should i buy a new one...
 

hey guys! sorry its been so long, im in bahrain now. I keep up on CL and couldnt decide if i wanted to build my car or buy a built one. Well i think i found one. opinions?


2002 Camaro N/A 445 RWHP motor W/ Nitrous 700+ RWHP

What are you looking for? Daily driver? Weekend drag car? I personally would not spend that king of money on a 11 year old car for any reason. But thats just me.

weekend toy/drag ccar

if drivetrain is all in good shape its worth it. i have about 14k into mine and its not close to that time. mine is probly in better shape as far as everything else goes. :) thing is though its used, dont know how its been beat or if something is gona blow on the first run you make. ive done all the driving in my car so i know its never been over revved or over heated. could wait and see if it sells,,, wellll, more like if it doesnt sell, after some time give a call and make a offer. the guy should know you almost never get what you put into a car, it sounds like not.

The clear coat is blistering off, so it needs a paint job. Be sure to factor that extra expense into your bottom line.

i want to either build my car, LE2, forged bottom, level 2 tranny, s60 and all the little odds and ins, but this would be cheaper. So some 6LE seats and a paint job and im set. I called the guy, seems pretty legit, nice dude for sure. Hes a sheriff in NC. He told me about everything hes done to it, where and why he did it too. He has had it on CL for a month. I told him ill be back in july, and he said if i put down a grand he would hold it.

yah and if gettin painted you can pick color and style. be a good idea to have someone you know check it out first.

Just a warning, You can find great already built project for less then what it cost to build them BUT, you are taking a risk that they are put together right. Sure he could have 10K in the bottom end but if he did not have the line bore checked it could have a very limited life. One thing all race engines have in common if one part fails during a race the whole motor becomes scrap. When a motor comes a part at 6000 RPMs there can be no savagable parts. This is why a built motor is not worth the some of its parts. Most guys what to build the motors themselfs or have machine shop they trust do it.

In this case it seems like the motor was assembled by pro's but No2 also kills the value. No2 kills the value of the car. Sure a motor can be built to handle it and a safe system with redundant check can be put into place but a driver can abuse the No2 and damage the motor.

I am not saying the car is not worth the money but you are buying with risk. It could take him a long time to sell it. In fact most of the time these car are worth more parted out. Selling parts that can be inspected can be easier then selling the whole.

One thing I noticed, and it only shows in the first picture is that the driver fender doesn't seem to line up just right with the lower door panel. There is a very noticable shadow, that for some reason does not show in the third picture (probably because the sun is a little higher in the sky).

Probably nothing, but anytime I see a door panel that doesn't line up just right, I start digging deeper. I found a tweaked front subframe once that convinced me to not buy the car in question.

But, buying a built car is not my idea of a good investment. You never know how it was assembled or how it was driven before you get it. If it was put together properly and not thrashed, it sounds like a really good deal. But it only takes one piece of that motor to give out and you are looking at a very expensive bill.

To me, that car is a very expensive crap shoot.

That front fender fitment isn't an issue, I can see it also sticks out past the rocker panel. It's not uncommon for someone to "oops" when jacking up the car, and catch the lower bracket that the fender attaches to, which will bow the lower fender out. A simple tweak of the bracket can fix that.