Thinking of purchasing a GTO

**1998 T/A** · 03-19-2013, 05:34 PM

Well the time has come of me to finally pull the trigger on a GTO...one guy on tech near me has an 06 with 19k on the clock as 19xxx. What should I look out for on these cars? I owned a higher mileage trans am and loved it! Any info will help!

**0rion** · 03-19-2013, 07:10 PM

the 06 is the way to go. Not a lot of common issues with them....rear seat head rest stitches bust on all years and door lock actuators have issues on all years. That's about it really that I can think of. The strut rub wasn't really a problem on the 06.

**cammed goat** · 03-20-2013, 06:18 AM

Yep. Tint the rear window and quarter window and your interior will thank you for it. If the previous owner changed the fluids religiously, including the differential fluid, you're set.

**2002ssslp** · 03-20-2013, 06:34 AM

Bulletproof cars. A4 is solid and M6 is kick ass. We love ours and have put 75k on it without an issue. They love mods and get decent MPG. Go for it.

**1998 T/A** · 03-20-2013, 03:06 PM

Yesss I'm doin it!! The engine bay looks less cluttered than a trans am is it pretty easy to do bolt ons and such?

**0rion** · 03-20-2013, 05:12 PM

about the same really.....you have to take the steering rack loose to get the drivers side header in there. Not that hard really and a lift makes that much easier. I've done a few sets on them. The bolts are just hard to get to.

**cammed goat** · 03-22-2013, 07:12 PM

OPSUs are cake to replace in the GTO if you ever need to do so.

**TcMcD86** · 03-22-2013, 11:44 PM

If you like to mod your cars the GTO is not the way to go unless money isn't an issue. There just isn't that much aftermarket for these cars because they were a limited run vehicle, only so many goats out there so only so many parts will be bought, why spend a ton of money in r&d and mass production for something when the money just isn't there. The aftermarket has a lot of the basics but if you want to do a lot of mods, the majority of it will have to e custom cause the parts just aren't available. Go try to find some stuff you would like to buy, it is very limited. By on the plus side you will have a more rare vehicle. All depends on what you want to do with it. Are you looking at a 6.0?

**0rion** · 03-23-2013, 04:30 AM

Originally Posted by TcMcD86

If you like to mod your cars the GTO is not the way to go unless money isn't an issue. There just isn't that much aftermarket for these cars because they were a limited run vehicle, only so many goats out there so only so many parts will be bought, why spend a ton of money in r&d and mass production for something when the money just isn't there. The aftermarket has a lot of the basics but if you want to do a lot of mods, the majority of it will have to e custom cause the parts just aren't available. Go try to find some stuff you would like to buy, it is very limited. By on the plus side you will have a more rare vehicle. All depends on what you want to do with it. Are you looking at a 6.0?

disagree....the LS series motor has a huge aftermarket so there's really no problem getting engine parts. Just go look at marylandspeed and they have pretty much any part you'd want for the GTO's from a variety of companies.

**TcMcD86** · 03-23-2013, 05:14 AM

Sorry, I should've been more clear. There is a huge aftermarket for the engines commonly referred to as the "LS" family. What I meant was GTO specific parts. Try finding an aftermarket tubular K-member with single or twin turbo set up provisions like you can for other the f-body. Look up available suspension parts for the F-body and then look at what's available for the GTO. Get on 6litereater.com and look at the abundance of awesome custom shit they have for the F-body and what all is there for the goat. I love the GTO, but if you do some research you'll find that I am correct, there just isn't as much out there and it's typically more expensive because of this as well.

**0rion** · 03-23-2013, 02:24 PM

bmr has looked at the k member and determined there wasn't enough weight savings to justify building it....the market is there for it though. Yes, the new GTO market isn't as vast as the f-body market but that's expected with a 3 year model vs a 30 year model. At the end of the day I would in no way let that influence me not buying a GTO. It's a great car that can be modded to haul ass. The interior alone is worth owning one. I loved my 04 and hated getting rid of it but the simple fact is they suck at hauling 5th wheel campers.

**1998 T/A** · 03-24-2013, 11:09 AM

I'm not worried about finding mods for this car but I do want to know what appearance mods a lot of people are doing. I like the grill mod but I don't know what it's called

**TcMcD86** · 03-24-2013, 03:32 PM

You'll love it then. They are great cars. For appearance stuff (to my taste) I really like some of the cowl hoods I've seen, flat black rear panel, drop it a little, remove the spoiler on the trunk lid if yours comes with one, and put some wheels on it. Check out the 6 liter eater website, all his stuff is awesome, there's not a ton for the GTOs but go ahead and look a the F-body stuff too because a good bit of it can be adapted to work on the goat and you won't see another one like yours anywhere. I run a FB page called Suicide Kings. One of my admins drives an '06 LS2 GTO and it has it's own photo folder if you wanna go look at it, he has stretched tires on it like a fkn idiot but the wheels look sick. He is a photographer and has an awesome set up so the photos are awesome. I think he may have some renderings he made to show what he wants it to look like completed, that may be on his personal FB though.

**1998 T/A** · 03-24-2013, 05:23 PM

The suspension mods are out there and the engine mods would be no issue. I did however fond a thread on ls1gto for good suspension mods and who to go through for rear ends and such. I'm just super stoked about this and I'm hoping to lock one down this week!

**cammed goat** · 03-25-2013, 05:15 PM

Go for it. Post pics when you get it.

**2002ssslp** · 03-25-2013, 05:39 PM

Can't wait to see it.

**AKA Speedy** · 04-01-2013, 02:00 PM

traded my 02 H/C/I WS6 for a Spice Red '06 GTO. Love the thing, I just need new rear springs (after 40k they tend to sag).

be fore warned, the GTO is an entirely different beast then the 4th GEN F-bodies (IRS is a little tricky). The parts are there mechanically for anything you want to do though.