camaroguy7

Hey guys how are yall doing
Im currently looking for a car for my brother, i have a small budget so i cant afford the ls1 :/
Im looking for and lt1 with a 6 speed, but i had a couple of questions
Which year is the best from 93-97?
Which year got the most power?
I recently found a 94 z28 with a 6 speed t tops, it has 80,000 miles and according to the owner, it has headers, and exhaust and a posi rear end
Clean title with smog and currently tagged
Body is straight paint aint that great though
The only problem is that it needs a water pump. He said he took it over the corner and it would immediately overheat. That he "bleed" the radiator and no water was coming through the hose? he said prior to that he had changed the radiator and the thermostat
Another issue he said the car had was that reverse gear would pop out of gear. That you have to hold it in order to get into reverse
Well he is only asking 1500 for it obo
I will hopefully be looking at it later this week
Anyways id appreciate any input from you guys

duh

iTrader: (16)

For that price grab it if you can work on your own stuff. The water pump is a cheap and easy fix. As for reverse popping out, it's probably needing a rebuild. Plan on at least another $1000 just to fix little issues. But I'd grab it for that price. That $1000 could even go towards a cheap Maacco paint job. Lol

bowtiedad_z28

iTrader: (4)

HP wise, they are about the same from year to year. My opinion is the same as the post above. Water pumps are cheap. The transmission does sound as if it needs a rebuild. There are alot of good used 6-speeds on the forums you can get pretty reasonable as well.

RJDio

Wasn't the only performance difference in the same 'model' cars was if it was shipped to CA? I owned the '97 Z28 6 speed and cant remember if that was just exhaust difference or tune. The A4's were listed as a hair faster as 'stock'. the Formula then was listed as being the fastest Fbody I think because it was lighter. We are talking hair differences, I believe the T/A was listed slower stock due to weight also.

duh

iTrader: (16)

^following above the best would be a '97 Formula 6 speed car with hard tops....Highest HP rating, lightest chassis. But I think for the most part you'd be talking .001's of a second between the slowest and fastest.

camaroguy7

Thank you guys for your input
If all goes well i will check the car tomorrow and take pics
Anyways i don't want to invest that much after i get the car...
As for the water pump, i called autozone and they said it would cost me roughly $130
I called my auto shop and said they'd charge me $400 for parts and labor to replace the water pump
So im just thinking if i do get the car i should buy the part and hopefully you guys can guide me to install it?
Any ways i live in California and im not sure what mods i can and can not do here since our laws are so strict...
Now the car is about 30min far from where i am
If i do get it i guess i will have to have it towed since i wouldn't want to risk it driving it that long without a functioning water pump
Or would i be able to put the pump there?

duh

iTrader: (16)

Having it towed home would be wise....don't drive it with a bad water pump. As for swapping it, you have to remove the fans, and then it's a few hoses and 6 bolts. If you have any mechanical experience it shouldn't be too much work for you.

camaroguy7

And would the transmission really need a rebuild b/c of the reverse poping out?
Wouldn't it just be the reverse synchronizer ring?

camaroguy7

Thanks for your input!
What should i look for when i go look at the car?
He also mentioned that the linning is falling on the t-tops

BTC

Does it run? If the car has been hot, there could potentially be all kinds of **** wrong with it. I would want to check it out thoroughly, or get it really, really cheap.

toomany

The trans in my 97 pops out of reverse. It's still shifts fine in the forward gears. I plan to go through it in the spring. Could be the synchronizers, the fork or even the gear(s). I knew that when I bought the car. Drove it all last summer without much issue. Usually I made an effort to park so I didn't have to back out. 80,000 miles isn't a lot, but while it's out it won't be too much more to go replace the wear parts. Clutch and flywheel should be checked too, again...while your in there.

nomoneyz

iTrader: (15)

I'd talk him down. Sounds like it was beat on. I wouldn't buy a car that overheated either unless it was <1000 bucks. Too many possibilities after wards. Also, if the water pump is seized, it's probably puking all the coolant out the bottom weep hole and all over the opti. I honestly wouldn't buy one of these cars with problems for someone else unless you or they like working on cars. With the newest one at 16yrs old, they are bound to have issues. Trans rebuild is going to cost you also unless your pull it yourself. So, if you can get it down to <1000 go for it.

As far as power goes; in '95, CA cars got a dual cat setup that supposedly added ten hp. I think all the others went this way in '96. The top performers rated at 315 were the special edition cars, IE: SS, WS6.

djjab57

iTrader: (17)

I would check to make sure he didnt get it hot enough to blow a head gasket

lt1needingboost

iTrader: (8)

i wld agree w everyone on here w one big exception if the heads r warped i wldnt give him that much if it got to hot, which considering hes changed tstat and radiator its been doing it for a while i dont know much abt the cali car market but w 80 k on that car even w bad water pump it shld fetch more than that. I know r cars arent worth much but thats a lil rediculous snds like hes hiding something beware or knock him down as far as hell go. Good luck sir ...........if u dont mind parting a car and devoting a cpl months to internet shopping u can always part it out throw a grand at him c if hell bite. Im guessing thers more wrong than hes telling u.

bufmatmuslepants

iTrader: (3)

I wouldn't buy it unless you or your brother are willing to do ALL work on it yourself. Shops don't know a lot about lt1s except that the engine compartment is cramped, so they gouge the prices. Water pump is a 1 hour job at most, 3 10mm bolts for radiator shroud, 2 wire clips for fans, 5 bolts for water pump plus 3 nuts to move air pump to get the last stud. If the opti has been puked on you'll need to swap that put while you are in there, and that requires a pulley puller, but adds 20 minutes max.

Far as best years, OBD1 in 94 and 95 is easiest to tune.

Far as popping out of reverse, mine has done that for 5 years. Just before putting it in reverse slide the shifter in 4th real quick, then reverse, and hold it. You have YEARS before a rebuild.

camaroguy7

Looks like the guy flaked out today. I told him I'd go see the car after school but he didn't reply to my texts or calls. Until a couple of hours later he apologized and said he'd been at work, even though we'd agree he'd be home by the time i got out of school. But hopefully ill see it tomorrow right after i'm loose. I think that i will try to offer him 1 gran and see what he says
On the ad he also mentioned that he had an lt4 intake for it? But he was asking a lil extra for that

camaroguy7

Hey guys, I checked out the car today and oh man the car is freaking loud!. It has the headers connected to the y pipe, and that pipe goes to the back but it stops where the car and exhaust is supposed to be at. But he showed me the exhaust and cat, it just needs to be welded on...and well, I drove the car for about 3 min, then it over heated right away. We poped the hood and saw that the left side headers seemed to be leaking smoke. While I was driving the car I noticed that the interior was very shakey, a lot of noies here and there. The liner for the ttops was ugly. Overall the interior was about 6 out of 10. Body was really straight but it was peeling off on the rear bumper. The rear tailights seemed not to work. The guy said that that's how he got the car, said something about the wires not being hooked up right. In the end I offerd him $800, said he wouldn't take less than 1k. I did find a buddy of mine that will charge me $50 to tow it to my house. It's about 40 miles away....I still have until next week to have a chance to go through the deal. But I feel that I'm taking a huge risk here, and in the end all ill gain is headaches...

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Worst case, overheating right away can be a blown head gasket(s). If you aren't familiar with doing the work yourself, it can cost you a few thousand dollars if you have a shop do it and then you are taking the risk as to whether or not they did it correctly as well as checking to make sure the heads are not warped. In the end it could end up costing you more than actually finding a decently kept 4th gen. Honestly I'd steer clear.

camaroguy7

Yeah i don't think ill be going through the deal.
By the way is obd 1 really that bad compared to obd 11?

lt1needingboost

iTrader: (8)

they both have ups and downs and depending on who u ask on here u will get a different answer, for ease of tuning as far as cheap software out there obd 1/tuner cats wld b cheaper however theyre are alot more tuners out there for obd 2 / hp tuners honestly its boils down to what u want for a car, what everyone on here has told u is the absolute worse case scenerio but this i can tell u anything that u buy for 1k in sports cars u will be working on. Good luck