Im just wondering how much of a beating this motor will take? its been a girl car its whole life and im afraid to beat on it.

 

Like any engine, if it was well-looked after, it will last a long time. As long as you put the preventative maintenance into it, it will take pretty much whatever you can throw at it. Within in reason of course. A friend of mine bought an 89RS years ago(high school), it had 109k on it. He put 80K on it and drove it hard the whole time. He didnt abuse it and didn't overrev it. In fact, the tranny gave him more problems than the engine. It was the T5 manual and he went through 3 mounts, and 2 transmissions. 3 if you count the bad one he got from the local junkyard. When he traded it in, the engine needed rebuilt, but still ran.

Mine had the 3.1L in it, and I certainly didn't bay mine either, but I only drove it for 1 summer. I only put about 3K on it, but it had 103K when I got it, and had suvived the previous driver falling asleep at the wheel and taking out a mailbox and a fencepost. Then it sat for about 3 years before I bought it. We put a battery in it and some gas and backed it out of the barn it was stored in and onto the car trailer to get it to my house. Then off the trailer and into the garage. All with no coolant and the old oil in it.

 

wide open

 

Like its stolen.

 

I drive her gently until i want her to show off and move.

 

slow on the straights and fast through the corners

 

yeah, its a V6.

 

It sounds like they can handle beatings pretty well.

 

they can take a good beating but I wouldnt want to rev it much past 5,000.

 

the 2.8/3.1's are strong engines, and like was said, will take anything you throw at them. Not the fastest but will probably last longer than a 305.

 

So true. My 3.1 has seen it's share of 4k...There's this one road by a local airport I just LOVE to blast off from the stop sign at again at the following corner . However, that hasn't cleaned out my #1 and #4 injectors any... Damn that code 45!
Anyways, my first trans was junk due to improper maintenance (700R4) and the TCC died so I dropped in the first JY T5, with a bad main case . 2 months later I put in another JY T5, the one I still have, complete with screwy 5th gear, where it just barely goes into gear (and heaven forbid I try to shift into 5th while I'm passing somebody ). I'm going to have to look into replacing the 5th gear shift fork, I do think.

:edit: BTW, don't ask how many miles are on either the engine or the trans. I think the trans had 150+K on it about 30K ago, and I don't have a clue how many the JY 3.1 had on it when it was put in. But I do know the rear end just turned over 244K!

 

These engines get well into the 200k mark before problems start creeping up. Valvefloat starts to set in at about 5k rpm with the stock valvetrain, but they're noninterference motors so you're not likely to see a problem nomatter how far you wrap it up. I've held mine at 7k (in park) for quite a while without a problem, under load is a different story though.

 

But seriously, i bought mine 5 years ago and put a good beating on it everytime i turn the key (it's my daily driver, a 3.1)

have yet to do any major mechanical to it, tune-up is the max

tranny mounts like to break on me though =/

 

ok i beat mine like a stole it but i also clean it and also take of it. as long as u take care of ur camaro u will have it forever! and i live by that!

 

I beat mine like I'll be dead tomorrow. No major issues other then a tranny rebuild just after I got it. The tranny was slipping before I picked it up so it was due for it. My car, I'm not 100% sure why, it could be the shift kit in the tranny but anyway it doesn't shift until nearly 6k. So far no major engine issues.

 

agreed. mine had one owner that took good care of it. he had parked it for 4 years the i found it. With around 200k i gave it a tune-up and some tlc and it runs beautifully. i put too much into it to just blow it up.

 

wow ya man u really need to fix that tranny problem....six grand shifts constant is not good...not to mention that sure your not making any power after 5200rpm on a stock beat on motor. Id get that checked out man.

As for how i drive mine...i get to the speed i want usually decently fast(sometimes very fast)...then rip through the corners....occasionally i get that lazy driver spell and just do the speed limit and get to the speed limit very slow and blah like...haha i did this today on the way from first job to job #2 haha.

 

break them loose on the take off and take the turns like like i have no sense lol i rev my V6 to 6000 only i love my car it just can't die and i do take care of it

 

i've done my fair share of beating on my 2.8. granted cant go as fast as i'd like to when i want to because of the darn auto tranny givin out on me but these motors seem pretty solid. cant wait to have a new tranny in it

 

sounds like you guys need to get the "right" transmission. you know, the ones with a clutch pedal. lol

 

I bought my first car, it was a 1992 3.1 5 speed with 80,000 on it.I was 16.It's sitting at above 135,000 now,but those have been hard racing miles for the most part. I learned to drive a stick,the day i pulled this thing off the lot and from that time she's been raced and tach'd like a old civic(if you aren't red-lining it,you arent driving it.) I have always maintained her very well though, with the proper fuilds and tune-up's when needed..nothing every major though, shes a rock.

 

i'm 17 so i pretty much drive mine like a stunt car. floor it after stopping at intersections and once the lights go from red to green, high speeds through turns. iv'e done plenty of burn outs and fish tails in it, (but with great care and only on abandoned roads so i cant hurt anyone) but its a little over 180,000 miles on engine and tranny and it still runs beautifully

 

I go easy, unless I have a reason to push it (ie racing at a light, racing in general, trying to impress the chicks in the next car, showing a honda what a real soprts car is, etc). When I'm driving home in the dark with no one around I don't feel the need to push it.

 

Ah, but that is the best time to push it a lonely dark road at 2 a.m. is the best staging ground to see what these three-legged dogs have got to offer. or maybe its just new mexico roads are so damn fun.

 

I agree, if your on a fun country road, secor, Fouch, S Long Lake come to mind where I live. But most of the time when I'm driving that late I'm driving home from a long night partying and it's all through the city. Plus the only other cars on the road at that time are being driven by cops.

 

Well, I get on the freeway dead cold and rev out to redline before shifting, just changed the oil and filter Saturday, after 8 Months. Just today, I passed California Emissions Inspection with absolutly no work during the last 2 years except for a tailshaft seal. That's how I drive it.

 

The durability of the 2.8 is debatable, and is kind of hit-and-miss by my experience. The carbureted engines seem to be MUCH weaker than the MPFI ones, and spin rod bearings without much effort. I spun a rod bearing on my engine (1984 carb'd engine) at 143k, and I didn't beat on the car much at all. It ran well and I tried to take it easy on the motor so it would KEEP running well. The funny thing is that when that motor went, I dropped in a MPFI block that had seen a hard life, but it does and always has run strong and has never given me nor the previous owner any trouble at all. It's mechanically tight and runs great, and that's with around 150k on it.

Meanwhile, the local junkyards around here used to be full of MPFI V6 Camaro's with less than 130k and blown engines.

I also have a '98 Camaro with the 3.8 V6 (daily driver)......much better V6, in my opinion. I drive that one a little harder than I do my '84.

 

My odometer rolled over to 200,000 the other day Actually more like 2 weeks ago, because I'm over 201,000 now. (1986. My daily driver)

The engine has been rebuilt once, about 60,000 miles ago. It still goes strong. I'm not driving it too hard now, since I'm rolling around with a broken tranny mount... But how did I break it? Letting that clutch out too fast

I never rev mine past 5,000 though. Just feels too risky

 

I drive it like a big boy toy.

 

People like you guys make my day. No offense, really, you guys make driving so much fun lol. Drivin' the 2.8/3.1 like its a 502 big block, makes going down main street that much more interesting

 

No doubt.