Felix C

Especially if fitted with a manual transmission?

Good beater?

Easy V8 upgrade?

smokenssz

iTrader: (24)

My father in law has 315k on his 98 v6 camaro. Only major issue he had was the rearend went out recently. Engine and trans still holding up

AnotherWs6

iTrader: (17)

Wouldn't think about swapping a V8, just buy one outright.

My Aunt & Uncle bought a lightly wrecked v6 Camaro for my Cousin and had my BIL fix it. He drove it all through high school then his little brother drove it through high school and college. They still have it and it still looks and runs well. They use it as a train station beater now, close to ten years later.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Another recent thread on this page with the same question:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/chevrolet...v6-camaro.html

The 3.8L is solid. Not powerful but very solid if well maintained, other than intake gaskets. I don't know anything about the 5-speed that came with them, but the 4L60E holds up extremely well at the lower power level of these L36 cars.

Felix C

I would like to get a 1998-2002 Camaro, LS1 or V6 but with manual transmission. Most here are very heavily modified if LS1 (of course!) but V6s are stock and occasionally very well maintained. Not in a rush just looking for the right type of beater and maybe project material.

I'd better get a Chiltons or Hayes and read up on them.

Thanks for the links and replies.

hardtrailz

I put a bunch of miles on a 98 v6 camaro and a 3.8 Impala and both had no issues. Solid little motor.

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

They're solid, and everything except engine and trans parts will swap between the v8 and v6 cars so the aftermarket is strong. Great beater cars, I wouldn't spend too much time trying to get more power out of the 3.8 unless you are dying for a turbo v6 fbody.

4150

iTrader: (13)

A friend of mine drives a '98 V6 Camaro.

It's currently sitting at 210K, here are the issues I know he's had since I ended up helping him fix it.
Rotted vacuum hoses
Fuel pressure regulator
Coils and ignition control module
Control solenoids for the auto transmission
A couple catalytic converters
Water pump/thermostat
EGR valve

It's a pretty solid car for such high mileage, the above issues were easy fixes.

He's actually gotten a lot of hand me down parts off my SS after I've done upgrades over the years.

nwilson44

I'll say this, and my situation may have been unique but I had an absolute terrible time, reliability wise with the one I had.

I had an 01' V6 A4 and I now have an 02' Z28 M6.

I had all kinds of issues with my V6, I'll name some and I will say some of them like the rear end are not specific to the V6 but alot are.

1. Electronic throttle body went out and shorted out my gas pedal too. $1300 in parts alone
2. Random misfire, even after replacing the whole ignintion system from the ignigion module all the way to the plugs!
3. 2 Transmission rebuilds. (IMHO 4L60E is a POS in stock form regardless of what it's in).
4. Rubber suspension bushings rotted off the car
5. Went through three factory replacement AC delco alternators. (LS cars have different ones?)
6. Rear end would make noise.
7. The 3800 and the 4L60E is a terrible combo for performance and MPG. My cammed LS6 M6 gets better highway MPG and marginally worse city.
8. Went through 3 Defective power steering pumps because they would always wine!
9. Replaced Rack and Pinion
10. Blew a freeze plug out
11. went through 2 engines. OE motor threw a rod bearing. Second one had valvetrain noise, third one was a dealer installed crate motor.

That is some of the things I went threw. Here are some of my non reliability related complaints.

1. As I stated above 4L60E is a terrible trans for this application. Drops the engine on its face every single shift.
2. Not a lot of power and not a very large power band either (why the auto is a bad option). Peak TQ is 4000 and Peak HP is 5000 so M5 is the way to go.
3. 3300-3400 IBS is alot of weight for only 200 hp. Just one example is of the BRZ. 200 HP but right around 3000 ibs or so.
4. Doesn't sound very good. I had ceramic coated headers, Magnaflow cat, and borla catback and I wasn't too impressed with sound quality whatsoever.
5. Again, an A4 issue but I got marginally better mileage city, and worse highway mileage than my cammed M6 car.
6. In my case, I couldn't find someone to do a custom tune for a FBO set up.
7. Did not respond very well to FBO.

A lot of people say that they had better luck than I did. I was overall disappointed even before ever buying the 8 cylinder car. I was disappointed in efficiency, power, performance, reliability, and cost of owner ship. The only thing cheaper on the 6 cylinder car is the engine for the most part. Everything else if you have to replace it or service it, it costs the same as the 8 cylinder car. If I could have, at minimum, got better fuel economy and not had to deal with so many engine specific issues (TB and gas pedal for example), I would be a little more apt to recommend it as it would give you something in return for the lack of power and responsiveness to bolt ons. Lastly I cannot stress enough that the 4L60E is a terrible partner to the 3800. I will leave you with that and if you get one get the M5!

nwilson44

Vacuum leaks from the intake manifold is a common issue too. (ask me how I know)

4150

iTrader: (13)

Now that I think about it my buddy with the '98 V6 Camaro also had the following die on his car(in addition to my post above). He's had it so long it's hard to remember everything that has gone wrong with it. Like I said it's a solid car now, but he spent a bunch of money getting it there. It's been in the family since new so he wont get rid of it.

Power steering rack
Alternator
AC compressor
Power steering pump is about to die(noisy)
Oil pump
Harmonic balancer
Pretty much every bushing or mount has been replaced.
The garbage plastic heater hose fittings on the water pump were swapped out for metal fittings from a FWD 3.8.

His car is a Y87 optioned car so it came with 3.42's, he gets worse gas mileage than my SS with 4.10's and an M6.

clinebarger

Installing a LS in place of the 3.8L is relatively easy IF you have a '98-'02 car, I'll bet money the guys that say "don't do it" Have never actually done it themselves.

Hooker even has Motor Mount Stands that fit a V6 K-Member, https://www.holley.com/products/exha...ts/71221001HKR.

black02-z28

iTrader: (8)

Ha, for that price I'd buy a LS tubular K-member

But yes, 3800 is a pretty solid motor. Owned a few over the years for drivers, has enough power to get out of their way (more than a V8 third gen!)

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I've had two of these engines myself, and I agree. I think those who are severely disappointed with the 3.8L performance are just expecting too much from this base engine.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

I have had a 98 3.8L and now a 99 3.8L. The 98 was pretty much stock, although I did throw a 3.42 posi rear under it at one point and got it tuned to fix the speedo (dealer wouldn't do it). I'd get 32 mpg highway out of that car without even trying. Now, it was a pile when I bought it, and it did have a lot of issues at first (mostly due to previous abuse) but once I got those worked out it was fine, mechanically.

My 99 I have now actually has the 4L60E and the 3.42 rear from the 98 (which, this rear originally came from this car, which... ehhh long story lol). It is cammed, decently quick for a V6, shoot the previous owner ran a 12.4 quarter mile in it (granted with a 100 shot of giggle juice).

I think they're fine cars for what they are. Is the v8 better? Duh Eventually mine will likely get LS swapped when this powertrain quits, but hopefully that doesn't happen for a while because I cannot afford to

99SSJarhead

iTrader: (2)

Its an easy v8 upgrade if you already have a wrecked donor car to swap from. Otherwise after purchasing the v6, then purchasing either all the necessary parts or a totalled v8 with a good drivetrain still in it, you are back to, or probably above the cost of having bought a v8 outright.

I get however how hard it is to find a good v8 that either isn't being obscenely overpriced for bolt ons, or isn't already heavily modded. When my 99 SS got totalled I tried finding a replacement and some of the asking prices even out here in the mid west were nuts. Was going to go the v6 route and swap parts but got side tracked when I found a 79 to swap the LS drivetrain in.

97camer

I have a 97 3.8 std. same thing as 98-02 (mostly) 35,000 miles,blown head gasket,reverse is messed up, whole list of minor parts and problems,seen a few 97 3.8"s with blown head gasket for sale.

Fastazzcamaro98

I have a 1998 3.4L with a 5speed that I recently acquired. I've been to the drag strip 2 times with it already dialing in at a neck breaking time of 16.25. it's been a good car with 118000 on it but I like it cause I can cruise with the t tops off. I have a beefy SBC sitting on the engine stand waiting to drop in once I stock pile some more parts for the swap

4150

iTrader: (13)

figured I'd post an update of my buddies '98 V6 with 200K+ miles.

He blew a head gasket and the engine was trashed so we swapped in a Series 3 out of an '06 Grand Prix with 60,000 miles. After swapping some parts from the old engine it was straight swap. Total spent was around 1K or so but we could have spent less had he not wanted to replace a bunch of things while the engine was out. We actually managed to pull the engine out through the top believe it or not after unbolting it from the transmission, we figured we would give it a shot and there was enough room.

Above pic is new engine right before we put it in, he insisted we paint it Chevy Orange

99 Black Bird T/A

iTrader: (4)

With a few mod's the v6 98-02 Camaro's 5-speeds were good enough to ruin a stock 98 4.6 Mustang GT's day back when these cars were new.

A member of the now defunct Carolina Fbody Club had a 5-speed 98 v6 Camaro that he pushed to the limits. Headers, cam bolton very similar to the typical LS mod's. He finally blew up the 3.8 on the dyno with like a 250 shot of spray. I saw him do it...nice blue fireball

$500 junkyard 3.8 v6 for replacement ended up with a supercharger (from a Pontiac GTP I think ) on it and spray.

He had an absolute blast humiliating unsuspecting 4.6 Mustang GT's. Poor Mustang would get stomped by an LS1 Camaro or TA and then stomped again by a v6 Camaro. Sometimes he'd spray them hard to give them and even harder beat down.

He had a lot of fun with his v6 Camaro and still has the car 20 years later. However his 6th Gen ZL1 gets most of the love these days.