I'll try and keep this short and to the point.

I've been saving up for an LS1 F-Body for the past while, and it looks like by the spring I'll have enough to afford a stock one.

My question to you guys (and gals), is should I look for a low-ish mile one that's virtually stock, and unmolested, and then modify it myself, or hold off for another 6 months or so, and pick up a heavily modified one (and hopefully save some money in the long run)?

What would everyone reccomend? Any suggestions, regrets etc?

Thanks for the help!

 

If you can wait I would hold out for some mods. Most people do the basic suspension stuff like SFC, LCA. Engine, most do the lid and maybe headers. You can find cars like this that wouldn't be that much more than stock would cost. I haven't got patience though.

 

I'd buy a stock one first that hasn't been beat.
They're ungodly fast straight out of the box.

Mods have to be tastefully done and you really need to know how to do them.

Mods can get easily carried away and cost you a fortune simply for the fact that all the money may not get you the HP and performance that you anticipated so you keep dumping dollars into it.

Keep in mind, that mods also include structural reinforcement because of power gains, especially the weak stock 10 bolt.

If you buy a pre-modded LS1, chances are it has been flogged, however, sellers of modded LS1's cannot on most cases expect to get what they put in to it, so that can be a plus.

 

I would buy a stock f-body and mod it myself. I bought a 00 WS6 a few months ago and I could have bought modded cars, but I wanted car that had not been touched. I also did this with my 93 T/A, it was stock down to the paper filter. Good luck.

 

I would buy a stocker. More than likely a stocker hasnt been beat on as much as a modded car. In the end you would have made a better decision with the lower milage stock fbody. When your older you would look back and say man Im glad I got the stock car and moded it myself where as if you got the modded car you might look back and say, i wish i would of just got the stocker. Good luck.

 

Buy the stock one with the lowest milage possible. You don't want a car thats been touched or changed. Get used to it first than start modding it up the way you want it to be. Good luck, and remember, the light tapping when the car starts is NORMAL!!!

 

i would definetly go with a stocker that hasnt been beat on and try to find the lowest mileage possible, than mod the parts that are important to you

 

Something else you should consider is most of us are willing to pay a little more for a stock car than a heavily modded car. You should actually be paying more for the stock low mileage car.

 

You never get your money back for mods installed on a car either.

 

lotsa good advice here already. lastly, make sure you run SYNTHETIC oils and try to find one that has maintenance records/receipts

 

i don't know about a stock LS1 f-body being ungodly fast, but i would get a stock one for sure. there's just a lot of variables with the mods. how well were they installed? has this guys done serious mods like heads&cam and never got it tuned? has the owner put slicks on a 450+ rwhp car and made a few passes without subframe connectors and a stock drivetrain thats about to break? just a lot of stuff to worry about. also if i bought a modded car i'd feel like i was driving somebody else's car.

 

well modding cost $$$$$$. what are your goals? you could save money by picking up a lightly modded car. i'll never get all the doe i've already spent out of my car. i'd look for one that still has the rev limiter in place. ask the person selling how high have they revved it. over 6400 is too much for me. drag radials are tuff on a 10 bolt rearend.

 

Thanks for all the information already guys. Does anyone have any good / bad experiences?

My theoretical goals (although things change) are to have more or less the following performance mods, along with a T56:

Intake
Cam (maybe heads), and all supporting hardware
Headers & full exhaust
SFC's and other suspension goodies

So clearly I'd save some money by buying an already modded car...but is it really worth it?

 

Depends on your goals for the car. If you plan to put an engine and maybe tranny in it anyway and go fast, why not get a high mileage one cheap with a few bolt on extras already there?
I could have gone the $14000 perfection route, but mine is a toy on a budget and not my only car so I paid $7700 for an old police car. (it happened to be bone stock) I would have bought a lightly modded one if the price was right.
It's a mixed bag, you may get someone's junk hotrod or you may get a badass car cheap that someone else put a ton of money into. Believe me, the kid who bought my '80 Z28 got $13,000 worth of car for $2200 back then.
Building a stocker yourself is the most fun, but on a budget you make some trades.

 

I was in the same boat as you. I owned an LS2 GTO and then got slammed with a lot of bills and increased insurance so I decided to depart and find an Fbody. I wanted something faster, so I started looking at modded ones. I read about all the mods that I wanted (Cam, headers, etc.) and figured out how much that would all cost me out of my pocket. I really didnt want to spend that much time and money on mods, considering that I am not the best and installation either, which would add more money. I found a gem (in my eyes) with the SS I bought in October 2007. For what I want is a powerful street car. I might go ahead and go down the track a couple times in the future but it's 99.99% a street car. So the car I got was tuned, with a cam, headers, etc. The previous owner wasa mechanic and we lifted the car and checked it out and everything was great. It's close to 100rwhp over a stock one. I've had ZERO problems with it so far, but I've only had it for a few months. I do not regret picking it up at all and saving $5k cash from the mods I would have bought.

 

A lot of modded cars have been screwed-up by previous owners and probably don't have the mods you want. You can spend a lot of money un-modding it so you can mod it the way you want to. There are two ways to look at it. Buy a stock low mile creampuff and mod it the way you want or buy a high mile or mechanically sick car and build the drivetrain you want with the dollars you saved with the initial purchase price.

 

Don't necessarily need to spend more for a car with some of those mods, mine came with a lid, hood, and borla, and I still got it under book value. Just look at a bunch and see what's out there. Don't let yourself fall in love with the first one. Drive at least four or five of them to start to see what's available good and bad.

 

If I had it all over to do again and it was me this is what I would do but everybody has their unique situation. You came to the right place to ask though, that's a great start.

 

Even though I like my automatic, I would probably get a 6speed next time.

Get the color combo you want, or you'll regret it later..

check for good oil pressure

buy a non beat one