Advice on purchasing a camaro

[Neutrino]

Well one of my roommates is planning to buy a car very soon and his dream is to own a camaro. His budget is max ~4500 maybe a bit more. He says that he does not care if it’s a V6 or a V8. Of course I try to bug him to get the V8 model.

In his price range what I could find were some 100k-140k 93-94 Lt1s and some newer V6s.

Knowing you guys are the experts what should we be looking out for: any specific problems for certain models or any other camaro specific issues?

Also are there any reliability differences between the V6s and V8s what about between auto and manual trannies?


Also if you guys know of any camaros being sold in Utah please let me know.


Anyway thanks in advance for your replies.

[88camaroproject]

dont get a 2.8 litre camaro you will be dissapointed. nit al to fast. but whatever.. im looking to buy a 3.8 cause i hear they are fast. just as fast as a 305 i think.....stock, im not to sure and i think i have read that 305 isnt the greatest motor either but the 350 is good. and fuel injections better then carb and ummm look for rust. i dunno if rust is a problem where you are but it is in florida where i am. look for rust around t tops and the rear hatch and the bottom of the doors. ummm thats all i can really think of. well theres a start..have fun

[ViperJ]

Well let me give you some quick numbers for 4th gen (1993-2002) V6's
3.4L Engine- 1993-1995 160HP, 200 ft.lbs low to mid 16 sec quatermile times
3.8L Engine- 19951/2 -2002 200Hp 225 (I think) ft. lbs mid to high 15 sec quatermile times.
Sorry I only know V6 cause thats what I have

As for budget $4,500 should buy a nice 3rd gen Camaro, probably with a motor swap. Before I bought my 94 I was looking a an 82 Maro with a slightly built 350 in it, for $2500, rough body but nice engine.
Or if he likes the newer body style he would be able to get a nice/clean V6 maro. I bought mine for $2,500 (minus the wheels and tires) but it needs a new hood and bumper. I know searching autotrader.com the lowest Z28 I could find around my area is about $6,000 but it might diffrent over there.

Anyway good luck

[FormulaLT1]

I would recommend a LT1, if he can afford slightly higher insurance. The only reliablity issue is the optispark which can easy be taken care of with buying a vented cap and running a vacuum line into elbow. Although I must admit that the 3.8 with 200 stock horses is a great bang for the buck car. Either would be a good choice in my book. Let us know what he ends up getting.

John

PS- 94 over 93 though, 93 was speed density which creates a problem when you start to mod and 93 also had smaller injectors and showed slightly slower numbers in 0-60 and 1/4 mile. Plus with a 94 he can do his own custom tuning with the Eprom directly from a laptop

[ViperJ]

Originally Posted by FormulaLT1

Plus with a 94 he can do his own custom tuning with the Eprom directly from a laptop

Is that just for the LT1's or can 6's do it to

[FormulaLT1]

The 6's can with the right program from www.tunercat.com

[ViperJ]

There site doesn't list it for the 3.4L Camaro but there is something listed for 91 - 94 Buick / Pontiac LQ1 3.4L V6. I am going to take a wild guess that is a different engine

[Savage Messiah]

Go with an LT1 if you can find one with few miles, otherwise the 3.8s have a good amount of power, are fun, and also will last a loooong time.

ViperJ: go to www.hptuners.com they make awesome software, see if they make it for your car (I think they do)

[Hypsi87]

Originally Posted by 97CamaroRS

Go with an LT1 if you can find one with few miles, otherwise the 3.8s have a good amount of power, are fun, and also will last a loooong time.

ViperJ: go to www.hptuners.com they make awesome software, see if they make it for your car (I think they do)

hell no, tunercats is completely customizable. That is what I use to burn my chips

[Savage Messiah]

I only see that available for up to 95 f-bodies http://www.tunercat.com/tnr_desc/ecm_sup.html#chevycars

[Link85x]

Would it be possible to have one of you burn a chip for me? Don't have laptop and probably won't ever have one. When you custom burn a chip, do you customize to your mods or what power you are looking for?

[Link85x]

Also, one the tunercats website, it says a chip or program for my car is $32B, is that 32 dollars?

[lickem]

get 94/95 f-body 6M at that price prob 100-130k

[Rally Sport]

For 4500 There's some reasonably nice Maros out there, obviously the Lt1 is best because people drive the hell out of the V6 ones.

[Neutrino]

thank you guys for the replys. Anyway let me update you, we found today an 94 Lt1 with 180K on board. The guy is a mechanic and ask for 3000. Its problems are:

the rear bumper is a bit hit, guess we can find a new one in a salvage yard
driver side window is a bit loose
interior is a bit run down
also the mechanic said that it probably has a bad lifter
it might have a small tranmission fluid leak by the speed sensor

Now this is obviously a fixer upper, the engine did sound pretty solid, the owner said the compression test it came up as 125 across the board.


Anyway if he gets this car he would have about 1500-1700 to fix it up. Probably a good idea would be to take off the head and replace that lifter and maybe do some other upgrades while we are at it (the mechanic also susgested to upgrate some parts and make it into an LT4). Are there any other upgrades we should do while we are at it?

Also I belive it still has the original bilstein suspension, is that to old by now?