A little advice?

[SouthernBornThriller]

Okay, so I was autotrader browsing the other day and ran across my childhood dream car for sale about an hour away. Black 97 Trans Am 6-speed vert at a reasonable price with only about 90k miles. It seems to be in good shape, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go pick it up within the next week or so.

The thing is...my first non-beater car was an LS1, I've always been an LS1 guy...dont know the first thing about LT1s. Sadly, they were a thing of the past before my love of cars kicked in. Any common problems I should be on the lookout for? Any advice from some long term LT1 owners about how to keep the age off these cars while still driving them regularly?

[Firebirdjones]

Probably won't find alot of LT1 love here. My wife drove one for years daily to and from work, trips etc....and it was a great car. She was rearended and totaled it about 3 weeks ago though She has now converted to an LS1

Some people will crab about the optispark,,,but I never had a lick of trouble with ours,,,still the original after 108,000 miles. I think most of the opti trouble starts with cars that are modified beyond simple bolt ons and higher rpm shift points are made,,,plus you never know how someone has treated a car, especially nowadays....In my opinion it's always best to buy one of these cars in bone stock condition where things haven't been screwed with...better off in the long run.


But you're ahead of the game slightly with the 97,,,they had a vented design opti that proved to be better than the early years.

I always liked the 93-97 T/A's though. Very clean front end. I always thought the 98-02 T/A front ends were toooo busy looking.
Hard to give advice on a car no one here has ever seen. If you like the car and it drives nice, no apparant damage or mechanical problems,,clean carfax etc....then sounds like a nice piece to have.

[doozjamann]

I had 2 LT1 cars. One did burn up the optispark, the other I never had a problem out of. I know the one that burnup was modified before I got it, that may have caused it. The other was bone stock.

Like Firebirdjones said if the carfax comes back clean, might be ok to get it. One thing if you test drive it make sure you or the driver puts his foot in it. I traded mine with a floated ring, after a supercharger install. Car ran fine under low RPM, high RPM would blow oil out of the dipstick.

Just FYI

[bigrondownhiller]

I would look to have an inspection done. It is over 10 years old. You might want to also see what maintenance was done. You don't want to buy it if the owner just drove it an fixed things once they broke.