Ive been planning to spend about $5000 on my 95 Z28 A4. Ive been overseas for a while and now that I am back here with my car, I am ready to do some work on it. I was planning on doing the entire suspension(springs, shocks, SFC's, etc) and then spending the leftovers on the engine(prob. ported heads and hotcam).

Then I started looking at corvettes, quickly realizing they were out of my range. I am considering upgrading to a SS, probably an LS1, or even a Z28 LS1(they seem to have pretty similar prices). The problem is that then I wouldnt have much left for mods, but I would be driving a newer car and have a bit more power anyway.

I love my car and the only reason I am considering this is because I would like to have an M6- and I have a feeling that I will need to overhaul my A4 tranny anyway because I have 75k miles and its going to have a lot of power thrown to it if I do these mods.

So what would you guys reccomend? I will probably end up buying a corvette when the C6 comes out, or a new camaro if they ever re-launch it, so this is going to be my car for the next 3-4 years(I do plan on buying a beater for a daily driver, so that shouldnt be a consideration)-

By the way, is insurance more for an SS than a Z28 of the same year? Technically an SS is an optioned Z28, so I was wondering if the insurance companies pick up on that or not. I'm 23 years old too, for any insurance suggestions.

Thanks for any advice
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upgrade if its your daily.

then bolt on some mods to the LS1 and run a 10 NA style
11's withott a cam or anything...

at least you'll have SOME resale

 

Werd...I love LS1's wish I had one.

 

I dont know about your insurance but mine didnt even ask if it was Norm camaro, Z28, RS, or IROC so in my situation it wouldnt make a diffrence

 

Well do you plan on trading the car in 3-4 years when you get the C6? If so, I wouldn't even bother getting a new car. Keep yours and throw some money at it but if you are serious about the C6, just save the money for that. Or just use half or so but not all of it. Then you will definitely be able to get the C6 instead of a new Z.

 

i don't think he's getting a c6. I imagine he'll be getting a 97 or so C5 when the C6's come out, as the prices will be lower. thats my interpretation of it anyway...

 

Thanks for the help guys, just to clarify a couple of things-

I do plan on buying a C6 when it comes out, or if I dont like it then definately a late model Z06.

Also my car(current or new Z) wont be my daily driver, I wasnt to clear about that- it will be in the garage most of the time while I drive a beater around(especially in winters).

I do like the idea of modding my car because in 3-4 years I wont get my money back out of a modded car or a 98-00 SS if I buy one, so I might as well have fun- but the only thing thats making me think about trading up is that I want a 6 speed!

 

Upgrade. Buy a ls-1. I love my car, but bought a '02 Z, that was sold out from under me
Good luck.

 

If you're not gonna put many miles on it you may wanna upgrade, with low miles the car will hold its value fairly well. However, if you spent maybe 2500 instead of 5000 you could do that much better in my opinion, just keep the 95 throw some mods at it and save the rest for the C6.

 

Saving money probably isnt an option because Im not too good at that Anyway by the time the C6 comes out, hopefully I should be able to afford it pretty easily- if not then I have career problems I should be more worried about!

The only other thing thats making me want to trade is my tranny. It will definately need to be built up, its due for a rebuild anyway I would imagine. What kind of cost am I looking at there? What about an M6 conversion, what have those run? If either of those would take a big chunk out of my budget, Id rather spend my money on upgrading cars.

 

75k isnt that bad. I mean you can easily get a lot more out of it. It all really depends on how its been treated. My dad had a 95 Impala, had 130k when he got rid of it, and the tranny was still fairly strong.

I too am in your position. I just dont have the $5k. If I did, Id probably put $3500-$4k down on an ls1 m6 (growing partial to the SS as well) and spend the rest on some mods for the new beast.