firebird/trans am high mileage club

[SHines-IT]

134K miles and still on the original Clutch.

[draxxus 2.1]

I bought my 98 Trans Am with 60,000 miles on it 5 years ago. after 5 trannys, 6 rears and 2 engines it has ~237,000 miles on it. the original motor lasted until 218,000 though with me driving it into the dirt like i like to do. after i got the car i averaged something like 260 miles a day of fun driving for about the first 8 months. car has been across the US (ky to calif, ky to fl, ky to nc) seen all the states except for like 14-15, and is still my daily driver.


God and I love it!!

[wooddaniel]

98 WS6 139K miles

[Zabo]

For all you high mileage boys out there in LS1.com land:

If anything did go wrong with your Formula/Trans Am.. how much greif did it give you, and what was the worst that has happened to the car (Draxxus could probably write a dissertation on this from the looks of it..)



Note: I'm eyeing Some Formulas and Trans Ams that he may be using as a DD post graduation in Dec. So pardon the 20Qs; I know more about Camaros than Firebirds but assume they're mostly the same car fascias aside.

Like many of you I plan to give my bird a long and happy life, and I want to know what to expect to ensure that it does receive that life.

[draxxus 2.1]

The thing that gives me the most grief on a stocker is probably the transmission. When the rear goes i just go to the junkyard and for under a hundred dollars and a days work you can usually have a rear that will get you through the next 30k miles.

I used to do the work to the car myself in the garage and if you are doing that i do not envy the work that you will do just pulling a tranny out of the car without a lift and all the right tools, that was probably the worst experaince i have had with working on the car. Even pulling the motor+transmission at the same time was easier for me.

The engine actually lasted longer then I expected it to.. until about 218,000 miles. Something inside the motor gave out (sounded like a rod, smack, smack, smack, smack) and I continued to drive it for about a week because i knew the motor was gone and i was going to get another one anyway and i wanted to see just how stout this motor was. After about a week something started grinding really bad metal-on-metal style, while i was on my way to take it to the shop to have it pulled it lost all oil pressure and the grinding sound became immediately worse. Not being one to give up and shut it off I kept driving it to the shop. When i got there the shop owner came out and heard all the grinding, clanking, and whining coming from the engine and the look on his face was priceless!! I let it sit there idling (kind-of) for a bit and had to shut it off. It never quit on its own.

That being said I do drive my car like a truck (towing my friends broken down trucks out of the mud and home from the refuge, hard starts when i get the chance because its fun, running the motor at 4000+RPM for looooong periods of time) and i expect some parts to go out from time to time. But if i didnt, i would have to say that id expect most of the drivetrain parts to hold up for a long time behind a stock-ish LS1. It's a great car.

PS: what can i do with that old motor? its sitting in my shed, but all the crankshaft bearings are spun, most of the rod bearings, and probably some other stuff. I have not really looked into fixing up a 218000 mile LS1 because I thought it was time to let that motor rest in pieces. My best friend is dead set on getting a mustang though, and you all know what that means... I just dont know if that old motor is gonna be able to hang with being built up in my shed, to many miles?? any thoughts are welcome.

[KarrKraft]

I'm not all that good at math...But me thinks u works at WalMart

That's funny!


I bought my 99' only a month ago so I can't claim the milage. Did alot with it within a month though. My CETA has just turned 23,000. It is hard not to take it out more often and bang gears in it.

[KarrKraft]

Hope you guys have AAA, wow!

I am AAA.

[02transamce]

I'm not all that good at math...But me thinks u works at WalMart

lol,i see how you came to that conclusion,but no i do not work at wal-mart.the wal-mart i was referring to is 21 miles south in greenville,al i work 21 miles north at hmma.

[clovenhooves]

1999 T/A, nearing 150,000 miles. Worst things to happen have been blown-out tire (not really related to mileage, I know) and bad alternator, followed by a major leak and scary noises caused by inexpensive problems. I haven't had it long, and when something isn't malfunctioning, it runs well.

[BANDITO]

Just Have 98,826. on mine mostly stock and runnin" mid. 12's...I will just rebuild it at 100k or get a new ls3.

[Customta98]

For all you high mileage boys out there in LS1.com land:

If anything did go wrong with your Formula/Trans Am.. how much greif did it give you, and what was the worst that has happened to the car (Draxxus could probably write a dissertation on this from the looks of it..)



Note: I'm eyeing Some Formulas and Trans Ams that he may be using as a DD post graduation in Dec. So pardon the 20Qs; I know more about Camaros than Firebirds but assume they're mostly the same car fascias aside.

Like many of you I plan to give my bird a long and happy life, and I want to know what to expect to ensure that it does receive that life.

When I lived down in Houston I had a few mods done then I took it to a shop (Speed Deamons dont know if they are still around and dont care) to have a stall put on (Precision Industries Vigilante 2800 stall) and all was well.... For a few weeks untill the stall ate the stock trany, so I took it back to the small performance shop I told them the trany was gone and I wanted them to build me a stage 3 4L60E the owner said yeah sure so I got him the money and they built it. First day I got It back it worked pretty good but 4-5 days later the trany went out again so I took it back and they said they would rebuild it no charge so I said ok and after six count em six more times of the trany lasting only 3-4 days max each time I got it back, so after the last time it went out I had it hauled to Century Automotive & Transmishion in Richmond, TX and talked to Mike the owner about takeing appart my trany to see what that othe shop did to it. So he did and called me two days later he told me I should come in and see the trany for my self so I showed up that night and he showed me what it looked like, I just had to laugh when I saw it, it looked like (on the inside) like someone took it appart with a screw driver gouging the smooth sun shell to no end (the sun shell has to be smooth so it transfers the hydraulic pressure right ect.) so I asked him if I could have the old trany parts so I could go yell at the other shop owner with evidence. When I showed it to him he was apologizing left and right but said that he would not be able to get me my money back for a MONTH or so, well that pissed me right off and I said either you have my money back within the week or I will file a lawsuit and call better business bureau, that must have scared him because with in two days I had my money and tryed to forget about that shop. The next day I went back to Century Automotive & Transmishion to order a trany and ring and pinion gears, he showed me a few that he had built to with stand up to 720HP and it was the Stage 5 4L60E so i went for that it was a bit more but worth every penny, that trany is still running strong after five years of hard beating. Then my engine went last year I took it appart to find my #3 connetcing rod had ground down the crank journal so i replaced everything and added a cam plus lots of other stuff (would take a long time to write it all out) now I got her back on the road (just four days ago aug,3,2009) running really good, other than that she had been really good to me taking all of my abuse and still asking for more.

[Dann]

mine has 888888






(when it turns on)

[02transamce]

one in every crowd.lol

[02transamce]

and its usually me.

[SOCAL WS6]

I have 174,000 on mine. It's a daily driver. I commute 88 miles each way to work. Still hauls ass though...

[third_shift|studios]

am I the only one who thought the title said "Mile high club" ?

[Silver Streak]

am I the only one who thought the title said "Mile high club" ?

Yep.. the rest of us can read.

[SMWS6TA]

Now after reading how high all the 98's are on here I feel better, I got mine with 108k, 6 months ago, and today I just hit 114k. The last 2 weeks I have been driving the chit out of it. It was down for 3 weeks, master/slave booth went out.

[wickbc]

I have a 2002 WS6 with 4,200 miles on her, purchased it with 3,500.....

[Customta98]

I have a 2002 WS6 with 4,200 miles on her, purchased it with 3,500.....

LUCKY... LUCKY! hahaha thats very good take good care of her.