Hey guys, haven't been to this site in a while. Used to have a 3.8 firebird. I might be able to negotiate a trade on a 94 LT1 6 spd. It has right under 100k on it. He said he hasn't had any problems with the opti, and the only thing that needs fixed is the headlight gears. Any other problems I should look out for? And the asking price is 6k, does that sound about right?

 

sounds a little high. i paid that for mine after taxes from the dealer with 67,000 miles. and you are also trading something for it? i would look around, but not forget about it.

 

I guess I should have worded that better. He wanted 6k or a trade. I have a p/u truck that books about the same value that I was going to trade him straight up. I'm worried about the opti though, he said everything was original.

 

Don't worry about the OPTI so much. If it goes, it's not the end of the world. My wife bought a 94 with 47K on it and the OPTI went in the first week. I was able to get one online for $300 and I upgraded to OTVC wires. If you buy a 94 with the LT1 and the original non-vented OPTI...you will change it eventually. Some last longer than others...but changing it is as guaranteed as death and taxes.

 

Make sure to look at the oil pressure, what it is after the motor has warmed up and everything. Sometimes that can tell a story of the car being beat on.

 

i've seen deals up here for a 100k car going for about 3000 bucks. if you're going to be trading i wouldnt give more than about 1500 plus your car. or about 4k after you bring it to a mechanic. depending on what's wrong with it then you can bargain.

but there are a few ways you can make your 3.8l a beast. take the supercharger and injectors off a GTP or SSEi and put it right on. get your ecm reprogrammed and you've got a formidable v6 capable of at least 13's. have the charger rebuilt for boost and you could well be into the 11's with the right setup.

 

how can u tell if the engines been beat on by checking the oil pressure when its warm?

at first when my car its cold it starts a lil high.. when it warms it goes down lower.. is that bad ?

 

It would go down alot lower, near or in red when at idle, if the main bearings are tired...

 

I decided against buying that one. Needed work on both headlights, new window motor, missfitting tailights, an entire new stereo, new foglight, a spiderweb paint job, and a nice chunk missing out of the spoiler. Didn't look like it had been washed in a year.

Felt good to drive one though, definately an improvement over the 3.8. Maybe if he gave me 3k on top of the trade I would do it.

 

All of those problems but the paint job are little inconviences or 50 dollars to fix. It's getting hard to find a good lt1 with low miles too. I wouldn't count that one out, especially with it being a 6 speed.

 

I'm just curious about the oil pressure cuz mine sits a little above 20 at idle once it's warmed up is that good or bad. It gets up over 60 when I beat on it tho.

 

above 20 is just fine in my experience (at idle).... Im pretty sure I read somewhere that the LT1-s were made to run with pretty low oil pressure at idle.... Although my girls a4 with the rebuilt motor, idles at about 30ish-40 when warm... oh well, not complaining.... Search the threads for like "low oil pressure" etc... you will find a million of them...

 

it depens where the idle of the engine sits at and what weight oil is in the engine. At the factory 5W-30 any pressure above 15psi is ok at an idle between 500 and 1000rpm. The oil pressure should go up to around 40psi when the engine is around 2000-2500rpm. The oil pressure will be greater at a cold temprature (above 40psi at idle and above 50psi when driving)

To show the differences in oil pressure with the weight of the oil, my bike will idle at 1500rpm and have an oil pressure of 10psi with 10W-40 oil and 20psi at 1500rpm with 20W-50 oil. (This is within the perameters of the honda service manual.)