Johnny Bliss

bought this 98 ls1 z28 for 2500 bucks on craigslist yesterday. i had to drive to bremerton, wa to get it tho. it was raining super hard the whole way up there and off and on heavy rain / slushy snow on the way back.

the guy bought the car for ls swap into his nova and ended up not doing it. it sat for 2 or 3 months with the t-tops leaking so it was wet inside but i got to it before there was any mold or real damage. someone put wood panel stickies onto a lot of the interior pieces LOL. has 130k and a4.

it runs and drives really nice its a steal for 2500 bucks. i'm going to put some elbow grease into it and get it fixed up nice. i started peeling off the wood **** on the drive home

has k&n lid, SLP loudmouth exhaust and the tips were put on backwards lol... it had a CEL on the way home and by the time i got back the CEL went off and stayed off. never checked to see what it was

PROS:
cheap
straight body with no dents
runs & drives great
decent wheels
SLP exhaust
shift kit or programming in transmission
everything inside works (power windows/power locks/power seat/power mirrors/cruise control)

CONS:
mismatched bald tires on every wheel
windshield wiper motor bad or broken / bent tab in mechanism wipers work fine but stop in the up position
goofy interior pieces
t-top leak
no T-STAT or broken T-STAT (never heats up fully but gets hot enough to have some heat)
backwards exhaust tips
headlights stuck on brights
brake rotors slightly warped but still stops good
headlight rubber seals messed up
no key fobs
belt sequel
cheesy messed up tint, especially on the rear hatch window (can't even see out of it)

already bought:

long tubes
t-stat
serp belt (installed right away)
275/40/r17 tires
drilled / slotted rotors & ceramic pads (same as ones i put on cobalt)
o2 extensions
2 new black 3.5" exhaust tips (same i put on cobalt)
bow tie valve stem caps 8)

jdbaugh1

iTrader: (1)

Nice project. You going to daily this? What abouts do these get for mileage?

tomss

Agree - looks good from the picture.

ProfDNS

I'm close with a guy that has a '96, when doesn't drive spirited, he gets about 26mpg on the highway, and about 18-20 in the city.

This will be a nice project car. Lots of room to work with.

Johnny Bliss

Going to be daily

This is the first auto ls1 4th gen I've had. The 6spd would get upper 20s around 30 on highway driving reasonable

I would assume upper 20s. I drove home about 2.75 hours on freeway and used less than half a tank.

BlackielawlessSS

iTrader: (1)

Nice score! I hate trying to tune the 98 computer tho. 2500 bucks tho. That woodgrain looks like ****. Hopefully its just stuck on and you can remove it off. My 98 A4 got maybe 20 on a long trip. When I swapped the 2.73 gears for 3.73 it actually didn't change the mpg.

BlackielawlessSS

iTrader: (1)

This was my 98 Z

Johnny Bliss

Awesome. I have a lot of pics to post but I'm on my phone now so I'll post this one. Done a lot of work in short time couple things left tho
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BlackielawlessSS

iTrader: (1)

Wow it looks great! I love the 4th gen F bodies!

Johnny Bliss

i did derale pan and trans cooler
bmr lowering springs
kyb shocks
powerstop evo32 drilled/slotted rotors
headlights

fixed most of the little here and there problems.
i need to get started on the interior but i'm trying to make sure the t-stops stopped leaking before i bother.

BlackielawlessSS

iTrader: (1)

NIce, T tops were cool, but they all leaked. No matter if it was GM or Ford. Mine weren't air tight back in 2010.

Johnny Bliss

i had one 2000 SS that didnt leak, but my 2001 vert leaked... but only in heavy rain or the drive through car wash

Johnny Bliss

i just started on the long tubes, i'm 90% finished removing everything.

the PCM is getting sent in mail to get canned tune so it doesnt really matter if i get them finished quickly or not

BlackielawlessSS

iTrader: (1)

It all just depends on how much they were used. Its like anything.
I had mid lengths on mine. They are PITA to install. You minds well do a tune up on it, since you are that deep into its.

Johnny Bliss

yeah my problem is a was going to use my ramps instead of a floor jack and stands, but i forgot ramps and motor is already apart. so i couldn't drive it up on them anyways

with the car lowered and the jack all the way up i cant even get under the car far enough to get the back bolts and unbolt the cats from the manifolds.

im going to have to bring a block of wood and jack it up in stages lol... lame.

it started pissing rain so i said F it and i'll do some more later

ive done long tube a few time and its just a pain but not too hard.

i got new plug wires and plugs for it while im in there.

BlackielawlessSS

iTrader: (1)

Good call! Yeah the clearances especially on the driver side was ridiculous. I think it was the third plug back that I had all kinds of issues with. I ran a step cooler NGK plugs with MSD wires back then.

Johnny Bliss

That passenger rear bolt tho

BlackielawlessSS

iTrader: (1)

Its such a tight squeeze...

Johnny Bliss

Put headers on was a pita but not too bad...

Gotta wait for pcm to come back in the mail will probably be next week sometime. Then I need to get exhaust hooked up...

Johnny Bliss

still waiting for PCM.

finished up everything but the exhaust, gotta wait for PCM so i can drive it to shop.

the egr block off was really annoying because the threads on the passenger header were fucked up and i couldnt' get a bolt started. i had to drill into the hole a little bit to steady the bolt so i could force it in the threads and fix them, but it worked out in the end.

the SLP tower bar BARELY fit, i had to walk the bolts down

BlackielawlessSS

iTrader: (1)

Needs more TB and a smooth bellow. Nice work!

Johnny Bliss

Needs more pcm I wanna drive it lol probably be next week before I can

BlackielawlessSS

iTrader: (1)

Thats the only down side to the 97-98 ls1 engines is that dang PCM.

Johnny Bliss

Should be fine I just want to get it back asap so I can hook up exhaust

BlackielawlessSS

iTrader: (1)

I understand that. Who has it?