Just got done driving/looking at 2001 Z28 SS. Been looking to buy for a while now and really found one that I loved. Drove great, Trans felt great, cosmetically the car was awesome. The only thing holding me back was that the engine sound like it had a piston slap. it sounded like this from off idle to about 2500 RPM. The car was already warmed up when i got there, so it may have sounded worse cold, but I could definetly heard it warm. Car ran great, great power, didn't feel like this was affecting any power. the seller told me that these LS1's are noisy (have this type of knock/slap from the factory) engines. I've worked with cars my whole life and this noise just does me wrong. if you guys tell me it's okay/normal with LS1's. i am probably going to buy this car, and I don't want to be stuck with rebuilding the motor after a while.

 

Cold yhey tend to do it but all warmed up you shouldnt hear it. do you remember how the oil pressure looked?

 

That's the thing, Oil pressure was perfect. Don't remember exactly, but it looked good. The car ran great. No power loss at all. The guy kept saying that these engines were ??noisy??. The seller is also a very descent person, loves these cars, knows a good amount about these cars, so he is not looking to rip us off, very straightforward guy. My dad and I own a shop and he's been a mechanic for over 40 years and he feels as though that this noise doesn't feel/sound right to him. I am asking however, because our experience with this exact car/engine is very limited. We do not have other Camaros we have driven to compare this noise to. The noise could also be as simple as a harmonic balancer - but an 01', 60000 miles. Just don't know, that's why I'm asking the more experienced.

Any help/info is greatly appreciated

 

piston slap is a common problem but once warmed up it shouldnt be there

 

piston slap is nomal, my Z slaps on a cold start.

 

If the slap went away within a couple of minutes then its something I would put up with. In my case my car slaps most at 1700-2200 RPM under light throttle. Mine does just barely go away once fully warmed up. Warming up fully can be 15 minutes in the winter though. If it does it when fully warm, there is no reason to buy this car. GM screwed up a lot of these engines, its a manufacturing flaw, I would pass.