I'm looking at a 98 Z28 for my wife, but I was wondering...are there any wierd quirks about the 98's that make them less reliable? Or are there any aspects of the car that are difficult to modify/tune? Thanks for your help.

 

I don't think it's all too bad, just some things to note when going after a 98, like a rod bolt issue on "some" engines, but at this point in time and mileage it would have already busted if it was going to bust.

Tuning is a bit of a prob, but most LSx shops can deal with it and still get a good tune going despite a difference in PCM setup. It's only a major issue during a speed density only FI tune etc

Metal gas tanks add a bit of weight, perimeter bolt valve covers...

No oil life light.

Possible return valve spring problem in oil pump (but if it was going to go it would have done it early on in it's life)

Now for the "perks"

No black box to use against you in an accident (well you gotta look at the bright side of things...)

A WORKING temp guage.

.5 inch lift cam!

bolt-ons = big gain

28lb injectors

and.... done.

The old a LS1 is a LS1 is a LS1 applies. Get the one that works.

 

To address some of this, the rod bolts shouldn't be an issue unless you plan to rev the motor higher than the stock limiter.

The oil pump is NOT a '98 only issue. All '98-'00 LS1s have the same oil pump stock, so there is nothing about the '98 that would make it any more or less likely to have problems than a '99 or '00. Either way, pump failures due to that spring issue are very rare and only effected a small percentage of motors.

For the perks, don't forget the stronger flexplate for the '98-'00 A4 cars.

 

So a cam upgrade/higher rev limiter is a bad idea without upgrading the rod bolts?

 

 

Not at all, you just want to keep your shift points at 6600 or so w/98's.....going much higher than that will warrant a rod bolt upgrade in my opinion.

 

I specifically got a 98 because of the injectors and no black box... 98 = only year without it in the fbody... dont want my driving info to be stored for any duration of time 30 seconds or not... could be used as incriminating evidence some day.... just another reason why the 98 is awesome... but yea nothing wrong witha 98 at all....

 

where is the black box on the 99+cars? cant it just be taken off?

 

Less oil usage, no piston slap, working guages, hrmmm...I dont see why people hate on 98's if they plan on staying stock/bolt-on. They were built much better.

Oh, as to LS6 intake, the 98 is slower, blah blah blah, my friend ran a 12.9@107 with a 1.9 60' on the stock tires in his 98 WS6 M6. BONE STOCK with a paper air filter. Yes, he is a STOOPID good driver and your results will most likely NOT be like his.

 

ive been seeing alot of 98 Z28s in the 7k price range with 80k+ miles. so its safe to say thay are good running engines.

plus the 7k price is tempting.

 

113K miles here and I wouldn't be afraid to drive it anywhere.
There always seems to be alot of misinformation going around about the `98 LS1's. Yes there are a few shortcomings and obviously some good pluses.
My favorite is the difference between early `98 806 heads compared to 853's and 241's of later LS1's. Believe me if there is less than a 10 HP difference you wouldn't feel it on the street. So Who Cares, once modded the cars equal out anyway. Besides if the car puts a smile on your face when you drive it then that is all that Matters!!

 

some of those probs (LS1 go BOOM!) happened to me @ 56000 miles and it sucked sooooo badly.. many dollars later, i have my jasper LS1 engine with a 3yr/75kmile warranty. my buddies 98 died the same way @ 80k miles.

 

That's another thing. Seems that piston slap and oil useage are very rare on the '98 cars compared to the other years. I know that both my '99 and '00 had these issues, but not my '98.

 

I've noticed this as well. It never occured to me just how much hating there is on the '98 cars until I bought one for myself. And so far the only thing I've learned since buying my '98 two years ago is that all the hating is for nothing. So far this '98 has been the healtiest LS1 I've owned; not that the '99 & '00 weren't good too, but this one seems to be slightly better.

 

RPM WS6 covered it basically. However SladeX, bolt-ons do not = great gains with 98's more than any other years, the 806 heads suck.

 

Were you able to determine what caused these engine failures?

 

What's this "black box"? I never knew about it... interesting. Can someone explain it a little better?

 

It's a data recorder that picks up specific info from the PCM and stores XX seconds amount of info just prior to a crash where the airbags would deploy.

 

The 98 PCM's are not as robust as the later F-bodies with the LS1. They are somewhat harder to tune as a result of this. Not impossible, just different.