'm re-using the crank & the other 7 pistons it looks so good.

Miles are not a big deal if well maintained. Brakes, tires, alt, water pump, AC comp, are the parts that still go out on a semi regular basis.

Good Luck!

boostd99ss

I think miles should be more along the lines of how many are you comfortable with because as you see here alot of guys have seen cars hold up for a long time. Personaly I am not afraid of miles if I know the car has been taken care of.

ls698ta

185k here and still running strong. lid and hooker catback a4 ran a 12.8@106mph when I had 182k. always have run german castrol syntec. Hoping to hit well above 250k before a rebuild