Disapointed by Kelle chevy
 

Well , Im back (almost ) I just got rid of another bike and now Im trying to find a nice 6 speed F-body . I went to Kelle Chevy in farmingdale today to take a look at a dealer (over priced ) Stock 98 trans am ( Mechanically perfect ) according to the ad. It was more beat up than I thought it would be . A lot of leaks underneath too . I figure Ill take it for a ride then low-ball them . What a piece of **** !! :evil: Fuel pump was singing and a service engine soon light on at start up . Then I drove it .It went from bad to worse . The rear was so loud you had to yell to talk at 50mph and the worse part .Absolutely no power , none , zip, nada .Something was definitely screwed up . My 99 suburban would of whooped the thing .Even my 5 year old son said " it doesn't feel fast " :rofl: Very disappointed in my 1st test ride . I know they're not all like this ,but I had to vent . I cant believe they wanted $7995 for this thing .I wouldnt give them $3000 for it .They said they would run back threw the shop to recheck it. :knock:

Happens when the engine is close to ten years old.

thats what happens when your looking at a beat car...nothing to do with the motor....bad owners. too bad you just started looking...ive sold two awesome ls1s in the last two months in your price range.




if your still looking i can toss you a few links to some things around that you might wanna check out. :nod:

Oh ,I know its not the motor . Ive driven a couple of them . I really like them .Just pissed me off when somebody list it as Great condition or mechanically perfect .I understand things happen as stuff gets older but that was an extreme case .I didnt expect it to be great , just better than that I guess .I know you just sold that 99 .I was a day late with it . LOL :cry: Ive seen a dozen of them a couple of weeks ago ,,when I didnt have cash . Thanks

sure it wasn't a 3.8l?

how much are looking to spend?

nope , I know a 3.8 would of been faster :rofl:
http://www.kellechevrolet.com/VehicleDetails/467944073

oh yeah that car. i looked at that car too. its beat to ****. also its listed as a trans am but its really a formula. stay away from 98s too man...nothing but little things

perhaps your thread should be changed to "Disappointed by Kelle Chevy" and not disappointed by a LS1 :lol: . I have two of them myself, beating the crap out of the 98 especially and they both run like raped apes

Very true ,,done :mrgreen:

98's no good ?? I know the 98-99 have the old style intake manifold . What else ,besides the 1st year of a new engine in the F body ?

What cha got ??:shrug:

98 has poorly flowing heads and weak rod bolts in comparison to the later years. Ron goes fast in a 98 though :)

the 98s had a few of the following problems...




ls1 intake with egr
faulty hatch releases
Perimeter valve cover bolts
coils were mounted individually and not on 1 bracket, have to remove one at a time.
paper water pump gaskets liked to leak
exhaust manifolds were more restrictive
head castings were different and werent as good as the later ones
15 gallon steel gas tanks
98 blocks have smaller cylinder sleeves and cant be remanned
early pcv system that was crap
no idle adjustment on the throttle body



not to mention little electrical gremlins that pop up in all fbodies but show themselves more in the 98s....such as window motors and leaky heads/tails/corner lamps

Also no handheld tuner works for them neither

idc what anybody says about the 98's having crappy heads/ poorly flowing heads the stock 241s really dont make that much of a difference. im turning 11.80s with my internally stock crappy 98

98 was the first year for LS1 fbodies, usually want to stay away from the first year models. main reasons sometimes the connecting rod bolts were weak and could break, the clutch hydraulics werent too good for hig rpm shifts and hard launches thats really the only two bad things about them. solution- upgrade the slave cylinder and get ARP rod bolts and youre good to go.

the only difference i can think of other than the slightly better 241 heads and slightly smaller cam was that the 01-02 models came with a better slave cyl (which ive broken before) and a LS6 intake-which probably has more effect on performance than the 241 heads do. there were minor changes in the pollution crap too

how are all of these considered problems?

there should be no need to adjust the idle under the hood
early pcv worked, all LS1s would suck a lil oil into the TB at high rpms
forget about the smaller cylinder sleeves. if any LS1 blows up, i garuntee the ALUMINUM block will be trashed. it will not be remanufactured
15.5 gallon tank, barely weighs more than the plastic tank and works fine
big deal its 1.4 gallons smaller
i already spoke my piece on the heads
didnt have paper waterpump gaskets on mine
big whoop about the coils and valve covers. it didnt effect the performance of the engine.
and finally, yeah the one thing thats actually worth changing, the LS6 intake

and about those electrical gremlins, ive seen them in ALL Fbodies. even more so in cars with higher mileage. not just a certain model year

i forgot to add the smiley after what i said so u didnt think i was being a douche lol.

Nahh ,didnt think so .So after all of this ,, should I just get a mustang ?? :nutkick: J/K I appreciate all of the responses .Very helpful .

My white 98 has 118k on it and went best of 12.3 full weight, stock tune, bolt ons, stock intake, etc, Also have a black 98 with 169k on it and it still runs strong.

lol well if you do, get a 03-04 cobra. i wouldnt mind driving one of those!!

shoot for a 99-02 LS1 car to be safe. even more so, the 01-02's theyre the most updated

98's have a bigger cam than i think 01-02?

same with mine but im at 121k


and yes I still got a ls1 intake with egr that works.............

My 98 runs fine... bone stock bottom end... never got a clean pass off... but has went 11.62 on the brakes cam only

yep

1998 - 2000 Fbody
202/210 int/exh @ 0.05" duration
0.496" / 0.496" int/exh lift
116 LSA

2001 - 2002 Fbody
197/207 int/exh @ 0.05" duration
0.467" / 0.479" int/exh lift
116 LSA