Assist me in my purchase!

**Oceanside78** · 02-25-2013, 05:59 AM

What's up guys, well I may be picking up a 2000 SS here soon, but, I've been a ford guy my whole life **puts on flame suit** I've had a cobra and now have a Harley F150 (4 door lightning basically) and am wanting to try my hand at an LS car. I've always LOVED F-Bodies, just never got around to one basically.

Just looking for some guidance basically. It's been VERY well taken care of, extremely clean, has Eibach pro kit for suspension, chrome Z06 wheels, Ported throttle body and mass air with slp lid, long tube headers with off road x to true dual flowmasters been tuned and made 334/327 on stock HCI. Has 102k miles, but is really well maintained. What should I be looking for? Says at 98k miles it had about 3500 worth of maintenance done and runs great. What's the common issues/downsides to these cars? I've read the rear end is weak on them. Mods wise I'd probably want to add a cam and maybe a small 100-125 shot of spray. It will be my DD so reliability is key. I really like it though and am looking forward to trying my luck at and LSx car. Modular motors are so damn expensive to make fast lol

Thanks guys

**2002ssslp** · 02-25-2013, 06:16 AM

Power windows are an issue. The 10 bolt rears are crap and so is the plastic trim is junk and the PS cooler lines break inside the lower hose, the T-Top gaskets dry out and leak and they wear out front brake pads quickly. This is all minor stuff though and I love my 02 SS.

**konigandy6** · 02-25-2013, 06:23 AM

Rear ends are weak, worse if it's a 6speed car. Not many major issues with the vehicles.

See this sticky... it has links to some pretty nice information: http://www.ls1.com/forums/f35/all-ba...-thread-76551/

Other than that, really you should just be mindful of things you would look at when buying any car. Tires, brakes, fluids. Listen for noises while driving it. Look for excessive body panel gaps.

Other than that, these motors are pretty stout. And with proper maintenance, at 100k they are just broken in. The A4's are decent, and the T56's are damn near bullet proof, less the clutch.

Window motors tend to fail because they are underpowered and the windows are too heavy for it.

**redbird555** · 02-25-2013, 06:24 AM

Originally Posted by Oceanside78

What's up guys, well I may be picking up a 2000 SS here soon, but, I've been a ford guy my whole life **puts on flame suit** I've had a cobra and now have a Harley F150 (4 door lightning basically) and am wanting to try my hand at an LS car. I've always LOVED F-Bodies, just never got around to one basically.

Just looking for some guidance basically. It's been VERY well taken care of, extremely clean, has Eibach pro kit for suspension, chrome Z06 wheels, Ported throttle body and mass air with slp lid, long tube headers with off road x to true dual flowmasters been tuned and made 334/327 on stock HCI. Has 102k miles, but is really well maintained. What should I be looking for? Says at 98k miles it had about 3500 worth of maintenance done and runs great. What's the common issues/downsides to these cars? I've read the rear end is weak on them. Mods wise I'd probably want to add a cam and maybe a small 100-125 shot of spray. It will be my DD so reliability is key. I really like it though and am looking forward to trying my luck at and LSx car. Modular motors are so damn expensive to make fast lol

Thanks guys

Is it a 6 speed or auto? Full bolt on ls1 cars should be around 350whp give or take, being a 2000 car it still has the ls1 intake on it. The ls6 intake is a direct bolt on for 300 or so and should bring it up another 10-15 whp.

Overall these cars prove to be very reliable but they do need to be taken care of. Just look for any oil leaks under the car, rear pinion seal and rear main are common ones. The dash pads tend to crack pretty easily also. Other than that just make sure it's mechanically sound, all ls1's will have a bit of piston slap to them so dont worry to much if you hear that. Listen for any noises when the car drives, trans mission shifting ok etc.

If all these things check out then the car is probably good to go. If you want to do a cam then there are tons of options to go with, if you have an auto then you will NEED a stall if your an m6 gears would help you out also. A healthy cam only ls1 car should be right around 400whp with supporting mods, and would be fine for DDing as long as the cam wasnt crazy. The 125 shot would also be ok just keep in mind if you're a 6 speed a rear end may be in your future.

**Oceanside78** · 02-25-2013, 06:33 AM

Hey thanks for all the replies. It is a T56 car and it is T-Top. I was aware of the window motors, my buddies WS6 rolls up his windows about as fast as a stock civic runs a 1/4 mile....and even that's pushing it lol

What exactly is the weak point on the rear ends? And what classifies it as a "10 bolt" sorry for the lame question, all I know are 8.8s from ford lol. What's the solution?

I don't plan drag racing much, I just want the shot for the occasional "gotcha" race, I actually want to get into auto-x with it, I'm in NC now, but will be getting out of the Army soon and back home in AZ they have a lot of Auto-x/road race events and is love to do a lot of suspension mods and get into that.

What's the fix for the PS line?

**Oceanside78** · 02-25-2013, 06:34 AM

Also, does it seem low on power given the numbers to mods I stated above?

**redbird555** · 02-25-2013, 06:43 AM

The rears are weak just because they're just too damn small. they only have a 7.5" ring gear as opposed to an 8.8 or 9" ford. The solution is a 9" ford, 12 bolt or dana s60. The "bolt" tern is just a way to identify gm rear ends. that means it has 10 bolts on the car and a 12 bolt has 12 etc. the car being a t56 does seem a little low on power but again that could be due to the dyno it was on or the fact that it still has the pos ls1 intake. If it has the ls6 then I'd say its def a little low for a t56 car. Take it to the track and see what it traps around 110-112 should be normal for a full bolt on m6 car

**Oceanside78** · 02-25-2013, 06:59 AM

Ok cool, what's the more "budget friendly" upgrade for the rear? Not to sound like a cheap a$$ but I do need to keep everything within reason. For every mod I do to the car, I have to do something for my wife...bigger the mod...bigger the gift lol

**redbird555** · 02-25-2013, 08:15 AM

Originally Posted by Oceanside78

Ok cool, what's the more "budget friendly" upgrade for the rear? Not to sound like a cheap a$$ but I do need to keep everything within reason. For every mod I do to the car, I have to do something for my wife...bigger the mod...bigger the gift lol

truthfully theres nothing that will help it thats worth the money. a girdle is about 150 welding the tubes, solid pinion spacer will help but not enough to justify the cost. best bet is to just keep a spare around if it blows. 3.42 10 bolts (rear ratio for m6) are cheap ~$150-200 so just keep an eye out. Also gears will make it weaker as the ratio goes up numerically the pinion gets smaller. The 3.73 and 3.90 gear sets share the same pinion and the pinion isnt that much smaller than the 3.42 one so you wont lose anything there but a 4.10 pinion is very small and increases your chances of it going boom.... With that said gears are one of the best mods for m6 fbodys especially with a cam seeing as how they are geared so conservatively from the factory

If you dont put slicks or dr's on the car and go to track days, the 10 bolt should live just fine. Thats not to say people haven't broken it on the street, but very rarely do you see just a normal bolt on street driven car break one. More often it goes "I took my car to the track 7-8 times over the past 6 months and the rear started whining. Today it blew up granny shifting from 2-3 on the way to work..." def not the same thing lol

**Oceanside78** · 02-26-2013, 03:15 PM

Well, I think the deal fell through, my search continues. He wanted the truck but just didn't have the cash to boot.

**Oceanside78** · 03-03-2013, 03:24 PM

Well, look like it actually might happen! It better, just bought some nitrous equipment! lol

**Oceanside78** · 12-06-2013, 11:11 PM

What's up guys! Nearly 9 months later and I finally got one. It's an 00 SS SLP, black, LT's and exhaust, OTHER THAN THAT, stock. So far, loving the car. Interior needs some minding and the clear is a tad faded (AZ car) but nothing major. Motor/trans/rear is strong and I couldn't be happier. Got the car home in the dark, so pics to come

**2002ssslp** · 12-07-2013, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by Oceanside78

What's up guys! Nearly 9 months later and I finally got one. It's an 00 SS SLP, black, LT's and exhaust, OTHER THAN THAT, stock. So far, loving the car. Interior needs some minding and the clear is a tad faded (AZ car) but nothing major. Motor/trans/rear is strong and I couldn't be happier. Got the car home in the dark, so pics to come

Congratulations on your new ride.

**silverWS6** · 12-07-2013, 03:00 PM

Congrats! Welcome to the LS world!

**Oceanside78** · 12-07-2013, 04:00 PM

Thanks. Fun car so far. Needs a little atLC in some regards, hopefully it's easy stuff

**Naaman** · 12-28-2013, 11:19 PM

Where in AZ are you at? I'm shopping around for some items to refresh my interior, myself. Just got my convertible top replaced at a pretty penny, though, so it's tough to justify spending more money on the car right this minute... LOL!

**Oceanside78** · 12-29-2013, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by Naaman

Where in AZ are you at? I'm shopping around for some items to refresh my interior, myself. Just got my convertible top replaced at a pretty penny, though, so it's tough to justify spending more money on the car right this minute... LOL!

I'm in Tucson, you?