TIMS99z28

I've owned a lot of F bodies over the years....all 2nd, 3rd and 4th Gens. All were fast and solid..at least as fast as they should have been. I was always able to make each of them just a little faster for little money. Mfastest and favorite was a 2000 Ram Air Trans Am. It was stock, raw and fast. I got caught overseas and couldn't recover the car with it's blown tranny after my nephew took it for a joy ride thru the streets of Dallas. I had to sell it to guy that could also recover it....3500 bucks....made me sick. NOW, a few years later, I finally found another F body I liked and had the money to take it home. This time I may have hit the jackpot. This car was on ebay as a 99 z28 with a rebuilt ls1and a rebuilt L460E. I took a chance and made a down payment based on the ad. I made the 3 hour trip to Arlington and when I test drove the car, I knew IMMEDIATELY that it wasn't just a rebuild. The test drive was down the access road of the interstate....speed limit was 50 I think. I never saw a sign. I drove it easy for a few hundred feet, stopped, and punched it. Instant tire spin and white smoke......and it absolutely SCREAMED. In the short 2 or 3 thousand feet to the stop sign......I was at 150 mph when I broke for the stop. WOW. The dealer, Texas Auto Liquidators, couldn't tell me much except that it was rebuilt and only had 1000 miles on the rebuild. I had already read the carfax and it was squeaky clean....two previous owners..original paint and no issues. I went back and got the dealer to fix a loose hanger and a blown bulb....fuel up and drove home back to Kilgore. the trip across I-20 was effortless at the speed limit of 75. This car is a ROCK.... a SCREAMIN' ROCK. Dealer provided me receipts for engine and tranny rebuild that didn't say anything but 5.7 LS1 short block and L460E rebuild. BUT the previous owner's name and number were on the receipts. I called him that night and just last night he returned my call. he told the story of being laid off and needing money. he had 8500 into the car and took a huge loss at auction...he got 3000 for it. I got it for 4900. Now, I'm not a street racer but I had a few and I've always done all my own repairs and mods but I never really got in to the street scene, so while I understand how power trains work and what can be done to make them better, I don't really know a lot about the details. The car has a complete true dual, stainless Magna Flow exhaust system, powder coated Pace Setter headers. The previous owner threw some CAM numbers at me that really don't tell ME anything but maybe some of you know exactly what they mean. He stated the cam was 232 234 cup...with 595 598 @12 degrees..........then he had the tranny rebuilt with what he called a 4000 stall. He also said the street tune was never finished because the old tranny started to slip and he never went back after rebuild. Previous owner did recommend I get the tune finished now that the tranny is solid and that I should also regear the rear end from it's stock 373 to 411 gears. It's my baby and NOT my primary ride, so I'm taking it easy until I learn more about the car and what it needs to be tops. A lot of you guys and girls out there are smarter about this than me........I can clear every room in a house in the dark and double tap anything in my way, but speed production is NOT in my skill set.

tim west
99 Z-28+