VIP1

5) Usually the person didnt close the latch, thus, its their own fault.
6) You can also replace teh spring like I did (since mine didnt always pop open)

Nine Ball

iTrader: (38)

They are very reliable if driven non-abusive and maintained properly. The good thing is that the aftermarket for these cars is HUGE and most of the weak links have replacement upgraded parts available. The cars are also very easy to work on and repair yourself. You will learn a ton on this site, and probably have no regrets about buying one.

Go test drive a few and let us know what you find!

Tom L. Busby

I have a '98 with 84,000 miles of daily driving. The car is very reliable. I put in a new clutch at 73,000 miles, and about the same time I replaced both headlights pods because they were cloudy and made the car look old to me, but they still worked fine. The headlight pods cost about $450 for the pair, which is steep but it made the car look brand new. About the same time the driver's side mirror adjuster wire pulled out of the plastic and I expoxied that back in. I put in new brake shoes twice and spark plugs 4 times but that is probably maintenance more than than repairs. That is all for repairs.

The paint is still new looking.

I drive it medium hard but I'm good on maintenance. I have made a lot of chassis-type mods so I'm really happy that engine and trans are rolling along with no breakdowns or slowdowns.

gymratt

iTrader: (3)

70000 miles, only problem have been a window motor died and noisy serpentine belt issue. The two most reliable cars in my life have both been chevy's, my 94 vette and 99 Z28. I've owned dodge,plymouth, mazda, saab, mercury besides the last two bowties.

Ferocity02

iTrader: (60)

I realize what your saying. The AIR valves blew before I had the headers. I now have restrictor plates with the MAC's. My LCA's are torqued just fine, they aren't banging, just squeaking. The rear end only sucks basically if you want to modify the car. Yes, I have tried everything to fix the damn brake, short of taking it in for fixing, but it shouldn't of broke in the first place. My hatch is alinged correctly, in fact I played with it a little bit to get the stupid body panels to line up right and and it still doesn't close easily. And I was talking about rattles before the duals, such as in the T-tops, dash, and console. And like a said, I baby my car, so I see no escuse for these problems except for some poor designing at GM.

And to further add to the list is that my body panels don't line up for ****, one of the rear quarter panels is rippled, and one of my idler pullies fouled out and made a horrible and embarrasing squealing noise.

brutusbeast

Sounds like someone is bitter. Probably a FORD boy...

Ferocity02

iTrader: (60)

I never said I didn't like my car now did I.....

soundengineer

iTrader: (16)

bought mine new in 2000.... only 4 miles on it when I got it(that would be transfer from factory to truck to lot miles)....pre ordered it so no test drives would be on it.

have not had a single real problem.....

simple fix problems only.....
window motor went bad...took me 30 minutes to replace it
have a window/door seal that I need to replace cause somebody jacked it up trying to break into my car.....

I have 92000 miles on it...drive it every day....have now modded the hell out of it...and sometimes race it at the local dragstrip....

these cars are EXTREMELY RELIABLE

just make sure to buy some SNOW TIRES in the winter time...makes it a hell of a lot easier to get around... and buy some summer tires to have some fun in the non snow months...

as long as you do normal maintanence...oil/spark plugs/fluids check..... it will last you well past the 100,000 mile mark....

I have a few frends with 140,000++ miles on theirs with no problems at all...

you might want to do an oil pump upgrade on any 1998-2000 ls1's...they had an issue with the pumps...and a few died prematurely...

and if you are planning to mod...(cam/heads/exhaust) the LS1 is really easy to work on. I have done all my own work so far...and its been easy to do for the most part(sometimes you gotta grunt a little... but its easy)

Ferocity02

iTrader: (60)

SOME things are easy to do, changing the spark plugs for the first time is definitly not one of them

soundengineer

iTrader: (16)

you kidding me???
spark plugs are easy.....
just take the crap off the top of the head covers and you got all kinds of space....makes it real easy......

just need a 10mm socket- 5 bolts per side....disconnect the big white connector for the coil packs.....pull the thing out of the way...
and then a spark plug socket....and the plugs you are going to put in...

takes me less than 30 minutes from opening the box of plugs to starting the beast up.....

Drivn2Fast

iTrader: (2)

i only changed 7 spark plugs the first time... changed the 8th one a few weeks later.

soundengineer

iTrader: (16)

lemme guess.....
passenger side rear plug??? cylinder #8???


thats why you pull all the stuff off the covers...you can get that one easy after that....

soundengineer

iTrader: (16)

Oh...and I forgot to mention...

I AM STILL ON THE ORIGINAL CLUTCH (92,000 miles...and still going)


though I am putting in a Spec Stage 3 soon

KillaP

So far the only problems I've had with my 98 since last June when I bought it was a bad clutch (I learned to drive stick on this car) and not having enough $ to do the mods I want. Deffinately get yourself a V-8 fbod, theres no more bang for the buck out there!

Ferocity02

iTrader: (60)

Let me rephrase... The FIRST time doing a spark plug change is a bitch. The second one only took me 20 minutes

ActionJack

20 minutes is Fast.
Faster then I have heard someone changing the plugs in the 98' to 02'

soundengineer

iTrader: (16)

actually...thats about how long it took me today....from turning off the engine(after going to the store to buy plugs)till I started it back up

20 minutes...with a hot engine


getting ready for a dyno tune on monday myself...for my new heads and roller rockers...

ActionJack

Damn! How do you get the one on the passenger side in the rear so fast?

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)

Try it from underneath the car.

jaberwaki

no need for that with headers