What to watch for...
 

Alright fellas, it time to move on from my 99 v6 bird, and i love the look of the lt camaros and would like to get one but teh only two i am able to find in my price range (4-6k) is one being a salvage title, with the only visable damage being needing a new front fender and hood and possibly quarter panel, but it is an aniversary ed. but its a4, only 69k miles and they want 3750, should i stay away for fear of frame damage?
the otehr being a teal green z28, 96 i believe and its an m6, just down the road from me, i just saw this thing like 5 minutes ago and it looks good, havent been able to talk to teh guy yet, but wanted some good questions to ask and things to look for incase he is trying to hide something, body damage excluding frame doesnt bother me, but motor damage is. i know you cant really "spot it" but i need tell tale signs its been ^$#@&! with. He is asking either 4200 or 4600 for it so im assuming it has around 100k on it.
thanks for the time, and being understanding with my fairly noobish questions. lol

$4500 for a 96 with 100k is to much, I would look around LT1's are getting really cheap. You could pick up a LS1 car for $4500-$5000

but the prob is i live in ls1 country, those things sit on a lot for two days and are swooped up instantly and turned gangster or directly into strip cars lol

To be honest with you those prices seem high, and buying a v8 f-body should be a time consuming process because you really can get burned. don't go out and buy something because you fear someone else will get it n I would not pay more than 5k for one unless it has alot of mods and is really clean. I also would get a scanner and hook it up and pull the codes for all you kow it could have an opti, o2's and other issues and still be running ok.

Depending on how good you really want to investigate the car here's what I'd look for

oil on bottom of opti
cold air
electric windows
water pump seepage
rear end wine
clutch feel or slipping shifts
I would say oil pressure but most of em don't read acurate anyways

well keep in mind some things on these cars can be fixed for very cheap nowadays. Some of them are not fun to fix, but they can be done for cheap if you do your own work.

I would check the intake manifold gasket at the back of the engine. I would get under the car if you can and look for oil pan leaks, trans leaks and frame damage. Rear diff leaks dont bother me, they are cheap and easy to fix. Trans leaks can be cheap and easy as well if its just the pan gasket. Oil pan leaks can be a PITA but doable.

Like the guy above me said, check for codes if you can.

Id say the main thing on these cars is the opti.

These cars are getting older so your going to run into most that need work. Cold a/c can be a prefrence or a need if it doesnt work it can be simple to fix or it can be expensive, in my case they have just leaked out the freon in the shrader valve or a broken line, the evaporator hasnt gone bad on any that ive bought so thats a plus.

I would pull the fuse panel, make sure there arnt any mysterious wires going to it and that it isnt melted or damaged.

Drive the car, check steering, check for clunks up front. check power options. slow windows are kinda these cars thing, if your handy its a 25$ fix. Check the t-tops if it has any, check to make sure the locks are the same. Beat on the car, make sure it doesnt over heat or missfire!

If i followed this check list i wouldnt own my car :lol:

When your done, factor in everything to the price, if it needs more work then you want to do then move on. Alot of these cars nowadays can be molested, its weather or not you want to fix it or not. Alot of them havent been taken care of and drivin insanly hard.

If lt1 is what you want then your gonna probably have to look past a few things when you test drive these cars. If you dont want to fix it then move to the next one. I gaurentee they will all have their own problems!

For 5k you can pick up a really nice lt1 or you can get lucky and find one super cheap that needs something you can fix.(like mine) Just take your time and dont rush into anything

if your looking at car lots forget it, those guys are retarded..

both of these were on car lots.
97 today they had $7900 on the window..

02 trans-am couple weeks ago, had 88k miles on it asking $10500...