fire-chickens

I'm going to go look at a 6 speed 1996 Firebird Formula with 73k miles on it this saturday. I want to be able to look for anything that could be wrong with the car, like worn out front end, engine leaks that can be hidden. I got screwed a month ago wit ha 1996 firebird formula and i can't afford that to happen again. the car made a lot of weird noises and clunked and stuff, and there was wiring for a sub all through the car i mean it was bad, but of course i was stupid and couldn't wait. So now im taking my time when i go to look at a car, and im really hoping this car check out to be good cause its exactly what i want. The car is all stock except for an intake the guy said. Please tell me what important things to look for that could be wrong with the car.

Here are some pictures of the car..

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

if you have a code scanner, bring it with you and check for codes in the system. If the check engine light is on then that's an obvious sign but just because the check engine light is not on doesn't mean a code has been thrown in the past and is stored, it could be nothing or it could be something.

engine:
pull dipstick and smell & look at oil color, if it smells very gasoline-y then there may be a problem, this may be hard for you to do if your not experienced smelling oil like that though.
* make sure you observe the engine started when it's stone cold ! a lot of times people will hide engine problems by running the engine prior to you getting there to warm it up some. A certain amount of knocking and piston slap is normal on an LS1, mine is an 02 with 50k miles and sounds horrible when cold but once hot is quiet and it never burns oil. Observe the engine when it's stone cold, and when warm if the knocking goes away then it's probably nothing to worry about. It'll be hard for you to tell whether it burns oil unless the guy lets you test drive it for a month.
also when it's cold you should have good oil pressure, at least 40psi at idle and should hit up around 60 when 2000+ rpm. When the engine is hot it is normal to have oil pressure down around 20psi, but if you rev the engine to 1500-2000 rpm it should shoot right up to 40+psi, and up at 4000+ rpm it should go up around 50-60psi. If the guage never gets over 40 psi, that's a possible sign of excessive clearance in the bearings from wear. All this will be more pronounced if the oil is 5w30, if the guy is running 20w50 oil then the oil pressure may all seem really good but the owner may be trying to hide something.

once warm, drive the car and make sure the M6 shifts ok at various speeds, you want to make sure there's no bent shift forks and shot syncros, along with good clutch & slave/throwout operation, but don't be suprised if it needs a clutch.
look for signs of a leaking pinion seal on the rear differential, it's ok for the front of the differential to have signs of being wet from gear oil, what you want to look for is obvious seepage such as oil on your finger from touching near there or puddle stains from wherever the car usually sits.
listen for rear gear howl at speeds from 20-70mph, it's somewhat normal to have a whine around 65mph in 6th gear when coasting or very light throttle, if the whine goes away when you do < 60 or > 75 then its ok.
Ask if the coolant has ever been changed, look under the radiator cap, squeeze upper/lower rad hose to see if dry-rotted. Also let the car idle hot until the radiator fans kick on and make sure it don't really overheat.

it;'s an lt1, check the car when it's raining or very damp out to make sure the opti-spark isn't on it's way out, they get problematic and the car won't start after or during a rain when it's really damp out.

make sure all the interior functions work- windows, locks, electric seats, all the lights in the dash illuminate, wipers- intermittent/lo/hi,