At long last I finally found what I thought was a great deal on a 2001 Pontiac ws-6... After several texts, calls, emails, and ebay messages I agreed to purchase the vehicle for the $6,000.00 buy it now price. I even had a friend go look at the car for me. He said it seemed mechanically sound. Seeing as how hes an ase certified diesel mechanic and has a beautiful yellow GTO I figured it was a safe purchase. Although he did warn me the paint needed some attention. A problem I thought I could handle. Come to find out it's a bit worse than he made it out to be. There's some badly attempted bondo work in both rear quarter panels (small dents about the size of a quarter), some rattle can paint, and some other stuff that just screams repaint me...
Some of the mods include the Polluter cam, slp ram air box upgrade, slp bellows, slp mass air, professional products power + intake, professional power throttle body, upgraded fuel rails, custom radiator and fan, line lock, battery relocated to trunk/hatch, oil filter relocated to left of radiator, custom radiator overflow, strut tower brace, 2 inch lowering kit, polyurethane bushings, rear sway bar upgrade, solid motor mounts, back seat eliminator kit, alpine stereo (infinity subs and an amp that you cant hear over the exhaust), corvette z06 rims wrapped in nexen tires, upgraded drilled and slotted rotors, an a-pillar gauge pod with blacked out glow shift gauges (oil temp, oil pressure, and fuel pressure), and a gun safe... Well worth the asking price. I forgot to add the stage 2 Mad dog transmission and some custom valve covers. A bit taller than the stock ones and bright polished aluminum. I'm sure theres some stuff I missed but that covers quite a bit of it.
The purchase is made, payment is sent, and the shipping company picks it up a few days later for the 800+ mile trip to my home. That's when everything goes wrong... and not just wrong but horribly wrong.
The transport truck breaks down on Saturday after business hours. The anticipated delivery date of the following Monday is now out of the question... but no one told me this... so I had already taken the day off of work. It starts getting late so I call the trucking company. They say Wednesday at the latest... It shows up late Tuesday night... 1. It's fuel tank is bone dry. 2. The battery is stone dead 3. The Diablo flash tuner is not in the glove box where it should have been 4. All of the factory parts that were replaced with performance parts were strewn about the car (luckily most of the real dirty ones were in a bin)...
So we roll it down off the trailer, throw about a gallon of gas in it, and jump start it. It is omg loud (full length headers into 3 inch dual pipes that dump straight down 2 inches from the ground just in front of the axle) I limp the car to my garage and park it. The next day I pour 5 gallons of fresh gasoline in it and hook up the charger. It starts but the idle is all over the place (750 rpm to about 2,000 rpm and back down in 20 second intervals), has very sluggish throttle response, and its burning very rich. I shut it off after about 2 minutes or so not wanting to do any more damage to anything that may be wrong.
That's when I notice small oil leak and a rather large coolant leak. Not sure where the oil is coming from but the coolant is from the head to head line that runs under the throttle body. It has a small line that isnt used or plugged so its spewing coolant out of it. I plugged it and called my adopted dad. He's been a mechanic since he was 8 alongside his father. The list of car's this man has owned is legendary. I've seen pictures and heard stories. I have AAA pick the car up and make trip to his house. He throws the computer on it and it finds a few codes. The idle air control valve and or motor is bad, the throttle body and the mass air may be malfunctioning as well. And this is just the start. Come to find out the seller had taken the "check engine" light out of the socket so it wouldnt let up. He also knew when he car was getting ready to malfunction and would rev the engine so my mechanic friend didnt notice anything wrong.
The battery is nearly dead yet again after getting a full charge the day before. So we start tracking down that problem. Disconnect the battery and break out the continuity tester and volt meter... Only to find theres a short in the cars electrical system somewhere. We then start pulling fuses and putting them back until we track the short down to the headlight system. I hear a very faint click click click noise which sounds like its coming from the drivers side headlight motor. Most likely where the short is. So now that's another issue. While pulling the battery panel in the trunk (drivers side) we notice all the speaker wires are cut. By this time I'm furious.
Then the brakes... not sure if it's an improperly installed line lock, the cam robbing the vacuum, or what but until it's up and running right we won't know for sure.
The more we look the more I'm sure we'll find.
Now I'm online looking up parts and hoping to get some advice. I've wanted one of these beautiful cars for over 10 years but they've always been a bit out of my price range. The seller up and disappeared like a fart in the wind and cannot be found. He will not return calls, texts, emails, or ebay messages. I've decided it will be cheaper for me to fix what problems we find than to go through the hassle of returning this car to its previous owner, finding a new one, and paying for all the upgrades. I would appreciate all and any help, advice, or anything else anyone could give me. Right now my main concern is the exhaust. I need to put something under it to quiet it down. I DO NOT want to go back to the original y pipe and muffler design. I like the big 3 inch duals and dumping it under the car. I'm just looking for mufflers I guess or maybe even a header back kit. Everything I've seen so far is cat back... There's no cats here. I guess I could take it all the way back out the back if I had to but I'd rather not.
Thanks,
K.O.
