1984, smells fishy

[Mikeye]

Wassup guys, im hunting for my first car (I've always driven my counsin's cars around, but its time for me to get my own). I'm 18, and I have always loved camaros. I found a 1984 z28, going for a low price of 1,500. With my past experiences from looking from camaros, for such a low price, SOMETHING needs to be wrong.

The car is black with electric blue stripes along the bottom, the body is in pretty much mint condition except for the left quarter panel which is a dent in it that appears that just needs to be buffed. The interior is also mint. Here is the problem:

The guy who has this has always modified this car to be very fast. He has brought it to the track plenty of times, switching out the stock 305 for a 350 with a blower that was pushing something like 700 horsepower, bored out .60 over, he did a lot of work with this engine. He says when he used to take this to the track that he would put a cage in the car so the chasis (sp?) would not bend.

Among other things in the car, there is no catalytic converter, no muffler (he has a straight pipe, its very loud) and Nas (which I plan to take out)

The 305 which he is selling this car with has 56,000 original miles on it, so he claims. He blew the transmission 2 and a half years ago, he rebuilt it, and drove it for a year before he parked it and took it off the road when he got his 04 corvette.

He claims that the suspension is in good condition, this car was once a manual but is now an automatic. It seems like its been heavily modified.

The biggest problem of all: I can't test drive this the way I probably should. It's not on the road, it only has fake liscense plates so that he can keep it at the front of his house. How can I tell if the chassis is bent if I cannot take it to high speeds? is it apparent? how often does it happen to these cars? putting this car on a lift and putting the gas pedal down give me a good indication on if the transmission is in good shape or not?

He said he would sell me the 350 for an extra 1000 dollars, but I am not in need of this kind of horsepower (obviously) I just love camaros, and wouldnt exactly want a slow car, but nothing that runs 9.15, like he claims he ran with that engine in the car.

I am also willing to get this car towed to my uncle's porsche specialty garage to have them do a presale inspection kind of thing, no major surgery ( even if they are my family, they dont love me THAT much : P )

Please, if any of you guys know a lot about this car and have any info on it before I spend money, do not hesitate to let me know. Thank you. : )

[stieh2000]

Its 23 years old, thats whats wrong.

Seriously, if you cant test drive it, pass it up. There are a bazillion more third gens out there. Granted, not many are in good shape, but I'd keep looking if I were you.

[SG007]

Third gens are like weeds...you even find them in people's lawns...if you can't test drive the car then don't buy it. This guy seems to have raped his Camaro, I would keep looking.

[wrightz28]

I'm just trying to figure out who goes through the work of welding, then cutting out a cage every time they go to the strip?

EDIT- ANd the whole subframe would have to been completely reworked in order to even withstand idleing with he motor setup that was claimed to be used.

[Firebirdlad03]

yea the guys story is the fishy thing. cars dont just snap together like legos. 1500 isnt that cheap. hell i got my car for free and stuck about 600 in it to get it to what it is now. i would say pass it by unless you can get a testdrive.

[89IROC&RS]

what is nas?????

that being said, definatly pass this car up. A car that heavily modified will be a huge pain to diagnose and repair when things go wrong. and things go wrong, its a machine, thats 23 years old. things wear out, wiring connections go bad, and things always need to be repaired. With something that heavily modified, cut up, put back together, and then remade yet again and again, troubleshooting might involve completely dissasembling the dash.... or worse.

that being said, the third gens are not known for being stiff in the chassis. Unless he had weld in subframe connectors and a full cage in the car durring 9 second quarter mile runs, the chassis will have been flexed. and even if it is still strait, it will be weak, and in my opinion dangerous on the road.

it is very rare to find a serious strip car and return it to the road. Keep looking, i bought my RS from a little old lady (the black one) and it was cherry until i killed it. (cringe at the memory). I bought the IROC (red one) from a guy in arkansas who did alot of shade tree mechanic work when the car was maintained at all, and redid wiring on his own, and its been nothing but a money pit and a project since i bought it. I bought the RS for 3000, and bought the IROC for 2300.

Learn from my pain, and find a well kept daily driver with few to no mods, and buy that one. Trust me, its the way to go.