YeahPete

Good Evening All,

Just found Trans Am WS6 (automatic) for sale... I would prefer stick. Price is $8,000. Miles are 60k. The guy said the owner before him built the engine and rear-end. The trans has reverse but no forward. He said he will take to a repair shop and build transmission for current horsepower but total price would then be 10k. He says car has about 500hp Maybe more (han't been dyno'd. I really don't care about the hp to be honest I would prefer stock but whatever.

So here's the predicament. At least the guy's being honest with me about exactly what the car needs and seems to be a good price. I mean he could very well have slapped the transmission together instead of rebuilding stronger and sold as is. But then again. I wonder if the engine was built properly and he beat the hell out of it even if it has low miles I really don't want to put a bunch of work into it.

But even then. Any other car like this you find even stock the owner could be beating the hell out of it and still hide it like the old sawdust in the tranny trick. So what the difference between the owner being upfront and hiding it?

What are you thoughts? Would you buy it or run away? Should I take to a mechanic and check out the engine? Not sure what that would cost. Would the axles be needing replaced soon?

What else should I look for when I test drive it? He said he has no problem doing the work and me buying and test driving after transmission is rebuilt.

Thanks for all your help and I hope to become an active member on this forum.

Slickgoat05

i would walk away personaly

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

always tough when the owner previous to the seller did the modding to verify what is there.

Any chance the guy who built it was on here and you could follow his threads ( I bought one that I was able to verify mods on here once)

500 hp is going to be more than bolt ons and not cam only either so you need to know what heads and cam are on it as well as what bolt ons , what is visible ?? long tubes ,true duals , Fast intake etc....

If the previous owner built the rear end to take 500 hp then it will no longer have the 10 bolt lol if it has an S60 , fab 9 etc... that adds a couple grand to the mods that would be easy to verify and typically there will be some obvious suspension pars upgraded when changing out from a 10 bolt , should be easy to see.

If the car is an extremely nice 60k example with thousands in verifiable mods it may be a good purchase on the other hand it could be a pile of bs , a crappy tune ,etc... that is your job to find out what you are really looking at ? 60k is it no winters as well ?

Personally If I could get to the point where good mods have been verified I would be trying to get the price down from the 8k and be in control of the trans build your self, the common wisdom around here is its not much more to have one of the few builders that are respected do the trans , a post in the auto trans forum looking for advice would help you figure out how to approach that , if you could get the price to 7k you would have 3k to spend on a trans before your back at 10k in the car , 3k will build a nice trans at a reputable builder.

YeahPete

Thanks a bunch for the reply murphinator alot of valuable information. I'm actually hoping the guy was on here so I could check the thread I am searching nothing yet. One of the reaons I joined .

I'm not the most knowledgeable in car mods I'm mostly looking for a stock WS6 but this is what some notes I took in my conversation with him over the phone.

396 Stroker
A 241 GM head ported to 243.
Aftermarket Cam
Short Tube Headers
True Dual Exhaust
Forged Pistons
Intake Polished and Smoothed
323 rear-end. Not sure what that is maybe I misheard.


You think the price is a bit high? This is the lowest priced sporty vehicle I can find on ebay and craigslist within 200 miles of me below 70k miles. Everything is going up I want to pick something up before I can't afford it. Even this website. Look at the for sale section. Prices are high.

I haven't had a chance to physically look at the car yet. I doubt it has 500hp. I would actually prefer it didn't. This will pretty much be a daily driver for me I'd rather have reliability.

The problem with purchasing before tranny is worked on is I can't drive the car except in reverse. I may request to be present when transmission is put back together? Does that take long? Is that rude to do? Should I offer some beer?

I wouldn't mind spending more for the transmission, but I'm afraid there could be like you said a bad tune on the motor or something broke.

The engine has been as is for a long time. Does longer stroke effect longevity? How do I know if the tune is bad?

Thanks again for all the info. The more I hear the more it sounds like I'm going to have to pass. I'll just check it out and take a video. I'll try to post a link it Wednesday.

JoeNova

396 stroker with 241 heads and shorty headers?
Nope.
Nope.

YeahPete

So you recommend passing on this? Thanks for all the help guys. I'll keep looking. I'll be looking for a thread as for what to look for in buying a car too.

JoeNova

A 4.125" stroke crank is notorious for causing excess oil consumption in a stock block.

But to go through all of that and then run ported stock heads, ported stock intake, and shorty headers? I'd ask him to remove the oil pan and get casting numbers. Especially since he lists 'forged pistons' as a mod. If its a 396, everything is forged.

Chances are, he is even feeding you BS, or it has been half-assed.

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

that mod list is either a hot mess or innacurate maybe the seller doesn't know what he has ? does he have name of previous owner ? a conversation with him may reveal actual mods.

241 & 243 are different castings altogether , you don't port a head into another head casting but any ls1 head can be ported to outperform the best stock casting.

short tubes on heads cam wtf ? 500 hp on shorty headers unlikely...

323 sounds like it is a stock 10 bolt

yes a stroker engine is prone to premature wear how much depends on how it is done , pin location skirt length etc - great way to make power not as good for longevity though I am sure there re stories of 100k + strokers out there

you mention under 70k miles if you are limiting your search to under 70k that is why you are running into expensive options , there are plenty of very good cars that can last you a long time with more miles than that , my 255k mile car is my nicest one and is still on stock engine/M6/10 bolt. If you can find a 100-120k mile car that looks like it has under 50k you will usually get a great value without major/drivetrain rebuild type repairs in the near future especially if you can find an older seller unmodded or intake exhaust type car. these cars are approaching 20 years old now people that bought them new in their 50's as a weekend car are in their 70's and have trouble getting in and out of them. I bought a 170k 99z/a4 a few years back woman bought it new at 68 and at 80 couldn't get in and out of it and sold it , obviously with 170k it was a daily driver not a weekend car.

Also open up your search to a little larger area that will give you more possibilities, you can always throw a couple bucks to a member of the forum to go put eyes on a car for you before travelling far to look at a distant car.

What part of the country are you in ? have you tried posting in your local forum section for people to keep an eye out for you ?

If you are looking for a WS6 in particular that makes it much harder they ae fewer and bring a premium , plenty of great trans ams and z28's out there.

usnfenix

iTrader: (11)

OP walk away. Too many unknowns and too many "the guys says it has" and "the guy before me". People can appear trustworthy all day long doesn't mean you should trust them especially when theres 8 grand involved. Heres my 2 cents, my last F body I picked up in may is a 98 with 48k original miles, all stock with all records and window sticker, got it for 8k. You can do far better for 8k than a car that's got more guesswork than professional work.

YeahPete

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I'll walk away. I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled. I've noticed sporty cars are like > $2,000 more expensive where I life. I'll have to drive 150 miles to get a reasonable prince on any vehicle. What a PITA. I'm no longer just looking for WS6 anymore. Thanks for all the help.

ws6junkie

Lots of good advice on here already. I just bought an '02 WS6 and I was very picky. I passed on less expensive "deals" that I thought were suspect. I avoid modded cars unless they can provide receipts from a reputable shop. Too many guys think they know what they are doing. Be patient. Make a list of everything you want the car to have and a list of what would be nice to have and stick to your list. You'll be happy you did when the right car comes along. Good luck.

imma_stocker

iTrader: (19)

Walk away and never look back.