Hello eveyone, I was hoping to get some information regarding the 94 Z, LT1. My daughter and I have been looking for a car for her for quite some time. She has found a 94, that has been sitting for about 2 years. It is supposed to need a starter, and has an oil leak. It has a leather interior with all power options, and my ex wife and I are going to go look at it tomorrow. My ex knows the seller, but we dont want to get ripped on the deal. We have a year to work on it, and my daughter and I are excited about working on it together. The sellers are asking 1500.00, and was supposed to have ran when it was parked. What do you guys think? I dont know much about Camaro's or the LT1, but I am willing to learn, and can do most of the work myself, including paint. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and thank you for allowing my first post to be so long.

 

My first Camaro was a 94' but it was a V6 ....... man that car was awsome ...... when I traded it in ..... it had 198,000 miles on it and was still purring like a tiger. I don't think that it is a bad deal wanting only 1500.00. Yeah it may need some work and such but you said yourself that you can do most of the work yourself ........

I would say go for it.

 

I have a 94 V6. I paid 1500 for it, And I still think that was a steal even for a v6. it had a minor oil leak and shortly after I bought it, it needed a starter. The starter runs about $115 -$135. On these cars you have to drop the exhaust to replace the starter, so I took it to a shop and it ended up costing me 120 bucks for that as well. But for $1500 I would say go for it. Especially being a Z28. The LT1's are good engines they were used in the 90-96ish Corvettes as well the only problem that usually goes wrong with them are the Optispark distributor. But overall the 94 z28's are awesome cars.It has pretty much all the power you'd need in a car from the factory. Check out the sticky's on top of this forum to learn more about the LT1. They book at about $3,335.00 in Kelley's Blue book. I've been looking at some z28's around the same year and they usually run about 3-4,000 depending on the shape of it and all. I think it's a heck of a deal.
Welcome to the forums. Any more questions plz don't hesitate to post!

 

I have a 95 Z28 that sat for either 1 or 2 years before I took it in. It didn't have any oil leaks or anything like that, but I did end up haveing to replace the spark plugs. The LT1 is a good motor, like almost any motor, if you take care of it. Obviously it won't last long if you beat the crap out of it constantly, but with proper care, it'll last as long as any other motor(and just a slight correction of data, the LT1 was used in Corvettes from 1992-1996, but the 1996 had the optional LT4). Working on the motor is harder than hell because you have NO room to work(the F-body is designed to fit a 3.8L V6 quite nicely, when you cram a V8 into it, it becomes fast and has no room to work!). For $1500 it's a steal, buy it. Just out of curiosity, does it have an auto or manual?

 

Real good deal since You usually have to pay that much just for a decent LT1 engine.

 

I am not sure yet if it is a manual or auto, but I will be looking at it in just a about an hour. Dropping the exhaust does not sound like fun, but hey, we do what we have to do. Thanks for the comments guys. If it is what my daughter tells me it is, then we should have it home sometime this week. I like having projects, and this will be a great thing for my daughter and I to work on. I am hoping that by her investing time and energy to work on it, she will take better care of it, than just buying her something and giving it to her. She has a good head on her, and I cant wait to get it home and get it running! Thanks again, and I am sure that I will have many questions as this project goes on.

 

You may be able to work around the stock exhaust for the starter replacement, but it if you don't drop the exhaust, it'll make it much harder to replace. If you do end up dropping the exhaust, make sure you use plenty of WD-40(or Aerokroil if you have it, it works about 40 times better than WD), because the bolts on the flange of the manifold tend to like to twist off(when I did my headers 1/2 of them twisted off in the manifold). Once you get the exhaust off, the starter comes in and out extremely easy. When you pull the starter, replace the plugs whether they need it right now or not, having that starter out of the way makes the passanger side(wich is the hard side to work on) plugs much easier to access(you have to do some of them from the bottom either way, so you might as well do them while they're easy...ish).

 

That helps a lot. I got to look at the car today, and it has a blown head gasket, has been sitting for 3 years, and was driven with the blown head gasket. I checked the condition of the oil, and it has water in it. With no way to get to the crank pully, I cant tell if the engine has siezed while it has been sitting. Do you think the cylinders are damaged? Such as pits caused by rust, etc.? The car is an auto, and the lower portion of the dash has been removed. Not a big deal, but it looks as if I am going to have to replace the harness for the stereo, and maybe rewire the speakers. But again, I am more worried about the engine. Can I drain the oil, remove the plugs and blow the water out, try to get it started, and just let it burn out what it needs to? What about the bearings and valves? I will be stuck if I purchase this car and I have to rebuild the engine. Other than that, it is a pretty clean car. Body is in good shape, interior is OK, just a ripped drivers side seat, and it needs new head liner. Any ideas based on what I found?

 

I dunno that blown head gasket sounds bad... I remember when my mom's 88 escort gt blew a headgasket. We still can't get it to run.
And you can't get the starter out with the stock exhaust. it wont fit through the Y-pipe.

 

I checked with a mechanic this morning, and he said that had it been a overhead cam engine, we would not buy it, but he said those 350's are hard to tear up. He gave me some hope, and I checked the insurance this morning, sounds like we may be buying a car. I am excited, and I know my daughter is.