Went to look at an LT1 C4 Vette today....

After all the recent talk about C4 Vettes here lately, I was excited to see a reasonably priced triple white '93 Anniversary Edition LT1 6sp vert show up on the local CL.... but some research showed the car advertised different places with different descriptions (and the seller with a lot of questionable CL adds) which made me wary... see my "off topic" post about dealing with pro curbstoners.

Well, I don't think the guy was a curbstoner... I think he's a younger enthusiast who has found himself in over his head with a car that appears to have been "poverty owned" for some time....

First, I'm pretty sure it wasn't an anniversary edition (much as my '78 C3 wasn't even though it had the "anniversary" emblem on it they all had) , though it did have sport seats (previously leather covered... now not so much). Dash opened up for an aborted LCD TV install. AC inop (compressor won't even kick on at all). Showing 125k miles... believable.

Outside appeared to be mostly original paint and in reasonable shape, though the nosecone had been poorly resprayed... them damaged again (curb?).

Tires were ancient, worn out, hard, and mismatched. Wheels cosmetically average but appeared in decent condition. Weather stripping around door windows was poor.

Couple of real positives... original soft top looked like new... likely because it had rarely been used since the car came with a factory hardtop!

Claimed new radiator, starter, and alternator, but serpentine belt belonged in a museum and hoses looked little better.

Car started fine, no smoke, no CEL... but had this worrying bottom end rattle. Not a knock really, just a deep low frequency rattle. Now I admit to not being familiar at all with LT1's, but would they have any noises I could mistake for lower end issues?

Asking price was $6400. Before seeing it (just from talking to the guy) I was thinking $5000 would likely buy it... now I'm thinking even less would do it... the guy was almost begging me for any cash offer.

This could be a cheap entry into an LT1 6sp vert for somebody... especially if my engine worries are unwarranted. (Oil pressure seemed good, etc).

Did I make a mistake by passing it up? Should I reconsider? Anyone else interested?

Well, if it turns out to be a shot bottom end, you can get a complete new LT1 from GM for $1400. Linky

I had a 93 Firebird Formula for a while and the engine definitely sounded different than I was used to. That car used a quart of oil every 700 miles or so, but ran great.

every 93 Vette was a 40th anniversary edition.

novaderrik wrote: every 93 Vette was a 40th anniversary edition.

No, the 40th Anniversary Corvettes were Ruby Red, and there were just over 6700 made in '93.

So what do you think a car in this condition is worth? (assuming a clear title, etc).

I'm not sure I want to mess with it anyway, but...

well....positives: It doesn't have an L98 TPI. Negatives: It has an LT1.

Most LT1s i've been around have that low end knock, with that mileage, I guess it's normal. I'm guessing with how you described the vehicle I highly doubt the opti has been replaced. That'll be fun, they are no fun on F-bodies, I hear they are nightmares on the Vettes, but don't let that deter you from buying that vehicle especially if you can get it for a great price, fix it up and turn it around for a profit.

I made a polite but lowball offer... he said wouldn't even consider anything below $6000. Makes the decision easy...

if it does have a knock in the bottom end, it's really cheap to just get a 383 bottom end kit for it.. it is, after all, the same crank/rods/pistons as any 87 and newer small block Chevy and you can buy brand new balanced rotating assemblies with good parts for around $800.. everyone says optisparks are such a pain to do, but i got down to the one in my 94 Caprice in under an hour. once the water pump is out, the opti is only a couple of more bolts- and if the motor has to come out because of the bottom end knock, then it's gotta come apart, anyways.

personally, i'd offer like $4k for it. for maybe another $1k (if you can rebuild a motor yourself) you can have a cool cruiser vette. you could also get the LT4 conversion kit for it while it's apart and have 430hp with stock driveability and fuel economy... of course, an LS is said to be a pretty easy swap in those cars...

That's about what I offered... no dice...

I thought an LS1 was a difficult swap with the ZF 6 speed (unless you also used the T56)... I have an auto LS1 in my shed ready to go...

There are plenty of examples with fewer issues for only a little more $$$s. Sounds like a good one to pass up.

As far as sounds, treat it like a traditional SBC. Which the core of that engine really is.

A traditional SBC with that noise is a very sick engine... ;-)

car sounds beat, I would avoid it

novaderrik wrote: everyone says optisparks are such a pain to do, but i got down to the one in my 94 Caprice in under an hour. once the water pump is out, the opti is only a couple of more bolts- and if the motor has to come out because of the bottom end knock, then it's gotta come apart, anyways.

Sir,

Have you ever tried to mess with an opti on a C4 vette? Big Bodies are cake, F-Bodies are a PITA, C4s run AWAY!

DirtyBird222 wrote:

novaderrik wrote: everyone says optisparks are such a pain to do, but i got down to the one in my 94 Caprice in under an hour. once the water pump is out, the opti is only a couple of more bolts- and if the motor has to come out because of the bottom end knock, then it's gotta come apart, anyways.

Sir, Have you ever tried to mess with an opti on a C4 vette? Big Bodies are cake, F-Bodies are a PITA, C4s run AWAY!

every time someone tells me something is hard to work on, i generally don't have any real problems.

Well aren't you just a modern day billy bad@$$? PITA doesn't necessarily mean hard, could mean that it's tedious, knuckle busting, and makes you use certain explicatives to describe the engineers.

Meh, I found the Opti on the C4 pretty easy. 2-3 hrs should be plenty of time. The knock could be the dual mass flywheel found on the ZF6 cars. Wheel bearings on these cars are surprisingly pricey, but Camaro (front) units can be made to work.

Don't believe that comment RE: $1400 crate engines. I've looked around, and while still listed on numerous sites, they are in fact NLA.

As noted, mating the LS1 to the ZF6 trans is not trivial. Generally it's thought to be easier to find a T56. It IS an easy swap on auto cars.

All in all, fun, great sounding cars, and I had a riot auto-xing mine a couple weeks ago... YMMV

DirtyBird222 wrote: Well aren't you just a modern day billy bad@$$? PITA doesn't necessarily mean hard, could mean that it's tedious, knuckle busting, and makes you use certain explicatives to describe the engineers.

i use that vocabulary when working on pretty much anything fwd, so working on a Vette wouldn't be any different. at least in the Vette, it's a proper V8 pointed in the proper direction. can't be much worse than the rear valve cover on a 97 Olds Aurora, and i knocked that out in a couple of hours. i think i spent more time swearing at the serpentine belt that i replaced at the same time on that car.. that was a really stupid design.

DirtyBird222 wrote: Have you ever tried to mess with an opti on a C4 vette? Big Bodies are cake, F-Bodies are a PITA, C4s run AWAY!

I seem to recall the frame (rack?) being in the way of the harmonic damper, which has to come off.

It's been a very long time and I'm probably blocking that part of my memory out.

Anyway, the story behind that one is why I'll never even think of letting water near the front of an LT1. Guy was cleaning his engine bay and got the distributor wet...