Buying a modified car. Q's?
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Buying a modified car. Q's?
A couple of weeks ago my 99 WS6 hydroplaned on I-44 near St. James, Mo. Now I had full coverage and the damage was only cosmetic. I was fine. I started thinking about what to get as another car. I had the WS6 for close to 10 years. In my family that's unheard of. (I'm only 31) Long story short, I found a 2000 Z-28 with about 56,000 miles on it. Its a 6-speed. Now here's where I have questions. The story from the salesman goes as such: car is a 2 owner car, last owner was a G.M. tech who owned it since 2002 and only drove to work and back, in the last month or so the previous owner had it he put in a xr275hr cam
XFI RPM Hi-Lift Hydraulic Roller Camshaft
GM LS/Gen III Engines
Lift: .566''/.568''
Duration @ .050'': 222°/224°
the car also has a FAST intake and a FAST tb on it (not sure of the size, I'm guessing a smaller one which I believe to be a 78mm, right?)
the car still has stock exhaust all the way to the headers, stock air box and lid, and the car will come with the stock parts. And a predator tuner (I already have HP tuners so the Predator maybe sold soon afterward)
How cautious should I be buying a modified car? How do I go about finding out what valve springs were installed on this beast? Any thing I should be looking for? It's cold idle needs some work otherwise it seemed to run fine. Especially when warm. I plan on swapping a lot of the WS6's parts to the Camaro. Wheels, rearend, suspension, stereo...
XFI RPM Hi-Lift Hydraulic Roller Camshaft
GM LS/Gen III Engines
Lift: .566''/.568''
Duration @ .050'': 222°/224°
the car also has a FAST intake and a FAST tb on it (not sure of the size, I'm guessing a smaller one which I believe to be a 78mm, right?)
the car still has stock exhaust all the way to the headers, stock air box and lid, and the car will come with the stock parts. And a predator tuner (I already have HP tuners so the Predator maybe sold soon afterward)
How cautious should I be buying a modified car? How do I go about finding out what valve springs were installed on this beast? Any thing I should be looking for? It's cold idle needs some work otherwise it seemed to run fine. Especially when warm. I plan on swapping a lot of the WS6's parts to the Camaro. Wheels, rearend, suspension, stereo...
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I would give it a good look over.. Make sure it runs and drives good.. Make sure you get it nice and got and check for normal stuff.. Almost every car now a days has stuff done to them... Sounds like a nice car..
#4
first off I wouldn't believe the salesman's story, ask him about any car on his lot and Im sure it will either be owned by an older lady or a mechanic. And next I wouldn't buy a modified car unless the person I was buying it from had records and was knowledgeable if he did the work.
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When I test drove I did get a chance to get on it a bit. Its skinny *** no name 245's didn't get traction for ****. Clutch felt good. It went into gears just fine. I didn't see any leaks. Engine bay seemed clean enough.
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first off I wouldn't believe the salesman's story, ask him about any car on his lot and Im sure it will either be owned by an older lady or a mechanic. And next I wouldn't buy a modified car unless the person I was buying it from had records and was knowledgeable if he did the work.
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It concerns me that the owner went through the trouble of swapping out the cam, intake and throttle body and it doesn't have the most basic of supporting mods to go with it (exhaust, lid, etc.). I would need to know more about the valve springs and the tune. Wonder if it was properly tuned after the cam swap.
There's definitely risk involved with buying a car that's already been modded, however if those mods are within your plans for the car (and they were properly installed) then it's a great way to get the parts for pennies on the dollar.
There's definitely risk involved with buying a car that's already been modded, however if those mods are within your plans for the car (and they were properly installed) then it's a great way to get the parts for pennies on the dollar.
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However, the thing that always troubled me with buying modded cars is not really knowing 100% about the quality of the work. He could show all the pictures of boxes and packages that he wanted, but it's how the parts were installed that matters to me the most and that is usually hard to judge. Unless, receipts or some proof of all work can be provided, which this particular car doesn't seem to have.
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So sounds like everyone is in agreement that mods done not at a shop with receipts is a iffy proposition. I would have to agree with that. Still doesn't change the fact that even bone stock cars have had issues. And even engines built by professional companies have been known to have issues time to time to. Guess no matter what its a roll of the dice with anything not build by yourself or owned by you since new. I'm likely to still buy it, but, I will play detective to see what has been done to it.
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So sounds like everyone is in agreement that mods done not at a shop with receipts is a iffy proposition. I would have to agree with that. Still doesn't change the fact that even bone stock cars have had issues. And even engines built by professional companies have been known to have issues time to time to. Guess no matter what its a roll of the dice with anything not build by yourself or owned by you since new. I'm likely to still buy it, but, I will play detective to see what has been done to it.