Looking at a 93+ Camaro, preferably a 98+ which has an LS1. All comments welcome, handling, gearbox, traitor, etc. Thanks.

 

Couple of folks here have Firebirds/Trans Am's... doing a search here will turn up some of 'em... I think Bigman is our resident Trans AM Pimp

 

92 z28 with 5.7 true dual exhaust, depabged from the factory. Red with black racing stripes. That car was awsome!

 

Owned an '88 and '90. Both 5.7 cars. I know its before the years you're interested in, but I had no complaints with them (other that the catalytic hump on the floorboard). Torque is fun.

Terry

 

Ahh, my baby:


97 Z28, I sold it almost 4 years ago to buy my CL, and to this day I still have dreams that I'm driving it. It was an awesome car. Was in and out of the shop a lot, but when it was running good, it was a blast to drive. I had the auto, which was pretty solid (although I did brake a tranny mount twice). Handling wise it was ok, nothing special. The rear end can break loose pretty easily, especially in the rain, so if you have traction control, use it. In straight line acceleration it was a BEAST! I had a flowmaster exhaust, so it was loud as shit, and with the T-tops off, it was a great car to cruise in. Had decent size backseat/hatch too!

I don't know about the LS-1, but I had the LT-1 which was prone to oil leaks. Mine developed 3 or 4 in the 6 years I had the car. Some people said not to use synthetic oil, but I did anyway. I also had problems with a lot of bulbs burning out, and my water pump went bad a couple times. I did put lots of miles on it though, so my advice would be if you're going to get an older one, try and find one with lower mileage. Good luck!

 

Can you grow a moustache? If you can't you probably shouldn't get a Camaro.

 

Yeah, but it was, ahem .... a '78, not a '98.



But 20-ish with a Camaro was petty cool.

 

A friend had one. He went deaf from all the rattles!

 

get a Firebird WS-6 that in black with the double hood scoops=sex

 

alot of the camaro drivers i have seen are idiots..especially the V6 ones... they seriously think they are the fastest thing on the road because they drive a CAMARO....

 

Your post pretty much makes me never want to own a Camaro/Firebird.

That's a ridiculous amount of problems.

 

And a mullet.

 

Get an IROC Camaro. They're made out of titanium (just like stealth bombers) and they can't be picked up by a radar detector (especially if you wash and wax them every day.)

 

lol great post.

 

i think a v-6 Mustang owners are worse.
I had a ex g/f with a 98 or 99 Mustang (v-6) auto. she thought she could beat anything out there. bone stock only thing she did to it upgrade the CD player.
she TRIED(key word tried) to run a new generation 6 speed TL(wasn't even the type S) it beat her BAD.

 

I brought a new 99 SS in late 98. I loved it. I put in a 2,000 watt stereo and put in a hidden hitch to town my waverunner to the lake.

I sold it when I met my ex-wife because she didn't like getting in and out of it.

Besides a few rattles, I never had any issues with it.

 

Get the LS1 at all costs. The later LS1 F bodies are stupid cheap to make scary fast. If I didn't already have a GTO I would consider one as a project car.

 

Agreed, LS1 is a significantly superior engine to the LT1. LT1 Corvettes had problems with the aforementioned oil leaks, plus huge problems with the Optispark ignition. Not sure if the Camaro versions of the LT1 had the same problems, but I think so. Read here for a general synopsis....

http://www.ls1lt1.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78

 

You guys have made up my mind. LS1 Camaro it is. Thats one sweet pewter SS btw .

I used to like the IROCs a LOT, but not so much anymore. Plus reliability issues aside I would prefer an LS1 anyway. Thanks for all the input guys.

 

Oh yes i am. I have two f bodies. 1 is a 98 Trans Am which is my now 9 second track toy. And I have an 02 which is my weekend warrior/cruiser which runs 11.4 on bolt-ons and a small cam. You can pick up a 98 Formula or z28 with good miles for cheap. If you can thoough, go with an 01-02 car because they have better heads and an LS6 intake manifold. Although an LS1 is an LS1, so anything from 98 and on is a great choice. Don't get me wrong, the LT1 cars are the shit also, but the optispark and other issues make me cringe whenever i see one. The only common problem on these cars is that the rear end is the weak link. If you drag race the car on a sticky track, then you will break the rear end. The manual and auto are great, just get a shift kit/stall/tune when you start modding on the stock auto. If you are going to just do some street runs then you will be fine with the stock rear. My 98 a few years back with just headers, catback, 3400 stall and a tune ran mid 12's on street tires. After some subframe connectors and shocks, the car handles like a dream. Ive never pushed it to its limit on the street, and i push them hard. Fit and finish depends. I've noticed that the pontiacs have somewhat better finish the the camaros, but i've seen some well kept camaros that have great interiors as well. 98 and up cars were also built better than 97 and down. In a taken care of car, you will find less squeeks and rattles. Another thing is that the car is bullet proof. The LS1 will last you a long time if taken care of and will make power forever. There are guys doing heads and cam on 150,000 mile motors and the engine makes great power and has excellent compression. Test drive one, you will most likely love it. Just remember, the car is not luxurious by an means. It's loud and will make you mad with power. Prepare on changing those rear tires out once a year, because smokey burnouts are addicting.

 

 

I think the Civic guys with the fart can exhausts are worse!

BTW. I had a 97 Z28 that was a great car! For some reason I kept going through rear tires though!

 

My lil' bro had an '86 and he was forever having it fixed or towed to the shop... not sure about other years but 1986 was a tough one...

 

Don't be afraid, Lt1's are notorious for rear main seal leaking when owners use synthetic. Some synthetics have cleansing agents that deteriate the gaskets. The only other main issues with LT1's was the optispark. The water pump failure is strange, as there are tons of high mile cars on the forum without a problem. But as far as the LS1 goes, i used my 98 as a daily driver for 3 years and never had 1 issue with it, and those werent exactly 3 babied years either. I still have that motor, and am working on dropping it into an RX7. Every car has it's problems, nothing was worse than the hell that was my 99 TL's transmissions.

 

damn dude mid 11s with bolt ons. be careful before you go back in time

 

I wish, there was also a small cam involved, a 228/228 on a 112 lsa to be exact.

 

how many litres is that car, and how much HP does it put out?

 

ls1-a 5.7 liter V-8 pushrod motor. this was in the SS Chevys and WS-6 Firehawks the Chevy got 320 hp also did the WS-6.
The regular T/As (not the WS-6s) only were 305.

 

Well I think I have my heart set on getting one now, really. Insurance is actually about the same as my 1995 Integra LS sedan. Having driven mostly FWD cars all my life, the most powerful being a 2G TL-S, I am new to powerful RWD cars, but I think I am addicted now. The most powerful one I've driven was an MR2 Turbo. I drove 2 Z28s this past week, the first of which was garbage. The T56 felt like I was like shifting an oar through a box full of boulders, it had a sticky clutch and the car pulled ok. The next one I drove had a MUCH better feeling gearbox, smooth and easy, and it hauled ass. Launching it from a stop causes wheelspin and the car to go sideways. Dealer let me and my brother (also looking for one) take it out for a spin by ourselves but there was too much traffic and I had to go to school. Gonna look at another one this weekend.

It awesome because cruising at 6th gear ~60 mph you're around 1500 RPMs or less. But in 1st gear, from a standstill you'll be smoking tires until 2nd. I'll have to be careful with this car though... the torque is addicting, being a Honda guy I've been sheltered from it all my life.

Firebirds/Firehawks and Z28s get the standard LS1 = 305 hp. SS and WS-6 get the SLP-tuned LS1 = 325 hp. V6 F-Bodies are irrelevant.

 

OK, I'll say this now and forever hold my peace. As a Honda guy going to big torque and rear wheel horsepower, take it real easy for the first 9-12 months or so. Those cars will bite HARD if you get too rambunctious, and off you go into the trees. I highly recommend taking it into an empty parking lot the first time it rains and getting very used to its behavior in the wet. Slide it around, shift it to get wheelspin, etc.

Front drive cars are very forgiving of driving mistakes by nature.....RWD big power cars are the exact opposite. Proceed with caution, don't get caught up in winning stoplight drags.

That being said, I'm jealous. I was admiring a 2000 Camaro SS just yesterday. Enjoy!

 

there weren't many cars out there faster then an LS1 camaro/bird when they came out. And the modding potential was cheap and endless



That said, there are idiot drivers in EVERY car

 

the motors were all identical, even though rated differently they put down the same power between the WS-6/SS and the Base LS1 cars

 

if i was to get a F body i'd get a WS-6 get it in black put on a double hood scoop hood.
my buddy has a WS-6 but he's to much of a tight ass to get that killer hood

 

the WS6 has teh double hood scoop hood

 

Funny thing is..... in my last post, I was going to put just that. I was gonna say that I'll find an empty parking lot and make the tires beg for mercy so I can get a feel for the car, but I thought that people would think I'm a tool.... they probably do anyway but still.

Not a fan of stoplight races, though I'm looking for some road courses since I know where the drag strips are. My first thread on LS1tech was asking how to make an F-Body handle like its on rails, and some of them said "who the hell buys an f-body for handling"