Going to purchase (hopefully) a ws6 today...

[Kalithor]

So I'm going to go and take a look at a ws6 (I believe) I drove by in a car dealership a few days ago today. I'm not very car savvy... infact I've only started to get into them over the past week. I read alot of what was here on the forums but are there any tips you guys can give me about what to look for on the car to make sure the engine and everything is in good condition before I start any paperwork? Any advice at all would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[NvyBluMtlc02WS6]

Ok...some common problems with these cars are headlight gears. Make sure the headlights go up and down with no grinding. If they grind, then the gear is stripped. Go for a test drive. Make sure there is no whining from the rear end at around 50 or 60. If so, could be the bearings in the rear. Check your interior door panels for cracks. The windows cause the panels to flex and then crack up by the window. Make sure your clutch works smoothly. Mine has begun to stick to the floor with only 23000 miles on the clock. Check the roof for pits in the paint. They are starting to show up on a lot of cars between the t-tops and rear window. It's caused from the epoxy GM used to seal the sail panel. The epoxy is causing bubbles to raise up through the paint. There is another thread that discusses this under the Appearance section. Anyhow, these are the more common problems to look for. Be sure to look for your normal things too when purchasing a car. Hope you get one, and welcome to the family. Hope I could help you out some. Good luck.

[BadBlueBird*]

You can buy window motors in bulk on ebay!

[stanger88]

Headlight gear isnt an issue...except as a haggling point

[INMY01TA]

Yeah like ^ said check for bubbles in the paint on roof. Thats an exspensive one to fix. Look for any dings in the rear quarter panels.

[Kalithor]

Thanks alot for the advice! The car ended up having the bubbles on the roof like you guys warned me about (and the roof was not a place I had previously thought to look for imperfections). Dealer wouldn't come down on the price (which seemed stupid to me since he was already asking slightly over blue book for it) so I'm back to the search for a ws6. Oh well, gives me more time to save up for a larger down payment on one of these babies.

[TheSilverSurfer]

Keep looking

[NvyBluMtlc02WS6]

Yeah like ^ said check for bubbles in the paint on roof. Thats an exspensive one to fix. Look for any dings in the rear quarter panels.

Shouldn't cost anything to fix. There was a service bulletin issued to all GM service departments on how to fix the problem. Although it's not under recall as of yet, the paint bubbling is covered under the six year corrosion warranty. I've heard a lot of dealers are giving owners a hard time, but if you contact GM direct, they will make sure everything gets worked out. They have been great in working with the owners. There is a big thread under the appearance section with names and phone numbers if anyone is having a problem.

[Zboner]

keep looking, there are much better deals out there

[secondgearscratch]

Thanks alot for the advice! The car ended up having the bubbles on the roof like you guys warned me about (and the roof was not a place I had previously thought to look for imperfections). Dealer wouldn't come down on the price (which seemed stupid to me since he was already asking slightly over blue book for it) so I'm back to the search for a ws6. Oh well, gives me more time to save up for a larger down payment on one of these babies.

just so you know, pretty much every dealership will charge over book for trans ams. i dont quite get it but that has been my experience. just haggle with them if the car is what you want but dont fall into their traps about "oh we have a buyer on the phone". youll feel damn good about it when you finally get one
good luck

[INMY01TA]

Shouldn't cost anything to fix. There was a service bulletin issued to all GM service departments on how to fix the problem. Although it's not under recall as of yet, the paint bubbling is covered under the six year corrosion warranty. I've heard a lot of dealers are giving owners a hard time, but if you contact GM direct, they will make sure everything gets worked out. They have been great in working with the owners. There is a big thread under the appearance section with names and phone numbers if anyone is having a problem.

Have you read the thread? Full of people getting denied. TSB doesn't mean anything. I had mine fixed under the six year corrosion warranty but most are still denied and getting nowhere. There's an identicle thread on LS1 Tech as well. Some like myself get lucky with the six year year (only 01-02's
may still be covered) but I've never heard of any one who wasn't the original owner getting it covered. I'd keep looking unless they wanna come down $800. Scroll down to post #49.http://www.ls1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21339&page=3

[adam0321]

I looked for weeks when I bought mine. I finaly found one from a private owner on auto trader .com. I would say watch who you buy from and try to find out as much as you can about the previous owner. I bought mine from a 65 year old man who was the original owner and also had a z06 and a cobra r so he simply loved muscle cars and it was well taken care of. dont buy from a 19 year old kid that has had it red lined at every stop light. hope this helps and good luck. ps when you do buy one bring about $100 dollars for gas I know i didnt stop driving mine for about 6 hours after I bought it/

[csess]

I looked for weeks when I bought mine. I finaly found one from a private owner on auto trader .com. I would say watch who you buy from and try to find out as much as you can about the previous owner. I bought mine from a 65 year old man who was the original owner and also had a z06 and a cobra r so he simply loved muscle cars and it was well taken care of. dont buy from a 19 year old kid that has had it red lined at every stop light. hope this helps and good luck. ps when you do buy one bring about $100 dollars for gas I know i didnt stop driving mine for about 6 hours after I bought it/

looked for mine for 3 weeks and when i finally found it, it was like losing my virginity all over again. and make that 200 for gas just to be safe.

[tigersport14]

looked for mine for 3 weeks and when i finally found it, it was like losing my virginity all over again. and make that 200 for gas just to be safe.

a little too much info man lol

[adam0321]

i lost my virginity in my first trans-am (now thats to much info) and who says the back seats are for kids

[Hot Black Trans-Am]

i lost my virginity in my first trans-am (now thats to much info) and who says the back seats are for kids

The front seats are much more fun!

[adam0321]

agreed

[adam0321]

thats the only time when an aoutomatice would be nice