I found a clean (as far as I can tell by the pics) '91 T/A for sale.

It's black on black, with the L98. I emailed the seller, he's asking 2700 for it, and the car has 178k miles.

Assuming it really is a clean car, and everything works, is the price in line with the mileage? I imagine I can get him down to 2500. He says the body is great, with the exception of rust on the hatch hinges and a spot of rust on the roof.

Anyway, the main thing I'm wondering about is the longevity of the motor. I had a 88GTA with the L98, and even at 100k I had the puff of blue smoke on startup.

My plan for this, or any car I get, is to buy a driver that runs good that I can mildly mod and enjoy now, and then later on down the line get to the serious engine work. Is it worth it to do this with a car with that many miles?

I was thinking of doing the free mods, plus exhaust, and running a 100-150 shot just for kicks at the track. With a near 200k motor, I would guess that's a bad idea.

He's going to send me more pics today, I can post them if anyone is interested.

Thanks for any info.

 

I'd say shoot for $2,400. The guy I purchased my car from paid 2,400 for it when he bought it about 9 months previous to me buying the car. Mine has less miles and is more than stock with less rust.

 

I gave you my opinion on the whole car is the History & Restoration Board but about the motor:

I have an L98 in my car with now 131k miles, never been opened up. It runs like a champ, no smoke, very very minor leaks, fresh tune. Its been taken care of its whole life, ive had it since 100k. I did my own tune up changed everything possible on it and it ran a great run down the 1/4 mile. I abuse my car, i drive it the way it was meant to be driven...i use all 230 horse powers! lol.

Its reliable and it takes a lot from me, i trust it and know i could throw a 100 shot on it and prolly be fine. But its not built for that and thats a lot more abuse then just mashing the pedal a lot.

Its all a gamble and it depends how it was taken care of. Youll have to drive it to find out, check all the fluids and check for new parts.

Good luck.

 

I bought mine back in Aug. An 87 IROC w/ almost 165k on it. Looks alot worse than it runs. Body and interior show the 165k. Performance wise all it had when I bought it was a Flowmaster on it. It runs great. I got it for $2500. So I think his asking price may be a bit high but Im saying that w/o seeing the car. Just my 2 cents. G/L

 

You're going to want to compression test and check on the oil consumption before running nitrous, also expect that it will possibly need a teardown and rebuild soon, hopefully it's not still on it's first timing chain.

If everything is as good as he says, I'd probably offer $2200... maybe less if it's been on the market a while.

 

I paid 3,100 for my car last June. It had 114,000 miles on it and the only mods were a Flowmaster and the cat or cats were removed. It needed a new hatch motor, valve cover gasket, rear shocks, t top seals, full tune up, the wrap around spoiler was trashed, the driver side door sagged slightly, and it had a few minor paint chips and small dings around the car. The interior also needed a few things replaced too. But overall the body is in real nice shape and it's 99.8% rust free. I've already spent almost 3,000 in repairs, parts, and mods for this car. But it keeps me busy!

 

I'm thinking I'm going to pass. Unless the car is clean as hell except for the rust on the roof and I can get it for 2k, it's probably not worth it.

I figure that the cost of the paintwork, plus the cost of the motor rebuild and tranny and rearend work that are sure to follow, will put me up in LT1 or even LS1 car territory, costwise.

I'd probably be better off buying a low mileage car for more money.

I saw an clean 87 GTA with 47k advertised for 6,999. More than I want to spend, but probably a good place to start with, all things considered.

 

I saw pictures of the 87 GTA your referring to in RI I believe. It's at Gemini Auto Sales I think. Not a bad car but way to high for a asking price, the miles are nice but there are some issues with the body, hood dent, passenger door dent and some miscellaneous rust. The rear wing needs to be replaced also. It would be a nice car to fix up for around 4000.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/cama...roc-z-tpi.html

I scored that little number right there for $1500 about 10 miles away from my house, it had a bunch of new parts on it, and it runs real real strong. It had 118k on it when i bought it, now it has 131K. The paint isn't the best, but the interior is pretty nice, it came with a daytona hood, upgraded speakers and stereo, new exaust, new radiator, new ecm, new brakes and tires, the tranny had a slight leak out of the rear seal of it, but my friend had a freshly rebuilt one out of his 91 that he wrecked with only 10k miles on it, that he sold to me for $120 and a trip to taco bell, it also came with new flywheel and torque conv, and the $1296 reciept he payed for it (rebuilt by local shop). Since I've owned the car I learned how to swap the tranny out myself which I did (just to avoid future problems with the leaky one) w/poly mount, pulled off the seat covers to find a really nice condition pair of seats w/one minor flaw on drivers side, reupholstered the door panels myself with help from the tech board, wetsanded the rims from an ugly, dull to a shiny awesome finish and resprayed them w/duplicolor graphite wheel paint, pulled the rear seats out, added 4 new hood and hatch struts, and MSD wires and plugs, it also came with alot of factory options an deverything works except electric pass. side view mirror, and the rear hatch defroster. It's also a L98 and man does that sucker go!!! best money I ever spent, I think I got a hell of a deal on it.

moral of the story I think you should pass on that high of a price for the miles it has on it, and keep looking and eventually a sweet ace deal will come up, that you won't even hesitate on.

 

i'd pass with that many miles. Unless you are prepared to put an engine in it. That motor is already beyond it's reasonable life. I took VERY good care of my l98, and it still spun #7 rod bearing at 140k.